Razor Claw

Razor Claw is a Mutant from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Know that I am Razor Claw. With a space in it.

Razor Claw is a born soldier. Loyal, obedient, and self-sacrificing, he shoulders his burdens as best he can, never complaining or grumbling unduly. To Razor Claw, the mission comes first; he'll gladly follow any orders given to the best of his ability. He accepted the loss of his robot mode with a stoic professionalism—instead of panicking or lamenting his strange fate, he sought out a group of individuals who had suffered similar mutations, becoming a warrior under the command of Icebird. In his new role among the Mutants, he's as determined as ever, charging into battle with a crusader-like zeal. Tearing apart Predacons on the battlefield gives him a purpose in life, but even so, Razor Claw still harbors a secret jealousy towards those Transformers who still possess a robot mode.

Even without a robot form, Razor Claw is far from helpless: in his Velociraptor mode, Razor Claw can deploy a negative ion shield that makes him impervious to firepower. Likewise, his wolverine mode can create a friction-nullifying field that allows him to move at incredible speeds.^[1]

Fiction

3H comics

We hardly knew ye.

The Mutants reported along with the Dinobots and the Wreckers to the Oracle, and were given a vague mission to fulfill: to save Cybertron's future by journeying to the outer Orion Cluster, and restore their "true forms". Departure

However, the mission was nothing but a fools' errand, a set-up engineered by Cryotek and the Quintessons, who were using the Oracle to send false messages to eliminate any resistance to their forthcoming invasion. The Mutants were lured to New Quintessa, taken prisoner, and briefly put on trial. Razor Claw remained adamant that things would turn out okay, despite Poison Bite's protestations. He was proven fatally wrong when the Quintesson leader Derodomontatus sentenced the Mutants to death (big surprise), and unleashed a horde of Sharkticons upon them. Cryotek felt the whole display was a bit much. Betrayal

Icebird and Poison Bite survived the execution attempt, and ultimately avenged the deaths of their fallen comrades. Wreckers: Finale Part II

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

Razor Claw graduated from the Maximal Military Academy. Upon awakening and finding himself trapped in his mutant form, Razor Claw did not panic as others would have in his position. Instead, he calmly started seeking others like him, leading him to the leader of the Mutants, Icebird. Beast Wars Sourcebook

Toys

Mutant Beast Wars

The wolverine mode should probably see a doctor.

• Razor Claw (Deluxe, 2000)

• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Tim Bradley and Masakatsu Saito (concept art)

Part of the first wave of fifth-year Beast Wars Deluxe product, Razor Claw transforms between two organic alternate modes, a Velociraptor and a (green) wolverine. His robot head is revealed by lifting the top of the Velociraptor head; his beast mode eyes are on freakish eyestalks on the top of his head. He notably lacks any other "hidden robot parts" features shared by the other three Mutant toys.

• More information on Razor Claw at TFU.info

Notes

• Razor Claw was listed in Wal-Mart's computer system as "Dinobite", likely an early production name. This name stuck in the system all the way up through the Mutants' release, and even rang up on the register this way.
• Razor Claw's peculiar green wolverine mode is the way it is because designer Tim Bradley colored it solely from the raptor standpoint by accident.^[2]
• Like all of the Mutants, Razor Claw was originally designed to be an Animorphs toy. Given the shape of his robot mode head and its eyestalks, it's apparent he was intended to be an Andalite, likely the heroic Ax. The fact that he was originally designed to be an Andalite may also be the reason Razor Claw's toy lack the "hidden robot parts" gimmick that all the other Mutants share. (Also, the Mutant symbol was applied over where the Animorphs "edged A" symbol was—you can still see the "points" sticking out from beneath the Mutant symbol.)

Foreign names

• French: Balafras (Canada)
• Spanish: Dentellón (Latin America)

References