Cutthroat

Abominable August begins!  I've wanted to complete my Terrorcon collection for quite some time and now the time has arrived.  All this month I'll be showcasing the Terrorcons I currently have, plus what I've purchased to complete the group.  For this initial post, I'll start with a new purchase - Cutthroat!

Cutthroat has always been one of my favorite Terrorcons and in fact, this is my second one.  My original, purchased back in the day, disappeared a very long time ago.  Before I actually get into the actual figure, let's look at Cutthroat's fictional appearances throughout the years.

Cutthroat appeared in the G1 cartoon several times during season three.  He was never a focus character, having always appeared with his fellow Terrorcons.  His first appearance is in arguably one of the most popular season three episodes - "Grimlock's New Brain".  Cutthroat's appearance essentially consisted of attacking a few Autobots, and then getting his tail handed to him by the Technobots.  It's a recurring theme in all of his other appearances other than "Call of the Primitives" where he gets his awesomely animated self drained of energy and rendered inert by Tornedron.  Fun times.

For all of the relative anonymity that Cutthroat suffered in the cartoon, his fame was nonexistent in the comics.  He had a few panels, with his fellow Terrorcons, naturally.  He appeared in the Headmasters mini, then had his arm ripped off by Buzzsaw of all 'bots, and then died a most ignoble death when an Underbase powered Starscream waved at him.  Seriously, this guy didn't do much.  It's not like he fared much better when other comic companies got involved.

Here's the totality of his Dreamwave appearances:

Hmm...words

What about IDW?  Well, he's made exactly two appearances there.  I didn't even realize that Cutthroat had made the second appearance until I read his TFWiki entry.  Basically, Cutthroat first appears in the Spotlight: Sixshot issue when Sixshot is asked to join the Reavers.  The only problem?  Sixshot has to kill Cutthroat and the Terrorcons first!  Cutthroat's second appearance is as a background character in the Robots In Disguise series dancing in the streets when Megatron returns.  So, that's a lot of character definition there.

I've always wondered why Cutthroat wasn't utilized in the comics more.  He's a shock trooper who is so brazen and depraved that even his fellow Decepticons stay out of his way.  Then again, that really describes about 80% of the Decepticon tech specs.  "That guy's crazy!"  Still, Cutthroat's a scary bird.  I like those.

Hovering like some vast, predatory bird!

On to the figure!  I've always been a fan of this figure, if not the character.  Cutthroat has so many things going for him, first among those is that he's a bird.  More precisely, he reminds me of a prehistoric bird.  I can just imagine Cutthroat swooping down from the skies, grabbing an unsuspecting Autobot and then tearing it to shreds with his beak and claws.

Someone got Bandai figure stands...

Or maybe he'd just blast them with the cannon attached to his back.  Either way, dead Autobot.  Here's a picture of Cutthroat without the cannon.

Like some sleek, deadly bird of prey

Unlike the other Terrorcon limbs (SPOILER!), Cutthroat only comes with one weapon.  To compensate for that, Cutthroat has been given a bit more articulation than the others.  His legs can bend backwards, allowing for a standing pose.  You know, for when he's pecking out Autobot optics or sitting on a lovely tree branch.

Like any other Scramble City style combiner, Cutthroat has extremely limited articulation in robot mode.  His arms move up and down and that's about it.  I'm not too concerned about articulation with G1 figures, even less so with fusilateral quintrocombiners.  Yes, I used a term from the G2 comic.  It's something I'm trying to bring it back.  Anyway, we all know that the limbs of any fusilateral quintrocombiner are limbs first, toys second.

Abominable August also comes with fan service!

So ends the first post of Abominable August!  Stay tuned next week for to see the next addition!  One down, four to go!