Review: #842
Name: Ratchet
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - Studio Series Gamer Edition
Year of Release: 2024
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 26)
Mold Status: new
VEHICLE MODE:
Based upon his appearance in the War for Cybertron game, Ratchet transforms into a Cybertronian rescue vehicle.
It's a sporty looking vehicle, and very alien in nature. It's a short stumpy block though, rather than long and sleek.
He is an okay size for a Voyager, although he will feel a bit light as he has some hollowness underneath.
All four wheels roll, and that's it for the play value in vehicle mode. There are some panel lines on the side, which can be slightly annoying to have them sit flush against each other.
The robot weapons can store on the outside of the vehicle, with the axe on top, and the gun at the back. They look quite awkward and out of place when stored like this.
A decent enough vehicle mode but really depends whether you like the design or not.
TRANSFORMATION:
Not a complicated transformation but not a bad one either. He is somewhat of a shellformer, a lot of it goes onto his backpack, while the rest of the limbs just unfold from underneath. Only part is the rear which forms the forms, having some of the vehicle mode integrated into it.
ROBOT MODE:
The thing with Ratchet is that he has a chunky robot, but at the same time, he looks kinda of awkward with his propotions.
He carries a sizable backpack, but since it is mostly panels and sits quite flush against the torso, it's not really a huge problem.
The head sculpt is okay, with the face being a little bit too busy.
He's short for a Voyager though, which is disappointing, but that's just how the transformation went.
As part of the Studio Series line, he comes with cardboard stand, depending a setting from the game.
Articulation is as you would expect, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
He comes with two weapons, an axe and a gun.
The axe can split into two pieces, so that you can attach it to his fist in such a way that he's holding the middle of the handle and it looks awesome.
For the gun, like a lot of the other Gamer Edition figures, you detach his right hand to replace it with the weapon. The good news is that the weapon at least looks big enough to make it feel like his hand transformed into it and that it packs a punch.
You can attach both weapons on his back.
One of the neatest thing about this figure, and something that was a fatal flaw in previous Gamer Edition figures, is that the detached arm that used to just be awkwardly set aside when you're using the weapon, actually has a storage space. You can hide the arm inside the backpack! That is fantastic and amazing, and something that all the other figures should have done from the very beginning.
Lastly, the gun also has a 5mm port so Ratchet can just hold it like a normal (albeit chunky) gun.
The white used is an off-white, so it's not as clean and bright as you'd expect Ratchet to be.
And as mentioned earlier, there's something a bit awkward looking, like his legs feels and looks awkward. Maybe it's the inward facing knees, coupled with a smaller torso.
Regardless, this is still a pretty decent robot mode.
OVERALL:
While not the best Transformer, he is one of the better Gamer Edition figures (which overall just feels lacklustre like not much effort has been put into it). He has two good modes, and the robot mode, despite its flaws, does some things well, like the arm storage.
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