Ratbat (WFC)

The name or term "Ratbat" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Ratbat (disambiguation).

Ratbat is a Decepticon Minicon from the War for Cybertron portion of the Aligned continuity family.

Ratbat was the Minicon representative for the High Council in the days before the great war. He was well known for being corrupt and in the pocket of the wealthy elite. The general opinion was that he believed only what he was paid to, and only while the payment was good. When the war began he left that position, along with fellow Council member Contrail, to join Megatron's Decepticons.

Fiction

Exodus

Ratbat generally made useless interjections during Megatron and Orion Pax's hearing before the High Council, humiliating Orion when he joked he could imagine an end to their session when the young librarian complained the caste system had rendered the society imaginationless. Ratbat became more serious when Halogen began to concur with Orion and Megatron's beliefs, and was informed that no matter what, it was the beginning of the end for the castes.

Ratbat then mentioned attempts to find the Matrix of Leadership had been made by the rebels, and uncharacteristcally commented since it had not been found, the Matrix was unwilling to give itself up. This in turn led to the Council's unanimous vote for Orion to become Optimus Prime and be given the quest to find it. An enraged Megatron killed Halogen, declared war and called the Decepticons to follow him. Optimus noticed Ratbat boarded Contrail and left with the Decepticons. During the war Polyhex, Ratbat's home, quickly fell to the Decepticons. Teracycles later, Ratbat's cowardly survival was notable enough for Teletraan-1 to inform Omega Supreme of it. Transformers: Exodus

Notes

• What exactly Contrail and Ratbat were doing is rather unclear. It seems very likely they were already of Megatron's camp, given that they leave with the rest of the "secret" Decepticons in the Council Chambers at the end of that confrontation. If so, their outward aggression during procedures was probably intentional, masking leading questions to influence the direction of the meeting... But if that is so, why did they then vote for Orion Pax as the new Prime? This was clearly not part of the infuriated Megatron's plan. Yet regardless of this apparent betrayal they felt safe enough leaving with Megatron's Decepticons.
  • When asked on Twitter, Alex Irvine said "Megatron knows that sometimes you have to say one thing and do another... don't think there are hard feelings [between him and the senators]."[1]

• Ratbat is described as being the Minicons's representative to the Council. So it's not surprising that he's often described as being tiny and scampering. As of the end of the story, he's also the only Minicon that is depicted talking, versus communicating in beeps and tones. (Rumble and Frenzy are said to be able to, but use the coded beeps and tones when it's quicker or more efficient.)