Rippersnapper's G1 version was basically a shark with appendages, and his Beast Hunters version goes for a similar "walking shark" motif, but moving the aesthetic a bit more to an edgy, semi-royal, dragon-like appearance like the rest of the Prime Predacons. In beast mode, Rippersnapper certainly has an obvious large "shark fin"-like protrusion along his back, but it's a bit too large to simply just be a fin and looks more like back armor/scales. The fin-armor drops off rather suddenly at the back, making way for a tail that looks like it was hewn roughly from rocks, which works well with his armored motif in this mode. He's got a very shark-like mouth, and T-rex-like limbs, with tiny little forearms and regular-sized legs. (All four appendages can move where they connect to the main body at one point, though the legs are on a ball joint so they have slightly more movement.) From the silohuette, this mode looks pretty darned good, but there are three issues that bug me. The first is that Rippersnapper's robot head is folded up rather obviously into his crotch-- a rather unfortunate placement by itself, but it makes Rippersnapper's stomach bulge a bit too much and just doesn't fit in with the surrounding parts. This little headpiece can come off rather easily, too-- it snaps back on easily enough, but being such a small piece it's easy to see how someone could lose it, and being the robot head it's a rather vital piece. Additionally, when viewed from the front or back Rippersnapper's legs stick out way too far from the sides of the body to the point where they look quite awkward (this is due to his transformation). The back of his fin is also completely hollow, with only a long hinge inside that's used for transformation. This looks rather unsightly from behind. Rippersnapper's color scheme is a bit more oceanic than his G1 version, with a lot of nice dark aquarmarine that contrasts quite well with his light milky bluish gray. The latter is unfortunately a rather boring color, though the slight tinge of blue helps it complement the aquamarine a bit. Thankfully there's also some yellow on the fin, his eyes, and a few robotic details near his jaw, which helps to break up his colors a little more. I wish a little paint was added to his legs and/or tail, but otherwise he's got a pretty decent color scheme. Rippersnapper comes with the bow weapon that many other Beast Hunters legions have-- he's got two ports for it on the side of each leg. There's also two more Cyberverse weapon ports in the middle of his body, but only particularly long pegs can fit into them because of weapon clearance issues, so these tend not to be very useful.
    Rippersnapper's robot mode is a bit on the muscular side up top, with a broad chest, wide shoulders, and relatively thick arms made from his beast legs. (I wish his beast feet folded back, but otherwise they work pretty nicely as arms.) However, the proportions look a bit off when you get to his bottom half-- his hips are a bit too small, and his lower legs are very two-dimensional and simply made of the folded halves of his shark head, with the obvious shark arms hanging off the back end of the feet. This all looks rather unsightly, and the lower legs made up from these shark head-halves should have been a bit larger to fit in proportionally as well. On the plus side, the "shark fin" and tail compress rather nicely against Rippersnapper's back, and his chest and waist are all detailed quite nicely (both in terms of mold detailing and paint detailing), having a fairly smooth, aquatic look to them that contrasts with the rougher look in beast mode. His headsculpt is particularly well-done, having some fin-like ridges and coloring that make him look not unlike Beast Wars' Depth Charge. For articulation, Rippersnapper can move in this mode at the shoulders (at two points), hips, and ankle-knees (his upper legs connect to his lower legs at the ankles, oddly enough). Due to the transformation, his head can also look down or up a little, giving him slightly above-average articulation for a Legion toy.
    Rippersnapper forms a leg of Abominus.
    Rippersnapper-- by a hair-- is my least favorite of the five legion-class Prime Predacons. His beast mode looks pretty good for the most part, but some issues like the floppy head, hollow back, and legs that stick out too much drag it down a little. The robot mode is definitely the weakest of the two modes, however, with some definite unsightly proportional maladies with the feet. He's still a decent enough Legion class toy-- which speaks to the overall strength of the legion-class Predacon molds-- but if you don't want to form Abominus, this is the one you should skip if you're planning on skipping any of these "Terrorcons".

Review by Beastbot

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