Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team
From Transformers Wiki
- RAAT is a human organization from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
The American Intelligence and Information Institute considered the giant robots that have suddenly appeared within the jurisdiction of the United States to be hostile and a threat to national security. In response, they formed the Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team (commonly called RAAT), with Walter Barnett as their liaison. Their task is to stop the robots with any means at their disposal. It was a mission their first leader, Circuit Breaker, took on with gusto.
Their headquarters is somewhere in southern New Jersey. Donny Finkleberg was briefly on their payroll.
They utterly suck at fighting Transformers, unless it's the Autobots and then they're great at it.
Contents |
Fiction
Marvel The Transformers comics
After a battle on Cybertron, Perceptor, Blaster, Cosmos, Warpath, Seaspray, Beachcomber, and Powerglide were transported to Earth over the space bridge. There they were surrounded by the police. The Bridge to Nowhere! RAAT forces arrived on the scene. Their commander, Circuit Breaker interpreted their actions as hostile and immediately attacked by firing two "electric snow" missiles, which caused electrical interference in the area. The Autobots' circuitry was interrupted enough to allow RAAT troops to lower from helicopters and attach magnetic super conductor pads to each Autobot. Circuit Breaker channeled 300,000 Volts into the super conductor pads, knocking all the Autobots out. They were transported to RAAT headquarters by truck. Heavy Traffic! In a secret hangar, the heads of the Autobots were carefully removed and hung on the wall. Aerialbots over America!
RAAT unit "C" responded to a ruckus on the highway caused by the Stunticons chasing Skids and Donny Finkleberg. They tried deploying "electric snow", but Dead End quickly blew it away with his compressed air gun. Circuit Breaker gave them a jolt of electricity, but without magnetic super conductor pads, they were merely hurt but not knocked out. The Aerialbots arrived, responding to a distress call from Skids. Finkleberg and Barnett tried to explain to Circuit Breaker that the Aerialbots were the good guys, but Circuit Breaker would not hear of it. Her suspicions that all the robots were working together were confirmed when the Stunticions pretended to defend Skids from the Aerialbots as part of a ruse. The combiner teams united and took the battle up a notch. Circuit Breaker used up her remaining power to stun Superion, allowing Menasor to get in a good blast, knocking out Superion. Barnett ordered RAAT unit three to perform rescue maneuver D-seven, which involved a helicopter lowering a cable to allow Barnett to sweep Circuit Breaker to safety. Finkleberg and Skids snuck away in the commotion. While Skids was switched off outside a motel, Finkleberg called Barnett to turn him in. Heavy Traffic!
At RAAT headquarters, RAAT technicians were busy dissecting their Autobot collection, which now included Skids and the Aerialbots while Circuit Breaker and Finkleberg (now on the payroll) looked on. Finkleberg began to regret his decision after witnessing the experimentation. Barnett arrived with reports of Cybertronian graffiti turning up on American monuments. Circuit Breaker, Finkleberg, and Circuit Breaker went to latest site in Washington, D.C. to investigate. There they figured out that Decepticons were following the Acton family on their vacation. RAAT followed the Actons to their next stop, Philadelphia. Sure enough, the Battlechargers appeared ready to vandalize Independence Hall. A squadron of RAAT assault craft led by Circuit Breaker attacked, but quickly broke off once it became apparent they were putting citizens at risk. The Battlechargers got away, but not before Circuit Breaker was injured protecting a Noah Acton from falling debris.
The Actons' next stop was the Statue of Liberty, but Barnett ordered Circuit Breaker to rest and recover from her concussion and broken ribs. Brainstorming, Finkleberg and Circuit Breaker devised a plan where Circuit Breaker would ask the Autobots if she could use their parts to fight the Battlechargers. Circuit Breaker cobbled together a giant robot she could control electrically. RAAT ground troops took up position inside the Statue of Liberty but were unable to stop the Battlechargers' vandalism. Circuit Breaker and her makeshift robot arrived and blasted the Battlechargers into the harbor. Living up to the deal she made with the Autobots, she released them afterwards. Barnett fired Finkleberg and Circuit Breaker for releasing the captives without authorization. Decepticon Graffiti!
Needing fuel, Blaster and the Throttlebots pulled up to a Blackrock gas station expecting to be able to fuel up due to a deal the Autobots had with G.B. Blackrock. However, RAAT was there waiting for them and immediately engaged them in combat using a tracked armored vehicle with a detachable flying unit on its roof. Blaster made short work of them and saved a RAAT trooper from a fuel explosion. Only Rollbar was shot and suffered minor damage to the rear of his vehicle.
Later, the Autobots hid in Big Steve's used car lot. The police were offering a reward for information regarding vehicles matching the description of six vehicles that appeared on his lot overnight so he phoned it in. Big Steve filled their fuel tanks with soda so they couldn't drive off. A RAAT squadron led by Walter Barnett arrived that evening. Also arriving were the Combaticons and Protectobots, all wanting to take custody of Blaster and the Throttlebots for their own reasons. Walter Bartlet initially thought the Autobots and Decepticons were only pretending to be enemies, but was soon convinced that it was no act. The three groups briefly considered a proposal by Big Steve to bid on the prisoners at auction. This was interrupted when Blaster prevented Swindle from sneak-attacking. Then all hell broke loose. Walter Bartlet made good on the reward and gave Big Steve a check for $300,000 and RAAT rounded up and escaped with the Throttlebots while the Combaticons fought it out with the Protectobots and Blaster. Used Autobots
RAAT turned over the Throttlebots into the custody of their parent organization, I.I.I. They were guarding I.I.I. headquarters when the Predacons attacked and quickly breached their defenses. Toy Soldiers!
Their last deployment was against the Decepticon Pretenders, where they were once again routed. Pretender to the Throne!
As it was now clear that there were two distinct Transformer factions and RAAT had been messing up, the agency was shut down by the National Security Council and replaced with the Neo-Knights. The Human Factor!
Notes
Foreign names
- Portuguese: Time Anti-robô de Ataques Rápidos (Brazil comic)
- Swedish: Snabb-Antirobot-Attack-Styrkan (Atlantic Publishing, "Fast-Antirobot-Attack-Force") SAAS, Centrala Anti-Robotstyrkan (Ades Media, "Central Anti-Robot Force") C.A.R.S.
