Ravage (G1)


 * Ravage is a Decepticon and Predacon in the Generation 1 and Beast Era continuity families. He is a chronic time-traveler.



No Decepticon has a stronger loyalty to Megatron than Ravage. Ravage believes unwaveringly in the Decepticon cause, and Megatron embodies that cause. To serve Megatron, Ravage has become the most efficient and deadly war machine under his command. He hides himself in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike with grim accuracy. His name is synonymous with stealth. His survivors are few.

Ravage's only weakness is bright light, which can temporarily blind him. Perhaps his absolute loyalty to Megatron can blind him as well.


 * Japanese name: Jaguar
 * Italian name: Jena
 * Swedish name: Hunden

Fiction
According to the UK book Dinobot War, Ravage's cassette tape mode is disguised as the soundtrack to Cats.

Marvel Comics continuity
(Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)



''Ravage was loyal bodyguard for the Overlords, the Autobots that once ruled all of Cybertron, for Generations. He witnessed as their planet-wide rule crumbled into a loose collection of feuding city-states.''

During the Vos-Tarn war, Ravage, his partner Nightstalker, Megatron and Optimus Prime.

''While escorting the last Overlord, an enfeebled mechanoid who required constant re-energization to survive, out of the city of Tarn during the Vos-Tarn war, they were pinned down. Though the Overlord was near death, Ravage refused to give the Overlord any of his energy, instead allying himself with Megatron, whom he believed would be the future ruler of Cybertron.''

''As for Nightstalker, he blew himself up in order to take out the forces that pinned them down, proving just how gullibly loyal Autobots could be. Ironic how Ravage would make that same sacrifice for his leader millions of years later.''

Animated continuity
Voice Actor: Frank Welker (US) Yutaka Shimaka (Japanese speech)

One of the original team of Decepticons that accompanied Megatron on the attack of the Ark spacecraft, Ravage was reformatted by Teletraan-1 as an audiocassette to better blend in for operations based on Earth. Ravage served loyally as a Decepticon spy. He was one of the first Transformers to have been encountered by a human, as workers investigating a destroyed power station fell afoul of Ravage who pounced upon them and frightened them away.

Shortly thereafter, Ravage accompanied Soundwave on an infiltration mission to gather data from Teletraan 1. Though Soundwave was discovered, Ravage was captured in an energy net and held captive. The Decepticon spy figured into a disinformation plot hatched by the Autobots, who purposely leaked the presence of a rocket fuel depository in the outlying desert. In truth, there was no rocket base -- Autobot Hound projected a holographic illusion in the hopes of luring the Decepticons into a trap. The Autobots allowed Ravage to escape and report back to Megatron, who easily saw through the ruse.

Timelines: Dawn of Future's Past
Although he never shows up in the comic, he is mentioned as being recruited along with fellow Mini-Cassettes Laserbeak and Buzzsaw by the Predacon Divebomb, but for some reason left them soon afterwards to become an operative for the Tripredacus Council.

Toy Bio

 * Shadow Panther
 * He looks like a Maximal, but he is really a Predacon. His thirst for the hunt can only be satiated by attacking many Maximals. Keep an eye on the darkness, for that is where Shadow Panther lives.


 *  Metals Jaguar
 * The process of becoming a Predacon has cost Ravage some of his early Decepticon memories. His ability to become invisible is called Reflect Shade. His orders are to rid the planet Energois of Transformers.


 * Tripredacus Agent
 * This lone assassin may look like a Maximal, but his irradiated spark is that of a Predacon. He was saved (and presumably rebuilt into a Transmetal 2) by the Vok. He can hide his energy signature, thanks to his unusual spark. In his history as a Predacon, he has adopted many names to better suit his covert line of work. His weapon is a low-radiation proton bomb launcher. As he loves the dark, the light is his weakness.

Beast Wars
Voice Actor: Lee Tockar (US), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japan)

Ravage is one of the few Decepticon warriors who was granted amnesty at the end of the Great War and reformatted into a Predacon. He was sent by the Tripredacus Council to capture Megatron, clean up any messes he might have made, and deal with the rest of the beast warriors. Ravage made the trip to prehistoric Earth in a specially modified stealth Transwarp Cruiser. He successfully contacted the Maximals and allied with them to capture Megatron. Due to the stealth capabilities of his ship, and the fact that Tarantulas was also an agent of the council, Ravage and the Maximals easily captured Megatron and imprisoned him.

Megatron, however, had one more card to play. He knew that Ravage wasn't going to let any of the Beast warriors live, and also knew he had the one thing that would turn Ravage to his side. Using a fragment from the Golden Disk, Megatron played Ravage the message on it from the original Megatron. Ravage, still driven by loyalty to his Megatron, joined the Predacons and turned on the Maximals.

His latest treachery was short lived. During the assault on the Axalon, Rattrap infiltrated his ship and caused an explosion that destroyed the vessel and Ravage himself. His head, seemingly all that remained of him, was knocked into the water below the Axalon by one of Tarantulas' spider-drones.

IDW Beast Wars comics


Magmatron recovered Ravage's heavily-damaged torso, which still contained his spark. He then inserted the spark into a blank protoform, and Ravage was reborn. In his Transmetal 2 body, he and his fellow Predacons, under the command of Magmatron, sought out Razorbeast's band of Maximals. Viewing from a safe distance, Ravage ordered his soldiers to engage. Additional Maximal forced arrived, however, and Ravage's forces were defeated. Ravage retreated into the wilderness.

(Despite being a continuity that borrows heavily from other G1 continuities, where it is suggested that Ravage is completely loyal to Megatron, before attempting to revive Ravage, Magmatron suggests that Ravage's most important loyalty is to Ravage himself. This could simply be Magmatron's opinion, however, and is not necessarily indicative of Ravage's true loyalties.

''Ravage never uses his robot mode in this story. Instead, he stands up on his hind legs in beast mode.'')

Primeval Dawn comics
An undead Vok-infested Tarantulas revived Ravage (in his Tripredacus Agent TM2 body) to help boost his forces. The remnants of Ravage's previous body were recycled by the Vok to re-create Tigatron.

Binaltech
Ravage's part in the Binaltech storyline is a bit more complicated than past incarnations. Several years prior to the line's continuity, government-run Intelligence and Information Institute (or Triple I) unearths a msyterious black box during an archaeological dig. After years of probing, the container, dubbed "Schrödinger's Box" by the group's scientists, was revealed to be the flight recorder of Predacon Ravage's stealth ship, containing a copy of the feline's personality and memory engrams. When the scientists found a way to communicate with this personality, it offered them its knowledge of future events in exchange for a new body. Triple-I agreed, and used a fake Binaltech project to provide their part of the bargain. However, to truly bring the new Ravage to life, Triple-I stole the present-day Ravage - who had been somehow captured by the Earth Defense Command and stasis-locked into his cassette mode - and implanted him into the new Ravage, thereby 'fusing' the old and new Ravages into one.

This new Ravage, however, had no intention of fulfilling his end of the bargain and, after eliminating his benefactors and learning to his shock that history did not change in his faction's favor, decided to rectify his mistake. First on his agenda was his former commander, Megatron; stealing an Autobot shuttle, he located and repaired the Kronosphere and - during a decisive battle between Megatron's and Optimus Prime's forces that would have normally ended with the Autobots being forced off of Cybertron and into their moon bases - turned the weapon on his own faction, trapping Megatron and his crew in a space-time rift. This alteration in the timeline served two purposes: first, it would give the Autobots the chance to retake Cybertron, which would then lead to them having to face off against the oncoming Unicron alone, severely weakening them in the process. The second, and more important, purpose was to keep Megatron alive and in good health, thus preventing him from becoming the insane Galvatron, and allowing him to lead the Decepticons to victory over the battle-weary Autobots. Ravage also reformatted Shockwave into a new Binaltech body of his own, so he could lead the remaining Decepticons in Megatron's absence, and secretly drailed many of the Autobots' supply missions, further weakening them for their battle with the Chaos Bringer.

Unfortunately for him, the Autobot named Overdrive became aware of Ravage's meddling in history, thanks to his acute sensitivity of the timestream, and - with the help of Wheeljack - captured the wayward Decepticon and forced a confession out of him. Ravage, however, was not without a trump card, revealing that his alterations may prevent the deaths of many of the Autobots destined to die in the normal timeline (which, as a distinction between the two, was dubbed 'Prime Time' by Wheeljack, Ravage's altered timeline being called 'Ravage Time'), though in the grand scheme of things, only Optimus could not be considered expendable, as he contained the one thing that could bring down Unicron (the Autobot Matrix of Leadership). By the time of his capture, however, Unicron had already been sighted on a collision course with Cybertron and, despite the temptation of preventing future deaths among his ranks, Optimus decided Ravage's plans to be too dangerous to allow to come to fruitition. To that end, he ropes Ultra Magnus into helping him fly to Unicron in a preemptive strike against the monstrous threat, while the other Autobots (left in the command of Skids), were to initiate "Operation: Distant Thunder", which involved sending a copy of Wheeljack's memories of what Ravage confessed to them, back in time to a point prior to the Decepticon panther's meddling, via the energies located on Dinobot Island. If "Operation: Distant Thunder" worked as planned, Ravage's plans would be foiled, and any tremors in the timeline he caused would be smoothed over by "Project Body Shop" (aka, the Binaltech project). However, just as Skids gives the signal to transmit the memory engrams, the Autobot base is rocked by an entire fleet of Decepticons. It is unknown as of now if "Operation: Distant Thunder" succeeded or not, or what Ravage's fate will be.

Beast Wars Metals manga
(Note: although it picks up after the first season, the Beast Wars Metals manga is not in-continuity with the television series.)

In the Beast Wars Metals manga, Metals Jaguar was portrayed as G1 Jaguar's homicidal son, with Jaguar taking the design of the Happy Meal Panther toy.

Kids Stuff Read-Along book
Ravage immediately recognized what a hydro electric station was, a method of generating power used on Cybertron "way way back in the mists of time," when Transformers were not much more advanced in science than humans are now.

This suggests that Ravage is among the oldest of the Decepticons (even Megatron only feigned familiarity with this form of technology), or that he's a serious student of ancient energy generation techniques.

Generation 1

 * Ravage / Rumble (Caesstte, 1984/1998/1986/1987)
 * Japanese ID number: 19, D-59, D-104




 * The first Ravage toy transforms from a robotic jaguar (or whatever) into a microcassette. In cassette mode, he can fit into the tape compartments fo the Soundwave and Blaster toys.  For his Hasbro release, he was sold on a card along with Rumble in 1984-1986, and as an individual with an extra clear-plastic tape-case by Takara from 1985-1987.


 * This mold was later used to make Glit and Howlback.


 * Soundblaster (Transformers Collection, 2005)
 * Japanese ID number: 18




 * The Transformers Collection reissue of Soundblaster (the rebuilt form of Soundwave from the Japanese Headmasters series) came with bonus "Cassettrons" Jaguar (Ravage) and Buzzsaw. Both came with their own extra tape-cases, and small stickers depicting the 'weak points' of Fortess Maximus.


 * Soundwave (Decepticon, 2007)


 * Hasbro's reissue of Soundwave is a redeco of the Transformers Collection Soundblaster, coming with the double-tape door and both Ravage and Laserbeak as pack-ins.

Beast Wars

 * Shadow Panther (Deluxe, 1996)
 * Japanese ID number: D-7




 * This toy is a redeco of the original Cheetor toy in black, silver, and yellow, transforming into a generic big feline. His tail/flanks separate to form a non-firing blaster, while his underbelly forms a water-shooting "gut gun" that can be used in either mode.


 * Much later, this toy was offered through Hasbro's online collector service under the name "Tripredacus Agent", with an online bio indicating he was the same character as Ravage (then called "Tripredacus Agent" due to trademark isuues).


 * This mold was also used to make Tigatron, and was planned to be used for the cancelled Universe toy Nightprowler.


 * Jaguar (Deluxe 1999)
 * Japanese ID number: X-9




 * Beast Wars Metals Jaguar is a heavy retooling of Transmetal Cheetor, just as Ravage's robot mode CG model in the show is an altered Transmetal Cheetor. He transforms into a robotic big cat, with flip-out thrusters for a third "flight" mode (not, as in the episode, into a cassette tape that plays wicked 1980's style electric guitar, for obvious reasons). His forearms each have a spring-loaded flip out pistol stub, which can be extended with add-on barrels that clip to his rear legs in beast mode.  his tail also can detach to forma whip-weapon, but he doesn't hold it very well.


 * Tripredacus Agent (Deluxe, 2001)


 * This Wal-Mart exclusive is a redeco of --wait, can you guess?-- Transmetal 2 Cheetor, in black, silver, and gold, transforming into a monstrous techno-organic (but not technorganic) big cat. He has a spring-loaded missile launcher on his cat-mode back that can be removed and used as a hand-held weapon, plus his tail detaches to forma hand-held flail.  His left forearm has a flip-up blaster-shield (of dubious usefulness), while flipping up a panel on his right-rear leg reveals his spark crystal.

Smallest Transforming Transformers

 * Soundwave (2003)
 * Japanese ID number: GTF 05




 * The Smallest Transforming Transformers version of Soundwave comes with a teeeeeny version of Ravage, which does actually transform into a microcassette that fits in the tape-case door. Smallest Ravage may very well be the actual smallest functioning Transformers toy made.

Alternators

 * Battle Ravage (2004)
 * Japanese ID number: BT-11




 * A retooling of Alternators Tracks, "Battle" Ravage transforms into a 1:24-scale licensed replica of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible, with opening doors, hood, trunk, plus a "realistic" driver/passenger compartment. Each robot-mode forearm contains slide-out (non-firing) double blasters.


 * This mold was also used to make Alternators Swerve.


 * Ravage (Alternator, 2007)


 * The second version of Alternators Ravage transforms into a 1:24-scale licensed Jaguar XK (appropriately enough), with all the normal bells and whistles inherant in the line (opening doors, seats, etc). This is a toy of many "firsts"... not only is he the first Alternators character with two distinctly-different toys, he's the first Decepticon Alternator with a original mold (well, alongside Rumble, but still), and the first Alternators character to have a non-humanoid "robot" mode, as his non-car form is now a quadrupedal big cat.

Merchandise

 * Ravage Decoy
 * Decoy ID number: 49


 * Coming packaged at random on carded Transformers toys during 1986, this is a soft-rubber version of Ravage in his jaguar mode. He --like all Decepticon Decoys-- was available in both purple and red, with the red version being considerably rarer.  These are not erasers!

Trivia

 * Ravage's original packaging art is by far the most-copied depiction of any Transformer. It was, of course, adapted for his Transformers Universe profile, but was also used (twice) in 1985's "back-of-the-box" battle scene , was copied in licensed coloring books and storybooks, and the pose also showed up repeatedly in the Marvel Comics.   In "Time Wars, Part 2" (Marvel UK #200), artist Robin Smith copied the art multiple times across several subsequent panels.  Yikes.