Generations Power of the Primes Rippersnapper
Rippersnapper was the Shark monster Terrorcon. For some reason I never cottoned on he was meant to be a shark when I was younger, the significance of the fin on the back of his gun evading me. The arms and legs, not noted features on a shark, distracted me and I think I thought he was a T-Rex or similar, something reinforced by the reuses of his Cyberverse Legion version. But an odd shark monster with arms and legs he is!The original Rippersnapper was always short and squat in robot mode, with very small arms, so it almost feels odd to see the same design stretched out to the proportions of a Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes deluxe: he almost feels too tall and thin now! The arms especially feel quite long & spindly, but as we'll see they're pulling double duty as the beast mode arms too and to facilitate this he has Wolverine style claws on the back of his hands. The hands are worth drawing attention to because they turn! I can't remember the last time I saw a rotating wrist on a deluxe and nowadays they're increasingly rare on Voyagers and Leaders! In addition to the wrists he has ball joints at elbow, shoulder, neck & hips, his waist turns and his knees bend.
Rippersnapper come with two long thin symmetrical guns, attached to his back out the package. I think they're meat to be each barrel of his old Shark's fin gun but they just lack the character the older weapon did. They can be rotated down out the way, or left pointing up over the shoulders, or removed to act as hand guns. However before you remove them it's worth noting that there's probably a right way round to be mounting them on the back and it's not how they're mounted out the package. The reasoning for this won't become clear till beast mode though!
He also come with Prime armour, which is moulded the same as that found with the Dinobots, and both the armour and it's cover/gun are in the same blue as his arms. I've got two Rippersnappers but one of them has a cover/gun that doesn't quite hold in place. It's the only Power of the Primes toy I've had this problem with. The Prime armour itself attaches to the chest via a 5mm peg hole, concealed under a flap on his combiner connector.
Transformation: Remove the Prime Armour and, if you've moved them, attach the guns to his back. Turn the head 180°. Fold the beast head forward over the robot head, concealing it, and tab into place. Rotate the waist 180°. Open the back of the lower legs and fold the upper legs down into them before closing again. Tab the robot lower legs and tail halves together, folding the tail out. Unpeg the beast legs, a shallow peg on the body recessed into the inner side of the knee, and pose. Rotate the wrists so the claws are on top of the hands.
The beast mode is the original toy's shark monster but upscaled and with added articulation. Arms retain what movement they had in robot mode, legs have ball jointed hips and bending knees. The mouth opens, revealing his face if you've forgotten to rotate the head during transformation. The fin is now moulded into his back giving the gun barrels the freedom to fold forward or back. Now I think that when folded forwards, pointing out beside his head, the little Primemaster peg on each gun should be on top, allowing a Prime or Titan Master to stand on the gun and for the sight to be on top of the barrel. Another pair of footpegs is provided just behind the fin plus a pair of tabs on his lower back for attaching his Prime Armour in this mode.
The Dinobots were good updates of their originals but on the strength of these two mode alone Rippersnapper is the stand out deluxe in Power Of The Primes so far. He's just so fun.
But Rippersnapper also functions as a combiner limb, primarily for Abominus.
Leg Mode: take the beast mode and fold the tail forwards under the body. Fold each knee forward and peg onto the rear of the body. Bend each arm then rotate 180° at the elbow so the arm points back and then tab onto the body. Fold the beast head back, fold the combiner connector out rotating the robot head into the body. Fold the beast head onto the beast's back.
Solid functional leg. No complaints here.
Arm Mode: Take the robot mode and tab the legs together. Fold each beast leg knee forward bringing the feet in. Bend each arm then rotate 180° at the elbow so the arm points back and then tab onto the body. Fold the beast head back, fold the combiner connector out rotating the robot head into the body. Fold the beast head back onto the robot's back's back.
Decent arm mode too. All the beast parts lock easily enough, no loosely hanging kibble.
Win Win all round. Best POTP deluxe.
Rippersnapper is sold in Power of the Primes deluxe wave 2, with 2 of Sludge, 2 of Snarl and 1 each of Moonracer and Blackwing.
Generations Power of the Primes Blot
Since Blot & Rippersnapper are both bipedal monsters, it's not a surprise to find them sharing parts but it isn't a huge amount. The Prime Armour, waist, hips, upper legs and Combiner Connector are the same on both toys albeit cast in pale purple for Blot.Future Repaints
The Terrorcons have led something of an interesting life as recolours of their Beast Hunters versions: Rippersnapper & Blot appear in Predacons Rising as Clear Rippersnapper & Clear Blight, in Transformers Go as the purple Jurara and red Burara and in Transformers: The Last Knight as the black Glug & Gorge.Ripprsnapper has also been used as Cyberverse Cindersaur, though a repaint as that is unlikely thanks to the forthcoming Legends. However Rippersnapper has also been a Cyberverse version of Grimlock no less than four times now for Age of Extinction, the Generation One Legions, another Age of Extinction Legion and a Toys R Us 2 pack.
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