Transformers Prime (RID) Ratchet review

Ratchet always needs something in Transformers Prime. He hates it when his tools get broken, especially when he deals with Bulkhead. That comes from his somewhat stiff behavior, which is also made from the fatigue of the war and just how much he wished Optimus Prime would stop Megatron once and for all. That aside, I felt it was odd how he sounded younger than his previous incarnations, especially Movie and Animated Ratchet, though Jeffrey Combs was good. All in all, Ratchet may be seen as the guy that always needs something, but he's had a few moments, such as his SynthEn dosage as well as teaming up with Wheeljack to take down Soundwave. In terms of my toy experience, I only saw him once before he disappeared from the shelves. I wasn't into that much of serious collecting at the time, but I did want to get Ratchet. I then got the Beast Hunters version, but then I messed it up by repainting him to look more normal (and by repainting, I meant amateurishly using a sharpie on most of him). Fast forward to 2018, and I now own the regular Prime: Robots in Disguise version. Was he worth the 5-6 year wait? Let's find out!

Here is Ratchet in his vehicle mode. Now you might be wondering why these pics were taken in my house like they were in some of my reviews from last week. These were from a time it was snowing outside, so I had to resort to taking pics in my kitchen. Thankfully, the other portion of the review doesn't have that problem. Anyways, he's a pretty decent-looking ambulance that sadly suffers from one huge problem: a lack of ambulance-specific decals. The front looks decent, yeah, but the side looks pretty plain with how much white remains unbroken. That gray bit being exposed doesn't help, either. It's sort of like how knockoffs or toys made at cheaper prices don't really have much of a paint budget to them, and while Ratchet probably wasn't seen with much priority in Hasbro at the time compared to someone like Bumblebee, this still feels a bit underwhelming. Also, the figure's altmode does look broken up from the side, a la Universe Ratchet but thankfully not as awfully so.

When I say that there is no detail on the back, I really mean it. Look at how much white there is from this view! I'm amazed that there's a silver bumper, but man does this reak of budget cuts! If it was painted in solid red, at least it would have looked a bit better, even if it does wash out some of the molded details.

Ratchet's transformation is fairly involved, but nowhere near as much compared to the aforementioned 2008 Universe Deluxe figure. Parts of the figure feel equally involved in some capacity, with the legs and arms doing most of the work. The transformation was also part of the "Revealers" portion of the Prime: Robots in Disguise toyline, where Deluxes had a "dramatic head reveal"; in Ratchet's case, after you pull down the back part of the ambulance, his head pops up. I have to say that the transformation does get tricky when you're transforming him back into his altmode, but it's not annoying to deal with.

The robot mode is a pretty good representation of his appearance in the show. While it does have more kibble than the proper show design does, it at least captures the look of his lab-coat aesthetic that I'm sure was what the show designers were going for. There are thankfully more details in the robot mode, but it mainly looks like that from the front. Sides and back look about the same as they were in vehicle mode in terms of the coloring from the vehicle mode.

Head sculpt looks pretty good, though my copy's forehead crest has a bit of red chipped off. The eyes are not painted to resemble how they actually look in the show, but at least the light piping is nice while the face has some good silver paint.

Despite looking somewhat clunky at first glance, the articulation is pretty good overall. Head is on a ball joint, though it can be annoying when you have the head on a spring. Shoulders are on ball joints and can move around very well. The biceps swivel nicely, the elbows bend at two points, and the hands hinge downwards due to transformation. The waist swivels, the hips move front and back, in and out, the thighs swivel, and the knees bend.

His accessories are the two knives he regularly uses in combat. They're made of a soft plastic yet have some decent details added on them. At least they're in somewhat of a metal coloring. You can store them on the vehicle mode as a mammoth attack mode of sorts, though doing so is kind of annoying because of how rubbery they are.

Ratchet's variants are kind of plentiful, and some of them got to be used for other characters. Let's go over the ones made specifically for Ratchet. This is the Arms Micron version, which was from a time when TakaraTomy tried to make their figures appeal to the model kit collectors. This meant putting their weapons on sprues and giving the toys sticker sheets. As a result, Ratchet loses his red paint apps in favor of stickers that actually help complete the look of the vehicle mode, but it comes at the cost of some missing robot mode paint apps that were on the Hasbro version (or any extra details that could be added) and some Micron ports. Speaking of the Micron ports, they do not add to the look of the toy, especially with the gray contrasting even more with the white than the one slit coming from the elbow. While there are some slight methods to remove them, the least Takara could have done was make then white to fit in with the altmode. 2011's Dark of the Moon line had the Mechtech weapons take up some plastic from the main figures, but at least they hid any holes better than the Arms Micron releases of the PRID molds.

His Arms Micron is an oversized version of his deployable daggers. R.A. is the name of this guy, and he comes in the unattractive gray plastic that is used for the stupid ports. The robot mode does have a doctor's headband and a face mask, but the rest of the robot mode looks pretty meh. At least there are some stickers to add to the blade, but the colors are not accurate. There are multiple variants of this guy in the line, but much like the PS1-esque Arms Micron Theater (which sucks), the TakaraTomy version of the PRID line is not worth the money save for a few occassions. There are other PRID figures I have, so be on the lookout for any other Arms Micron differences for their reviews.

This is the heavy retool made for Beast Hunters, which gives Ratchet a more Dinobot II-esque design with the chest and head. I like the new tooling added onto him, but I can't help but feel how vomit-colored his color scheme is. The reddish orange and the white look fine, but the tan of the toy doesn't make it look too unappealing, and then there are the swirly details. I do like the weapon he comes with, which homages what the original Dinobot used in the series.

This retool was then repainted into the Go! toyline, which was TakaraTomy's equivalent to the Beast Hunters line. This is Hunter Ratchet, who has a better deco than the Hasbro version; the green, black, and red of this toy make for a pretty good color scheme, and I like the gold of the engine and the drill, but you want to know the weird the weird thing about this figure? He's labeled as a Decepticon (but not on the stock photos) because the bio mentions how Dark Energon was forced onto him when he sneaked into a Decepticon lab. Setting aside the faction-switch, Ratchet's new colors look so much nicer than the Hasbro version, and one of the rare instances where I agree that a Takara version is actually better than the Hasbro version. Also, nice rims!

Now for the uses of the mold that are not specific to Ratchet, starting with First Aid, who...looks worse than Ratchet. The ambulance looks fine, but the robot mode is even blander than the regular use of the mold, what with even more white remaining prominent than before. Also, this repaint came from a 3-pack of 2014 Protectobots that were actually bluer repaints of TFP molds, so he came with a Legion Arcee repainted as Groove and a repainted Prowl as Streetwise.

And finally, we have BotCon 2014 Cannonball! He resembled the pirate-themed repaint of the same name from the Cybertron line, which also came from a medic-bot (Red Alert in this case). The color scheme's pretty slick, but it's the new head that helps make him stand out more from just being a repaint of Ratchet.

This is the canceled Gears that would have been one of the repaints of the line, though he had a new head that was later used for Swerve in som capacity (Swerve being a retool of TFP Breakdown). This would be neat for the small portion of fans that like Gears, but beyond that, his color scheme is almost as unattractive as the suit from Superman Returns.

Now, remember when I mentioned that you wouldn't need to go out and get the Arms Micron figure even if it had stickers? Enter Reprolabels. They were able to make a pretty good sheet for fans that are in need of the extra details that the show had. The headlights, the lifeline, the chrome steps, the black window, and the sirens all add so much to the details of the vehicle mode. There is even an Autobot insignia for the hood. Do forgive how I place the stickers on my toy, but at least they improve the look of the toy than they did before. Even the gray slit that was from the elbow is covered up.

The back is a lot nicer now than it was before the stickers were applied. Yeah, some of the white is still there, but it's much nicer than what we previously had.

Transformation remains unaltered for Ratchet, but the robot mode looks a lot nicer than it did beforehand. There are many more details than the toy previously had. Most notably, the legs and arms have more details than before, as do the forearms, crotch, and the doors. All in all, much nicer than the stock toy.

The rest of the sides are just as nicely detailed. The shoulders feel more complete (from the sides at least), and the back doesn't look entirely plain.

Even the blades have a makeover added on them. They not only have some silver chrome but also some black and blue highlights to make them more complete than the flat gray they have. Very nice!

Here is a comparison made between Prime RID Ratchet before and after the sticker makeover. You can definitely tell how much more complete the robot mode looks now than he was beforehand, especially in vehicle mode. Without the stickers, PRID Ratchet makes for a decent toy to have for your collection. The look of the vehicle mode doesn't look awful in terms of aesthetics (setting aside the missing deco), the transformation is fairly involved but not annoying, and the robot mode looks accurate to the show design while also having some decent articulation. Another issue of the figure is that he does feel small in hand. Be on the lookout for more TFP reviews, where I take a look at the main five members of Team Prime and present the size comparisons. I do suggest you get this guy, though be sure to get some stickers first.

Final ranking (without stickers): ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Final ranking (with stickers): ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐