Beast Wars Transmetals Rattrap
Originally I was never overly fond of the Transmetals, for reasons I don't really know,
but after buying Rampage (the first TM I owned) due to his overwhelming coolness on the
show, my opinions changed. I still own more regulars than TMs, but the TMs are growing
on me.
Enter, TM Rattrap. I picked one up on eBay for $10. He's on a European card though, so
I can't read a dang thing on the card (or on the instructions), but it's alright, I was able
to do everything without pesky english instructions.
Rattrap is a TM rat in beast mode (duh). It's actually a better rat mode than the original
basic Rattrap had, aside from the fur being absent and mechanical parts being there I mean.
He's quite low to the ground, but he doesn't really have any articulation aside from his front
legs which are hindered by the wheels attached to them and his tail which is made up of twelve
segments which are all on alternating hinge joints (one goes up, one goes to the side, etc). He
also has some huge back wheels which take up the entire rear part of his body, though they serve
no purpose right now.
As with all TMs, Rattrap has a vehicle mode, but it's really cool, unlike other TM vehicle
modes I won't mention *cough*Depth Charge*cough*. Fold up his rear legs, pull down the rear
wheels, and fold up his front legs and badda boom, a rat with wheels. Cool.
Vehicle mode, while simple (it really is a rat with wheels), is actually one of the best
TM vehicle modes, even rivaling the ultra cool tank mode of Rampage (and Rattrap actually
rolls, unlike Rampage who, well, could do better). The only bad thing about it are the
tail pipes which are crappy in terms of plastic and color. Sure they're made of the same
plastic as the rest of ol' rat face, but they're full of holes and aren't overly detailed, plus
they would have done a lot better if they'd been given a silver finish like in the show. Ah well.
Getting Rattrap to robot mode is somewhat of a pain the first time (especially when the
instructions are in German, French and some other language and the pictures are as nondescript
as ever), but once you know what you're doing it's not too bad. The only real pain the the ass is
getting his robot head into the right place, and his shoulder pads will probably give you some
trouble with their positioning.
In robot mode Rattrap is almost dead on replica of his show version, the almost coming into
play because of his backpack being upside down (well, the shows backpack is the wrong way really,
but I won't get into that now). That aside it's pretty cool looking, though his head has to be
one of the ugliest things I've seen in a while. He's still got the patented exposed brain, but
instead of the face of the original toy, which I liked a lot, he's got a weird mouth that looks
like the grill on a car. Yeesh. Aside from that the robot mode is pretty cool, though it suffers
from massive backpack syndrome and thus has trouble standing up in most poses, though if you fiddle
enough you can eventually get him to stand without any support.
All in all, TM Rattrap is a good investment, and worth his weight in cheese. If you can find one
for under $20 or so, pick it up by all means (he'll usually set you back a good $15 or so, MOC).
And don't forget, with TM Megatron and Dinobot, you can re-enact some famous show scenes. Yeees.
Enjoy!
