Ratbat
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Ratbat is a Decepticon character in the Transformers series. He appeared in the original cartoon series and in the Marvel and Dreamwave comics, and as a toy.
The Ratbat Toy
Ratbat's toy transformed from a purple, black, and gold bat into a microcassette, although in the comic and cartoon, his altmode was portrayed as a cassette tape. His toy, when in microcassette form, could fit inside Soundwave, a microcassette player. He was packaged with Frenzy and released in 1986. Ratbat's motto is "The road is my dinner plate."
Story
As is the case with many Transformers characters, the various continuities in which Ratbat has appeared have portrayed him widely differently in terms of size, personality, personal history and back story. Ratbat is one of the most variable characters of all, having been treated as a mere spy or even pet in some versions, whilst one other saw him rise to become one of the most successful earthbound Decepticon leaders of all.Cartoon Continuity
In the original Transformers series, Ratbat was one of several Transformers that transformed into cassette tapes, such as Ravage, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, Rumble, and Frenzy. In the American series, like the other cassette tape Transformers that turned into animals, Ratbat was not capable of speech, and was likened more to a pet than an equal member of the Decepticon forces. However, in the Japanese series', he and the other cassettes possessed the power of speech, though their roles seemed no different. Ratbat first appeared in .
Marvel Comic Continuity
Ratbat was one of the many Decepticons left on Cybertron, where he rose to the critical post of fuel auditor. With a drive towards extreme efficiency he would rarely counter unnecessary risks. After the fall of Lord Straxus, Ratbat emerged as the most powerful Decepticon in Polyhex.
Ratbat grew increasingly dissatisfied with the inefficient use of fuel by the Decepticons based on Earth under the command of Shockwave and developed schemes to improve the planet's output. He dispatched hypnotising machines with the hope of taking over the minds of many humans and using them to deliver fuel at minimum cost to the Decepticons, but this plan was disrupted by the intervention of the Autobots' ally Buster Witwicky.
Ratbat allied with the earthbound Decepticons but remained dissatisfied with the leadership of Shockwave. When the earthbound Autobots briefly left the planet in The Ark, Ratbat was at the forefront of a new Decepticon reign of terror and kidnapped Buster Witwicky, taking him to the Decepticons' island base.
When the Autobot Headmasters and Targetmasters besieged the base the Decepticons were forced to flee by deploying its rocket facility. In the process of departure Shockwave was shot down in space and seen heading towards Earth, apparently dying, and Ratbat declared it would be inefficient to rescue him and so instead seized command of the Decepticons for himself.
Of all the leaders of the Decepticons on Earth few came closer to outright victory than Ratbat. He followed the Autobots under Fortress Maximus when they set out to unite with those under Grimlock and launched an all out attack that resulted in huge casualties and the Autobots briefly stranded on the Moon.
Later Ratbat promoted the newly recovered Starscream to the position of second-in-command and set out to learn the truth about the legendary Underbase, which could seemingly make a Transformer supremely powerful. Ratbat was determined to attain its power for itself but this ambition was shared by Starscream. The latter lured the separate Decepticon faction led by Scorponok to a meeting with Ratbat's forces which soon resulted in conflict between the two, allowing Starscream to seek the Underbase for himself. Both Decepticon factions allied with the Autobots in fighting against Starscream, suffering huge casualties in the process. However both Ratbat and Scorponok independently suspected that the Autobot leader Optimus Prime had plans to seize the power of the Underbase for himself and they set out to stop them. Learning that the Underbase was nearby Ratbat declared:
- So that is your plan - to bring the Underbase here, and steal its power for yourself!
- But it was I who rediscovered it! And it is I who will possess it!
- I go now to meet my destiny!
Despite his death, Ratbat would make one more appearance in the Generation 2 comic in flashback, shown to be attacking a human (probably Buster Witwicky).
In the shortlived series of 3-D Transformers comic books, Ratbat was the pet of Galvatron who secretly plotted to rule the Decepticons. He was defeated by Searchlight while searching for mysterious Energon-producing aliens.
Ratbat's appearance in The War Within Series
Millions of years ago, before the Transformers crash-landed on Earth, Ratbat was the leader of a sub-faction of Decepticons called the Ultracons during the time when Megatron had disappeared. Megatron's return saw the Ultracons reintegrated into the Decepticons. At this point in time, Ratbat possessed his original Cybertronian form, able to transform from robot mode to jet. However, at a later date, after the Great Shutdown, when Shockwave established control of the planet, many Transformers including Ratbat had their bodies reformatted into Earth-themed modes, leading to Ratbat's bat/tape body. It was noted that he was not pleased with its unimposing nature compared to his original structure. When next we saw Ratbat, he had been freed by Starscream from imprisonment, and was given to Soundwave, implying a past connection - it is entirely possible that Shockwave may have viewed Ratbat as a threat to his control of the planet, and deliberately gave him a weak body and imprisoned him to keep him out of the way.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
Millions of years ago, before the Transformers crash-landed on Earth, Ratbat was the leader of a sub-faction of Decepticons called the Ultracons during the time when Megatron had disappeared. Megatron's return saw the Ultracons reintegrated into the Decepticons. At this point in time, Ratbat possessed his original Cybertronian form, able to transform from robot mode to jet. However, at a later date, after the Great Shutdown, when Shockwave established control of the planet, many Transformers including Ratbat had their bodies reformatted into Earth-themed modes, leading to Ratbat's bat/tape body. It was noted that he was not pleased with its unimposing nature compared to his original structure. When next we saw Ratbat, he had been freed by Starscream from imprisonment, and was given to Soundwave, implying a past connection - it is entirely possible that Shockwave may have viewed Ratbat as a threat to his control of the planet, and deliberately gave him a weak body and imprisoned him to keep him out of the way.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.