Ratbat (G1)


 * Ratbat is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.



Cold-blooded and obsessed with efficiency, Ratbat's primary concern is looking out for himself. He treats his responsibilities, whether as a fuel auditor or as leader of Decepticons, as a business. In his book, everything comes down to profit and loss.

In his role as fuel scout, Ratbat carries sensors that allow him to detect and evaluate the quality of fuels of various types, from primitive hydrocarbons to energon. He can process any number of these different fuels to power himself.

Although obsessed with efficiency, like any good CEO, Ratbat allows himself a small indulgence: he enjoys sinking his fangs into the fuel tanks of Terran automobiles, the more expensive the better. He enjoys nothing more than savoring high-test gasoline siphoned from a hapless yuppie's Beamer or BMW.

Ratbat is also the best Decepticon leader ever.

Italian name: Stridek French-Canadian name: Vampiro

Marvel Comics Continuity
Ratbat was one of the many Decepticons left on Cybertron, where he rose to the critical post of fuel auditor. With a drive towards extreme efficiency, he would rarely countenance unnecessary risks. After the fall of Lord Straxus, Ratbat emerged as the most powerful Decepticon in Polyhex.

Ratbat grew increasingly dissatisfied with the inefficient use of fuel by the Decepticons based on Earth under the command of Shockwave and developed schemes to improve the planet's output. He dispatched hypnotizing machines with the hope of taking over the minds of many humans and using them to deliver fuel at minimum cost to the Decepticons, but this plan was disrupted by the intervention of the Autobots' ally Buster Witwicky.

Ratbat allied with the Earthbound Decepticons but remained dissatisfied with the leadership of Shockwave. When the Earthbound Autobots briefly left the planet in Ark, Ratbat was at the forefront of a new Decepticon reign of terror and kidnapped Buster Witwicky, taking him to the Decepticons' island base.

When the Autobot Headmasters and Targetmasters besieged the base the Decepticons were forced to flee by deploying its rocket facility. In the process of departure, Shockwave was shot down in space and seen heading towards Earth, apparently dying, and Ratbat declared it would be inefficient to rescue him and so, instead seized command of the Decepticons for himself.

Of all the leaders of the Decepticons on Earth few came closer to outright victory than Ratbat. He followed the Autobots under Fortress Maximus when they set out to unite with those under Grimlock and launched an all out attack that resulted in huge casualties and the Autobots being briefly stranded on the Moon.

Later, Ratbat promoted the newly recovered Starscream to the position of second-in-command and set out to learn the truth about the legendary Underbase, which could seemingly make a Transformer supremely powerful. Ratbat was determined to attain its power for itself but this ambition was shared by Starscream. The latter lured the separate Decepticon faction led by Scorponok to a meeting with Ratbat's forces which soon resulted in conflict between the two, allowing Starscream to seek the Underbase for himself. Both Decepticon factions allied with the Autobots in fighting against Starscream, suffering huge casualties in the process. However both Ratbat and Scorponok independently suspected that the Autobot leader Optimus Prime had plans to seize the power of the Underbase for himself and they set out to stop them. Seconds later Ratbat was dead, shot in the back by Scorponok.

Animated Continuity
Voice Actor: Frank Welker (US), Yoshitada Ōtsuka (Japan)

Like the other cassette tape Transformers that turned into animals, Ratbat was not capable of speech, and was likened more to a pet than an equal member of the Decepticon forces. However, in the Japanese series, he and the other cassettes possessed the power of speech, though their roles seemed no different. Ratbat first appeared in Scramble City in Japan and The Transformers: The Movie in the US.

Blackthorne Comics Continuity


Ratbat secretly plotted to rule the Decepticons by posing as the mentally-unstable Galvatron's witless pet and sole confidant.

Cyclonus worried about Galvatron's unhealthy attachment to Ratbat. When Searchlight foiled Ratbat's search for mysterious energon-producing aliens by causing Galvatron to accidentally step on him using Scorponok, Galvatron stopped fighting to rush to Ratbat's side, distraught over his actions.


 * (Note: Blackthorne Ratbat appeared to have the ability to change size from his parrot-like perch on Galvatron's shoulder (at right) to a giant bat large enough for a Throttlebot to ride on.) This fits in with his abilities as described in his expanded Marvel comics profile.


 * (Another Note: Blackthorne's Ratbat was absolutely adorable. He is love.)

Dreamwave Comics Continuity


Millions of years ago, before the Transformers crash-landed on Earth, Ratbat was the leader of a sub-faction of Decepticons called the Ultracons during the time when Megatron had disappeared. Megatron's return saw the Ultracons reintegrated into the Decepticons. At this point in time, Ratbat possessed his original Cybertronian form, able to transform from robot mode to jet. However, at a later date, after the Great Shutdown, when Shockwave established control of the planet, many Transformers including Ratbat had their bodies reformatted into Earth-themed modes, leading to Ratbat's bat/tape body. It was noted that he was not pleased with its unimposing nature compared to his original structure.

When next we saw Ratbat, he had been freed by Starscream from imprisonment, and was given to Soundwave, implying a past connection - it is entirely possible that Shockwave may have viewed Ratbat as a threat to his control of the planet, and deliberately gave him a weak body and imprisoned him to keep him out of the way.

Generation 1

 * Ratbat / Frenzy (Cassette 2-pack, 1986)


 * Ratbat transforms from a robot bat into a microcassette that can fit in the chest compartment of the Soundwave and Blaster molds. He was released in a two-pack with Frenzy in 1986 in the US and European markets.  The toy had either gold or silver weapons, and painted or sticker cassette detail.  It is unknown if the color of the weapons correspond the the detailing types.


 * It is worth noting that Ratbat's tiny "ears" are among the more easily-lost parts in the original Generation 1 line.


 * Ratbat (Cassettron, 1986/1987)
 * Japanese ID number: D-61, D-107


 * In Japan, Ratbat was released as an individual toy. He came with a clear-plastic cassette storage case, like all other Japanese releases of the cassettes.  It is unknown what weapon/tape-detail variants were available in Japan.