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Japanese toy blogger Alfes 2010 has shared some great images of Takara Tomy's Transformers Generations TG-19 Grimlock an TG-20 Ratbat. Grimlock comes with a more a more accurate red abdomen as well as various other alternate paint applications. Ratbat is a reuse of the Generations Scourge mold with the the alternate head first seen on Scourge's instruction sheet. Both feature the line's signature metallic paint. Check out the images mirrored below.

Ratbat looks awesome.
Grimlock on the other hand...
The dino mode looks awesome, but why put red on the stomach area?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Superwheeljack wrote:The dino mode looks awesome, but why put red on the stomach area?

That's why:

Plus, it's also accurate to his model in Fall of Cybertron.



I'm still surprised Hasbro hadn't announced Ratbat on Saturday. Perhaps they're saving their strength for SDCC in about two weeks?

Is that bat mode for Ratbat? That looks really cool

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is that bat mode for Ratbat? That looks really cool

Yep. It seems unofficial, but it would be pretty cool if they make an appearance in his instructions.

Anyone else see this when looking at Ratbat?

#Sideways# wrote:

Superwheeljack wrote:Ratbat looks awesome.
Grimlock on the other hand...
The dino mode looks awesome, but why put red on the stomach area?

It's "game accurate."

And it looks awful.

The bat mode alone is worth the price of that toy.

As for Grimlock, I've never been a fan of his FoC head sculpt. Looks like he's got puckered lips. Replacing that with a rescaled MP Grimlock head would be an improvement.

I don't have a problem with the Grimlock, looks pretty good to me but then again I'm not a huge Grimlock fan. However I am a Scourge fan. I was resistant to the stealth bomber mode a few years ago but I have to admit it grew on me.

I understand the need to reuse molds from a cost perspective, really I do. But that being said I'm having a really hard time accepting the Scourge mold as Ratbat. And one gets the impression that this was planned that way from the beginning (obviously, given the "instructions" error). I'm sure the protocol at HasTak when a designer proposes a new mold idea is "Who else can we use this mold for?" But Scourge & Ratbat...c'mon that's a stretch. I see the need to ditch the cassette alt mode to update for modern times but there had to be something better than this. And give him a slightly different gun just for a changeup, instead of the Targetmaster replica gun. Though I do really like the color scheme and all but that's just not Ratbat to me.
The idea I've had is to remove one of the heads from my Scourge cannon fodder troops and paint it purple to match the Ratbat body to create a hypothetical "Royal Guard" Scourge. The idea being that after a temporary victory of Galvatron he would use these to guard citadals around Cybertron. Hell, I used two Skyshadows as smelting pool gaurds with red axes to stand behind my Straxus figure. I know...sacrilege right? LoL

Is it me or the pictures? The paint isn't as metallic as I thought they were suppose to be.

G1 Legacy wrote::-?
I don't have a problem with the Grimlock, looks pretty good to me but then again I'm not a huge Grimlock fan. However I am a Scourge fan. I was resistant to the stealth bomber mode a few years ago but I have to admit it grew on me.

I understand the need to reuse molds from a cost perspective, really I do. But that being said I'm having a really hard time accepting the Scourge mold as Ratbat. And one gets the impression that this was planned that way from the beginning (obviously, given the "instructions" error).

Of course it was planned. Its sort of an in-joke now with Scourge and Ratbat.

Back in the Universe line we got this Ratbat out of Cybertron Sideways.



It was subsequently repainted as Scourge for the 2009 Botcon Set.



So of course the new Scourge mold is going to be used for Ratbat.

Also this is supposed to be Senator Ratbat in the comics, who had a robot mode before becoming Soundwave's scout as opposed to just Cassette Ratbat.



With that said, he looks awesome. I think the mold works pefectly for Ratbat.

And the colors are fantastic.

I kind of like Grimlock too, but I think the Platinum Series Grimlock is going to be the better and cheaper choice now.

@ Overcracker

Thanks! Yea, I knew about the comic thing and I meant to mention that but I got sidetracked. I get that Hasbro is really trying to solidify the connection between the current Deluxe figs with what's been going on in the IDW universe given that we're between blockbuster movies this year, and that seems to be a wise move although I'm not sure how many kids are reading RID and MTMTE these days.
Now what made a lot of sense was the info on the Universe line. I took a near 15 year break from TF collecting after G2 and although I dabbled in RID in 2001, I just couldn't quite get into it but when the Classics started in 2006 I was hooked again...but my knowledge on a lot of what occurred in between is blurred. So the explanation on that was most helpful. I still don't plan to purchase Ratbat unless they release him stateside and then I'll most likely modify it as mentioned.
Other than costs my biggest issue lately has been the reduction in plastic with the new deluxe's. It looks like Trailbreaker, Hoist, and Skids will be out of scale with the other classics figs...but I digress.

Overcracker wrote:I kind of like Grimlock too, but I think the Platinum Series Grimlock is going to be the better and cheaper choice now.

If you're in for accuracy, not Platinum Grimlock; he's basically the Hasbro one but shinier. Plus, he's only available with the Platinum versions of the Fall of Cybertron Combaticons, who are basically their SDCC release. With them in the mix, you're looking around $100 or more.

So pretty much, compared to Platinum Grimlock, Takara's Grimlock is the better choice.

That Ratbat is very sexy. Grimlock, on the other hand, doesn't seem much better than his Generations version.

Normally, I've stayed clear of the United and Generations stuff out of Japan simply for the fact that their shinier paintjobs would look amazingly out of place with my North American retail figures, and in no way do I have the kinda scratch to shell out to replace all my current dudes with their shinier imported doppelgangers.

That said, Ratbat is a senator. So any shiny he brings to the table is pretty well par for the course. Looks like I'll have to pop on down to Ages Three and Up when they get theirs in, been looking for an excuse to get out that way again.

Not interested in Grimlock, but after seeing Ratbat's "bat" mode (which I modified slightly using Scourge) I'm really considering getting him for the first time

Don't really want to pay Takara prices for something that doesn't really have a place in my collection... but that bat mode...

Sabrblade wrote:Still surprised Hasbro didn't announce Ratbat at BotCon this year.

Well, SDCC is Ratbat's last hope, if they plan to announce and reveal him there.

Well it's paid for from BBTS, just waiting for it to ship. FYI the Takara figures don't stand out nearly as much as you think from their Hasbro counterparts.