Ratchet (Animated)

Ratchet is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Rassa-frassa KIDS with their loud music and their rocket-powered axes...

Before the Great Wars, Ratchet was a civilian mechanic, and one of the best on all of Cybertron. But war is hell, and Ratchet learned that all too well. It left him bitter and cynical. After the war, he got himself placed in a dead end position of repairing space bridges, seeing it as a chance to get away from what he had experienced. And in his experience, "hero" is another word for casualty, because that's what most of the heroes ended up being. Still, he knows one when he sees it, and Optimus Prime definitely is one.

His main "weapons" are two electromagnets that can extend from his forearms. With them, he can move metal-based objects, levitate downward from high heights, manipulate or tear apart metallic objects in midair, or create magnetic shields. More recently, he won his electromagnetic pulse generator back from Lockdown the bounty hunter, a device capable of knocking out a Transformer.

He enjoys grumbling about almost everything, being sarcastic, and having war flashbacks, just like any old man.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Horst Lampe (German), Dariusz Stach (Polish), Sidney Lilla (Portuguese), Stefano Albertini (Italian), Javier Rodríguez (Latin American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2), Eleazar Osorio (Latin American Spanish, season 3), Javier López (Castilian Spanish), Chae-heon Im (Korean), Petri Hanttu (Finnish), Sylvain Lemarié (French)

Millions of years ago, knee-insignia were all the rage.

Millions of years ago, Ratchet arrived at Hydrax Plateau looking for survivors of a Decepticon chemical attack, which had slaughtered soldiers from both sides. The only survivor was a Decepticon named Oil Slick. Against orders, Ratchet tried to save his life. Oil Slick, however, revealed he had the formula for an antidote to the chemical, known to the grunts as "cosmic rust", but he lacked the equipment to create it. Ratchet warily agreed to help, and as they worked, tried to learn a little bit more about who was fighting. Once the cure was complete, Ratchet used it on Oil Slick, who promptly revealed he had created the cosmic rust, didn't care if his own soldiers got killed, and infected Ratchet before driving off. However, Ratchet had managed to snag some of the antidote, so he used a little on himself and took the rest back to headquarters for mass production, regretfully realizing he'd learned a little bit about a good deception that day. 'Bots of Science Bots of Science

Before the gut.

Some time later, Ratchet was sent by Ultra Magnus on a wartime mission to recover Autobot intelligence officer Arcee, who was carrying important security codes in her memory core. Shortly after he found her, the pair were captured by the Decepticon-affiliated bounty hunter Lockdown. The hunter made a habit of collecting the powers of defeated enemies as trophies and did so with Ratchet's medical EMP device. Before he could attach it, Arcee was able to pass the device to Ratchet, and she begged him to use it on her to wipe the codes and preserve their safety. In the ensuing skirmish with Lockdown, the device accidentally produced a wider blast, erasing Arcee's entire memory. Ratchet would have flashbacks of the incident for centuries to come. During the skirmish, Ratchet lost his hold on his EMP generator, Lockdown claiming it as a trophy. The Thrill of the Hunt

In your heeeeeaad, in your heeeeead, zombie zombie zombie-ee-ee...

After returning Arcee to Autobot territory, Ratchet was ordered by Ultra Magnus to perform open processor surgery on Arcee to retrieve the access codes. As the operation began, Arcee uploaded the codes into Ratchet's processor, so he was conducted to a secret hangar and introduced to Project Omega a.k.a. Omega Supreme. Perceptor, along with Highbrow and Ultra Magnus, explained that Omega was the Autobots' last line of defense against the Decepticons and that the codes that Arcee was carrying were for Omega's activation. Arcee was supposed to be Omega's mentor to imprint upon and take orders from, but now Ratchet had inherited her role. Hearing that Omega had been built with a simple processor in order to carry out his duties with no remorse, Ratchet refused to teach him to be a weapon of mass destruction and instead tried to instruct him to be an Autobot.

Ratchet's older than the wheel.

Upon winning the Great War against a massive Decepticon onslaught, Omega was damaged extensively and at risk of losing his Spark. Ratchet was able to put him into a modified stasis until he could repair the giant. Before going into stasis, Omega questioned how he could be an Autobot but destroy like a Decepticon. The best assurance Ratchet could offer was, "We do what we must, even though sometimes it doesn't make sense", and he coaxed the giant Autobot to rest. TransWarped Ratchet stayed with Omega after he'd been repurposed as a space bridge repair vessel. During one repair, Ratchet dropped an explosive down a shaft, destroying Prowl's starship, leading the cyber-ninja to sign onto the crew for a lift back to Cybertron. Endgame, Part I

During a routine repair assignment with Optimus Prime's crew, Ratchet and the rest of the group found the AllSpark. His first reaction upon seeing it was to urge the others to throw it through the space bridge. However, events soon overtook them when Megatron arrived and tried to claim the AllSpark. The Autobots took their ship through the space bridge, where Prime defeated Megatron, and the crew was forced to go into stasis to avoid injury in a crash-landing on Earth.

Awakening fifty years later, the Autobots went to help battle a renegade nanomachine construct, while Ratchet studied a specimen of the construct on the ship. Learning that it was vulnerable in its command centers, Ratchet sent a kill program to the Autobots to place in the monster. His program worked.

Ratchet had the most difficulty getting used to Earth's customs, as the humans kept interrupting his stasis naps to put parking tickets on him. Transform and Roll Out Dispatches To make things more complicated, those annoying camera bots followed the Autobots everywhere. Always watching, waiting... Ratchet was sure to make his displeasure over the Autobots' current situation heard as he helped assemble their new secret base. He was nonetheless exposed to some of Earth's culture when Sari came over to have a "slumber party" with them. The activities only served to confuse Ratchet further on Earth's customs. The sleep-over was interrupted by the base's machinery going haywire and attacking the Autobots. Despite trying to shield himself with his magnetic powers, Ratchet was damaged in the attack, sidelining him for most of it. Thankfully, Bumblebee managed to shut down all of the machinery. One last act of sabotage had to be dealt with however, and Ratchet worked in tandem with Bulkhead, Prowl and Optimus to get rid of a leaking fuel tank before it blew all of them to smithereens. In the attack's aftermath, Ratchet pointed out that they had dealt with an intelligence sophisticated enough to merge their base's security sensors with its assembly line. Things eventually simmered down, and Ratchet looked on as the team's younger 'bots played a game of Twister™ with Sari. Home Is Where the Spark Is

Ratchet joined Optimus, Prowl and Bulkhead in an attempt to learn more about Earth customs by watching television, only to stumble across a broadcast of Bumblebee wrestling Colossus Rhodes. When it became apparent that Rhodes had gone berserk, Ratchet and the Autobots sped to Bumblebee's aid. Ratchet used his magnetic powers to prevent his tiny team-mate from being smushed flat by a car Rhodes hurled at him. Smarting over the public embarrassment, Rhodes's employer and Isaac Sumdac's rival Prometheus Black—aka the acidic mutate Meltdown—sought revenge, sabotaging Sumdac's new police drones; Ratchet was able to expose Black's involvement when Sari brought him a piece of drone to examine, and he observed the effects of a powerful corrosive on it. Seeking to protect Sumdac from further reprisals by Black, the Autobots headed for Sumdac Tower, only to find that Black had already been sealed inside with Sumdac by a force-field security system. Ratchet used his magnetic powers to open a small hole in the field, allowing Bumblebee and Sari to enter and deactivate it while Ratchet and the others held off Colossus Rhodes. Using her key, Sari then channeled the tower's force-field through Ratchet's magnets, allowing him to trap Black in a force-field bubble and end his threat. Total Meltdown

Ratchet was with the rest of the team when they watched a news broadcast, showing Prowl and Bumblebee inadvertently exposing the Wraith's modus operandi. Later, when Bumblebee apprehended Colossus Rhodes, Ratchet helped sign autographs for the grateful Detroiters. Later still, when the Autobots saw "Bumblebee" attack Michigan Stadium, Ratchet helped clear the little Autobot's name by halting what was really a plot by the increasingly jealous and irrational Wraith. Attention Surplus Disorder

Ratchet joined the rest of the Autobots into investigating a theft at Sumdac's laboratories. They found out that the crime in question had been committed by an industrial saboteur going by the name of "Stiletto". She soon attempted to collapse Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, prompting the Autobots to leap into action. During the confrontation, Ratchet helped repair the bridge to prevent it from collapsing beneath their feet. He then stopped Stiletto from making a quick getaway, using his magnetic abilities to grab her motorcycle from beneath her. Ultimately, Optimus managed to capture Stiletto, and Ratchet would later be seen helping fix the Autobots injured during the battle at their headquarters. Stiletto

Ratchet and the other Autobots had to calm Bulkhead down when Porter C. Powell began to market the template for Bulkhead's altmode as a vehicle for the everyday citizen, and further rubbed salt in the wound by using highly-doctored footage to have Bulkhead "promote" the vehicle. After Bulkhead had a confrontation with the Angry Archer and Professor Princess, Ratchet examined a piece of a Bulkhead retrieved from the crime scene by the same-named Autobot. His analysis proved that the vehicles were highly unsafe for day-to-day commute. Sari and Bulkhead worked together to prove that the Bulkheads were unsafe, and Powell was forced to recall the line. Afterwards, Ratchet pondered as to who in their right processor would be willing to parade about in one of the garish paint-jobs that many Bulkheads had been customized with... only for Bumblebee to enter the room with an equally garish new color-scheme. The Insincerest Form of Flattery

Sari invited the Autobots to visit her father's theme-park, "Dino Drive", which featured robotic dinosaurs. Being his usual curmudgeon self, Ratchet was sure to make it known that he wasn't impressed by how old the Dinosaurs were... after all, the Autobots were much older! Though their first visit ended in disaster for the animatronics, the Autobots' second visit to the park was a little more eventful, as the animatronics attacked back! Teaming up with Bumblebee, Ratchet unleashed an electro-magnetic pulse to shut down the "Dinobots". But when Sari used her key to boost their attack, she unwittingly granted the trio Sparks. Later, the Dinobots awoke in full consciousness, and began running wild in Detroit, leading to yet another confrontation against the Autobots. An EMP blast didn't work against Grimlock, Swoop and Snarl this time around, and Ratchet found himself completely overwhelmed. Thankfully, Bulkhead managed to trap the Dinobots in a tar pit, nullifying the threat they posed to the city. Blast from the Past

Duh-nananana... waw waw waw.

To Ratchet's horrified disbelief, Lockdown appeared on Earth and captured Optimus Prime, intending to hand him over to the vengeful remaining Decepticons for the bounty offered against him. The Autobots attempted a rescue, with Ratchet initially absent due to haunting flashbacks over his last encounter with the bounty hunter. He was forced to intervene after Lockdown incapacitated Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Prowl. Ratchet was able to free his commanding officer and retrieve his EMP device, using it to send Lockdown's ship crashing back to Earth. After reinstalling Prime's stolen gadgets, the veteran finally opened up to the younger soldier. The Thrill of the Hunt

After Sari "borrowed" a couple of rocket prototypes from her father's workshop, Bumblebee pleaded with Ratchet for him to attach the devices to his chassis. Ratchet refused, stating that it could only lead to Bumblebee causing more damage to himself than usual, which Ratchet would be forced to fix. Too bad Sari went ahead and upgraded Bumblebee with her Key anyways. Later, Ratchet helped nab the super-thief Nanosec after he had stolen a sample of unstable Destronium from Sumdac Laboratories. The capture ran into quite a few problems, most of them caused by Bumblebee's uncontrollable boosters. Ratchet had the sense to advise Bumblebee to transform into robot mode, stopping him from running wild. When Nanosec was finally stopped, and the Destronium was in the Autobots’ possession, Ratchet inspected the canister. His scans revealed that the Destronium could explode at any moment. Bulkhead and Prowl helped Bumblebee get into the upper atmosphere, where the Destronium detonated harmlessly; and Ratchet and Optimus slowed Bumblebee's descent as he came plummeting back to Earth. Nanosec

Ratchet and the other Autobots attended Sari's eight birthday party. There, Ratchet showed an... unusual amount of enthusiasm over Sari smashing her piñata. He was less impressed by Bulkhead's clumsy attempt at joining in the activity. Though Ratchet wound up entertaining Sari's guests, Sari herself was left behind with Bulkhead. A few days after the event, Soundwave, once one of Sari's toys, now a Decepticon menace, took control of Detroit's automatons in an attempt to subjugate the human population. Ratchet teamed up with Prowl to fight back against the hostile robots, but between their sheer numbers and Soundwave interfering with the Autobots’ comm-links, he found himself being overwhelmed. Once Bulkhead took care of Soundwave, the automatons returned to their normal state, and the fighting came to an end. Sound and Fury

When the Decepticons Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived on Earth, the Autobots were quickly bested by the duo. Prime realized that the AllSpark was no longer safe on the planet and decided that they should leave Earth and return to Cybertron. Sari was not pleased by this, but Ratchet's response was a gruff, "Grow up". When Optimus asked Sari to help, Ratchet was displeased with the thought of working with a "protoform", but Optimus silenced them by making it an order. Once aboard the Autobots' ship, Sari accidentally opened an airlock, nearly flooding the hold, then admitted that she had tried to sabotage the ship, not wanting them to leave. In a moment of empathy, Ratchet told her the Autobots didn't want to leave either, but they had to, or else the Decepticons would wipe out the humans, including Sari, and Ratchet couldn't live with himself if that happened. With the help of a now-willing Sari, Ratchet brought the ship's weapons back online, defeating Lugnut and Blitzwing. Lost and Found

Seeing as Sari would likely be a target for the Decepticons in the future, the Autobots decided to train her in combat techniques. When Captain Fanzone found out about this, after Sari had been abducted from her room, he expressed disbelief over the fact. Ratchet responded gruffly that it was better the Autobots teach Sari "ninja nerve blows", rather than she pick it up on the street. Once Sari was rescue however, her training was discontinued, as she proved capable of taking care of herself, in her own unique way. Survival of the Fittest

After his latest rescue mission ended in destructive disaster, Bulkhead attempted to pick up painting, to prove he could create as well as destroy. Unfortunately, Ratchet didn't "get" Bulkhead's art. As a point of contention, Ratchet pointed out that art was a waste of time, since it couldn't be used to save anyone. Later, Henry Masterson, aka "The Headmaster" stole Bulkhead's body, and used it to hold the entire city at ransom, threatening to overload the local power plant. The Autobots battled the villain, but found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer destructive power that The Headmaster unleashed with Bulkhead's body. After an arduous struggle, The Headmaster fled, leaving Bulkhead's body behind. But at this point, the power plant was ready to blow. Working together, the Autobots quickly built an "art piece" robot, who took the fatal trip into the plant's core, and halted the chain reaction within. Bulkhead pointed out that Ratchet had been wrong, as "art" had indeed saved the city of Detroit. Ratchet must have acquiesced the point somewhat, as he accompanied Bulkhead to his art show later that day. Headmaster

Hey! I'm still using that!

After receiving a report on increased Decepticon activity from Teletran-1, Optimus ordered Ratchet to remove the AllSpark Key from Sari's possession forcibly, as it was no longer safe in the hands of a dumb stubby. Ratchet was hesitant to take the object from the girl, but followed his superior's orders with a gruff, professional "Yessir." After Sari fled the base in tears, Optimus then told Ratchet to take the Key to the Autobots' ship, under Lake Erie, in order to protect the AllSpark from the Decepticons. Unfortunately, the medibot was intercepted by Blitzwing and Lugnut, who demanded that he hand over the Key. He stoically refused, challenging them to take it from his "cold, offline servo". Icy Blitzwing complied by blasting Ratchet and the surrounding scenery with an ice beam. He switched to Random Blitzwing, made a smart remark, and wrenched the Key (and the arm holding it) from Ratchet.

Despite this handicap, the mechanic was able to break free from his icy prison, report the AllSpark Key's theft to Optimus, single-handedly bring the ship online (pun intended), Megatron Rising - Part 1 rescue Sari from Blackarachnia, pick up the rest of the team at Sumdac Tower, and still participate later in the battle against Megatron and his forces. Once Optimus dispersed the AllSpark and defeated Megatron, Sari used her key to restore Ratchet to full working order. Megatron Rising - Part 2

Though the Autobots managed to drive off the Decepticons, Detroit was damaged throughout the battle. Optimus's crew helped restore the area best they could, but they found that the humans now viewed them as potential menaces, instead of heroes. Ratchet understood why the humans would have trouble differentiating Autobot from Decepticon after such destruction befell them. Then the Elite Guard's ship touched down nearby, and Ratchet drove off with the others to meet its occupants. But these new arrivals didn't treat Ratchet and the gang as heroes either. Ultra Magnus, Jazz, and especially Sentinel Prime didn't trust Optimus's crew, and doubted their story on what had transpired on Earth. Ratchet and the others got their chance to shine in their superiors' presence when a Sumdac plant went haywire, necessitating the Autobots to intervene before a flood of berserk police drones spread into the city. Ratchet helped keep the drones occupied while Optimus, Prowl and Jazz stopped the plant's assembly line, ending the crisis. The Elite Guard

Ratchet later helped stop a runaway train powered by an AllSpark fragment. When Starscream stopped by again, Bumblebee and Ratchet again combined their powers to attack him with an electromagnetic pulse, but the AllSpark-powered Decepticon shrugged it off like it was nothing. Mission Accomplished

Wreck-Gar wouldn't get off his lawn.

While helping to dispose of garbage in the city, Ratchet's crotchety attitude became such a problem that Optimus asked Sari and Bumblebee to help him work on developing a more positive attitude. His experience in helping a young couple who were in the process of making a protoform did not help with his attitude, and things got even worse when some trash-toting nuisance named Wreck-Gar came along, spouting that he was an Autobot. Telling the newly sentient Transformer that he was only good for garbage, Ratchet unwittingly inspired him to deliver garbage to the people of Detroit. Unfortunately, Wreck-Gar also had a sample of Sumdac Systems' new and improved nanobots, designed to disintegrate garbage. Fearing what the AllSpark-infused nanites might do, Ratchet apologized to Wreck-Gar, saying that the befuddled newcomer could be whatever he wanted, including a hero. Wreck-Gar did become a hero—after he vacuumed up the microbots, they exploded, causing Wreck-Gar to fall into the river. Ratchet assumed he was dead. When Porter C. Powell said that Ratchet had ruined his presentation, Ratchet forced him and Mayor Edsel to make a compromise by threatening to have them join Wreck-Gar in the river. They came to an agreement, and Ratchet assumed that the bystanders were cheering for him, leaving him with the assumption that he did have people skills. Garbage In, Garbage Out

Ratchet helped search for an AllSpark fragment, only for the mission to be interrupted by a group of illegal street racers, the Street Demons, zooming by. When one of the racers caused two others to crash, Ratchet stopped to help Ming-Li out of her wrecked vehicle. Captain Fanzone then came by and arrested her. Velocity

The Autobots' ongoing efforts to fix up Detroit continued. As they repaired an overpass, the group spotted Blitzwing and Lugnut trying to sneak off with some construction supplies. Ratchet attempted to stop them from taking off, though he only managed to trip them up, inadvertently causing more damage to the overpass. The Autobots were forced to stay late to repair it. Again. Later, Bulkhead brought two new 'bots back to Autobot headquarters: Mixmaster and Scrapper. Though they were insufferable to begin with, the Constructibots became an actual threat when they allied themselves with Megatron. They attempted to snatch away the Autobots' AllSpark fragments for their new boss, but the Autobots were ultimately able to drive off the Constructibots and retrieved the fragments. Rise of the Constructicons

When there were reports of rampages coming from Dinobot Island, Ratchet loaned Prowl his EMP Generator as a just-in-case measure. When Prowl discovered that a spike was wedged into Grimlock's foot, Ratchet instructed him on how to use the EMP to remove it. Later, when Prowl decided to go off on his own after Starscream, Ratchet, along with Prime, told him to turn his shuttle around, but Prowl faked some static and cut the transmission, though Ratchet thought his fake static was less-convincing than Bumblebee's. Later, the Autobots managed to find Prowl, equipped with new Samurai armor, tied up in the middle of the street, and freed him. Ratchet blamed himself for the whole mess, as he was the one who loaned Prowl the EMP. The Autobots next encountered Clone #2716057, who tries to propose an alliance with them, but Prowl easily rejects the alliance and attacks the clone. During the fight, Prowl accidentally destroys a bird's nest, which snaps him back to reality, and causes him to realize that he doesn't need the armor, but he won't get rid of it until he captures Clone #3370318. Ratchet and the other Autobots followed Prowl to a warehouse, where they discovered that the Starscream clones were armed with bombs, and watched Prowl use his armor to launch the clones into the sky, right into the flight path of the fleeing Decepticons. A Fistful of Energon

After Bumblebee alerted the rest of his team that a Decepticon had built a machine that could slow to a halt any electronic machine within its range, including Autobots, Ratchet and the others sped out to take on the threat. They were all affected by the device's power before they could reach their destination, and were only able to take on Swindle once Sari had deactivated his weapon. SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy

Ratchet and the other Autobots gathered to listen in on an all-points bulletin from Ultra Magnus, alerting them that the criminal Wasp had escaped from prison. Later, Bumblebee told the rest of his team that he had stumbled upon a Decepticon transmission, and they reported his findings to the head of Cybertron Intelligence, Longarm Prime. Autoboot Camp

Ratchet learned that Meltdown was broken out of prison through a news report. He stayed behind at the Autobots' headquarters while Optimus, Prowl and Bumblebee dealt with the escaped criminal. After Meltdown had been dealt with, Ratchet accompanied Optimus and the others to explain what had transpired to Captain Fanzone. Black Friday

Ratchet was watching television with Bumblebee when Optimus informed them that Scrapper and Mixmaster had resurfaced. The Autobots looked high and low throughout Detroit for the Constructibots, but without Sari's key to track their AllSpark signatures, the search proved fruitless. Then, Blitzwing dropped out of the sky and took on the whole crew. During the fight, the Autobots learned that Sari was dealing with the Constructibots on her own back at headquarters. But having to deal with Blitzwing, they couldn't head back... until Blitzwing suddenly decided to ditch the battle. The Autobots then headed back to help Sari immediately. Returning to base, they found out that Sari had taken care of the intruders all by herself. Sari, No One's Home

When Bulkhead was kidnapped by Megatron, Bumblebee brought Autobot intelligence agent Blurr to the plant, who revealed that Megatron was building a space bridge to conquer Cybertron from within. Realizing they'd need more firepower, Prime ordered Ratchet and Sari to get the ship operational. Unfortunately, their efforts failed to get it back online. Running out of time, Ratchet decided that they'd need to perform open spark surgery. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

After placing the remaining AllSpark fragments in the ship's spark core, Ratchet explained that the ship was once a living Autobot who sacrificed himself to help win the wars. Ratchet's gamble succeeded, and the ship was brought back to life. Getting it to the Decepticons' base, Ratchet and Sari provided enough power (and encouragement) to allow the ship to transform into Omega Supreme. Omega defeated the Decepticons, but sacrificed himself to save the Autobots by being sucked into a blind space bridge portal. Once the Autobots escaped, Ratchet was left to mourn Omega Supreme a second time, but Bulkhead was optimistic that he was still alive, somewhere out in space.

Unfortunately, any effort to locate Omega Supreme was put on hold when Sari noticed that the skin of her right arm had been torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Well, if the patient really wants to live, the surgeon never can do anything about it!

Because Sari was reluctant to submit to a full diagnostic, Ratchet was only allowed to perform the most basic scans on her. He was able to determine that Sari was part basically organic, but with Cybertronian circuitry. Following a period of no contact with Bulkhead and Bumblebee, who had traveled to the mine to salvage space bridge equipment to contact Cybertron, Ratchet went to check up and help them out. What he found was a damaged Bulkhead and no sign of Bumblebee. Bringing Bulkhead back to the plant, he then attempted to repair Bulkhead, only to have Sari's Key overshadow his medical expertise, leaving him feeling unappreciated. Soon afterward, a giant Rock Lord was transported to Detroit after Bulkhead tried to bring back a transwarping Bumblebee. Ratchet equipped his EMP generator, which he hadn't used since he won it back from Lockdown, to help his team take down the creature and rescue Bumblebee, only to witness a newly upgraded Sari defeat the monster and save her friend instead. However, the Key's power overwhelmed Sari and caused her robotic systems to go berserk, blowing up everything she touched and even accidentally attacking Bumblebee. Ratchet initially requested Sari's Key to help him save Bumblebee, but discovered it no longer had any power after Prowl retrieved it. Despite the setback, he managed to save Bumblebee from going offline without the Key's aid. When the others failed their attempts to stop Sari from exploding and save Detroit, Ratchet used his EMP generator to subdue her, even though he was unsure what the effects would have on a technorganic.

Afterward, he operated on Sari to subdue the extra AllSpark energy she had stored in her body. When Omega Supreme reappeared on Earth, Ratchet was shocked to discover that his old friend had been taken over by Starscream and Megatron. Forced to take action, Ratchet upgraded Bumblebee's stingers to a more powerful battle-grade mode, even though such a modification was illegal for non-combat bots. When Optimus ordered Ratchet to reverse Sari's operation in order to use her AllSpark energy against Omega Supreme, Ratchet refused and instead aided his teammates directly in the heat of battle. He tried reasoning with Omega to help the titan gain control of his body, but was afraid that he might have to use his EMP on his old friend. Omega was able to fight off Starscream's control long enough to insist that Ratchet use the EMP to let him sleep again, echoing Ratchet's own advice from the last time the medic had put him in stasis. However, despite Ratchet's new resolve, Starscream's Allspark-fragment-powered consciousness rendered him immune to the blast. Once Bumblebee and Optimus planted a plasma dynamic thruster to make Omega transwarp around space randomly, Ratchet saved the pair from falling to their deaths. TransWarped

While Bulkhead and Professor Sumdac began constructing a space bridge, Ratchet and the other Autobots focused on hunting down the remaining Decepticons on Earth. The first one they found was Lugnut, who was defeated and stasis cuffed after a drawn-out battle. Unfortunately, this left the Autobot force trying to pull the massive Decepticon out of the deep crater he had caused during the fight—a daunting task that they spent the rest of the night working on. Before any real progress could be made, Ratchet and the others were called away to help Bulkhead, who had been dragged into an oil-stealing scheme by the Constructicons. Upon arriving at the Fossil Fuel oil refinery, the Autobots found themselves needing to exercise caution, so as to not light the oil around them aflame A collision between Scrapper and Mixmaster led to a spark setting fire to a large pool of oil anyways, and the Autobots were forced to transwarp an entire oil tank (with the Constructicons on it) out to Lake Erie, where it exploded. They then returned to finish hauling away Lugnut, only to find he had escaped in their absence. Three's a Crowd

Later, when Wasp arrived on Earth, and attacked Bumblebee in the plant, Ratchet witnessed Bumblebee wake up from the attack colored like Wasp. Bumnblebee tried and failed to convince the Autobots that it was him, and when he failed, Ratchet prepared to arrest him. Bumblebee escaped as the Elite Guard arrived, and made it very clear that they were going to arrest Wasp. Optimus assigned Ratchet to go with him, and while looking for Wasp, they encountered Jetfire and Jetstorm, who were also going after the renegade Autobot. Assuming them to be Decepticons, Prime and Ratchet tracked the pair to a dark alley and attacked them. Their fight was interrupted by Sentinel Prime, who revealed that Jetfire and Jetstorm were flying Autobots. Ratchet then proceeded to follow Sentinel, Jazz, and Prime around the city, and responded to Jetstorm's call claiming that Bulkhead and Prowl are Wasp's "fellow-double-agents". Ratchet then witnessed the video-game face-off between Bumblebee and Wasp to determine who was who, and also witnessed Wasp threaten the real Bumblebee's life. When Wasp escaped, Ratchet was one of the many Autobots to run outside, where they found Bumblebee back in his original colors, and witnessed Sentinel finally accept Longarm Prime was the REAL Decepticon traitor. Where Is Thy Sting?

Ratchet turned out with the other Autobots to see off Sentinel and his team as they left Earth for Cybertron. Predacons Rising

On Christmas Eve, Ratchet was seriously doubting that Santa could deliver billions of presents in just one night, but Sari told him not to worry about it. Later, after drinking oil nog that Sari had made (which was altered by one of Soundwave's toys), Ratchet, along with the rest of the Autobots, suddenly felt very tired, and Ratchet was the first one to head off for a stasis-nap. What was even more mysterious was that, the next morning, the Autobots discover that they had been transformed into humans, and there was no rational explanation as to why. When Prime suggested that their minds had been implanted into the human bodies, Ratchet questioned where their Cybertronian bodies were. The Autobots then headed off to Sumdac Tower, and while they decided to stop at Burger-Bot for a bite to eat, they hear a noise outside, which turned out to be a Decepticon attack. Ratchet helped Optimus Prime get a woman out of a burning building, but was useless in trying to ward off Starscream, and when Optimus Prime's leg was broken, Ratchet was forced to help get him to a paramedic. The Autobots eventually got to Sumdac Tower (via City Bus), only to look up and see none other than...CYBERTRON! Not only that, but after the planet settled, Decepticons began to swarm down from it. Prime and Prowl figured out that none of it was happening, and that everything was fake, including the Decepticons. This established, the Autobots discovered that they could slag the Decepticons surprisingly easily. After they defeated the Decepticons, the Autobots managed to transform back into their Cybertronian forms, but just after that, they were attacked by a giant Soundwave. Human Error, Part I

After managing to escape the giant Soundwave, the Autobots were transformed back into humans, much to Ratchet's annoyance. When Bulkhead tried to escape the virtual reality by trashing the virtual city, Ratchet told him it didn't work that way, and that they needed to find Soundwave's interface, which just conveniently turned up at that point. The Autobots decided to follow the vehicle driving nearby vehicles which happened to match their respective vehicle modes only to find that driving wasn't as easy as it looked. Ratchet though disagreed, though he was actually driving backwards (Nice one, Ratchet!). The Autobots eventually cornered the vehicle in a drive-in movie-theater parking-lot, but soon discovered that they had been lured into a trap, and were successfully reprogrammed by Soundwave. Ratchet's body later went up against Snarl, who defeated him by wrapping him up, immobilizing him. Afterward, Ratchet joined the Autobots in standing around and watching the Disposal Droids (and Wreck-Gar) clean up the city. Human Error, Part II

Later, as Ratchet attempted to calibrate Bulkhead's space bridge to locate Omega Supreme, the bridge powered up and sucked in a visiting Captain Fanzone. Seeing a potential problem in this turn of events, Ratchet followed him into the bridge and found himself back on Cybertron. At first overjoyed to be back home, Ratchet's mood soon soured when he discovered that his favorite watering hole, Maccadam's Old Oil House, had been shut down, a victim of the paranoid reign of Sentinel Prime, who had been placed in charge of the planet following the near-fatal attack on Ultra Magnus by the Decepticon deep-cover agent, Shockwave. Just as Sentinel was in the middle of reprimanding Ratchet for bringing Fanzone to the planet, however, Omega Supreme made a sudden appearance in the skies overhead, his body now under the control of Megatron once more. Ratchet's refusal to support Sentinel's plan simply to blast Omega out of the sky left him branded a traitor, and he and Fanzone fled into Cybertron's underground tunnels, where they stumbled upon Shockwave's hideout. In the course of the brief battle that ensued, Ratchet discovered that Shockwave was in search of Arcee, intending to use the activation codes for Omega Supreme stored in her processor to wipe clean his mind and put all of his systems in Megatron's hands. With a little help from Jazz, Ratchet and Fanzone were able to get to Arcee first, but alas, in the process, they unwittingly wound up leading Shockwave right to her. The pair battled again, and although Ratchet was able to recover Ultra Magnus's stolen Magnus Hammer from the Decepticon, he failed to prevent Shockwave from escaping with Arcee in his clutches. Despite Sentinel Prime's protestations, Ratchet brought the Magnus Hammer with him back to Earth. This Is Why I Hate Machines.

Upon the discovery that Megatron had control of Omega Supreme, Ratchet began to stress the fact that they needed to rescue him and Arcee from the Decepticons, and that they needed to use the Magnus Hammer to aid them in doing so. He was shocked when Prime asked him to build him a jetpack, stating that Autobots didn't fly. Though hesitant, Ratchet, along with Sari and Prof. Sumdac, proceeded to build Prime a jetpack that he could use to go up against Megatron. After the failure of the initial test of the jetpack, Ratchet added stabilizer wings to it, which gave Prime control when flying. Unfortunately, the flying Optimus Prime attracted the attention of Slipstream, who proceeded to shoot Prime out of the sky. Ratchet then simply repaired Prime, and just in time, as just then, the Lugnut Supremes arrived on Earth Endgame, Part I

Ratchet was sent to the moon with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Sari to take back Omega Supreme to stop the Lugnut Supreme drones. With advice from Sari, he was able to reactivate Arcee and in turn able to take control of Omega Supreme. After Starscream's plan came into action, he took Omega Supreme in to try and stop the "Starscream Supremes" from self-destructing, successfully taking down one but unable to take down the other. He was present with Optimus Prime on their return to Cybertron with the Decepticon prisoners, holding Prowl's casket with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Jazz. Endgame, Part II

Ratchet built a pair of laser swords for Arcee... He had originally intended for them to be pointers to help her teach, but he got carried away. The Return of Blurr

Ratchet attended the Stunti-Con's show in Kaon, unaware that the entire affair was a Decepticon plot to break Megatron out of the nearby Trypticon Prison. Thankfully, Sideswipe and Cheetor interrupted the show, and with Optimus's help thwarted the Decepticons' plans. The Stunti-Con Job

Be the Hero books

Prime Suspect

After Optimus saved a young human from being run down, Ratchet was stuck with checking the youngster over for injuries. When evidence was discovered at the scene of the crime Prime was accused of, he paid the Autobot ship a visit to conduct a scan, leading the Autobots to HomeTech's main warehouse. Ratchet joined them there and helped them break in. He stayed out of the battle until the end, trapping Blitzwing in a magnetic field and unraveling the Decepticon's plan. Prime Suspect

Quest for the AllSpark

When Megatron took control of Detroit's robot workforce in an attempt to find the AllSpark, Ratchet and Prime came up with a daring plan to create false AllSparks and hide them in various locations. Ratchet took his to Paris to hide, and was attacked as soon as he set foot in France. After winning that fight, he returned to the Autobot base and beefed up the defences to prevent Megatron from ever gaining access to it, and ended up battling Crush-A with the rest of the Autobots. Quest for the AllSpark

Web of Deception

Ratchet and Optimus were in the Autobot ship at the bottom of Lake Erie when it was struck by a number of Sparkseeker missiles and Prime was abducted. Once he recovered, Ratchet was able to detect Lockdown's ship parked near Dinobot Island. While the other younger bots went to rescue Prime, Ratchet stayed on board the ship and eventually detected the holotransmitter that Blackarachnia was using. He was able to track it back to its source and rescue Prime. Web of Deception

Time-Quake

When strange time effects began taking place across Detroit, Ratchet made special detectors to trace the source of the temporal energy. After Bulkhead and a human discovered the time machine that was causing the odd effects, Ratchet assisted in taking down the perpetrator. Time-Quake

Titan Animated comic

He was the only person to realise the earthquakes plaguing Detroit couldn't be natural as it wasn't on a fault-line. He got to zap the villain responsible, Quake-Maker, once everyone else had done all the hard work. Burnout

Ratchet oversaw a mission to Dinobot Island with Sari, Bumblebee, and Afterburn, to investigate a Rage virus infection in the Dinobots. Soon after landing, the group were jumped by Snarl and Ratchet was soon pinned; luckily, Sari reminded him of the magnetic powers he uses all the time, and he was able to get Snarl off.

The Dinobot had stolen his spare oil thermos in the process though and, wanting to see if Afterburn was really up to joining them, lied to his friends and told them a vital component had been ripped out and he was dying. They risked their lives getting the thermos back on top of curing the Dinobots, and after hearing why they'd been made to do it, Afterburn shook Ratchet's hand for being an emotionally manipulative bastard. Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?

Lil Formers

Upon meeting an alternate-universe version of himself, Ratchet was sure to tell the younger 'bot about the importance of experience, and how he should learn to appreciate it. Lil Formers

The Cool comic

Run, Bumblebee! The Japanese sound effects are exploding!

Witnessing the mysterious Allspark being uncovered, Ratchet along with the rest of Optimus Prime's crew fled through a space bridge gate in order to keep the artifact out of Decepticon clutches. Unfortunately, Megatron was able to board their ship and left Ratchet defeated on the floor, leaving Optimus to deal with the Decepticon leader by himself. The Cool Extra #3

Ratchet was among the Autobots who traveled to the Earth city of Detroit in order to protect the AllSpark from the Decepticons. When Starscream, Lockdown, and Blackarachnia attacked, Ratchet joined in the fray, pitting his magnet pincers against Lockdown with the aid of Bumblebee's stingers. The Cool Episode 1

The Autobots were unable to prevent Starscream from seizing the AllSpark, however, and Ratchet was helpless to defend himself from Starscream's AllSpark-powered aerial attacks. When Optimus Prime died stopping Starscream, and was subsequently revived by the power of Sari's key, Ratchet was the first to greet him (and tell him he was dead for a minute). The Cool Episode 2

Ratchet later took part in defending Dinobot Island from a Decepticon raid. Ratchet expressed displeasure at Lugnut's aerial bombardments, not thinking the Autobots could hold out much longer. Once the Dinobots saved the day, however, he saw them off along with the rest of the Autobots. The Cool Episode 3

Ratchet was present at Sumdac Systems headquarters when Megatron was reborn. Megatron blasted Ratchet away with his fusion cannon easily, though Ratchet survived the fight. He later joined in greeting the Elite Guard to Earth. The Cool Episode 5

Ratchet later joined the Autobots in a battle against Clone #2716057. Though Prowl defeated the clone, Ratchet berated his comrade for destroying an entire park in the process. The Cool Episode 6

Along with Sari, Ratchet piloted the Orion toward the battle for the Decepticon Space Bridge. Intensely, Ratchet urged his comrades to hold out long enough for him to arrive. The Cool Episode 7

They arrived in time and Ratchet immediately activated Code Omega and transformed the Orion into his old friend, Omega Supreme. Omega vanquished the army of Starscream clones then chose to sacrifice himself to stop the overloaded Space Bridge. Ratchet pleaded with his old friend not to do it, as they'd only just been reunited. Omega thanked Ratchet for everything and then vanished in the vortex. After the battle, Ratchet solemnly bid his departed friend farewell. The Cool Episode 8

When Ratchet returned to Cybertron to oversee Ultra Magnus's recovery, the Autobot leader believing himself on his deathbed, requested that Ratchet let Optimus know that unto him the Magnus Hammer would be passed on. Ratchet was to deliver the hammer to him and let Optimus know that he was to rejoin the Elite Guard, having been dismissed from it cruelly. Ratchet nonetheless insisted that Ultra Magnus should tell this to Optimus himself, but the moment was interrupted by another assassination attempt from Shockwave! The Decepticon spy was nonetheless defeated through a combination of Ratchet using his magnetic powers to pummel him with the Magnus Hammer, and Ultra Magnus activating the hammer's electrical powers at a key moment, frying Shcokwave dead. Upon his return to Earth, Ratchet informed Optimus that it was now the time to put the hammer in Optimus's possession to good use against their Decepticon enemies. The Cool Extra #1

When Starscream attacked Detroit in Omega Supreme's body, Ratchet expressed shock at the sight of seeing his friend alive. Prowl was quick to point out to him that Omega was merely a puppet of Starscream's. The Cool Episode 9

Upon Megatron's defeat, Ratchet accompanied the rest of the Autobots back to planet Cybertron, where they were all hailed as heroes by the citizenry and even Sentinel. The Cool Episode Final

Games

Transformers Animated: The Game

Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Martial Le Minoux (French)

"Darn it, my shoulder kibble fell off again."

Ratchet took up the task of giving hints to Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead as they tried out an obstacle course. He picked up a Decepticon signal, which turned out to be a Decepticon Transmitter Drone. After Prowl retrieved the drone, Ratchet was able to use it to intercept some Decepticon transmissions indicating that Megatron was planning to make a move on Cybertron. He attempted to contact Cybertron Command to warn them, only to find the communication network was down. Ratchet rigged the transmitter drone to return to base, so the Autobots could track it back to the hidden Decepticon lair, but it escaped before they could do so. Once Optimus located the base, Ratchet sent the Teletran-1 probe to act as a temporary repair drone. After Optimus's team returned triumphant from Cybertron, Ratchet wondered if Optimus's processor needed looking at, as their leader had turned down a position in the Elite Guard. Transformers Animated: The Game

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Toys

Animated

Deluxe Class

Gut doesn't fold down as well as it used to... (Hasbro Version Pictured)

• Autobot Ratchet (Deluxe, 2008)

• Takara ID number: TA-04
• Takara release date: March 27, 2010
• Accessories: Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Takashi Kunihiro (TakaraTomy)

First shipping in the second wave of Hasbro's Animated Deluxes, Ratchet transforms into a stylized ambulance. In robot mode, his "magnets" are simulated by spring-loaded pieces in the underside of his forearms that flip up through his open hands. He also features a veritable arsenal of fix-it tools that attach to the undeployed magnets to simulate him holding them, so you too can experience the glee of having the old coot savagely beat someone with a servo-wrench. These tools can be stored in his backpack in robot mode, but cannot be stored in his vehicle mode. Ratchet features an automorph on the head, which pops out when the car roof is flipped back while transforming into robot mode.

Pimp My Ride: Detroit EMS Edition (TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

The "war wound" on his left forearm is actually a socket into which one may peg the EMP generator included with the Deluxe Lockdown toy. Early releases of the Ratchet toy had the peg slightly too long, forcing the EMP to pop out of the socket. Later releases (basically most everything beyond the original "test market" release) had a shorter peg, allowing the EMP to clip in just fine.

At least on some samples of the toy, his vehicle mode does not hold together very well at all. His legs are also prone to popping off at the thigh swivel, though, fortunately, since they're simple mushroom pegs, they pop right back on.

The TakaraTomy release of Ratchet, in the first wave of their Animated toyline, features a far, far shinier paint job. Ratchet's hood, roof, and legs are painted in a metallic red, and the non-metallic red paint apps are considerably glossier than the Hasbro toy. The toy is also cast in a lighter, off-white plastic instead of the Hasbro version's sorta-tannish-gray white, and also possesses a full-color Autobot symbol with white outline.

• More information on Deluxe Ratchet at TFU.info

Lemony-fresh goodness!

• Rescue Ratchet (Multi-pack, 2008)

• Accessories: Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener
• Known designers: Joe Kyde (deco artist)

This version of Ratchet is a redeco of his Deluxe toy, now in primarily emergency-colors yellow; the photo of the toy on the back of the packaging shows a fairly obvious homage to the live-action movie incarnation of Ratchet, with bright green instead of yellow and movie-inspired zig-zagged stripes, but the toy-as-released is in yellow, using the same tampographs as the original Animated deluxe. He retains all of his original toy's gimmickry, and features metallic paint on his front bumper. The hinged clip portion of his tools is cast in the same color plastic as he is, to prevent accessory cross-contamination with the original deluxe toy. His "magnets" are also cast in the same yellow plastic, making him look like an aye-aye when deployed.

He was only availabe in a Target exclusive box set, with two Legends-class figures: Prowl and Starscream.

• More information on Rescue Ratchet at TFU.info

Just take the slaggin' EMP, Lockdown. It doesn't stay in any way. (Hasbro Version Pictured)

• Cybertron Mode Ratchet (Deluxe, 2010)

• Takara name: Ratchet Cybertron Mode
• Takara ID number: TA-40
• Takara release date: September 18, 2010
• Accessories: Two shock paddles

"Cybertron Mode Ratchet" is based on his pre-Earth form seen in many flashbacks, transforming into a quad-treaded van-like thing. He comes with two "shock paddles" which peg over his fists, and his right fist punches forward when a tab on his elbow is pushed. The "shock paddles" plug into the rear of his vehicle mode. The toy also has a socket on his left forearm to accommodate Deluxe Lockdown's EMP weapon, just like the previous Deluxe mold. However, how well that accessory actually fits in the socket seems to vary wildly from sample to sample.

"You morons have just hung vacancy signs on your afts, and my foot's looking for a room!" (TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

In the Hasbro line, he was originally planned to be released in the regualr retail line, but ended up as part of the first wave of Toys"R"Us exclusive Deluxes, alongside Arcee.

In TakaraTomy's vesion of the line, version of "Cybertron Mode" Ratchet was released as a normal mass-retail item in the eighth wave of Animated products. It has a shiny metallic crimson paint job on his chest, hood and boots, and a full-color symbol to match the original Takara version of Ratchet. His red plastics are also a brighter shade. Included in the package in addition to the usual trading card and instruction booklet, is an "Autobot Database" pamphlet, which contains information about the character squeezed into the spaces between advertisements for other toys.

This mold was also retooled to make Ironhide and the BotCon 2011-exclusive Fisitron and Autotrooper toys.

• More information on Cybertron Mode Ratchet at TFU.info

• Fated Showdown: Ratchet / Lockdown (Multi-pack, 2010)

• Takara release date: March 27, 2010
• Accessories: Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener

In the Takara Animated line, Ratchet was also available in a "Fated Showdown" (因縁いんねんの対決たいけつ in'nen no taiketsu, also called "Sworn Enemies" in English on the box-back) two-pack with Lockdown.

Released in the first wave of Animated products, both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Bumper Battlers

It's just water retention, DAMN IT!

• Autobot Ratchet (Bumper Battlers, 2008)

• Known designers: Vickie Stratford (Hasbro)

An even more simplified version of Ratchet, the Bumper Battlers version also features a spring-loaded transformation from ambulance to robot. However, in this instance, when the front bumper of the ambulance mode is pushed in, the spring-loaded roof/sides of the vehicle flip up to reveal a relief of Ratchet's robot mode (complete with magnet-clamps), as well as activating electronic sound effects.

Pressing his Autobot sigil activates numerous randomly-selected sound effects and original voice samples, including a very disturbing laugh.

• More information on Bumper Battlers Ratchet at TFU.info

Thank you for dialing WHINE-one-one. If you hold the line, a WAAAAAAAAAHmbulance will be over shortly.

• Autobot Ratchet (Bumper Battlers, 2009)

A redeco of Bumper Battlers Ratchet was evidently planned, as the instruction sheet for it made its way to Hasbro.com's instruction archive. As the instructions reuse the packaging art from the Target-exclusive Rescue Ratchet (see above), it was presumably going to share its color scheme.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Activators

The Grampulance.

• Autobot Ratchet (Activators, 2008)

• Known designers: Bill Rawley (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

A smaller, simpler version of Ratchet, the Activators Ratchet toy has a spring-loaded autotransformation gimmick that springs him from ambulance mode to robot mode in one easy step.

Pre-release samples of the toy (used for the stock photography seen on the packaging and in online solicitations) show Activators Ratchet to have an unbroken right crest on his head, contrary to his character model. The final released version of the toy has the broken crest as he should.

Interestingly, this figure seems to take engineering cues from the Machine Wars Hoist/Hubcap mold, which had a similar spring-loaded transformation waaaaay before Activators were even a thing.

• More information on Activators Ratchet at TFU.info

• Sunstorm VS Autobot Ratchet (multipack, 2009)

Activators Ratchet was packaged with Voyager Sunstorm in a Target-exclusive multipack.

There are no notable differences between this and the original individual release of the toy.

• Animated Super Collection Vol. 1 (multipack, 2010)

• Release date: October 2, 2010

Released in the ninth wave of TakaraTomy's Animated line, the "Animated Super Collection Vol. 1" giftset contained slight redecos of Activators Ratchet, Optimus Prime, Megatron and Lockdown.

Basically, the only change to each toy is the line-wide change to full-color, white-outlined faction symbols rather than the plain silver/gold/black ones used in the Hasbro line.

McDonald's

The only toy version of Ratchet without a paunch and he's used to sell transfat-laden fast-food.

• Autobot Ratchet (McDonald's Happy Meal Toy, 2008)

• McNumber: Week 5

A simple version of Ratchet with a very basic transformation sequence, this toy was (naturally) part of the McDonald's Transformers Animated Happy Meal promotion.

• More information on McDonald's Ratchet at TFU.info

Merchandise

Animated

I caught my fancy in my zipper once. Eee-ouch.

• Autobot Medic Ratchet (Key chain, 2010)

Key chain Ratchet is an adorable, brightly painted, tiny figure of robot mode Ratchet in a super-deformed visual style. He includes a ball chain to attach him to your keys, rear-view mirror, or anywhere else that might catch your fancy.

Notes

• The Autobot medical officer was originally conceived as a female robot named Red Alert.^[1] Even after it was decided to make the character male later in development, he retained the name "Red Alert" until executive producer Sam Register was able to convince Hasbro that "Ratchet" was a more identifiable name for the character. Because of this, Ratchet's final design carries influences from various Red Alert incarnations. In particular, Derrick Wyatt was inspired by the box art for G1 Red Alert's Binaltech Asterisk incarnation.^[2]
• The "war wound" on his left arm (seen in his main picture, above) was briefly gone after "The Thrill of the Hunt", apparently representing the replacement of his arm-mounted EMP generator. However, it has since returned in several instances. The "real world" reason is probably the animators sticking to the original animation model. Within story context, he apparently didn't carry the EMP generator around as standard until "TransWarped", when Prowl (who borrowed it once before) notes that he hadn't "taken it into battle since [he] got it back from Lockdown". It later emerges from the wound in "Endgame, Part II".
• There is a potential contradiction between "The Thrill of the Hunt" and "'Bots of Science", as both stories depict Ratchet's right-hand chevron being broken off - by Lockdown's haymaker in the former and Oil Slick's roundhouse in the latter. This could be a continuity error, or it could be the case that Ratchet had his chevron broken on one occasion, repaired it, and then after it was broken a second time he allowed it to remain broken. It would certainly appear that the comic story took place before the Lockdown encounter since Ratchet still has his EMP generator in Bots of Science.
  • Curiously though, Ratchet's chevron is shown to already have some kind of crack or weld-line running across it prior to Oil Slick's kick, which could indicate that it was already on the verge of breaking.
• The toys of Animated Ratchet, Generation 1 Ratchet and Movie Ratchet are caught in a web of cross-referencing redecos:
  • In 2008, the original Generation 1 Ratchet mold got a green redeco as "Ratchet Emergency Green" in obvious reference to his yellowy-green movie cousin.
  • Around the same time, two of "Movie series" Ratchet's toys got a red and white ambulance redeco as "Rescue Ratchet" to ape Generation 1 Ratchet.
  • Animated Ratchet, his original design already referencing both predecessors with Generation 1 Ratchet's chevron and coloring and movie Ratchet's squiggly EEG symbol, had a further homage to the latter with a yellow redeco as (another) "Rescue Ratchet". You'd think they'd all be too busy patching up wounded 'bots to get so much personal detailing done.
• He can pinch with his magnet-clamps.
• He has microscope lenses that can be activated in either eye.
• His windshield chest can act as an image projector in robot mode, as seen in "This Is Why I Hate Machines".
• Ratchet wears the 256-OZU-004 body-type.
• In the Japanese dub, Ratchet speaks with a Kagoshima dialect. That particular dialect has been gradually phased out over the decades due to standardized education and is generally only spoken by older people in the region. As such, in popular Japanese media, the Kagoshima dialect is easy shorthand for "old person".
• In the Transformers Animated profile shorts, Ratchet is introduced to the audience by Bumblebee in "Meet Ratchet" and likewise introduces Optimus in "Meet Optimus Prime".
• Had season 4 been produced, Ratchet's white would have been recolored hazard/lime green and (most) of his red in black, to more closely resemble his live-action counterpart.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Ratchet (ラチェット Rachetto)
• Russian: Chrapovick (Храповик, "Ratchet")

References

1. ↑ http://tformers.com/transformers-interview-transformers-animated/8992/news.html
2. ↑ http://community.livejournal.com/tf_animated/271043.html#cutid1

External links

• Ratchet at TFU.info