Packrat
(BotCon 2015 Exclusive)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Generations Rattrap. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Rattrap here.)
Although BotCon 2014
was the year a lot of older BotCon exclusives were redone because of the
20th anniversary, Generations Rattrap came out just a liiiittle too late
for that, so the obvious redeco (for FunPub) of the mold into a re-do of
the BotCon 1997 exclusive had to come a year
later. And by and large, what you expect from a Packrat redeco of Generations
Rattrap is what you get-- his primary color is a dark periwinkle, with
a fair bit of light brown and copper, the latter particularly prevalent
in robot mode. Periwinkle is a really weird color for a rat, but it does
contrast very well with the copper in particular-- the shade of metallic
copper paint used on Packrat's hands, elbows, hips, and lower legs in robot
mode is a very glittery shade of the color, and the lighter shade of the
color compared to the '97 version just looks fantastic. There's a fair
bit of light brown that's reserved for some minor connector parts and Packrat's
relevant beast parts, like the rat feet. Being a "normal" plastic color,
it doesn't look a nice as the copper, but is a realistic color for the
rat feet. The yellow eyes from the original return, painted with large
black pupils. His nose is also appropriately painted black, and his eyes
in robot mode are a nice red that contrasts against the blue quite well.
That said, the biggest change here compared to '97 Packrat in terms of
the color scheme is the bigger prevalence and "purity" of the white. It's
"sprayed" on the back end of his beast mode, used on his tail, ears, teeth,
gun, and painted on his robot shoulders, upper legs, and on the interior
of the rat shoulder panels behind his back in robot mode. The white contrasts
against the periwinkle exceedingly well, and in this amount just looks
great all around. The combination of the white with the other colors on
the robot legs looks particularly nice, and the bit on his rat shoulder
panels helps break up all the blue "kibble" behind him in robot mode.
BotCon 2015 Packrat
has no mold changes compared to Generations Rattrap.
BotCon 2015 Packrat
is a nice toy, and surpasses Rattrap in terms of the color scheme-- the
perwinkle and copper/brown go quite well together, and the increased amount
of white detailing really helps to make this toy look better than its '97
version in ways beyond just the mold. That said, it's a weird color scheme
for a rat, and given the lack of a new head mold (which is admittedly expected,
since the original Packrat wasn't a remold either), it makes it difficult
to see this toy as anything other than a blue Rattrap. Not the main reason
I'd buy the boxset, but a nice update to a classic BotCon character.
Review by Beastbot