Rattrap's finally gotten a much-deserved update, and it's of his original Beast Wars form. In beast mode, he's a quite convincing rat (for a plastic toy), with the proportions much closer to real-life than his original toy. The almost skeletal fleshy pinkish feet, the ridged tail, the gray fur with just a touch of brown spray on the back end (less so than on his original toy), the little teeth poking out, the slightly sniveling-looking face... it's all practically perfect. His eyes are a solid black, which is a bit disconcerting-- shouldn't they have pupils like he had on the show?-- but this is a small issue. Other than pupils, though, all his necessary paint details are here, i.e. the white teeth, black nose, and flesh-colored ears. There are a few extras, though-- namely, the robot arms which stick out below his stomach in a manner that's fairly obvious from most angles. Part of me wishes they would have been painted gray on the outside to blend in better with the surrounding parts, even if this didn't make his robot mode as accurate. On a lesser note, the three litle holes around his front shoulders where the front legs clip on are also a bit of an eyesore. For articulation in this mode, Rattrap can move at the jaw, back-and-forth at the top of each leg, rotation at the front ankles, back-and-forth motion at the back ankles, and his tail is made of that rubbery plastic around a wire, so you can move it at pretty much any point. (The tail is clipped a bit too much at the end, but I suppose this was done for safety reasons, so I can't blame Hasbro there.) Rattrap's beast head can also tilt downwards-- made for the fact that, yes, he can indeed stand on his hind legs in this mode, as he often did in the show! However, this exposes the robot arms in his stomach all the more, so I tend not to do this much.
    Rattrap's transformation is hardly the spring-loaded process it was on his original toy, but the same general movements apply, with the front part of his beast mode swinging back and behind his upper body while his robot arms fold out and down and the rat head becomes his chest. The one major difference-- and a rather ingenious addition, at that-- is that Rattrap's rear beast legs actually fold up and slot in behind his robot lower leg fronts, getting those beast parts out of the way very effectively. All this said, some people have reported breakage around where the front legs connect to the back "beast shell" pieces, so be warned; mine hasn't had this issue, but the plastic there does feel a bit thin so I can easily see how this could happen. Anyways, Rattrap's proportions in this mode are largely also much better than on his original toy, with bulkier, more proportional legs and arms, complete with more show-accurate mold detailing. His headsculpt is also very well-done, though unfortunately if you look closely he's missing his signature buck teeth in his mouth. The cloudy transparent plastic works well for his "brain", and the dark red paint on his optics also works great against the copper of his face. The significant addition of silver and copper helps to make his color scheme a bit more interesting in this mode and add a bit more to the scheme than just the gray-and-pink of his beast mode (though since it's an organic beast mode, limiting it to realistic, show-accurate colors was certainly the right way to go there). There's plentiful silver and copper paint apps across his bot parts too, so no need to worry about a dull color scheme anywhere in this mode. He even has the little Maximal symbols on his forearms, just like in the show! Although they're smaller relatively than on his original toy, Rattrap does have some definite beast kibble issues in this mode. His front legs stick out rather obviously from behind his shoulders-- sure this is show-accurate, but I wish there was some way they could have slid back a bit more so they didn't stick out as much. His whole beast back and rump also hangs behind his back, not quite "meshing" with the robot body pieces. The rear and tail are the biggest offenders here, just hanging down behind his butt in a rather unsightly manner. In addition-- though I largely like the rat head on his chest-- the more realistic ears get in the way visually of poses with his head looking left or right, which is mildly annoying. Rattrap is quite articulated, being able to move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows, hips (at two points), and knees. Other than waist, wrist, and sideways knee movement he's pretty well covered, and though he is a bit back-heavy, the addition of the rat feet underneath his robot feet keeps him more stable than you'd think. As for weaponry, Rattrap comes with a 5mm-compatible rifle that can split into two smaller guns. In a nice surprise, the panel on his lower left arm can also open up to reveal a "sticky grenade" accessory which you can take out and have him hold! Now THAT is some fan service, right there.
    Generations Rattrap is a pretty nice update of his original Beast Wars design, making him both more proportionally sound and show-accurate in both modes, with better articulation and some nice weapons to boot. This said, he does have some kibble issues in both modes (his robot arms in beast mode and his whole backpack in robot mode), and particularly in robot mode this can detract a bit from his overall score. That said, it's not like he didn't have these issues on his original toy, and for beastformers fans this is definitely a recommended pickup.

Review by Beastbot

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