Zob's Thoughts on Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Ratbat and Beastbox

[Zobovor]

So, when these toys first came out about a year ago, I was vaguely interested in Ratbat and Beastbox, by merit of looking like Classics-era updates to a couple of G1 characters (Beastbox is an Autobot, but we'll let that slide). They went on clearance at my store, which is the only reason I finally nibbled. (I really should be saving my money for Titans Return instead of buying random trinkets, but I have this theory that if I don't buy at least one new toy once a week, I will die. Please don't make me put that theory to the test!)

RATBAT

So I picked up Ratbat first, a few days ago, and he's been sitting here on the computer desk while I think of what I want to say about him. These toys didn't perform too well, at least in the stores in which I've seen the pegs consistently stuffed full of them, and I think I understand why. They're barely Transformers on their own, and don't transform into anything recognizable. I am given to understand that there are Deployer-type toys that these are designed to interact with and are capable of launching them, but there's no indication of this anywhere on their packaging. That's not very good marketing. (I think it's at least referenced in their instructions, but I opened both these toys in the car and that's where all their packaging and paperwork are at the moment.)

I've decided that Ratbat is the first official Lipole toy. His transformed mode reminds me a lot of the creatures that transformed into missiles from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 3, so there you go. It's pretty neat how he basically transforms himself for you. You just pry his wings apart and he essentially handles the rest, through his internal gears and such. I wouldn't want every Transformers toy to be designed this way, but once in a while it's kind of neat. Also, he's amazingly cute. Cuddly wuddly widdle robot bat face. And his wing tips have little "feet" so you can stand him up. He's mostly the right colors for G1 Ratbat, too. Perhaps a tad on the reddish side of purple, but he still makes it work.

What I don't get is his accessories. They're wacky. In theory he should have just been like one of the toys from the Energon days, with lots of see-through accessories which I've been trained to accept as energy weapons (don't know if that's still applicable nowadays). The problem is that they're so incredibly tiny. Like, some of the smallest official Transformers accessories in history, with only micro-sized parts like Masterpiece Wheeljack's side-view mirrors beating them out. If I were a small child, I would have lost six of these before I even got him home. He looks rather silly wearing them, too. There are a couple of flame-like things you attach to his wings; a couple of blade-like things you put on his wing tips; guns for his back; a knife for his butt; etc. Eight in all. Some of them have pegs, or peg-holes, that don't seem to correspond to any access points on Ratbat proper, so I suspect they're meant to attach to other toys (like the Deployers) or perhaps the accessories themselves combine somehow. More research is indicated.

He can transform wearing all of his electric blue robo-jewerly, which in and of itself is kind of a neat trick. As a weaponized Lipole, he's mighty scary-looking. He won't interact with or fit inside any of the Soundwave toys I own, but at least if he never gets a proper modern-era Generations update (I'm not really sure if the Data Disc counts), I have this toy sitting around that fits the bill.

BEASTBOX

I picked up Beastbox yesterday because new toy, and then I had something to fiddle with on the way out to the Layton Surf N' Swim (and something to console me after my defective G2 Menasor that I returned was taunting me on the shelf at Toys "R" Us). Like Ratbat, his transformation is almost completely automatic. You swing the monkey arms forward, and in doing so, his monkey head is revealed and his arms move together somewhat with respect to each other. Unlike Ratbat, he does not remind me of G1 Beastbox at all, and I freely admit I bought this toy based solely on the name. If he had been called Monkey Shines or Prime-8 or Bananarama I wouldn't have touched him.

Beasty here also has eight energon-flavored accessories, this time a striking orangey orange (according to the Trix Rabbit this is a real flavor), and when he's properly dolled up he is a monkey ready to go berserk. A full face shield, daunting shoulder armor, gauntlets, and a pokey-out thing for his back. What does the pokey-out thing do? Why, it pokes out, of course. Ba-dum ching.

Impressively, he can wear the full regalia even when transformed, though the obvious mask betrays his hidden robo-monkey face. Also, when transformed and wearing the armor, he looks a lot less like a hockey puck or whatever he's supposed to be, and more like a robo-monkey who is slightly folded up.

My store never even carried the Deployers toys that are supposed to launch these things, so I couldn't really experience the full interactivity of these toys now even if I wanted to. I have a liking for tiny Transformers, though, and these guys are exactly the size I would have slipped into my pocket and smuggled to school 30 years ago.


Zob (wishing I had a Generations-era stand-in for Squawktalk now, though)