If there is something I love about Ratchet and Ironhide outside of G1, it's that they had unique body designs from one another. If anything, it was something that was most commonly known with the movies while Animated and Prime would have given Ratchet the more traditional ambulance look while Ironhide would have gone from the G1-esque designs to ones that are more reminiscent of the Movie incarnation before they were sadly scrapped as Animated got canceled while Bulkhead replaced Ironhide in Prime (and for some reason had his toy repainted as Kup in the US line despite the design clearly being made for Ironhide in mind). And it's interesting how Ratchet almost always pops up in new iterations of Transformers but Ironhide didn't. I guess they favor the medic more than they do the bodyguard or weapons specialist. Anyways, let's see how this figure turned out!
Here is Ratchet in his robot mode. It's a very realistic take on the G1 design that is expected with the Bumblebee movie robots, though Ratchet is very chunky even when put next to the G1 design. Sure, that model was basically done up with no transformation in mind since it deviated from the Diaclone toy, but this is pretty silly overall if you ask me. The proportions are mostly accurate to the movie, but I do not like how thin the shoulders are compared to the forearms, which makes them feel like they're not consistent with the character design. The integration of wheels on the legs appears to be the same as on the original design; in fact, this guy feels fatter than the character model, which is funny since this at least looks like it can transform; the back proves this with the doors that serve as panels for the figure which is hilarious.
Head sculpt is decently sculpted, though I do find the eyes a little inaccurate with the lightpiping which can be appreciative, but the face is pretty silly-looking considering how he looks like he has a skeleton face in the Bumblebee movie Also, his chevron being red is not something that bothers me (though it is more associated with Prowl than Ratchet in G1), but the fact that it's not painted elsewhere on the surface areas is pretty bothersome. His articulation is consistent with the other Bumblebee movie figures, with a ball-jointed head, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, a waist swivel, loose hip joints for front and back movement, they also move in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots that are not too effective. His gun is pretty big, though not very character-specific apart from the way it tabs on the back. Does look a little cooler like that, not going to lie.
For a robot mode size comparison, here he is with the other Bumblebee movie Autobots released so far, and yes, I now have the updated B-127. He finally seems taller than everyone else for once since Wheeljack, Brawn, and Ratchet all felt like they had the same height. Either way, we're close to just having Arcee and Ironhide, one new mold and a repaint with a chevron-less noggin.
Speaking of which, Ironhide is on the next wave because it was inevitable. Honestly, it's funny how this figure looks worse than Ratchet in terms of color placement; the grat shoulders look cheap, the red hips look terrible and clash with the gray crotch and thighs, and the wheels that will be used in the front of the vehicle mode are gray and stick out compared to the rest of the vehicle mode, which is hilarious! At least the shade of red looks good.
Transforming him into his vehicle mode is very different than what I initially expected; I at first anticipated he'd use the same transformation that the Siegerise version has, but it thankfully isn't the case given how more reliant this guy is on panels that are thankfully integrated without sacrificing his robot mode too much. The vehicle mode reminds me of the terrain vehicles that were featured in another Michael Bay film, that being Armageddon. It also appears he has a few shades of discrepancies between the painted white parts and the plastic that is white (and even on the difference between his own parts and the wheel wells); I currently can't tell if my copy has the same discoloration issues that other copies got. At least the red, as sparring as it can be, breaks up the weird white discrepancies. As for his gun, it stores on a 5mm post like expected.
For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is with Brawn, B-127, and Wheeljack. He feels rather compact than the others, which may be in reference to his future altmode, the Hummer H2, being a somewhat compact vehicle compared to the GMC Topkick. So Ratchet may be a little more pedestrian than either Wheeljack or Brawl, but I do like the engineering that he has and his altmode being reminiscent of the terrain vehicles from Armageddon helps him work as a pretty neat figure all around. That being said...
Why do these guys have 5mm holes under their feet? It sort of is a thing we got with the SS86 guys, but with the lack of any C.O.M.B.A.T-esque gimmick in Studio Series, and with the lack of 5mm posts elsewhere other than the hands, it really doesn't make sense.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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