Bot Reviews: Transformers: Vintage Beast Wars Rattrap Versus Kingdom Rattrap

Releasing new versions of classic Transformers characters who were first created after G1’s always a dicey proposition. See, when it comes to modern G1 updates, you can directly see what the upgrade is. Sure, original G1 figures have a charm all their own, but updates have animation accuracy, loads more articulation, durability (those Diaclone Autobots sure don’t last over time), features, etc. Past that era, it becomes trickier to outdo the original releases.

Kingdom’s all about updating classic Beast Wars figures, and it’s sometimes been a question amongst fans if these updates are upgrades, especially considering the original Beast Wars line came after the late-G2 Articulation Renaissance. HasTak’s kind of put a big underline under that question this last year, because right as Kingdom Beast Wars updates are on shelves, there’s a new Wal-Mart-exclusive Vintage line directly re-issuing some of the 90’s Beast Wars toys.

For now, this Vintage line only seems to be one wave, with no word about any more, and that wave consists of Optimus Primal, Megatron, Cheetor and Rattrap. I don’t know how deep I’ll go on this Vintage line, but I wanted the ‘96 Rattrap figure, out of affection for the character, and memories of the original one my cousin had. That being said, this Vintage version of Rattrap’s kind of overpriced, sold as a Deluxe despite being a Basic-class figure, though I justified it to myself by checking out the aftermarket prices for an actual vintage copy. But what I was most interested in doing was directly comparing him to the Kingdom figure, one I’m already pretty fond of (reviewed here). So, let’s have a look, and see who came out on top. I’ll go mode-by-mode between the two, and see which one I like better. Before I start, let me just say one thing: I absolutely adore this retro Beast Wars packaging that the Vintage one comes in. That old cart art takes me back. This must be how G1 fans feel all the time. I especially love that the one line of his bio note that they kept is the one that’s incompatible with how the TV show would come to be.

Beast Mode

Compared to the miniscule, mouse-sized Kingdom rat, this Ratrap’s a lot bigger in his rat mode, and cuts a good-looking silhouette, even if he’s a bit chubby.

Like basically every Beast-era animal mode, he’s marred by cracks, screws, and transformation seams, not to mention visible robot parts from the bottom, but hey, that’s always going to be an issue, whether it’s 1996 or 2021, and they compensated as best they could with the sculptwork.

He’s got textured fur all across his body, a ringed rat-tail, and a face that sort of has a 90s-style sneering grimace going on, but it’s surprisingly subtle (and marred a bit by his head being hollow.)

For colors, he’s mostly solid grey, but has a really nice brown fade towards the back (and a brown tail), along with pink feet, black eyes, and nasty-looking sharp white rat teeth. I do wish his nose wasn’t just unpainted grey plastic, though.

In terms of his build quality, he’s pretty rock-solid and durable, like most figures of the era. It is possible to accidentally trigger his spring-loaded autotransformation if you fiddle with him a bit too much, but it’s not so delicate that it gets triggered by, say, dropping him. One thing that does happen a lot is that his head likes to sag, widening an already-unsightly gap where his neck should be, and I find myself periodically adjusting it when I pick him up.

So, poseability on this guy’s barely present, again, like most small beasts of the era. You can rotate his ankles to splay his feet out, and raise and lower his tail a bit, but that’s basically it for features. Again, compared to modern figures in his size range, that’s still pretty standard, which brings us to his modern update.

Versus Kingdom

This mode’s a really difficult comparison, because they’re pretty close in my eyes, and have a lot of the exact same issues, like seam-laden sculpts, and very little poseability.

I will say, I like the Kingdom sculpt a bit better, because it’s “cuter.” However, I think the paintwork on the Vintage one’s better, due to the painted tail and the nice fade on the fur (though the Kingdom one actually has a painted nose). Meanwhile, I think the Kingdom one kinda-sorta-maginally wins on articulation, strictly because you can sort of make him stand on his hind legs, though this is really grasping at straws between the two bricks.

So, overall, I’d give his Rat mode to the Kingdom figure, though it’s a marginal, arbitrary thing.

Transformation

On the Vintage guy, this is the big event, the gimmick he was shaped around. Just pull the tail, and he changes from Rat to Robot in one step. Or rather, he should. Often something gets caught, and I have to flex his tail joint out and in, or manually adjust the last bit of the transformation.

I’m honestly not sure if this was a problem with the 1996 original, or it’s the reissue showing the tooling’s age. While it’s a bit disappointing, considering it just means the transformation sometimes takes two seconds instead of one, it’s not much of a complaint. That, and the fact that the transformation always works flawlessly going backwards. Oh, technically, you’re supposed to plug his robot fists into little pegs on his backpack, but, like, you really don’t need to, it still works just the same, and they stay out of the way even when unplugged. Either way, the autotransform makes this guy a good fidget toy.

Versus Kingdom

There’s no contest when it comes to transformation, the Vintage one wins.

This is a good implementation of a one-step gimmick that doesn’t compromise the figure in any way. Kingdom’s got a decent transformation, if a bit complex for the size, but there’s no way it can compete with this very well-executed gimmick.

Robot Mode

See, one good justification for updating the early Beast Wars toys is that many of them weren’t very show-accurate (or rather, the show, which came later, wasn’t very toy-accurate), but the thing with Rattrap is that he was an exception, and was actually decently accurate.

The show’s CGI model scrunched up his rat-parts backpack, made his proportions a bit more streamlined, and gave him brighter colors, but all the broad strokes of the rat-chested design are pretty much right here, as you remember them. Probably his most obvious difference is the figure’s headsculpt’s mouth, which gave him almost turtle-like jaws, instead of the stylized rat face the show would go with, though the rest of the sculpt, including his weird exposed brain, is pretty accurate.

I guess if I wanted to nitpick, I could focus on his shoulders being a bit separated from his body, and his arms seeming just slightly too puny, but, overall, the whole figure gels pretty nicely. And because it was the 90s, and gross details were the norm, the inside flaps of his rat-skin backpack have veins sculpted into them. Eeesh.

For colors, he’s a bit darker than the show would later render him, combining the grey and pink of his atmode with dark brown parts, and some nice silver paint on his limbs and head (plus some red eyes). It’s simple, but it works, and the silver makes it pop just the right amount. In terms of build quality, he is, again, very stable in this mode, in most ways. The exception is trying to stand him up, as he’s a bit back-heavy. He can be stood up, but it’s not a sure thing, and you’ve got to be a bit careful when setting him on the table.

So, Beast Wars was the first line that had articulation built into it from the start, meaning Rattrap’s got good poseability, even by today’s standards. It seems to be 100 percent ball joints, and he’s got them for knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, and neck articulation. They’re a little bit looser than I’d like, but can still hold a pose pretty well. I find myself missing ankle tilts, not out of snobbery, but because, again, he’s a little shaky on his feet, and they’d have helped keep him stable. In particular, you can’t really do any kind of bent-knee pose if he’s going to stand up.

For additional accessories and gimmicks, Rattrap’s got a neat one: He’s got a two-part gun, stored in a hole on either side of his backpack. You can pop the two gun halves out, and fit them together to make a little brown pistol.

It’s a neat bit of engineering, it lets his weapon completely hide away in beast mode, and fitting the two halves together comes with a little bit of tactile satisfaction.

It can be a slight challenge to fit them back in their backpack-holes, but that’s only because each piece only has a single position it can go in, and finding them can be an issue.

Versus Kingdom

This is another tough one, so let’s break things down by category: Kingdom’s more show-accurate, but only marginally, since the original was already pretty close. It’s also got a more elaborate colorscheme.

Their articulation is nearly identical, with the Kingdom figure gaining a slight edge with its ankle tilts, which also make it more stable. On the other hand, the Kingdom figure has shoulders that love to come out of position thanks to its transformation, whereas the Vintage figure is far more sturdy. In addition, the Vintage figure has that cool split-apart, hidden weapon, while the Kingdom figure just has a single-piece gun that can clip on his back (and can’t be stored in rat mode, unless it’s on his hip to shoot from).

It’s close, but I think I’m giving it to the Vintage one in this form.

Overall

Vintage Rattrap exemplifies everything that’s good about classic Beast Wars, and wraps it in an unobtrusive, fun gimmick (even if it frequently misfires). Kingdom Rattrap also came out well, but if I have to pick one, I gotta go with the Vintage one as the better figure.

The gimmick alone just makes him more fun to mess around with, and he’s got a pleasant chunky fun to him. It’s a very close race, and for every small thing Kingdom Rattrap does better (and it has a few things it does better), the overall package the Vintage release offers is more appealing.

That being said, the price is a big issue. You can pick up Kingdom Rattrap in most physical and online Transformers stores right this moment for about $14 Canadian, before tax. Meanwhile, Vintage Rattrap can only be found on Wal-Mart shelves, and for a whopping $32.97 Canadian price tag, over double the cost. I ate the Vintage price because I like the character, and had specific nostalgia for the figure, but it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend the Vintage one because of that price, when the Kingdom one’s out here being better value for the money. So, I’d say, in a vacuum, the Vintage one is better, but don’t lose sleep if the Kingdom one fits your collection logistics better, it’s also great.