Rattrap
10th Anniversary Edition
February 9, 2011: 10th in a series
Toy Line: Transformers (Beast Wars)
Region, Year: North America, 2006
Essential Weblink: http://www.tfu.info/2006/Maximal/Rattrap/rattrap.htm
The Rundown: The story of 10th Anniversary Rattrap is actually one that involves my attempts to get out of collecting Transformers. Believe it or not, it has happened on a few occasions. I pretty much put down Transformer collecting after the rise of the Powermasters and Pretenders (which may explain why I look at them so fondly today). Other than a few cheap sales, the chance to grab a particular character (Bumblebee was the primary beneficiary of this), or a few other tricks, I really didn’t grab more than a dozen transformers in the fifth, sixth, and final year. I was not even tempted seriously by the introduction of Gen 1.5 in Canada, or by the initial waves of Generation 2. Alas, it was the hyper-articulated Generation 2 Dreadwind and Smokescreen (and closeout prices) that helped open the door again, a door that got stuck on a combination of the wild west days of the Internet (alt.toys.transformers, I’m looking at you!) and, later, the introduction of Beast Wars.
And then somehow in the second season, I briefly fell off the wagon again. I don’t know if it was selection or available money, but I pretty much failed to get any of the original Transmetal characters the first time around. As a result, even now, there is a notable difference in the consistency and quality (owing to second-hand finds and the like) for that wave of Beast Wars characters.
Which brings us to 2006 and the 10th Anniversary. Though I am a collector, I do have moments of clarity. As pretty as the characters were, with their new paint applications, and the added incentive of Transmutate parts, in the end I only jumped on two characters. The first, Dinobot, was primarily the fault of a good sale and the right circumstances. I never did follow through on the other four first season characters - Cheetor, Tarantulas, Waspinator, and Rhinox - because I had perfectly fine additions of these characters the first time around (I similarly resisted the Fox Kids repaints of these characters, but for different aesthetic reasons). I also avoided them too because, forced to choose between the North American renderings and Japan’s Tekemocha edition, I opted to throw my money to imported toys.
The exception was Rattrap. Why Hasbro didn’t just two pack basic Terrorsaur and Rattrap together as the sixth in the assortment, I don’t know. Maybe it would have been too close to another Beast Wars mouse and lizard bird two pack. Or maybe it was just easier. In any case, for the only time in the series, they reissued a Transmetal version. And Rattrap, a character I had missed the first time around, was able to come home.
Strangely, this Rattrap was probably the least colour-changed of the line, which says something about Hasbro getting better with the paint applications as the original series rolled along. As a representative of the second season, Transmetal Rattrap also hinted at the possibility of more anniversary toys, something that was not to be.
But I still say a Rattrap / Terrorsaur set would have been very cool indeed!
