Today’s Monster Transformer is the Terrorcon bulette, Rippersnapper! He’s a blue and white landshark that doesn’t like you at all. In fact, just seeing organic creatures is enough to send him into a frenzy. According to the cast list for the G1 season 3 episode Money Is Everything, he would have been named Frenzy if that name wasn’t already being used by the 1984 Decepticon cassette.

(Cast list courtesy of The Sunbow Marvel Archive)

Going off of his original tech specs his function is terrorist. Definitely a product of an earlier time. He wields a Cyclone gun and ground-to-air voice-guided missiles, but he seems to be the the type to prefer mauling his enemies. He and the other Terrorcons merge into the super-robot Abominus.

(Image courtesy of Zabgoth and TFTechSpecs.com)

Rippersnapper and the other Terrorcons showed up late in G1 season 3; sometimes working for Galvatron, sometimes working for the Quintessons. Rippersnapper joined the other animal-moded Primitives in their quest to find a way to defeat Tornadron and he and his teammates acted as a catalyst for the Hate Plague by attacking Swofford and Morgan’s Silicon Valley laboratory to steal their heat-resistant alloy and injuring Jessica Morgan in the process. He was only seen as part of Abominus in the 3-part Sunbow series finale, The Rebirth.

(Above: Rippersnapper is tossed into the Dinobots by Trypticon’s shaking in Call of the Primitives)

In Japan, though, Rippersnapper played a much larger role in Takara and Toei’s Headmasters series. He and his teammates were repeatedly used to keep the Autobots busy while Galvatron or Sixshot pursued their secret plans. After Galvatron was disposed, Rippersnapper served under Scorponok in assaults against Planet Master and Earth. Rippersnapper was seen once again in the Japanese series in Transformers Zone, again as a part of Abominus.

Rippersnapper also had two commercials in Hasbro’s market. In one the Terrocons are battling the Technobots. In the other the Terrorcons are woefully outmatched as they go up against Fortress Maximus.
Click the video below to watch the initial ad spot.

In the US Marvel comics, Rippersnapper was part of Scorponok’s group that chased Fortress Maximus to Nebulos, and then later to Earth. He fought in the battle for leadership between Scorponok’s forces and Ratbat’s in the Arctic. Not long afterward Rippersnapper, along with many other Transformers, was destroyed by Starscream after the treacherous Decepticon absorbed a portion of the Underbase. Rippersnapper never appeared again in the U.S. comic run, though he does return in the Marvel UK issues and Classics comics that were set in the Marvel Transformers universe’s future.

Rippersnapper and the Terrorcons were also featured in issue #3 of the Blackthorne Publishing Transformers in 3-D comics, battling both Autobots and Destructons as part of Abominus.

(Above: Cyclonus and the Terrorcons attack the Autobots in The Transformers in 3-D #3)

In IDW’s Transformers comics, Rippersnapper and his Terrorcon brethren hunted down Megatron on the Planet of Junk as would-be assassins. Later they tried to find Sixshot and were captured and almost executed by the Reapers. Still later Rippersnapper participated in an attempt to disrupt the Trial of Megatron. Finally, in Metroplex, Rippersnapper faced off against the Dinobot Slug, and defeated him.

(Above: Rippersnapper gloats above the fallen Slug in Windblade #3)

Rippersnapper received an updated action figure for the Power of the Primes toy line in 2018, and featured collectors cards that each featured a different power up he would receive if he combined with one of the 13 Primes. One of the more interesting ones was how Rippersnapper would gain the ability to tear the fabric of space-time in fits of anger if he linked with Vector Prime.

Well, that’s all for Rippersnapper for now. There’s more to his story, but it’s more than we can go into in this spotlight. Check back in tomorrow to see who will be our Monster Transformer of the Day!

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(Above: Rippersnapper’s 1987 box art. Image credit: Botch’s Transformers Box Art Archive)