Transformers Prime: Ratchet Robots in Disguise (RiD) Deluxe Review

"Your mother may be a nurse, but does she know anything about the effects of Energon on the human body?"

The Autobot medical officer who usually stays at the Autobot base manning the ground bridge, Ratchet has been fighting alongside Optimus Prime ever since Orion Pax became Optimus Prime. Though dry wit and rarely laughs, Ratchet finds the time to laugh from time to time and a strong believer in the Autobot cause.

After a whole season of Transformers Prime without any toy line and Hasbro canceling the First Edition toys prematurely, Hasbro releases the Robots in Disguise (RiD) deluxe wave 1 with Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, Soundwave, Arcee, and Ratchet.

Package front and back:
 

Tech spec on the side of the package:


Alt mode front:

He's missing paint apps for the headlights, yellow for his overhead flashers, and silver paint above his windshield.  But overall fairly accurate to the cartoon.

Alt mode Left:

The worst view of Ratchet's toy.  It is very bland and missing numerous paint apps.  The alloy wheels should be silver, rear window shouldn't be just white, the thin upper red line should extend to the back of the ambulance and diagonal upward, the thin red line should also extend forward to the front of the ambulance, the thin red line should change to a thin white line in the front red section of the ambulance, and the top edge of the roof should be painted red.  In summary, it's like Hasbro skipped painting Ratchet's entire back half.

Alt mode Right:

In all, Ratchet is missing a lot of paint apps that will mostly be missing from the Takara version too.  The Takara version also features two non-cartoon accurate pimples that stick out of the toy to plug in 5mm weapons.  It's a challenge to transform Ratchet back into his vehicle mode and align the panels properly - though, not as hard as Classics/Henkei Ratchet.

Alt mode Back:

The back should be colored red, his rear lights should be painted yellow, center strip should be grey, and silver rear bumpler.

Alt mode Top:

His roof should be painted red

Alt mode Bottom:

He has a compact underside that shows a bit of unused space.

Knives:


Dual Bladed Ambulance

Ratchet doesn't even need his bot mode to operate!

Bot front:

He's missing the red on his "ears" (smaller back antennas on the side of his face), his shoulder pads are further out and don't cover his collar area, the top of his lower arms should be red, area surrounding his silver abdomen should be black, the pelvic area should be grey, a small Autobot logo should be on his left side of his upper chest, his chest "windows" are fake and not used in vehicle mode, his feet should be painted red on the sides, the wheels should be centered on the foot but currently line on the insides, red paint apps missing from his knee area, and feet should be colored grey.

Bot Left

The shoulder pads are missing some red paint apps on his shoulder pads, the wheels should be half covered by his white lower arms, the lower arms white area should not be straight but diagonal upward, the lower arms should have red paint apps for the zip zag, and unlike the cartoon, the toy has a huge side of the vehicle along his leg.

Bot Right

Sliding the back panel to his backpack pops up Ratchet's head.  You can easily push in Ratchet's head and have a headless bot.

Bot Back

His backpack should be colored red, his arm wheels should be in the middle of his arm not on the outsides, the center of his backpack should be grey, and his backpack shape should angle towards his head rather than stairway further back.

Bot Top

The upper shoulders should be his headlights but are not in the toy.  Top of his backpack should be black.

Bot Bottom

His feet has a great back ankle for great stability and it even matches the cartoon's foot design.

Weapon:

The knives do a great job looking like his hands can be swapped into knives from the outside.  Sadly, from the inside, you can see his hands holding the blades.

Articulation:

His the kibble behind his lower leg and large knee caps, his leg articulation is limited.  His large arm panels also limited much articulation.  However all arms and legs feature swivels and ball joints in the right places.  His head has a limited rotation of 45 degrees each way due to his collar.

With Arcee:

Ratchet should be much taller than Arcee but this deluxe toy can't pull off any height magic

The full Autobot Transformers Prime toy cast:

A mix of First Edition (FE) Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Bulkhead, Cliffjumper with Robots in Disguise (RiD) Ratchet, Arcee, and Wheeljack.  Ratchet should be 25% taller than he currently is compared to Bumblebee.  But his height relative to FE Optimus Prime is fairly accurate if you watch S1E22 "Stronger, Faster".  Let's just say the toys are not to scale and Hasbro will not likely ever get them to scale perfectly.

From all the online photos of RiD Ratchet, he looked too plain white and much too small.  But in hand, he's a good looking bot with a decent, abeit, small vehicle mode.  His articulation is limited compared to the Transformers Prime First Edition line of toys but definitely better than Soundwave.  His mold is fairly close to the TV show in accuracy but misses a lot of paint apps that would've made him a lot better toy.  He's still a better toy than Bumblebee and probably better than Arcee too.  But compared to the awesomeness of FE toys, he's only a good toy.  If you're collecting the rest of the Transformers Prime toys then you need to get Ratchet to complete your cast.  If you're an occasional collector, Wheeljack is still the best looking RiD toy.



Eric Toy Score: 4 out of 5

Publisher: Hasbro
Year: February 2012
Price: $14.99