Rattrap is a member of Optimus Primal's group of Maximals in the Beast Wars: Transformers series. Initially the pilot of the research vessel Axalon, he would become the Maximals' spy during the Beast Wars on prehistoric Earth. Though a loyal member of the Maximals, Rattrap isn't the easiest 'bot to get along with. He's extremely sarcastic, rude and cynical, and this attitude tends to wear away the patience of his compatriots quickly.
History[]
Beast Wars[]
When the Predacon criminal Megatron fled Cybertron with the Golden Disk, the Maximal Security Forces were unable to stop him. The research ship Axalon was the only Maximal ship close enough to the Darksyde's flight path to be able to intercept, and so they were ordered to give chase. The Axalon followed the Darksyde through a transwarp portal and into the orbit of Earth, over 3 million years in the past. The two ships exchanged fire, both taking heavy damage and crash-landing hundreds of kilometers from each other.
On the planet's surface (which had not yet been identified as Earth by either party), raw, crystalline energon saturated the landscape. Though energon was the lifeblood of Transformers, such quantities in its purest form proved to be hazardous, and so both Maximals and Predacons were forced to adopt semi-organic beast modes to protect themselves from energon radiation build-up. Rattrap would adopt the form of a large rat.
Rattrap was old friends with Rhinox, but was annoyed to be stuck on an unknown planet with a young, inexperienced captain. He continually second-guessed Optimus Primal's command decisions, which made him few friends. Rattrap especially disliked Primal's decision to allow the Predacon Dinobot to join their team, and he made sure to let everyone within earshot know about it. Rattrap got a taste of his own medicine when Primal went semi-missing in action. Contacting the Maximal base, Primal named Rattrap the group commander in his absence. After a moment of initial indecision, Rattrap commanded capably in Primal's absence (even earning Dinobot's grudging respect). When Primal returned, he offered his compliments as well, though Rattrap was more than happy to be done with the responsibility of leadership.
Over time, Rattrap grew to respect his commander grudgingly, with the earliest glimmers showing through when Primal and Rattrap infiltrated a flying mountain that was loaded with supercharged energon. Primal bravely distracted a super-powered Terrorsaur while Rattrap planted explosives to destroy the mountain. Optimus then got them both off of the exploding mountain with a fearless beast-mode leap off the edge, which ended with them dangling in the treetops far below.
Rattrap distrusted Dinobot and insulted him at every turn. Dinobot wantonly returned in kind, constantly bickering with the "vermin". Dinobot and Rattrap's arguments ranged from being a minor irritation at times to causing serious chaos in the Maximal ranks at others. Rattrap's taunts caused a berserk Dinobot to damage the control module of the newly activated Sentinel defense system, which promptly drove the Maximals out of their own base. Under the circumstances, Rattrap's rarely seen sense of nobility and fair play came to the fore; recognizing the predicament as his own fault, he immediately volunteered to stay inside the base and deactivate Sentinel. His considerable skills at infiltration and demolition allowed him to reach the central computer core and order Sentinel to stand down, though very nearly at the cost of his own life.
After a devastating incident involving a planet-killing alien superweapon, Optimus Primal was presumed dead. The residual quantum surge energy released by the planet-buster's destruction also caused some of the Transformers to mutate into new Transmetal forms, including Rattrap, who gained a new additional vehicle mode from this alteration. In keeping with the somewhat fluid Maximal command structure, it was Rhinox who later stepped up to assume command after Primal was destroyed along with the planet-buster, but when Rhinox went offline to search for Primal's spark, Rattrap took command (though, by that point, Dinobot and Cheetor were his only remaining troops.) He also took the chance to move his possessions into Primal's quarters, which Primal found none too pleasing when Rhinox restored him to life.
Rattrap's relationship with Dinobot was sorely tested when Dinobot temporarily returned to the Predacon side. For one long moment, as Dinobot was faced with a test of Predacon loyalty at Megatron's behest, Rattrap truly believed that Dinobot was about to slag him. But Dinobot proved unable to kill his erstwhile teammate; he instead turned on Megatron and rejoined the Maximals.
Rattrap was initially glad to have Dinobot back, but would still be giving him grief about his betrayal some while later—not the usual flippant insults, either, but genuine barbs that cut Dinobot to the quick. Rattrap's words helped motivate Dinobot into what would ultimately be his heroic final sacrifice to save the future of the human race. Rattrap arrived at the battlefield along with the other Maximals to find Dinobot damaged beyond recovery. His reaction was perhaps the strongest of any of the team, visibly shocked at seeing Dinobot's near-death body collapsed on the ground. The two shared final words of both insult and reconciliation, Rattrap gingerly holding Dinobot's hand as he died. As Dinobot's spark left his body, Rattrap was the first to stand and, with utter sincerity, salute the fallen hero.
After Dinobot's demise, his role as Rattrap's foil was filled to some extent by Silverbolt and later Depth Charge. Ironically, much of his conflict with Depth Charge had him berating the powerful renegade for refusing to be a team player with Primal's Maximals. When Ravage arrived on prehistoric Earth with the ostensible mission of rescuing the time-lost Maximals, Rattrap was the first to greet him with harsh words and distrust. His fears and prejudices proved well-founded; Ravage betrayed the Maximals to join Megatron's side.
As Ravage's transwarp cruiser attacked the Axalon, Rattrap used his wheeled beast mode to launch himself out of the base and onto Ravage's ship. Tearing his way through its hull, he tossed a pair of magnetic bombs right into the hands of the startled Tarantulas, who could do nothing but scream as they blew him to bits and destroyed the cruiser's engines. Rattrap bailed out as the transwarp cruiser crashed its destructive way to earth, having pretty much single-handedly saved the Maximals and their base from destruction.
The next day, as the Maximals tried to infiltrate the Autobot vessel the Ark, Rattrap fired the shot that brought down the Ark's shields and—almost—gave the Maximals a chance to stop Megatron's last-ditch scheme to alter history. When Blackarachnia turned against Megatron and assisted the Maximals in undoing the damage Megatron had wrought, Rattrap was not very sympathetic, nor was he particularly keen on Optimus's attempts at a peaceful resolution to a stand-off with Megatron inside the Ark.
As the Beast Wars dragged on and the Maximals relocated to defend their ancestors aboard the Ark, Rattrap continued to carry out important missions for the Maximal side. Most notably, he manned a "sub-aquatic stealth vessel" built by Blackarachnia and salvaged the Sentinel command module from the watery wreckage of the Axalon. The mission ended in failure, however, as Depth Charge's unintentional interference allowed the Predacons to seize the module. Later, when the Predacons captured the female proto-human Una to assist in constructing a massive energon disrupter cannon, Rattrap single-handedly rescued her.
When Megatron found the derelict Nemesis and used it to launch an attack on the Ark, Blackarachnia found that Rattrap's sword-tail made a perfect power conduit... once she snipped off the tip.. As the victorious Maximals left Earth in a refitted Autobot shuttle, Rattrap was more than surprised to learn that Megatron's clone of Dinobot was responsible for saving them, but very happy—they were going home, and they wouldn't have to see Megatron until after they got there, as he was strapped to the roof of their shuttle.
Beast Machines[]
After the Beast Wars ended, the Maximals finally made it back to Cybertron, only to be shot down, hunted and attacked by legions of mindless Vehicon drones. The drones unleashed a virus on the Maximals, devolving them back into their organic beast forms and erasing any prior memory of the event. Rattrap was hiding in a monorail car when Primal stumbled upon him. Primal's newfound intuition soon reunited the pair with Cheetor and Blackarachnia. Primal then led them to the ancient Oracle computer, which reformatted them into new, techno-organic bodies, curing the virus. In his new form, Rattrap became a large green rat with a "toolkit" on his back, containing such things as flashlights and computer ports. However, the reformatting changed them so that transformation now required a new level of emotional mastery and control, rather than a simple command code. The four Maximals found themselves alone on Cybertron, struggling to understand their new forms while waging war against an army of nonsentient drones controlled by Megatron.
Rattrap's inherently selfish and practical-minded nature worked strongly against him in the new conflict. He struggled in vain to learn the technique for some while. Trapped in beast mode and unable to participate fully in the Maximals' battles, he often became a liability under fire, causing friction in the Maximal ranks. He eventually resorted to using a counter-virus—a transformation enhancer designed by Megatron—but it quickly caused his transform sequences to go berserk until it wore off.
Rattrap finally managed to transform properly when motivated by a selfless concern for his companions...and immediately discovered that not only did his robot mode lack ranged weaponry, but he'd also interfered in an ambush that the other Maximals were planning. Their angry rejections of him afterwards drove him to seek "noisemakers" from the one source left on Cybertron: Megatron himself! Outfitted with a massive armored suit, he nearly came to blows with his fellow Maximals over this "deal with the devil" until Primal arrived and talked him down.
In time, Rattrap learned to make the most of his limits, expanding his abilities with inventive techno-gadgetry and creative weapons such as plant-bombs that ensnared Vehicons in instant-growth vines. His skills at infiltration, hacking, and covert movement proved even more useful in the urbanized environs of Cybertron than they had during the Beast Wars.
When Botanica joined the Maximals, she and Rattrap argued fervently, suppressing an attraction that soon surfaced and blossomed into love. When the Maximals were trapped aboard the Grand Mal, the shields cut off Botanica's life-sustaining connection to Cybertron. To save her, Rattrap loaded her onto a lifebuoy and launched it through the ship's shields. The desperate action saved Botanica, but also allowed Megatron to learn the ship's shield harmonics, enabling the Vehicons to bring down the power-depleted vessel swiftly. Rattrap defended his actions to Cheetor and Primal: "I did what I had to do!"
Rattrap and Botanica fell while defending the techno-organic orchard that the Maximals had been nurturing beneath Cybertron's surface, and their sparks were collected along with the other Maximals' by Megatron's drones. When Primal's sacrifice triggered the reformatting of Cybertron, their sparks were freed and quickly returned to their bodies. As they witnessed the newly greened Cybertron and the restored population, Rattrap leapt joyfully into Botanica's arms.
Personality[]
Rattrap is irreverent, cynical, pessimistic and sarcastic; hardly the qualities expected from an Autobot or Maximal. While he is not without redeeming qualities, these aspects of his persona are nearly always at the forefront of any situation he finds himself in, making it difficult for the other Maximals to like him. Though not one to look on the bright side of things, Rattrap is no coward. He is highly adaptable and often comes up with solutions to problems on the fly. While these solutions do work usually, he'll probably be grumbling and making snarky comments all the way through it.
Forms and abilities[]
Original form[]
Rattrap served as the Maximals' spy, carrying a number of observational and listening devices on his chassis such as infra-red scanners, radar and telescopic viewfinders. He also possessed a heightened sense of smell, allowing him to track targets over great distances. His beast mode, a large rat, allowed him to burrow and sneak through narrow crevices as well as travel in relative silence.
Though primarily a spy, Rattrap was also proficient with a number of weapons, though he typically relied on a proton pistol as his standard firearm. He also used a number of demolition and sabotage devices such as magnetic bombs.
Transmetal form[]
After being caught in a quantum surge wave, Rattrap's body was mutated into a new Transmetal form. In this state, he gained greater resistance to environmental hazards and temperature extremes. His beast mode also acquired a new "rolling mode", granting him wheels and a high-performance engine that allowed him to cross terrain at up to 160 mph.
For his robot mode, Rattrap gained a new weapon; his rodent tail could be used as a sword or polearm-styled weapon for close-quarter combat.
Technorganic form[]
During the Sparkwar on Cybertron, Rattrap and the other Maximals were reformatted and gained new bodies that were a perfect fusion of organic and mechanical material. Rattrap initially despised his technorganic form since he had difficulty transforming out of beast mode, and when he finally managed it he was frustrated to find out that he had wheels instead of legs and no weapons.
Rattrap's techno-organic body is suited primarily for sabotage and engineering purposes. He carries a toolkit on his back filled with all manner of handy gadgets for disrupting enemy activities and his tail serves as a computer jack that allows him to hack into digital systems.