Reusing your old work is acceptable.

You know how Lord Starscream from the Studio Series line was basically an upscaled and improved Deluxe figure? Studio Series Ratchet here is just… the DOTM Deluxe Ratchet.

Yes, he’s a completely new and different mold… but he’s the same. There’s some changes here and there but…

Look, read the review, look at the pictures and you’ll see why I’m so confused about what to write right now.

Vehicle mode

Yup, that’s Ratchet, the green ambulance… or is it yellow? Either way, he looks good.

He’s got all the molded detail he needs and plenty of paint to highlight all of it well. One area that’s been noticeably improved compared to the DOTM Deluxe; there are fewer panel lines caused by the transformation. While this means Ratchet’s ambulance mode is cleaner… it affects the robot mode later on.

For playability, Ratchet can roll very well because he has big wheels that have a ton of ground clearance. He also has one 5mm weapon port on his spare tire at the back of the vehicle mode.

Transformation

The transformation is almost exactly the same as DOTM Deluxe Ratchet except for one thing which isn’t a terrible choice because the transformation is super smart, intuitive and fun.

But that one thing was Hasbro simplifying the roof and backpack transformation… which causes problems man.

Robot mode

Okay, now you can see that Ratchet did get some tweaks to make him more accurate compared to the old Deluxe. His proportions are noticeably more accurate and his sculpted detail is closer to what was shown on-screen.

The elephant in the room; his backpack. It sticks out so much, ruins his silhouette and can get in the way of posing. One more fold in the backpack like the DOTM Deluxe would have improved it so much man…

Ratchet has a good amount of posability but he’s sadly missing a waist swivel.

• He can turn his head from side to side.
• His arms can rotate as well as go in and out at the shoulders.
• He has bicep swivels.
• His elbows bend.
• His hips are ball-jointed.
• He can swivel at the thighs.
• He can bend at the knees.
• His feet are ball-jointed.

Gimmicks

Ratchet is a Studio Series figure which means his gimmick is that he’s as show accurate as possible while being correctly scaled with every other SS figure out there. All that at affordable mainline Transformers prices… at least until aftermarket prices hit. Also, he comes with a screen accurate weapon; a nicely sized silver buzzsaw.

Oh, also he comes with a cardboard diorama piece… that I don’t have because it got thrown out.

Toy or collectible?

Collectible.

Seriously, I have no idea what happened but all the early Studio Series releases suddenly became really hard to find and expensive. Ratchet here honestly isn’t that pricey but he is hard to get a hold of. With him being quite rare, I’d feel bad giving him to a child but Ratchet’s a simple enough toy that kids would have fun messing around with.

If you do luck out and find a copy up for sale, Ratchet usually goes for RM80 ($20) loose but complete. If he’s new in a nice, fresh box he goes for about RM200 ($50) these days.

Closing

Ratchet is a good figure who’s fun to mess with and looks great in both modes… but that backpack really does bug me man. You get used to it eventually and he’s great aside from it though.

Ratchet gets a solid recommendation from me as long as you can get him for a decent price. Although if you can’t, the DOTM Deluxe is still pretty easy to get used.