In the shadows with Ravage!

(Writing about the good guy cat Cheetor, got me inspired to write about a bad guy cat, and so I naturally went with Ravage, I know I touched on him in another post but there is more then just one toy with this shadowy cat and more story too!)

As far as Iconic Transformers go, Ravage comes to mind very easily! Although he has not had a lot of toys he still has had a rich history crossing multiple alternate realities. In one these stories, they used two of his past occurrences to present a nice current version of him and I will get to that a little bit later so please hang in there. From the start Ravage has stood out, as a black jaguar he in some instances is about the size of a real wild cat of that nature. (In other scenes he is bigger or even smaller and this can be explained by his size shifting ability to transform into a cassette tape.) Kid’s were naming their cats after him, he was that cool. The sound of Soundwave saying: “Ravage eject!” in that metallic sounding robot voice sent thrills up children’s spines. So now we will get into the toys.

1983 – TAKARA released their first wave of Microchange toys and the second one to be created was:

MC-02 Jaguar. A black puma who transformed into a micro-cassette similar to the first one titled as: MC-01 Micross a blue robot (later used for Frenzy.) and MC-03 Condor a red bird of prey (later used for Laserbeak.) Who were created to go along with MC-10 Cassette Man (who would later become Soundwave.) He came with two silver chromed plastic rocket launchers that attach to his hips.

1984 – Hasbro used the Takara’s MC-02 Jaguar to create:

The first Ravage and of course he is basically the same as his original in colors and using metal lower legs and of course his two silver chromed plastic rockets. Later in years he has a hard time standing and is better in cassette mode or in a slumped down crouching stance to watch from the shelf for prey, but for a 31 year old cat that is about as good as it gets. (I know this because I own one and he is in cassette mode inside Cassette Man’s tape deck. Who stands in the middle of my Soundwave / Blaster shelf.) He was released in a two-pack with Rumble (who used the MC-01 Micross mold but was done in red and was solely made for Hasbro.) He was used in recon and other shadowy missions for Soundwave and Megatron who he was very loyal to, as of the end of Marvel‘s comic series his fate was unknown and this is point A in a sub-story I talked about earlier and will get to soon I promise! When IDW took over the comics and continued the original series to 100, Ravage‘s fate is explored. He was the sole remaining robot on Cybertron, all the others either were off world or turned into shadow beings and Ravage almost became one of these shadow beings but Shockwave and Starscream saved him and they had some adventures… He has been re-released quite a few times since: 1984/1985/1986/1987/2005 /2007/2009 this includes the encore versions that has some slightly different paint appications.

1996 – with such a long break in action Ravage made a return in the Beast Wars Cartoon and toy line. Ravage was one of the few Decepticons who was granted amnesty at the end of the Great War and reformatted into a Predacon, he was given a humaniod type robot body but could also change into a cassette type devise but it was unknown if he had a puma style body as well. The Tripredacus council on Cybertron (a faction of the Predicons) dispatched Covert Agent Ravage in a prototype cruiser to track and terminate the renegade Megatron. He used his advance ship go to re-historic earth, where he jumped to Megatron‘s side due to his loyalty to a message from the original Megatron’s that the renegade showed him. He was killed when his ship blew up due to the efforts of the Maximal Rattrap. His detached head was seen sinking into the water of earth. Parts of his ship’s fate was unknown and this is point B in my soon to come sub-story yet to come. As for toys he did not initially get a toy but there was Shadow Panther, a black Takara repaint of Cheetor, this toy was re-purposed as Ravage later the same year and now they are considered one in the same:

TAKARA – 1996: Deluxe class Shadow Panther: transforms into a generic looking cat in black, yellow and silver with red eyes. His robot mode is armed with a rifle made out of his hindquarters / tail, and a second gun formed out of his stomach that has a Water-squirting gimmick. He features a second flip down mutant head that replaces his standard robot face as was common among the toy line.
HASBRO – 1996: Deluxe class “Tripredacus Agent“: basically the same exact toy nut he was only available through Hasbro’s online collector service (but could not be named Ravage due to trademark issues), with an online bio indicating he was the same character as Ravage.
TAKARA – 1997: Deluxe class Wilderness Showdown: Rhinox VS Shadow Panther, no difference except he was shipped with deluxe class Rhinox .

In 1999 Takara released their Beast Wars Metals that Hasbro used for their Beast Wars toys but sadly no ravage for the western world but there was one in the Japanese market:

Takara – 1999: Deluxe class Beast Wars Metals Jaguar: a heavy retooling of Transmetal Cheetor, He transforms into a robotic big cat, with flip-out thrusters for a flight mode. 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 form a whip-weapon, Jaguar‘s chest opens to reveal a flat panel with a factory applied Predacon spark chamber sticker with the option to apply one of two stickers of either an image of the original Megatron from the Golden Disk recording or a Decepticon symbol.

Transmetal 2 sub-line came along in 1999 with an all new toys for everyone but not until later did Ravage get a toy:

Hasbro – 2001: Deluxe class Transmetal 2 Tripredacus Agent: This version is part cat, part robot with a rocket gun stuck in his back. (I have him, he is pretty cool).

In 2004, Hasbro’s Energon line brought in Ravage as drones, he was many and he had to have an addition to his name for licensing reasons so while they were at it they gave two different versions:

HASBRO – 2004: Deluxe class Battle Ravage: Transforms into a robotic predatory cat. He comes with a pair of clear-plastic cannons, one fires a spring-loaded missile, the other is non-firing both can connect to form a bigger weapon. He is mostly black and white with some purple and clear light green parts.
TAKARA – 2004: Deluxe class Battle Jaguar Desert Type: Basically the same as the Hasbro version but uses a darker-richer green.

HASBRO – 2004: Deluxe class Command Ravage: Is a repaint of the Battle Ravage but in light blue, purple, black and some gold chrome but retains the yellow clear parts from the original.
TAKARA – 2004: Deluxe class Command Jaguar Desert Type: Basically the same as the Hasbro version but instead of Gold chrome it has a peach like color.

The release of Alternators were remarkable for their vehicle modes turned into fully licensed models of existing cars, with opening hoods and doors with sculpted seats and rubber tires. I can now get to the sub-story about Ravage I have been taunting you with: It was revealed that, years before, the government organization known as the “Intelligence and Information Institute” had unearthed the flight recorder from Ravage‘s Transwarp cruiser that crashed on Earth during the Beast Wars which contained a copy of the Decepticon’s personality. They were able to contact this personality and made a deal to upload this program into a Binaltech body, giving it a brain but not a spark. To overcome this they had the original Ravage who was statis-locked into cassette form and they sealed him into the car’s cassette player to give the body a spark making him a whole being again. (two odd things here.. one is, why does a 2004 car have such a player in the first place and also this deviates from the later explanation of ravage leaving earth to never return, but this is an alternate reality after all so strange things happen)

HASBRO – 2004: Voyager class Battle Ravage: 1:24 scale black convertible Chevrolet Corvette Z06. He is a repaint of Tracks with a new puma like head. This was really unremarkable and fans were upset about no beast mode, so they tried again a few years later.

HASBRO – 2007: Voyager class Ravage: This version of Ravage was without the “Battle” is an entirely new sculpt, with the alternate mode being a licensed 1:24 scale Jaguar XK , is it the first Alternators character with two distinctly different toys, an original sculpt, the first Alternators toy with a European manufacturer’s car model, and it’s the first Alternators character to have a non-humanoid “robot” mode, as its non-car form is now a big cat.

In 2008 Universe line for the 25th anniversary of the Transformers brand features Ravage in a new-mold toy In his cassette mode, he is compatible with the original Soundwave and can carry the original Ravage‘s weapons although his hips have molded in unpainted tiny versions of his weapons. He came packaged with Autobot Hound and the only difference between the Takara’s Jaguar version is the latter is significantly darker metallic gray on his legs.

With the release of Revenge of the Fallen live action movie in 2009 we saw quite a few Ravage toys. In the movie he was a huge robotic jaguar with one eye.

HASBRO – 2009: Deluxe class Ravage: He has two pivot-able cannons, and by pulling back on the spike on his back, his head will extend forward, ears will swing back, and his jaws will open. He is in black, silver and some light blue accents.
HASBRO – 2010: Deluxe class Recon Ravage: a repaint of the first toy, he is now in black, silver, red with a few yellow accents. He also sports a new tail. In the U.S. He was an mail in exclusive by collecting stickers and an order form from other TF products and paying the shipping and handling costs. In Canada he was a Toys”R”Us exclusive
HASBRO – 2010: legend class Ravage: pretty much a smaller version of the other toy in a metallic grey with metallic yellow highlights.
HASBRO – 2010: Deluxe class Infiltration Ravage: more movie-accurate version of Ravage, in a three pack with Flak, and Rollbar, and 3 NEST soldier figurines. this was an exclusive to the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. His color scheme is black, with more silver and more light blue accents.
HASBRO – 2010: Deluxe class Sea Attack Ravage: A combination of black and light blue plastic with painted silver body parts and cannons, some painted gold details here and there, painted red wings, and an eye cast in translucent red plastic.
HASBRO – 2010: Deluxe class Rampage Among the Ruins Ravage: He came in a three pack with Rampage and Bumblebee and decoed in gunmetal and caramel colors and was a Toys”R”Us exclusive.

In 2010 Takara released a bunch of USB drives:

Takara – 2010: 2GB thumb drive Jaguar: He is black and grey and stored on the drive is an installable program called “Transformers Desktop Defender.” When plugged in, a Jaguar avatar appears on the screen, transforming the thumb drive to Jaguar mode as the program is activated. You can rename it, alter the movement speed and personality, view his function, mission, and tech spec numbers. He can appear as Cheetor, Ravage, or Tigatron and he can eat your desktop icons.

Part of the first wave of Generations Legends Class toys in 2012, Ravage transforms from a “data disc” into a robotic jaguar of course. He can interact with Voyager Class Soundwave and his mold mates Blaster and Sound Blaster. He can be stored and launched out of Soundwave‘s chest compartment, and he features a partial, spring-loaded transformation to cat mode that is triggered when a button is pressed. He comes with a clear-purple plastic case to store him in disc mode. He came in a two pack with Rumble. (I have this one, I like him)

Part of the first wave of Prime: Beast Hunters Deluxe Class toys in 2013, Soundwave came with a tiny little Ravage who transforms from a robotic black jaguar with brown legs into a combat harness that pegs into Soundwave‘s chest via a 5mm-compatible peg on Ravage‘s underside. (I have this one and he is cute, he can also turn into a slasher weapon as well) He was also released by Takara in all black.

The Masterpiece line brought about two ravages based on the same new mold:

Takara – 2013: Masterpiece Jaguar transforms from a fully show-accurate three-dimensional articulated robotic jaguar, into a mini-cassette the same size as the Generation 1 toy. His rockets are no longer separate accessories, and are fully integrated into the transformation. He comes with a pink case which can be used to store him in tape mode, and comes in a two-pack with Rumble.
Hasbro – 2013: Masterpiece Ravage Included with the Hasbro ToysЯUs exclusive version of Masterpiece Soundwave, this Ravage features a slightly different shade of gray paint, and comes with a clear version of his micro-cassette case.