Boys, as you know, there's only one thing I love more than robbin', extortin', and terrorizin' innocent people. And that's indulging the every whim of my daughter. So these two squirrels are going to...Buffy's room.
„
~ Ratso Ratzkiwatzki after meeting Chip and Dale.
Ignatz "Ratso" Ratzkiwatzki is a minor antagonist from Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. He is an evil crime lord who runs the underworld of New York City. He makes his living stealing from, extorting, killing, and sometimes even eating the innocent. He lives as a single parent (though whether he is divorced or widowed is unknown) with his daughter, Buffy, and works with his main flunkies, Moose and Rocco. He is the main antagonist of the episode "Out of Scale."
He was voiced by Peter Cullen, who also played Bankjob Beagle in DuckTales.
History
Before the events of "Out of Scale," Ratso, at some point, kidnaps Professor Norton Nimnul to gain access to his past invention, the Gigantico Raygun, which had previously been used to turn Zipper into a giant fly. Although Nimnul's original intention with the invention was to make objects grow, Ratso plans to use it for just the opposite: to shrink buildings, statues, and other large objects all around the city to bring home to his daughter, Buffy, who would then use them as toys for her room.
Ratso is first seen in person after Moose and Rocco, his main flunkies, steal a statue that they shrink down and deliver to him to give to Buffy. Upon asking him when they go after the "real loot," Ratso replies, "Soon," before then ordering them to go out and find a pair of squirrels. They try to object that squirrels have no value, but Ratso already knows this, telling them that the squirrels are to give to Buffy as pets. When they try to object again, Ratso simply shouts, "BUFFY WANTS SQUIRRELS!", and with that, Moose and Rocco take off to find the squirrels in question.
When Ratso is next seen, Moose and Rocco have returned with what they believe to be squirrels, but are actually two chipmunks: Chip and Dale, who were captured by the henchmen while on a mission to recover the shrunken, stolen statue. Chip and Dale are both immediately frightened by the sight of the mobster, knowing how dangerous he is. They recognize him easily from seeing "wanted" posters of him at their local police station. Ratso, pleased by his two cohorts' quick work, commends Moose and Rocco before personally taking the captured chipmunks to Buffy's bedroom.
Ratso is later seen with Moose and Rocco, planning their next move, though not before revealing Professor Nimnul tied up and locked in his office closet. It appears that he is only his prisoner because his henchmen kidnapped him along with his invention when Ratso had only wanted the latter. Now he is being held hostage to prevent him from telling others where he is. Ratso then orders Moose and Rocco to shrink down an entire art museum, which they leave to do. Unfortunately, they do so in full view of Rescue Rangers Gadget Hackwrench, Monterey Jack, and Zipper, who proceed to follow the men to Ratso's mansion.
Later on, Moose and Rocco return with the now-shrunken museum, and Ratso reveals his intent to hold it for ransom (along with the statue) until the city pays for it. Until then, however, he quickly takes it to Buffy's room, where he proceeds to happily, lovingly watch his daughter play with her new toy for a few minutes.
However, chaos ensues when Gadget, Monterey, and Zipper fly the Rescue Rangers' plane into Buffy's room through her outside window, and they are immediately caught by Ratso. He asks Buffy if they are her mice, but she says that they are not. Though, she asks Ratso if she can keep them. Ratso is unsure as to whether or not it is safe to keep mice as pets, but before he can decide, Monterey gets free of his grip, and he and Gadget proceed to rescue Chip and Dale. This results in even more chaos, as the Rescue Rangers then form a plan to find the Gigantico Raygun and return the museum and statue to their normal sizes, and start off the plan with Chip, Dale, Gadget, and Zipper distracting Ratso, Moose, Rocco, and Buffy using the latter's toys and food from the pantry, while Monterey starts looking for the raygun using Buffy's toy train.
Chip, Dale, Gadget, and Zipper bombard Ratso, his daughter, and his men with multiple food items and chase them into furniture, which they knock down, making a mess of Ratso's house. This gives Monterey enough time to find Nimnul's raygun, though he is also distracted by smelling a wedge of limburger cheese, which causes him to abandon the train and let it go crashing into Ratso's furnace, where it burns up and literally smokes Ratso, Buffy, Moose, and Rocco out of Buffy's room. Monterey then finds the raygun and initially carries it with him on his hunt for the cheese, but he then drops it when he finds the cheese, just in time to, along with Gadget, be caught by a furious Ratso, who intends to crush them to death, along with Chip and Dale once he gets his hands on them, too.
However, Chip and Dale get their paws on the raygun instead and proceed to return the museum and the statue to their normal sizes, but as they are indoors, it completely destroys Ratso's entire mansion and all of Buffy's actual toys in the process. Seeing this happen, Ratso rages at Buffy for forcing him to break his cardinal rule of having no animals in the house. Just after this happens, the police show up and corner Ratso, Buffy, Moose, and Rocco before they can escape, and all four are arrested, along with Professor Nimnul, despite him, for once, being innocent.
“
I'm finished. Ya hear? Finished. No ransom, my house destroyed, on my way to prison. Totally wiped out. And why? BECAUSE YOU HAD TO HAVE SOME STINKIN' PETS!
„
~ Ratso to Buffy soon after his defeat.
As the police haul Ratso, his men, Buffy, and Nimnul away, the now-defeated mobster laments how much he has lost on the van ride to the police station. He has lost his home, his empire is now wiped out, he will not get the ransom for the statue or the museum, and worst of all, he is on his way to prison, all because Buffy had to have some pets. An angry, whiny Buffy counters that she lost all of her dollhouses and toys, and she wants a new toy. Furious and fed up with his daughter's spoiled attitude, Ratso counters with a loud, forceful "Ehhhhhhh, SHUT UP!" that sends Buffy flying across the police van, much to Moose and Rocco's delight, as they applaud their boss.
Ratso is never seen again after this episode, nor are his daughter or his men.
Appearance
Ratso is a middle-aged Caucasian man with an obvious accent to his voice, which lends to him sounding more Italian, despite his name sounding Russian or Scandinavian. He is of a fair, medium-sized height and has a fairly wide, muscular build to him. He wears a gray pinstriped suit and black boots, and he is bald, with a thin upper lip and an enormous, shiny, purple lower lip.
Personality
Ratso has the usual personality of a tough crime lord. He is shown to be very forceful, cold-hearted, resilient, and arrogant in his demeanor. And by his own admission, he takes great pleasure in the pain and damage that he inflicts upon people, as well as the terror that he instills within them with his crimes. He also enjoys killing people and even eating them, especially innocent ones, and is very cold in how he deals with most people. He shows this in how he orders around Moose and Rocco. However, he can be very soft and paternal, as well, as shown by how he initially treats Buffy. In many ways, his love for his daughter can be seen as a redeeming quality. Though at the same time, it can also be seen as a negative, as he is very indulging to his daughter, which has clearly instilled a spoiled and entitled attitude within her.
Despite all of this, however, Ratso also has a short fuse, as trying to object to him usually results in him letting loose and yelling at whomever sets him off. This is not something from which Buffy is safe, either, as he turns this side of him onto her twice near the end of the episode. True to type, he also has the urge to murder people and even animals who anger him just the right amount, as he wants to kill the Rescue Rangers after every bit of damage they cause his home.
Ratso resembles Aldrin Klordane, the main villain of the Rescue Rangers pilot, in terms of their similar pinstriped suits, their similar statures, their similar builds, and their freakishly enormous lower lips.
Ratso shares similarities with Bankjob Beagle in a few ways.
Both have big, deep voices (which comes with both of them being voiced by Peter Cullen).
Both are strong leaders, as Ratso leads Moose and Rocco, and Bankjob leads his brothers, Bugle and Babyface, on DuckTales.
Both have big, imposing, almost hulking figures.
Both are evil.
Both are major criminals in New York City and Duckburg, respectively, with the only difference being that Ratso commits large-scale crimes regularly, while Bankjob and the other Beagle Boys usually commit smaller-scale ones, only committing large-scale crimes when they get the appropriate means to do so.
Ratso is similar to an animation figure of Kojak actor Telly Savalas. The show's writers have admitted that this homage was intentional.
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