Bot Reviews: Transformers: Galactic Odyssey Paradron Medics Set

One of the biggest things that Earthrise will be remembered for is the sheer amount of exclusive figures released during its run. It definitely feels like the line was shortened thanks to 2020, running only three waves compared to Siege’s five, and the sheer amount of store and online sub-lines feels like an attempt to get everything out the door some way or another. Case and point: The Galactic Odyssey collection, exclusive sold online through Amazon. The whole thing’s basically “More Generations Selects,” to the point where they even come in similar brown cardboard boxes. Galactic Odyssey’s themed around Transformers travelling to various planets, with each set (usually a two-pack, unless minifigures are involved) being named after a specific destination, and the oddball repaints and retoolings within being somehow loosely themed around the location. The Paradron Medics pack, in this case, contains a repaint and a retooling of two previous figures I’ve reviewed, Earthrise Arcee and Siege Ratchet. First up is Lifeline, the Arcee repaint, and the reason the set gets its name.

Lifeline appeared in the third season of the original cartoon, in the episode “Fight or Flee.” I say appeared, but she was there for a few seconds, with no lines, and no name. One of the peaceful inhabitants of the colony of Paradron, she helped nurse Cyclonus back to health when he and Scourge crash-landed there, got shoved away by him when he woke up, and…that’s about it. Despite her minuscule role, we had a canonical, in-universe Arcee repaint, so, despite barely qualifying as a character, various takes on the G1 Arcee design have been repainted into the “Paradron Medic” (since she had no name) over the years, often non-transforming merchandise, thanks to G1 Arcee not getting an official mainline figure until 2014. Speaking of Thrilling 30 Arcee, it was an old Transformers Collector’s Club repaint into this character that finally gave her the name of Lifeline. And now, this pack represents the most mainstream (transforming) release this obscurity ever had.

Ratchet, meanwhile, is the well-known G1 Autobot Medic who frequently shares a body-type with Ironhide, who had a run of bad mainline toys, up until Siege finally gave him a really good one, one of my favorite releases in the line. For this set, they’ve followed the model of the rest of Earthrise, and given him his traditional Earth ambulance mode, instead of the Siege one’s Cybertronian space vehicle, through excessive retooling. Personally, I got this set for this guy, since I’d given my Siege Ratchet over to my Lost Light crew shelf, and wanted a more traditional one for my G1 Autobot shelf, and the Arcee repaint was a bonus. So, let’s see how this pair of redecos shakes out, in comparison to the originals.

Lifeline, Robot Mode

Nothing about this tooling’s been changed, so Lifeline has the same ups and downs as Earthrise Arcee, and in robot mode, it’s all about the ups. She’s still incredibly poseable and expressive, and also incredibly accurate to Arcee (and Lifeline’s) cartoon model, save for her shoulder pylons, which Lifeline actually lacked in her very brief appearance.

Of course, she also still has a big backpack of car parts that you’re meant to jettison for further (well, improved) animation-accuracy. Though, in Lifeline’s case, maybe you can leave it on and pretend it’s a backpack of medical supplies.

For colors, it’s almost a clean swap between Arcee and Lifeline, where Arcee’s pink has been swapped out for Lifeline’s green. Specifically, it’s a light, minty green that makes me think of toothpaste. I suppose it makes sense for a sterile medic.

However, it’s not entirely a simple color-swap, and, in fact, Lifeline actually has additional deco on her face. Firstly, the face itself is now purple, to match the animation. Meanwhile, she has painted pink lipstick, and a pair of green highlights on the Leia Buns on the sides of her head.

I don’t know how the budget for these Amazon packs work, but this is all deco that I missed on Arcee, and I find myself wishing the original had these apps. Though, when I think about it, 75 percent of the Paradron Medic’s screen time was a facial closeup, so perhaps they were determined to get that part right. But then again, in that one shot, she didn’t have the bit of deco on the sides of her head, and also the first ridge on her helmet was white, instead of continuing the purple on her face. It’s mysterious, and makes its absence on the vanilla Arcee all the more vexing.

For accessories, Lifeline’s backpack’s hoverboard mode is even funnier now that she’s a medic. Still, you can pretend it’s a stretcher for smaller figures, or have her ride on it to rapidly transport injured patients.

Lifeline still has her small pistol for another accessory, though I think we’re supposed to interpret it as a medical tool now. Either way, they decided to drop the cloudy transparent grey, and make it completely clear, a design decision that bugs me, because it feels super-easy to lose now, which I say with memories of my Beast Wars Optimal Optimus gradually losing all four of his totally-clear missiles.

Transformation

Thanks to that convenient photo I took of how to arrange Arcee’s robot parts in her car mode, Lifeline’s identical transformation is a snap, provided you follow the order of the instructions when it comes to plugging her backpack into its new, higher position (it doesn’t want to snap in place otherwise).

What doesn’t snap, however, is the panels on her car mode shell. My Earthrise Arcee has a QC problem, in the form of a car mode panel not wanting to properly stay straight, and the problem doubled up on Lifeline, with both of the panels her front wheels are on not wanting to properly snap into place. It’s kind of disheartening, and makes me wish the car shell’s design hadn’t written a cheque that the realities of toy manufacturing couldn’t cash. I still maintain the design and transformation weren’t a bad idea, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Vehicle Mode

Fortunately, this car mode still rolls okay if you get everything lined up, even if it, again, does nothing else.

The Paradron Medic never transformed, so Lifeline’s vehicle mode had carte blanche to be whatever it wanted, deco-wise, and once again, they went with a mostly straight pink-to-mint-green color swap.

Once again, though, they added deco in the form of grey panels on either side of the car mode, and once again, this is Arcee-specific detailing the Earthrise figure lacked, making me wonder, again, how the paint budget worked on these.

On the flipside, the choice to change the translucent grey plastic into clear plastic makes a bit more sense here, since Lifeline’s windshield is now clear.

Overall

Arcee was a textbook mixed bag, with a wonderfully poseable, expressive robot mode, and a good idea for a transformation and altmode, both of which were hampered by lousy execution. And Lifeline, aside from her QC issue, is basically the same thing, just in mint green. So, between the two of them, it really depends on which color you like better. Me, I prefer the pink to the toothpaste-green. But, if you’ve decided the bright spots of the tooling outweigh the bad ones (like I did), and you like the colors better (I don’t), then this is the version for you.

Ratchet Robot Mode

This is a fairly extensive retooling of this base mold, again, but fortunately, this Ratchet still has the good vibes that Siege Ironhide and Ratchet had, in that he’s still big, chunky, boxy, and fairly kibble-free (save for some leg panels). He’s still incredibly poseable, and has excellent handfeel.

The interesting thing about this design, to me, is that they didn’t go for slavish G1 Cartoon accuracy, like the rest of Earthrise, otherwise the color layout would need to be different, and the sculpt would need to be smoother. This reads more like a redux of the older Universe 2.0 ratchet, or a hypothetical 2010-era Generations 1.0 figure that didn’t happen, back when the designs were less slavish and more of a remix.

So, let’s dig into the weirdness of the retooling on this one. Siege Ratchet, notably, changed a lot of parts from Ironhide, but none of those changes were actually carried forward to this version. In fact, parts like his pelvis, shoulders and forearms have actually been reverted back to Siege Ironhide’s versions. Instead, he has brand-new parts on his legs, chest, and torso, which he shares with the concurrently-released Earthrise Ironhide (also an Amazon exclusive), as well as another brand-new robot head. It still works just fine (I thought it was strange that they bothered to change so many tiny things on Siege Ratchet back when he came out), it’s just curious from a design standpoint.

When it comes to the retooling, I initially thought the new window-chest looked bad in photos, but in-hand, it integrates pretty well. I also dig the newer headsculpt, which registers as slightly older than the Siege one to my eyes, and I’m still impressed they even bother tooling up entirely new heads, instead of slapping a head crest on the Ironhide head and calling it a day.

So, his new colors are kind of odd (and, again, not going for G1 Toon accuracy, otherwise he’d have a red pelvis and hands). Basically, he’s extremely white. Siege Ratchet was really white, too, but managed to offset it by actually having two different shades to his whites, and dabbling red accents all over the place. Ratchet, meanwhile, has only one shade of white, and only offsets it with a tiny bit of red on his legs and shoulders, and some dark grey on his fists, head and torso. On top of that, his light-blue windshield chest pops less.

That being said, the fact that he still has a fair amount of techy detail on him prevents him from looking too plain, he’s just noticeably plainer than the Siege version. One detail I do appreciate is the silver on his face compared to the Siege version’s grey, I think it highlights his features better.

The other thing that’s totally changed about this version is the accessories. Firstly, Ratchet comes with a very cartoon-looking laser pistol, though it’s also solid white, and I wish they’d spung for some of the silver they gave to his face. Secondly, he comes with a gigantic roof/shield/backpack piece that you can do a few things with. This roof piece is also white, and accented with a nice Autobot symbol, a painted red and black lightbar (that’s actually a removable piece, though nothing can really fit in the holes it leaves behind), and some more transparent blue windows.

Firstly, you can put this piece on his back if you want (but why would you?).

Secondly, you can mount it on his upper or lower arm, as a shield with a blade made of windows at the end. Personally, I put it on his shoulder in shield mode, and his forearm for blade mode.

Thirdly, by moving a tab forwards on the underside, you make a set of four blasters pop out of the back end, and if you’re into the sounds Transformers figures make, it does it with a loud, satisfying CLACK.

You can now mount it as a big over-the-shoulder bazooka-like weapon, enhanced when you put effect parts into the four holes.

Finally, you can unfold the windows on the shield, and plug the gun into the board, to create a sort of sled that’s meant to resemble the one the original G1 figure came with.

However, thanks to the size of his feet, and the presence of so many tabs on it, Ratchet can’t actually ride it the way the G1 version could.

That being said, you can finagle a surfboard configuration out of it, and unlike the instructions, I tend to align it so the four jets are in the back, propelling him along as he surfs his patients to safety.

Oh, and like Lifeline, you can always pretend it’s a stretcher, too.

Honestly, these accessories are okay, but I’m struck by the fact that they don’t really fit his personality or role as a medic the way the Siege version’s wrench, poseable accessory arm and smaller weapon/torch did.

This is because these are the same accessories the new Ironhide comes with, and they suit him better.

Speaking of accessories, he’s still got all of the same weapons ports as the Siege release, including an extra one on his shield, if you want to transform him into a Doctor of Doom.

Transformation

Siege Ironhide and Ratchet’s transformation was a highlight of the figure, and it’s still great fun here, with just the right amount of business for your hands, and nothing especially difficult. The added step here is that his shield piece snaps on top of him to form his van’s roof mode, with the wrinkle that it has a tendency to not sit quite evenly at the back of him, exposing a tiny gap, if you’re not careful.

Ambulance Mode

On the positive side, this even thicker ambulance (thanks to the new top) is a pleasantly bulky slab of a vehicle, with a great-looking new front end, full of details like molded-in windshield wipers (that are painted!) that I really like.

On the other hand, Ratchet suffers a lot from being a retool in this form. Firstly, he’s still got techy futuristic wheels, and robot feet hanging out of the back, details that didn’t really matter when it was a Cybertronian ambulance, but really stick out here.

Secondly, the sides of the ambulance are messy-looking, full of big, visible hinges, unpainted windows, a side-stripe that’s broken up by the sculpt, gappy panels (thanks to the roof), and breaks in the sculpt for the robot mode shoulders.

It’s not the worst, but it’s not very cohesive, and speaks to how the whole Earth-mode retool feels like something that wasn’t planned from the beginning, and almost kitbashed in. Still, I sound more down on it than I am, and it’s not a complete mess, but definitely far less cohesive than the Siege version, which only really suffered from having visible arm joints uptop.

For features, Ratchet still rolls as well as previous versions, and has a few weapons ports you can use, one on top of the ambulance, and two at the back if you have an accessory that can loop around.

Overall

I sound like I’m dumping on this guy, but honestly, Ratchet’s still a really good toy. Granted, he’s got a lot of minor issues, but they’re mostly aesthetic, and none of those can really clothesline what, at its core, is a really good Deluxe tooling. That being said, the Siege one is absolutely the better of the pair, more colorful, more cohesive, and more characterful, with better accessories. However, we’re talking the difference between like, an 8 out of 10 and a 9 out of 10 (I hate number rankings, so this isn’t definitive). But, if you already have the Siege one, there’s no real reason to upgrade to this guy, unless you really want an Earth mode, or, like me, you have specific collection organization reasons. And if you have neither version, I’d go with the Siege one. But, if this one’s more easily available to you, it’s still a pretty good release.

The Whole Set

Do you like the Arcee tooling, warts and all, and want a green one? Do you specifically want a good Earth-mode Generations Ratchet? If both of those are a yes, then this is a good set to get. If one of them’s a no, then it’s a half-hearted maybe. But, if you’re not specifically after Earthrise Arcee, but Green, or Siege Ratchet, but kitbashed-to-Terran, then this is a skippable set, which is weird to say, considering both of the figures within are pretty good.

Taking a grand look at it, this is the most situation-specific recommendation I think I’ve ever given, but this is a set that really fills a couple of specific niches.

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