Review – Transformers Ratbat and Frenzy

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Soundwave was awesome not only because of his appearance and voice but also because he carried other Transformers and could launch them at enemies. And none of those mini-cassettes that he carried around made me as happy as Ratbat, a purple bat that was released in 1986. Recently I got lucky and grabbed a MOC Ratbat/Frenzy bootleg; it looks a hell of a lot like the original 1986 release and at only $10 was a lot less than buying the originals.

Unfortunately, bootlegs are usually not of the same quality as the original.

Frenzy

Frenzy was originally released in 1984 in a two-pack with Laserbeak. In 1986, for reasons I still don’t understand, Hasbro re-issued Frenzy in the same pack as Ratbat. Why didn’t they just give us a new character — either another humanoid robot or a re-colored Ravage — instead of putting out Frenzy again? Weird choice on their part, but it’s how it went down so kids with Laserbeak who wanted Ratbat got stuck with two copies of this toy.

In cassette mode, Frenzy has the bulk of his “cassette-like” details brought out by stickers. The cassette fits perfectly in Soundwave’s chest, even if it doesn’t quite fold up perfectly. I don’t remember the original Frenzy being this loose so I think a lot of the problems with this particular toy is the fact that it’s a cheap knock-off. Even though it has metal feet and joints, this thing still isn’t the highest quality toy I’ve ever seen. And what’s worse is the head won’t stay up; take a look at his head in the pic above to see what I mean.

Frenzy comes with two weapons, each one of which can either be carried on his arms or plugged into the sockets on his body. They look cool either way, but the ideal arrangement has to be plugged into his back since it bulks up his shape.

He’s not as nice as the Frenzy that I had back in 1986, but he’s pretty good for a cheap imitation.

Ratbat

As cool as Ravage and Laserbeak are, not a single one of Soundwave’s cassettes is as amazing as Ratbat. And it’s not just that he’s a purple bat. No, Ratbat’s transformation design really makes him one of the largest of the cassettes, with his wings swinging out and folding down taking him from 2-inches wide in cassette mode to a bat with a wingspan of about 5-inches (and that’s with the wings in a reasonable position; if you just stretch him as wide as possible then he hits almost 6-inches).

And even though Ratbat had almost no screen-time in the old cartoon, the Marvel comic series took Ratbat from a minor character and elevated him to leader of the Decepticons for several issues. That was a bit of a surprise.

This particular Ratbat toy is better than Frenzy, but it does have some issues. The head and claws don’t stay in place very well and the feet have a tendency to collapse in on the body. Overall he feels more durable than Frenzy, but he’s still a cheap knockoff and you can tell almost as soon as you pick him up.

Closing Thoughts

These aren’t the best Transformers toys that I’ve ever owned, but that’s only because of the production quality of the pieces. The actual designs are fun — Ratbat is one of the best ten Transformers ever designed — and they both team-up perfectly with Soundwave. At $10 this was a great buy, but if I ever get the chance to pickup original versions of these for a reasonable price I may be tempted to trade-up to the real thing.

These aren’t the easiest toys to find, but if you’ve got a classic Soundwave design and need reinforcements then bootlegs might be your best option. At least until Hasbro or Takara decide to reissue all of Soundwave’s cassettes. You know, I wish Hasbro or Takara would give us a box set with Soundwave and all of his cassettes. That would be better than a Shockwave reissue . . . and I really want a Shockwave reissue.

Philip Reed also has knockoffs of Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, and another Frenzy. It’s a great little army, but he could really use the later Decepticon cassettes.