Axalon
Rattrap (Botcon 2006 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 the original Cybertron Ransack. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Cybertron Ransack here.)
This pre-Beast Wars form
for Rattrap has colors that are spot-on accurate when compared to the original
Rattrap toy, pretty much down to the exact shades used! The gray and
brown go together fairly well for both a rat and a motorcycle, so I didn't
find myself having a hard time believing there's be a motorcycle cruising
around Cybertron that just HAPPENS to have the same colors as a rat, since
it's believable in this case. The silver and copper colors really look
great as secondary colors, and even the optics have been painted red so
that they're accurate to how Rattrap looked on the Beast Wars show. The
glossy black is the same exact color that was used on the original Cybertron
Ransack, but it's used fairly sparingly on the toy so it doesn't really
bother me that much, especially since it fits with the overall color scheme.
I'm not really fond of the yellow used for the wheels, though-- it's a
rather lemony, fairly ugly shade of yellow, and although it doesn't outright
clash, I don't think it fits in all that well with the rest of the color
scheme. Another downside to the figure is that out of all the Botcon toys
in this year's set, this toy has the hardest time pulling off being Rattrap--
the head is simply too much of a stretch, even with Rattrap coloring. The
Botcon comic explains away the "cap" on the head as being just a hat that
Rattrap takes off to reveal his more familiar-looking brain-like pattern
on his forehead, but even considering that, the actual face itself doesn't
look Rattrap. It's not elongated enough, the mouth and eyes aren't big
enough, and the chin is too small. I understand that the Botcon folks only
have so much money they can put into head molds, so I'm not blaming them,
but it really is hard to see Rattrap in the face.
Axalon Rattrap has no
mold changes made to the actual figure-- however, for the first time in
the U.S., the rear wheels have actually been fixed-- now the halves are
assembled on the right legs, so the toy doesn't tilt up so far back in
vehicle mode. Also, like all the other toys in the Botcon set, the Cyber
Key used in the Cybertron version has instead been replaced with a solid
gray Planet X Key bearing a Maximal symbol and a painted bit of Golden
Disk detailing over the main part of the Cyber Key, hence the new name
"Golden Disk Key".
Axalon Rattrap is the
least impressive out of the Botcon set, though he's still a fine toy. His
face is just too far from Rattrap's to really be able to see him as the
same character. And, even though the colors are certainly accurate to the
original Beast Wars Rattrap's and I wouldn't expect anything else, they
still seem rather dull when compared to the two releases of the Ransack
mold in the Cybertron line.
Review by Beastbot