That’s…a pretty good point, actually. I’d never really considered it myself because, like Six, this point has never really bothered me about the episode, but in terms of writing to keep things consistent (not to mention keep a few more people happy down the line) a few extra lines like that might’ve gone a long way. So you’re right on that, I gotta give that one to you (plus I kinda feel bad because I feel like I’ve been more of a dickface to you than usual in this thread. Sorry about that. I’m gonna recommence arguing here though: )Sparky Prime wrote:Seriously, all they'd need to do is actually explain why Rattrap has no where else to turn but Megatron. We already know time is of the essence before Megatron recovers so say like... maybe by the time Rattrap goes to see Megatron he says he'd already checked a weapons storage only to find it cleaned out (save for maybe the one bomb he throws at Tankorr a few episodes later), and the drones weapons are booby trapped so that no one could try and steal those. *gasp* Suddenly if Rattrap wants a weapon Megatron is the only guy he can turn to, solved in a matter of one or two lines and takes care of a little plot hole in another episode.
All that said, I would like to point out that it seems like the writers were less interested in showing that Rattrap was out of options than they were in illustrating that he had fallen so low, confidence-wise, that he was willing to go to Megatron to return to what he used to be.
There’s a difference between the way the Maximals treat him in BW and BM, as well as the contexts of each. In BW, especially towards the beginning, these are just his shipmates, and they’re just getting on his case for whining all the time, but they don’t actually demean him or tell him he’s useless. Hell, in ‘Coming of the Fuzors’ Rattrap’s the first guy Dinobot tosses a shiny new gun to and asks him to come support him in a battle against all odds. Rattrap may be a whiner, and he knows he’s a whiner, but he’s also a seasoned veteran who will support his teammates, and knows they count on him for it. Flash forward to BM, and now his so-called friends are berating him for his lack of combat ability, telling him he’s worthless, that he can’t help them at all, and that they’re considering *cutting him loose from the team*. That’s insane, there are just five of them fighting against Megatron who’s got control of the whole planet, you’d think they’d take all the help they can get, and he’s the guy they want to *drop* from the team, they just consider him that useless. There’s a world of difference between you and your co-workers giving each other shit in between scouting missions, and your friends telling you that you’re useless to them and they don’t want anything to do with you anymore.The other Maximals were constantly getting on his case in Beast Wars too but there he seemed to enjoy the banter and would often push back, particularly with Optimus and Dinobot. And when the chips were down he still took responsibility for himself. It's not that Rattrap is insecure or scared, he just doesn't want to get hurt/killed. No body does. The difference with him is that he vocalizes it. A lot. As I've been saying, he still shows confidence when he confronts Megatron. He tries to blackmail him for the weapons for crying out loud. That doesn't suggest a character who has reached his breaking point, and confidence isn't what he is after there. He just wants the weapons from Megatron because that's how he is used to fighting. The thing is, Rattrap is a survivor, a scavenger and a thief. And the whole planet is shut down for the pickings. It would be so much easier for him to find another option that actually suits his personality than it would be to go deal with Megatron.
Rattrap may have been attempting to acquire weapons, yes, but the core issue was that that lack of weapons and the way he was treated because of it had shattered his confidence. What he puts up when he talks to Megatron is clearly a bluff, made evident by his hesitance and inability to kill Megatron once Megs calls him out on his lack of assuredness in himself, as well as him leaving the weapons behind at the end. If the episode was really about him trying to get weapons, wouldn’t he take them with him at the end? No, because thanks to Primal, he got what he was really after: his faith in himself.