Razorclaw (BW)

Razorclaw is a Predacon from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Know that I am the original Beast Wars Razorclaw.

Razorclaw isn't your ordinary Predacon. True, he's got the same ambition to be in charge as pretty much every other Pred out there, but what sets Razorclaw apart is his approach. Where other Predacons weasel, backstab and connive their way to power, Razorclaw just waits. By loyally and efficiently serving his superiors, rather than declaring himself the boss the minute they trip over a loose wire, Razorclaw will sidle up to the top. Sure, that may take a while, but what this crab has in abundance is patience.

Razorclaw also applies this attitude towards hunting Maximals. He'll quite happily lay at the bottom of the ocean, waiting as long as it takes for some hapless schmuck to wander by, not noticing him thanks to the cloaking field his beast mode provides. And when they do, he'll attack, paralyzing and then crushing them in his massive claws. Provided they haven't rusted shut by then, at least.

Fiction

3H comics

CITIZEN SNIIIIIIIIIIPS!

After the Beast Wars came to an end, Razorclaw was activated on Earth by the duo of Tarantulas and Ravage, along with other programmed Predacons Spittor and Iguanus. Primeval Dawn Part 1 Primeval Dawn Part 2 He was sent into battle with Primal Prime and his Vok-backed warriors. Primeval Dawn Part 3

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Razorclaw was originally one of the Maximal protoforms held in stasis pods aboard the Axalon. However, his fallen pod was remotely reprogrammed as a Predacon by the time-travelling Magmatron and his forces, along with more than a dozen other Maximal protoforms. The Gathering #1

He joined Magmatron, Ravage, and the other Predacons in their battle against the traitor Razorbeast and his Maximal compatriots. The Gathering #4

2005 IDW continuity

Razorclaw was one of Onyx Prime's Maximals. When the Maximals invaded Cybertron, he was one of the many warriors who wound up battling Arcee and fell to his death when Arcee disrupted the gravity generator in Nemesis. Unforgivable

2021 Beast Wars comic

Come into my parlor, said the spider to the... crab?

The Cybertronian who would become Razorclaw was one of the many Maximal protoforms aboard the Axalon. To eliminate the Maximals and Predacons, Tarantulas and the Vok brought every crashed stasis pod they could find online and reprogrammed the protoforms within into loyal "Children of the Vok". Together, they attacked the crashed Darksyde in an attempt to take out the Maximal-Predacon alliance; when Razorclaw went up against Blackarachnia, the female Predacon easily overpowered him and trapped him in a web cocoon.

Eventually, when the Maximals and Predacons destroyed the Vok themselves, their remaining followers agreed to a truce and left to live peacefully in the wilderness. The End

Toys

Beast Wars

I love my pet 'cause he's a crab.

• Razorclaw (Basic, 1997)

• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the first wave of second-year Beast Wars Basics, Razorclaw transforms into an orange and transparent-blue fiddler crab. Unlike first-year Basics, Razorclaw's transformation is entirely manual rather than spring-loaded. His large claw hides three "cyber spikes" that can be revealed by pushing a lever back. His other claw hides a small non-firing "blaster rifle". Both weapons are available in both modes.

He also has a heat-sensitive energon chip located on the underside of his left shell-half, which reveals a Predacon sigil when warmed up.

In Japan, Razorclaw was only available as part of a 1998 mail-order catalog theater-goers could buy from.

• More information on Razorclaw at TFU.info

Craaaab people, craaaab people. Taste like crab, talk like people. Craaaab people, craaaab people.

• Razorclaw (Basic w/ video, 1998)

Razorclaw was later re-released in the Transmetals/Fuzor-themed third year of Beast Wars, this time redecoed into a metallic teal and maroon color scheme, and packaged with a VHS tape containing the Beast Wars cartoon episodes "Aftermath" and "Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)".

This pack was released at general retail as its own wave alongside a redecoed and VHS-came-with Airazor.

This toy was released in Japan with the most minimal of changes as the Beast Wars Neo Maximal Rockbuster.

• More information on Video Razorclaw at TFU.info

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Razorclaw (レーザークロー Rēzākurō)
• French: Pinceur (Canada, "Pincher")
• Italian: Granchius ("Crabus")
• Spanish: Cangrejon (America, "Crabon")