Review: #686
Name: Ratchet
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - War for Cybertron: Earthrise
Year of Release: 2020
Size Class: Deluxe
Mold Status: remold of Earthrise Ironhide, itself a remold of Siege Ironhide
VEHICLE MODE:
As part of the Earthrise line, Ratchet has an Earthen vehicle mode, transforming into a white van reminiscent of the one he had in G1.
Unfortunately, while the front and sides are pretty good, the back fails. Similarly with the Siege version, the robot feet are exposed at the back, made worse here since it's supposed to be a realistic vehicle mode and it is completely lacking in the detail that you would expect of one.
For a remold, Ratchet does well enough, but there had to be compromises. The exposed robot feet was one (although if they had really wanted to, they could have remolded the bottom of those feet with vehicular detailing), but the mixture of transparent blue plastic and solid white plastic for the windows are another.
Despite the hefty flaws, which are mainly concentrated out of sight at the back, this is a solid vehicle mode and looks good from 3/4 sides.
TRANSFORMATION:
The roof detaches, and then the rest of the figure transforms very similar to the Siege mold. The back folds down to form the legs, the front is the chest, and the arms from the sides. There's nothing particularly interesting going on, but it has enough going for it to be a fun solid transformation.
ROBOT MODE:
Robot mode is where Ratchet is stronger, as he looks really good in this mode, and the bulkiness really helps.
The original figure, while big, was very hollow and it's still true here. All his limbs, as well as the torso, are all hollowed out, so he feels lighter than you would expect of something this size.
The head sculpt is fantastic, and has an older gruffier look to the character.
In terms of size, above is a comparison against Siege Sideswipe, and you can see how much taller and Ratchet is. Again, this is at the cost of having everything hollowed out, so whether you like that or not is a preference.
At the very least, articulation is great, since the Siege line started focusing heavily on posing abilities.
Ratchet had joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
Coolly enough, the roof detaches and is able to take on a form that's reminiscent of the repair bay of his G1 figure.
It's not much, but basically just lays there with a gun attached on top, but this is a nice bonus.
The repair bay is definitely too small to have anything laid on top, furthermore, the surface is not flat either.
The real purpose of those pieces are that it forms a shield and a gun for Ratchet to use.
The shield pegs onto either arm but usually his left arm (naturally), and thanks to the way the windows are angled to a sharp point, it looks really good as both a weapon and as a shield.
Alternatively, you can turn the shield around, push out several barrels and have Ratchet use is as a weapon. It's awkward though with the amount of plastic stick out from behind the handle, but it's another option.
There is also a small handheld gun that Ratchet can hold in either hand.
When not in use, the big shield can peg onto his back as storage.
Thanks to the large feet, Ratchet is a breeze to pose, and his overall bulk helps a lot too.
Ratchet has a lot of play value thanks to the weaponry options, and while it might be somewhat odd to have such a tiny gun pairs with a huge shield, it actually works pretty well here.
The roof as a shield is good use of otherwise useless kibble. Considering that this is a remold, it would have been hard to push the bulk somewhere else, so this is the best approach.
A fantastic robot mode and a neat update to the character.
OVERALL:
Ratchet is part of a two-pack with Lifeline in the Galactic Odyssey Collection - Paradron Medics, so it's unfortunate that such a good remold of a popular character was limited to an exclusive. The packing wasn't too pricey, it was just that there were limited quantities so some would have definitely missed out. Nevertheless, if you managed to score him for a good price, then this is a great figure and definitely the better of the two-pack.
-------------------------------------------------
For other Transformers reviews, have a look at this page.
