Ratbat has had an interesting history throughout the various corners of the Transformers universe. He’s been one of Soundwave/Soundblaster’s minions, he’s been the leader of the Decepticons, and he’s been a politician (though not necessarily in that order). This figure is based on the latter — Ratbat’s early, pre-war form as seen in the IDW comic Megatron: Origin.
In this form, Ratbat was a Senator and a businessman who, through opportunistic motives, involved himself in the underground gladiatorial circuit where Megatron was first able to make a name for himself. He employed Soundwave to furnish weapons for Megatron, which resulted in Megatron’s becoming an even more formidable force in these underground fights. This would eventually, but somewhat indirectly, lead to Megatron’s establishing the Decepticons in an effort to overthrow Cybertron’s established order.
Upon Megatron’s rise to power, Ratbat was betrayed by Soundwave and accused of participating in “discrimination through functionalism,” one of the many beliefs the Decepticons were created to fight and overthrow. Ratbat’s spark and brain module were transferred to a smaller bat-like body, chosen for its flight capabilities. Ratbat was now one of Soundwave’s servants, and he would serve the Decepticon cause in this capacity until events transpired to enable his own rise to power once again.
Takara released this figure almost a year ago as an Asian-market exclusive, but I’ve been dragging my feet on getting it for months now because of the price, etc. Big Bad Toy Store has this figure on sale currently as part of their “Spring Cleaning Sale,” so I couldn’t resist; this was finally the motivation I needed to add the figure to my Pile of Loot. I’m a sucker for comic-inspired figures, so this worked out perfectly.
The packaging is very similar to Hasbro’s Generations packaging with the character-specific artwork on the front and character information on the back. There’s nothing too special about it, so there’s little temptation to keep it once the figure is freed from its plastic prison.
The figure is built upon the Generations Scourge mold, and we first saw hints of this figure’s eventual release in Scourge’s instructions — Ratbat’s head was featured rather than Scourge’s, which was kind of a giveaway. This body actually translates to Ratbat’s Senator form surprisingly well. It’s not a dead-ringer for the character from the comic or anything, but thanks to the clever placement of some paint apps, this mold is effectively transformed into Ratbat.
The effect created by his “wings” draped on his back serve to tether this version of the character to his bat form, which we’re more familiar with. It’s a very clever mold reuse. I dig it.
His head sculpt is probably the best part of the figure and nails his look of his wearing a helmet that resembles a bat head. It’s a faithful representation of his look in the comics and works well on this body.
The paints here, in general, are beautiful. The metallic purple and the gold work well together to gorgeous effect. It looks absolutely regal, and it’s the paint that really makes the difference in this figure. Even though the only difference between the two figures pictured below are their heads (in terms of just the molds), the paint schemes succeed in making them look like two completely different figures. When I look at them side by side, it’s really just their shoulders that remind me that the molds are the same. The paint does a wonderful job of distinguishing them.
Since this is a reuse of the Scourge mold, Ratbat is a standard deluxe-class figure, about the same size as the average retail deluxe figure, so he won’t work in a Masterpiece display, but he’ll work well in any Generations display.
As far as accessories go, Ratbat comes with a rifle and a pistol that can be combined into one larger weapon. Scourge came with the same weapon, which is probably the main reason why Ratbat comes with it here. In this form, Ratbat wasn’t fighting many battles, so the guns may not be necessary, but I suppose it’s cool that he does come with some sort of accessory, however unnecessary.
Ratbat transforms into the same stealth jet Scourge does, but it makes more sense here than it did with Scourge, even though neither have ever really been depicted with any sort of Earth mode (not counting Ratbat’s cassette mode, that is). Because of the nature of the stealth fighter, it’s easier, at least for me, to see the connection between this and Ratbat’s eventual bat mode. It looks sleek, fast, and somewhat “evil,” though that’s probably a result of the colors.
It’s one of the better jet modes to be released in the Generations line mainly due to how well each respective part fits together. The lines are all so smooth and perfect. The only questionable feature in this alt mode would be how his head works into the transformation. It’s just sort of in the back there and the helmet’s “eyes” are clearly visible. It’s the one aspect that isn’t perfect, but at least his face is well hidden.
Like his weapon, his alt mode is more of an afterthought since we never saw him transform in the comic, but it’s still cool that he’s capable of a transformation.
It’s difficult to gauge just how “necessary” this version of Ratbat really is. If you’re a fan of the comics, then it’s already on your radar. If you only know Ratbat from his brief appearances on the cartoon, then there’s no way this figure is going to look like anything more than a nonsensical, unnecessary repaint. Whichever the case may be, keep in mind that this figure never saw a domestic release, so it is a little bit more expensive than the average Generations figure, even with Big Bad Toy Store’s sale price factored in. I feel as though the extra cost was worth it, and I’m glad I finally broke down and ordered one for myself after almost a year of putting it off and off and off. You may feel the same if you give it a chance.
