Animated Ratchet may be my favorite version of the character to date, and it's all thanks to his backstory combined with how persistent he is while aiding Optimus Prime and the small group of Autobots he's with since Day 1. We already know that it was painful for him to have lost Arcee for a long time as well as having to shut down a heavily wounded Omega Supreme, yet we know he has what it takes to continue fighting the good fight as the Decepticons return once more. All this combined with his dedication in ensuring nothing bad ever happens to his friends during the second Autobot-Decepticon war makes for a good reason to put this iteration of the old medic above all other versions (though I like TFP Ratchet equally as much). We are one step closer to completing the main cast of Animated Autobots (along with Wreck-Gar and I guess the Autotrooper), so let's take a look at ol' reliable himself.
Here we have Animated Ratchet in his ambulance mode, which may appear to be a wholly new sculpt yet is a heavy retool of the Earthrise Hoistbreaker mold. The front section, side panels, back piece, and windshield are new, while the hinges for the shoulder joints as well as the tires are the same from what we had with the mold he's based on. While faithful to the Animated design, it does deviate from the original by not appearing as rounded while having the chassis lifted off the ground. On the plus side, it works for a sort of Bayverse Ratchet homage, but I wouldn't mind this much if they bothered painting the rims! One ironic thing is that the original toy has visible hinges while this one has visible 5mm ports on the sides.
Here he is with his crew mates of the Ark, which turned out to be Omega Supreme. Apart from Prowl being oversized like motorcycle Transformers tend to be, this is coming together better than I initially thought; all we need now is Bulkhead, and no, I won't use the Legacy version.
Transformation is the same from what we previously got with the Hoistbreaker mold, only now we have a bit of clever weapon storage for the tools and magnets (which store either within the backpack, between his legs, or in the hollow space of the front end). With how you merely slapped the weapons on the sides or roof depending on the tooling we previously got, that's a huge plus while still letting us display the can opener, screwdriver, hammer, and wrench without issue. Best part is that apart from the shoulder pads facing backwards rather than the sides, this robot mode ends up working much better than it has any right to. I say that because I never liked the idea of reusing other figures into Animated characters as it makes them seem like lesser priorities, but to it's credit, the silhouette associated with Hoistbreaker is comparable to Ratchet's; backpacks from the rear of the altmode, beer guts made from the front section, shoulder kibble of some capacity. And you see how clean Ratchet's arms look compared to Trailbreaker's? Makes me wonder why his pieces weren't modified to match the show better since he didn't have those side panels dangling that low like on Hoist! And hey, it doesn't ruin the lower legs.
His head sculpt remains pretty close to the Animated aesthetic, and possibly does so better than everyone else in the line up so far. I wish the chevron was painted all the way but at least the right half is intentionally chipped off. Articulation is generally the same, and the magnets are always a signature addition that look better than the original ones...though I have to ask why we couldn't have the forearms wholly red.
Here he is with his fellow Autobots, at least the main gang. The positive with the Hoistbreaker mold is that he's already going to be taller than Bee and Prowl while still remaining shorter than Prime and inevitably Bulkhead. This review's shorter than I intended it to be, but I mostly had it at this length to better focus on the retooling as well as how well it closely fits with the characters we already got in addition to judging his accuracy. I like him better easily more than I ever did Hoistbreaker, and I could almost justify the price increase with the additional accessories he comes with.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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