Rattrap's History
Rattrap was a warrior in the Maximal resistance after Megatron took over Cybertron.
As the Maximals sailed back to Cybertron, Megatron shook himself free of the shuttle, disappearing into the time vortex. Though Rattrap initially rejoiced at the sight, especially when they then exited into Cybertron's orbit, the shuttle was quickly shot down. Upon emerging, the Maximals found themselves overwhelmed by the Vehicon Tank Drones who unleashed a gaseous virus on them. As a Transmetal, Rattrap was able to resist the full effects of the virus, though at the cost of his upgrades and being locked in beast mode. Unable to remember anything since boarding the shuttle, Rattrap hid in a monorail car where Primal stumbled upon him. Although Rattrap wanted to hide in the train car, Primal snatched him up and escaped just as the tank drones fired upon him. Primal's newfound intuition soon reunited the pair with Cheetor and Blackarachnia. Primal then led them to the ancient Oracle computer, which reformatted them into new, techno-organic bodies, curing the virus.
In his new form, Rattrap became a large green rat with a "toolkit" on his back, containing such things as flashlights and computer ports. When they first faced a platoon of Cycle Drones, the Maximals discovered that they were unable to transform. Rattrap asked if maybe they could return the upgrade, but Optimus soon stumbled on the fact that they needed to focus their inner selves in order to transform.
Optimus set about teaching the other Maximals how to transform, but Rattrap had an immense amount of trouble, unable to get anything to happen. Their base discovered, the Maximals split up to find a new one, Rattrap accompanying Optimus on his search. When they later tried to gain entry to the Council Citadel, Rattrap found his inability to transform caused him to be pretty much useless in battle. He was only saved from some Tank drones by Optimus interrupting Megatron's concentration.
The other Maximals kept the Vehicons busy while Rattrap broke into the Cybertron Archives, only to find the ancient library had been wiped clean. After a disorderly retreat, Rattrap followed Blackarachnia to the spaceport, where they encountered three new Vehicon generals. They managed to evade the trio and accessed the spaceport records of their arrival, discovering that there had been six of them on the shuttle. Blackarachnia headed for the shuttle's location, and Rattrap overheard a communication from Megatron indicating that he was going to access her mind when she accessed the shuttle computer. Rattrap dashed to the shuttle and cut the connection in time, and the pair were subsequently rescued from the three generals by Optimus and Cheetor.
The discovery of information about Silverbolt and Rhinox reawakened memories of them in the Maximals, who set out to find the missing pair. During the search, Rattrap found a transformation enhancer in a laboratory and, frustrated at his inability to transform, used it. Unfortunately it caused unpredictable effects, resulting in the four Maximals being captured by Tankor. Taken to Megatron, the Maximals were in danger of having their sparks extracted, however Rattrap's spontaneous random transformations broke him free of the energon bonds, and he was able to free everyone. With the help of Tankor, who Optimus temporarily convinced to help them, the Maximals escaped.
Rattrap's failure to master transforming continued to frustrate him, causing him to snap at Primal and bluntly suggest the Maximal leader save his concern for Rhinox and Silverbolt. The Maximals subsequently encountered another Maximal, Nightscream, who had survived Megatron's purge. After a brief battle with Aero Drones, during which Rattrap was forced to hide, Nightscream took the Maximals to the tree he had been living off. Rattrap, Blackarachnia and Optimus ate fruit from the tree, causing their beast instincts to overcome them, until Cheetor blasted the tree.
With Optimus Primal weakened after reformatting Nightscream, Cheetor was left in charge, and he, Rattrap and Blackarachnia went on a mission to a Vehicon factory in search of information. While under orders to access the computer, Rattrap saw Nightscream in what looked like deadly peril... and finally found that his concern for others allowed him to transform. Though he realised straight away that his new robot mode lacked weapons, he attempted to save Nightscream anyway, only to discover he'd bungled an ambush his friends were planning. While trying to stop the factory operating, he managed to send a massive surge through the computer system, destroying the factory- at the same time temporarily crippling Megatron and putting his drone armies out of commission.
Back at base, Cheetor chewed out his behaviour. To make matters worse, he compounded the problem by transforming to robot mode within the base to prove that he could- something that potentially allowed the Vehicons to track their position. Though he suddenly realised that the power surge he'd caused had made Megatron weak, the other Maximals refused to follow his suggestion that pressing to the attack might be a good idea, and he would later overhear them discussing what to do about him. Upset, he left the base and went to Megatron, offering to protect the Vehicon leader overnight in return for "noisemakers", and was provided with a massive armored suit. As the other Maximals arrived, accusing him of being a traitor, tensions mounted between the two. Indeed, this controversial decision almost brought him to blows with the other Maximals, until Primal arrived and talked him down, telling the other Maximals that Rattrap was stronger than they knew. As a result, Rattrap abandoned the armored suit and walked into the sunlight with the other four Maximals.
Not long afterwards, the Maximals found a factory full of empty Transformer bodies, which Rattrap examined. and discovered that the sparks had been forcibly ripped out. After another skirmish with the Vehicons, Blackarachnia revealed she'd discovered that the three generals held the sparks of their missing friends. While Nightscream and Blackarachnia kept the other Vehicon generals busy, Rattrap and Cheetor went on a special mission. Rattrap hacked into Tankor's processor, unlocking memories about what had happened when they reached Cybertron. It didn't take long before he realised that Tankor was actually Rhinox. Though Cheetor was skeptical, they revived Tankor, only to find themselves being chased across the city by the enraged Vehicon. Eventually, Primal was able to reawaken Rhinox's personality, only for the Maximals to discover their friend had turned against him. Though Rattrap was about to reprogram Tankor, he was prevented by Optimus, and could only watch as their friend left.
While Rattrap was trying to extract memories from Nightscream, the young Maximal's snide comments about the fact they had lost the Beast Wars angered him. The Maximals attempted to find the chamber containing the fruit tree again, leading to a fight with the Vehicons during which everyone was knocked out, and Nightscream abducted. The Maximals managed to find him, leading them to battle more Vehicons, and the discovery of a fossil cave which they would use for their base. With Optimus and Cheetor now constantly coming to blows over leadership decisions, Rattrap would often find himself in the middle of their arguments. The latest such argument was cut short when the Maximals discovered a quantity of organic goop, which was followed by the appearance of Tankor, who used the Key to Vector Sigma to turn Nightscream into technomatter before himself overloading. As they'd discovered that the organic goop would cure the technomatter sickness, Rattrap accompanied Primal and Cheetor in trying to obtain a Mole Drone in order to drill for more goo. Having commandeered one and cured the technomatter, Rattrap found himself in the middle of another argument, and this time left them to it, forcing them to talk about their disagreement.
Searching the computers for more locations to find the organic goop, Rattrap stumbled on a catalyst planted there by Tankor. He used it to superaccelerate the plant growth, only to find himself literally carried away by the vines, and having to be rescued by the other Maximals. They would later use the fast-growing vines to rescue Blackarachnia, against Optimus's wishes, an act that almost spelled doom for the orchard. The Catalyst Nonetheless, Rattrap used the catalyst to create plant-bombs that ensnared Vehicons in instant-growth vines. When Optimus discovered the location of the Plasma Energy Chamber, which would end all technological life on Cybertron, the other Maximals persuaded him not to use it. Instead, they had Rattrap attempt to hack into the computers to found a way to disable the Keys. Unfortunately Tankor had other plans, and disabled Rattrap by zapping him into technomatter.
Restored to technorganic health when the conflicting energies of the Keys and the Plasma Energy Chamber cancelled each other out, the Maximals visited the Council Citadel, where they discovered the remains of Optimus, Megatron and Tankor. Rattrap checked out the city's central core and reported it was flat-lining. Though he was greatly discouraged, Cheetor announced they had to find the lost sparks. After an altercation with the two remaining Vehicon generals, the Maximals went to the Oracle chamber, where they found Primal floating with in the Oracle. Though he asked for them to forgive him, Rattrap told him there was nothing to forgive. With some encouragement from the Maximals and an encounter with the Matrix, Optimus chose life, returning to them.
Returning to the surface, the Maximals were startled when a giant likeness of Megatron floated into view. While Optimus tried to contact Megatron's spark, the other Maximals went to look for the Vehicon generals, and found Noble, a completely organic Transformer who had seemingly no control over his transformations into a huge beast dubbed Savage. Noble made Rattrap extremely uneasy and he had little sympathy for Nightscream's friendship with the beast. The Maximals broke into the Council Citadel, eventually reaching the throne room, where Rattrap tapped into Megatron's control harness and attempted to access the encrypted data. He was pulled from the harness by Noble, who it turned out was Megatron himself, trapped in his own organic half. Megatron used spark extractors to remove his spark, and soon took up residence in the giant floating head, reactivating the Vehicon drones. After the Maximals retreated to a safe place, Rattrap expressed his sorrow to Nightscream that Noble had turned out to be a con job.
Rattrap developed a new device, combining a spark extractor with a DNA scanner, which he hoped to use to reformat the Vehicon generals back into their friends. While searching for Nightscream, he spotted the young Maximal being dragged away by Savage, who was by then sparkless and operating completely on instinct. Believing the worst, Rattrap attempted to quietly rescue Nightscream, but accidentally alerted Savage. The pair fled, and managed to lose Savage by diverting his attention to Thrust. They found that Blackarachnia had used Rattrap's device to turn Jetstorm back into Silverbolt and Rattrap was overjoyed to have at least one of their friends back. Hate Plague virus created by Megatron infected the Maximal ranks, causing the Maximals to fight among themselves. With Optimus's help, they realized what was happening and managed to work together to overcome the virus.
A spaceship crash led the Maximals to discover Botanica, a Maximal formatted as a plant-based life form, who was able to lend a hand with the failing technorganic crops. hough the Maximals were finding they had an easier time dealing with just Thrust, Megatron soon introduced two new Vehicon generals—Obsidian and Strika—who almost got the better of the Maximals until a vision prompted Botanica to lend a hand.
Searching for a way to evade the Vehicons, Rattrap developed scrambled field generators, which hid their life signs. Rattrap and Botanica were paired up to search for the lost sparks, but spent most of their search bickering, only to encounter Strika. Fleeing, they hid in a handy building which turned out to contain a holographic entertainment unit, much to Rattrap's delight. While he was immersed in an illusion, Strika attacked. Botanica yanked him out of the holographic world, and he subsequently used the device to keep Strika occupied. Though he was inordinately pleased with himself, Botanica dragged him from the building, saying the hologram wouldn't hold Strika for long.
As the Maximals intended to infiltrate the floating head in search of the missing sparks, Rattrap provided upgraded versions of his scrambled field generators. They were used to great effect, as Rattrap, Primal, Blackarachnia and Botanica snuck aboard the flying head, only to discover that Megatron had begun to devour the missing sparks as part of his ascension. After Megatron made the mistake of killing Noble, Nightscream used his sonic attack to blast and apparently dissipate Megatron's spark. With the floating head plummeting, Rattrap managed to activate the manual controls so that Optimus could take control of it.
After the Maximals had celebrated their foe's demise, Optimus assigned Botanica and Rattrap to tend to the technorganic orchard, much to Rattrap's dismay. He continued to complain, even as he worked on the orchard, and got into an intense argument with Botanica, which abruptly ended when they accidentally locked lips. Startled and embarrassed, they both decided to delete their memories of the incident. As it turned out, Megatron wasn't gone after all, and his spark possessed a Cycle Drone, which wreaked havoc in the orchard until Botanica destroyed it. Rattrap swiftly found a way to track the spark, and managed to repolarize it, allowing it to finally possess a body for good—that of a Diagnostic Drone.
Soon the Maximals found themselves sieged aboard the giant head. The ship's shields cut Botanica from Cybertron's organic core, slowly starving her. Desperate to save her, Rattrap loaded her into a lifepod and used a device to eject her through the shields. Unfortunately this also allowed Megatron to learn the shield harmonics, enabling the Vehicons to bypass the shields as well. Rattrap defended his actions, but the ship was doomed. He erected a stasis field around the spark containment unit as the ship plunged to the ground. With the ship completely depowered, Botanica showed up with a power cable, and Rattrap was extremely happy to see her, though he clumsily hid it. As they prepared to defend the ship, Botanica thanked Rattrap for saving her life. Optimus was able to get the Oracle to provide them with spark powerups.
During the battle against the Vehicon drones, Botanica sensed Mole Drones attacking the orchard, and took Rattrap and Nightscream down to fight them off. The Moles moved in on Botanica, but Rattrap used his spark power to whisk her out of danger. Megatron was able to use his access to the Oracle to cut off the Maximals' spark power, and, overcome by the Moles, Rattrap and Botanica had their sparks ripped out by Cycle Drones.
Though no longer able to physically help, the Maximals were able to offer brief words of encouragement to Primal during his final battle with Megatron. When Primal's sacrifice triggered the reformatting of Cybertron, their sparks were freed and quickly returned to their bodies. As they witnessed the newly greened Cybertron and the restored population, Rattrap leapt joyfully into Botanica's arms. His and Botanica's romantic moment was interrupted by Waspinator (now regular wasp size and with his Thrust head) complaining about how he never gets what he wants, Rattrap just swatted him away.
