The Energon Pub

2020 is the year of the rat and Takara Tomy has posted a message on Twitter wishing everyone a happy new year (even though that particular new year starts the 25th). Their message also has an image of Rattrap and while that is very little to go on, Takara is known to give hints and clues like this for upcoming toys. Their hint for Cheetor was just the silhouette of a Cheetah acting as a button on their site. And Beast Wars Megatron was just mentioned in passing as something to aspire to one day. Well, all those have come to pass and Rattrap would make perfect sense for the next entry into the Beast Wars masterpiece figures. Or we should make nothing of it, you decide. Below is what they tweeted with the English translation.



Happy New Year ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ It's finished! This year is not just a mouse.

But we already have an MP Rattrap ...



All joking aside, how well does the T30 RT scale or blend in with the BW MPs? I'm not a BW kid, but I do have a soft spot for the old rat.

carytheone wrote:But we already have an MP Rattrap ...



All joking aside, how well does the T30 RT scale or blend in with the BW MPs? I'm not a BW kid, but I do have a soft spot for the old rat.

He's about the right size

carytheone wrote:But we already have an MP Rattrap ...



All joking aside, how well does the T30 RT scale or blend in with the BW MPs? I'm not a BW kid, but I do have a soft spot for the old rat.

hes ok when next to primal, but when compared to dinobot and cheetor hes a bit too small. he should be just about a head smaller then cheetor, just below chest height.

2020 Year of the Rat, yay!

Eh, he's not Waspinator, but my wallet's gonna die.

Im sure he will look nice.I think they will be doing him,then Rhinox.Maybe we're getting vehicles in the meantime.

Day 3 of waiting for Transformers Armada masterpiece news.

Wallet: We're all gonna die

Eh, we’re all gonna buy

I dont collect the MP line but Im curious to see what the figure would look like.

I am so ready for a good Rattrap, but I'd prefer more Predacons, please...

Mp Rattrap, only 300 US dollars.
Seriously though I really like the T30 one, they'd have to do some good work to make me want to buy.

I'll bet on the outside and root for Transmetal Rattrap. Not only is 2020 the Year of the rat, but with the Classical elements cycle running concurrent with the zodiac one it is the Year of the metal rat. With Lunar New Year in 3 weeks I expect news to break fast on this one.

What will probably happen is that they'll have a decent amount of die cast in him to justify the metal element for the year of the rat, which will then justify the kinda ridiculous price.

Stormtalon wrote:I'll bet on the outside and root for Transmetal Rattrap. Not only is 2020 the Year of the rat, but with the Classical elements cycle running concurrent with the zodiac one it is the Year of the metal rat. With Lunar New Year in 3 weeks I expect news to break fast on this one.

Are the elemental notions also paet of the japanese animal zodiac or just the chinese one?

I'm hoping we do see a Rattrap, would be cool to do him in the year of the rat

This makes the second time Takara has hinted at MP Rattrap.

From the first hint last year, I'd assumed MP Rattrap was more or less a certainty. I would have thought Rhinox would be next and they'd want to save the smaller figures towards the end of the line? Then again, second/third tier characters have already been put out ahead of him, so who knows when he will debut in this roster.

On the flipside however, those eyeing the fate of MP Tarantulas and MP Tigatron must continue to wait...

My innate cynicism tells me, they will try to inflate his price with added plastic rubbish ala BA's "stand", instead of pricing the smallest MP Maximal honestly.

I sold BWMPs Dinobot and Megatron, I let Blackarachnia be canceled. I was gonna sell Cheetor, but keep Primal.


If this is true, and looks good enough, I might have to do some backtracking.....dammit.


Then again, I vastly prefer the Transmetal version of Megatron and Cheetor, so....

carytheone wrote:All joking aside, how well does the T30 RT scale or blend in with the BW MPs?

It's too big.

Stormtalon wrote:I'll bet on the outside and root for Transmetal Rattrap. Not only is 2020 the Year of the rat, but with the Classical elements cycle running concurrent with the zodiac one it is the Year of the metal rat. With Lunar New Year in 3 weeks I expect news to break fast on this one.

The Transmetals flopped in Japan. The organic-looking beast modes of Season 1 are what the Japanese market prefers.

Besides, when it comes to Transmetals, there is the elephant in the room.

Megatron is the largest character in Season One. Transmetal Megs and Primal loom over that model. Rampage even taller than them and Optimal Optimus is a massive step up from him. Takara have always said Season One would be it for BW MP's. If by some chance Transmetals were to receive such an upgrade, I doubt the pricing would be palatable to many fans/collectors.

I missed the last Rattrap figure so I'm down for this, especially since I've picked up every main Beast Wars MP.

william-james88 wrote:

Stormtalon wrote:I'll bet on the outside and root for Transmetal Rattrap. Not only is 2020 the Year of the rat, but with the Classical elements cycle running concurrent with the zodiac one it is the Year of the metal rat. With Lunar New Year in 3 weeks I expect news to break fast on this one.

Are the elemental notions also paet of the japanese animal zodiac or just the chinese one?

The aspects of the Chinese Zodiac are largely the same throughout eastern Asia, but for the most part people pay attention to the animal only as it's quite complex when one digs deep enough, with animals for the month, day and even hour. Elements and maybe Yin/Yang are the farthest one should go; this year is indeed the year of the Metal Rat, Yang. I happen to be a rat too, Wood, Yang.

I'd expect no Transmetals either for the time being, even if they're easy to engineer with less liberties taken for the show models.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Stormtalon wrote:I'll bet on the outside and root for Transmetal Rattrap. Not only is 2020 the Year of the rat, but with the Classical elements cycle running concurrent with the zodiac one it is the Year of the metal rat. With Lunar New Year in 3 weeks I expect news to break fast on this one.

Are the elemental notions also paet of the japanese animal zodiac or just the chinese one?

The aspects of the Chinese Zodiac are largely the same throughout eastern Asia, but for the most part people pay attention to the animal only as it's quite complex when one digs deep enough, with animals for the month, day and even hour. Elements and maybe Yin/Yang are the farthest one should go; this year is indeed the year of the Metal Rat, Yang. I happen to be a rat too, Wood, Yang.

Interesting, I didn't know that was more than the Chinese zodiac nor do I know much more than surface details anyway. I've read that I'm fire dragon, but didn't know there was a yin/yang as well. I'm looking forward to the next year of the dragon figure as I "missed" the last one

LE0KING wrote:Mp Rattrap, only 300 US dollars.
Seriously though I really like the T30 one, they'd have to do some good work to make me want to buy.

While the Generations Rattrap is a great toy, it's not slavishly cartoon accurate like the rest of the Beast Wars Masterpiece figures. Whereas the Generations toy has a realistic rat mode, Beast Wars Masterpiece Rattrap would no doubt go for a very cartoon accurate rat mode that probably would look just as good standing in beast mode as it does on all fours, something no Rattrap toy has accomplished to date (though the Generations one can stand, it looks like he's got robot legs for his belly, instead of fully covered up robot parts which is where I assume the Masterpiece figure would get it's complexity).


Transformers Generations Rattrap Gallery