If you ask a Transformers fan what Ratchet’s personality is, they’ll probably tell you “grouchy older medical guy,” kind of like a robot Dr. McCoy. But, funny enough, despite Ratchet being one of the original 1984 Autobots, that personality’s actually a 21st century invention. Under original author Bob Budianski’s pen, Ratchet was supposed to be a party guy, but on the pages of the Marvel comic, wound up being a perpetually put-upon, angst-ridden combat medic, always stuck in terrible situations. The animated series, meanwhile, played him as more of a kind, jovial family doctor, the type to give you a lollipop when you were done.
His default mood.
So, where’s the modern personality come from? The answer is Transformers Animated, the 2008-2010 animated series, where Ratchet was played as an over-the-hill, grouchy, prickly old man, sullen due to the hard choices he’d had to make during the war.
His default mood.
It made such sense for the character, that the next TV show, Transformers Prime, ran with it, as did IDW’s extremely popular More Than Meets The Eye comics, and now, it’s gospel to who he is.
The 2008 Animated Deluxe.
I’ve talked previously about Transformers Animated (when I reviewed Fugitive Waspinator) as sort of the Teen Titans (the Cartoon Network non-Go version) of Transformers, in terms of its exaggerated art style, and general vibes. I liked the show at the time, but never really cared for that art style, and so didn’t pick up much of anything from the original toyline, despite Animated attracting its own subset of ride-or-die Transformers fans. The modern Legacy toyline’s been slowly making new updates of its cast, though, and that’s continued into Age of the Primes, with this updated version of Animated Ratchet, who’s, curiously, not billed as being the Animated version, just a general all-purpose Ratchet. So, why’d I, the non-Animated-getter, go in on this guy? Well, firstly, he’s a retool of a base figure that’s a favorite of mine, Earthrise Hoist (and Generations Selects Lift-Ticket). And, secondly, I’d heard a lot of positive chatter about this Ratchet, specifically. So, flush with TFCon cash, I decided to check him out!
Robot Mode:
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”
My first impression of this version of Ratchet is that he’s Mr. Big-and-Tall. He’s not big enough for you to mistake him for a Voyager, but he’s got noticeable height and width. I thought at first it might be an illusion, but I stood him up next to Hoist, and it turns out his retooling does make him about a half-head taller, to say nothing of the new backpack he’s got adding even more height.
A little more than kin, and in Ratchet’s case, a little less than kind.
In terms of changed parts, Ratchet feels well over 50 percent new. He’s got the same knees, thighs, pelvis, forearms and biceps as Hoist, but pretty much everything else seems to be new on him. I really appreciate that it feels like there was a concerted effort here to clean up a few things with Hoist’s sculpt. Ratchet doesn’t have huge slabs of truck-side hanging down behind his arms, just doors on his shoulders, and while he’s still secretly got a hollow body, his new torso does a lot more to hide that fact than Hoist did. Of course, he’s now got a much bigger backpack as a tradeoff, but so did the original Animated Ratchet, and it’s a character-and-gimmick-based detail, anyway, which I’ll get into later.
“You’re really the only other Animated guy he’s got?”
Speaking of that, in terms of fidelity to Animated Ratchet’s design, this version’s not a slavishly faithful update, a lot of details are different, but he’s got the same general setup (shoulder doors, big backpack, hood-stomache). This type of update is par for course for how Legacy and Age of the Primes has been handling its Animated figures, a very old-fashioned 2010-and-early Generations-type “the spirit, not the letter” kind of update.
Despite his personality, he fits in with a lot of different bots.
And boy does get the spirit right. Hoist had kind of a dumpy silhouette, and so does Animated Ratchet, with his old-man pot-belly formed from the truck’s hood being even more emphasized on this retool, as it should be. Uptop, he’s got a wonderfully characterful headsculpt, including a broken chevron, and a facial expression that just looks tired, resigned, and done with everything, perfect for the character.
Me, too, buddy. Me, too.
I appreciate, too, that between the headsculpt and body-plan, the exaggerated Animated art style on him has been tuned down just enough that I can stand him up next to my more standard G1 updates.
“…….I should call Drift.”
In terms of colors, Ratchet’s a lot more red, and a lot less white than most versions of him, but still in the colors you’d expect a non-Bayverse Ratchet to have. Besides all the red and white, he’s got little bits of black and yellow, and a few different shades of blue, between his hood-chest, eyes, and a bit of blue around his mouth and chin that deliberately evokes unshaven stubble. I also don’t mind that his chest window is opaque, because, again, it hides his hollow interior.
But can it hide the hollowness in his soul?
For build quality, the thigh swivels on my copy, particularly the one on the left, are a bit looser than I’d like, and those are non-retooled parts, so it’s definitely a bit of mold decay. That’s just about the least offensive joint to be a bit loose, though, so it’s not a big problem, and all of his other joints manage to be nice and tight, on top of him being able to stand very well.
“There! I did your stupid one-foot test!”
It was funny how well-articulated Hoist was, despite his physique, and that’s still true for Ratchet over here. He’s got the full post-Siege suite of joints, making him very bendy for an old bot. Bottom to top, he’s got ankle tilts, knee swivels, thigh swivels, universal hips, a waist swivel, shoulders that combine two swivels to make them universal, swivels for his biceps, elbows and wrists, and a neck swivel. This is one mobile medic!
All of his joints just cracked. He’s actually stuck in that position now.
For accessories and features, they really went the extra mile here, because he comes with a ton of stuff. Let’s count it up. First, he’s got a pair of claw-shaped magnets, in white and silver, one of the superpower-like abilities the Animated cast got, in lieu of conventional weapons.
“I’ll show you how THESE magnets work!”
They’re on 5-millimeter pegs, and canonically go into ports on his forearms.
On my shelves, I don’t need a substitute for Death’s Head.
After that, he’s got a set of four medical tools, all cast in red, all unique sculpts. He’s got a wrench, which is great, because I now have more than just the one from Siege Ratchet.
Wrench bros!
He’s got a little hammer, of the type you’d expect to smack someone’s knee with.
Or an enemy’s face.
He’s got a little triangular spear as his third tool, which I guess counts as a scalpel.
Luckily, Animated went back on this plot point.
Finally, he’s got a strange-looking curved object, which I’ve been assured is supposed to be a can opener of some sort.
“Okay, but how does the opener address the can?”
All four of these medical tools have 5-millimeter handles, as well as 5-millimeter pegs on the sides, so they can be held in multiple ways.
“This definitely isn’t gonna cause problems later. Nosiree.”
Now, this is an odd thing to go gaga over, but it’s the storage for all these accessories that goes a bit crazy. You can pop open Ratchet’s backpack, and stash his magnet-clamps in there, in an interesting kind of “layered” way, with one over top of the other.
Like ogres and onions.
There’s then four 5-millimeter ports along his backpack for stashing his medical tools.
Always ready to heal.
It’s a strange thing to fixate on, but I like the amount of thought put into it. On top of those four ports, plus his fists, Ratchet’s got another 6 ports on his body, for tooling him out however you want. Again, the old man’s flexible!
He’s got another doctor stuck to his arm, so he’ll harm you, then heal you.
Transformation:
Ratchet’s transformation is the same as Hoist’s, so it’s familiar to me, and not too complicated. It’s a good set of flipping and flopping things around, really. The only dull spot is what a pain it can be to get his robot arms as snug as possible underneath his hood (remember to push them in far enough!)
No engine, just the tools to fix one.
The really clever thing, though, is his accessory storage. Basically, you leave his red tools scattered throughout his body as you transform him.
Only the most essential medical tools.
The can opener goes underneath his backpack, the hammer between his knees, and the wrench and spear beneath the hood.
The hammer’s handle almost works as an exhaust pipe.
It’s neat!
Vehicle Mode:
Wee-ooo!
Unlike G1 Ratchet, Animated Ratchet changes into an ambulance with a proper hood.
“Why the flat face?”
In this mode, he’s also totally reshelled from Hoist, with every surface being a new piece, and only the wheels being visibly shared.
I used the repaint with the more Ratchety-y colors, but the point still stands.
Ratchet’s actually really faithful to his Animated animation model in this mode, but his lines are a bit less exaggerated, so he still “fits” with a shelf of G1 vehicles, despite things like his angular bumper having more flare than those bots usually had.
Well, that’s just Transformers Prime.
That said, this isn’t a perfect altmode. He’s got lots of parts hanging off of the bottom of him, including plainly visible robot arms, something Hoist also had, that didn’t get fixed here.
I have the fists rotated the wrong way here, but the right way isn’t any better.
He’s also got a new issue with the sculpt, where he’s missing his front bumper.
What if something hits him?
On the plus side, the four 5-millimeter sockets behind him read as tech detailing in a way that I like.
But not techie enough to fit in with the 2005 crowd.
Ratchet’s really colorful in this mode. Again, he’s got way more red than Ratchet usually gets, and less white. Meanwhile, he’s got different shades of blue for the windows and the sirens, black and yellow for the headlights, and an Autobrand on his hood (mine has a scratch in his paint, but it kinda works for him.) There’s no painted rims, though.
“Hard to believe we’re the same pricepoint.” “At least Wazzpinator can afford painted tire rims.” “…..Point taken.”
Once you get everything locked together, Ratchet’s stable enough in this mode, and provided you’ve got his robot fists rotated the right way (I did not in these photos), he can roll nicely.
He’s got the goods.
For features, Ratchet still has four accessible Weaponizer ports, six if you count his rear wheels. It’s funny that they do this after locking his accessories up inside him, but you could always leave them out. Or add more stuff!
The wrench is for putting you back together after he’s done shooting.
Overall:
Ratchet’s really, really good. I already liked this tooling as Hoist, and this reworking only makes it better. Ratchet’s a a very characterful figure, and channels the grumpy medic’s personality really well, while also fitting in on most mainline shelves. Between the size, accessories, and other bits and bobs, it feels like they went the extra mile on him, with only a slightly messy alternate mode as his one non-bright spot.
They’re about to make The Low Road 2.
So, I would say he’s definitely worth getting, even if you’re not collecting Animated updates. I’m certainly not, and I’m happy to own him. He can just be your all-purpose Ratchet! He’s glum, but you won’t be!
Maybe this will cheer him up.
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