Ratchet's promotional model
As is frequently observed, 2007's Transformers: Animated was extremely good at character design. While a radical departure from the Transformers baseline, each major character was designed from the silhouette upwards to reinforce their personalities. Often, no more than a glance, a movement, or a single line of dialogue, was needed to establish it's cast. Sure, it's often archetypal stuff, but it used very well. Ratchet is a good example here; he's coded to be old as well as the team medic. That's often an odd thing to say when your average Cybertronian can be active for millions of years, but bare with me here. It's old in a very specific, and tragic, way. Ratchet's activities in the Great War are a recurring plot thread in the show, and I will not spoil that here. But what I will say it's just as much guilt as it is time. This Ratchet is a veteran whom traded exercise and idealism for beer and cynicism. And you can tell that just by looking at him.
This Age of the Primes toy isn't quite capturing that vibe, but it's solid attempt. Say it's Animated Ratchet but by a different artist, or after the series ended he got a new body? The head is very on point, but we're applying the Generations filter, AND it's a retool, not a fresh design. Its basically the same situation as Wheeljack, no, not the famous one, of Legacy United. Its a late wave filler retool, the other side of the same coin that gave us Sureshot. This seems to be the fate of any continuity in Generations not explicitly G1 or the Bayverse films; after the initial spike we get very intermittent releases because Hasbro won't fully commit to it. The old Generations Grabbag, but I digress. Getting back on topic, the mould they've chosen here does make a lot of sense, it's the heavy-set Hoist/Trailbreaker mould, substantially reworked with a new shell and accessories. So, it's also a Cannonball situation too.
But what might any of that actually mean? Well, it's a truckformer that presents as fatter and taller than the average deluxe, a trick achieved via proportions and a lot of hollowness. As a toy, it's basically sound, omitting the translucent plastic of early versions to its net benefit, but it's definitely earnest, rather than a lazy retool. Articulation is pretty decent, and the accessory situation is almost grandiose, but this retains the vehicle mode weakness of the arms being visible on the underside. I've never been a fan of the clip wheels at the back either, but it is what it is. Visuals and paint applications generally sit on the good side of average, the head being a highlight, but with the vehicle being slightly weaker overall for those reasons. They've taken an okay-ish deluxe, addressed a common complaint, and given it a total makeover. As it turns out, that was a pretty good idea here. In the absence of a clean sheet design, this is perfectly fine.
The accessory situation is where things get interesting though. Like Vir Cotto, he has six. Two magnetic clamp things, and four oversized cartoony tools. This is an insane amount for a modern deluxe, and I struggle to think of many toys that have comparable numbers of gubbins that aren't also weaponizers. These all have their own hidden storage points for vehicle mode, along with plenty of 5mm ports, both original and new. On the numbers alone, it's hard to fault Ratchet for play value, and because none of this is a conventional weapon, it makes him pretty distinct too. Where I may offer critique however is that is following the toy as much as the show, hence the tools, and that is not the most memorable thing about Ratchet. If, to bag this drum again, Hasbro had committed to the bit, we'd have an EMP Projector instead. But then again, there was that recent Star Raider Lockdown, you can work something out…
In conclusion: this remake of Animated Ratchet is pretty good. I'll admit that I'm predisposed to like both interesting retools, and the character. But honestly, they went above and beyond with a mould I didn’t love in the first place. If you're an Animated fan, buy without fear. And if you get the Vir Cotto reference, fair play to you.
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