Zob's Thoughts on Transformers Universe Autobot Ratchet

These days there are certain redecos in the Transformers line that are pretty much inevitable. Whenever Hasbro designs a new Starscream toy, eventually it's produced in alternate colors so they can sell it as Thundercracker and Skywarp. They come out with a new version of Bumblebee, and all they have to do is color it red and they can resell it as Cliffjumper. The same tends to go for Ironhide and Ratchet—while the characters from the 2007 movie had separate and distinct designs, this is an anomaly. When the Transformers Universe version of Ironhide was released, it was only a matter of time before it was tarted up in new colors and sold as Ratchet—which not only helps Hasbro to recoup their production and tooling costs, but helps to complete the pair and creates a much-needed update for a popular character. (Not surprisingly, Ratchet has replaced Ironhide in the case assortment—so if you've still been waiting for a corrected version of Ironhide with silver paint on his face instead of the inexplicable blue that was used originally, you may be too late!)


What's interesting about the latest version of this character is that it appears to be a new incarnation of Marvel Comics Ratchet, at least if you go by the biography on the back of his packaging. There's the gratuitous reference to his love of partying, a holdover from his original tech specs which has never actually represented Ratchet in either the original comics or the cartoon—but there are also references to a "series of tragic encounters with Megatron" and being "distracted by his bad memories." If this is an updated version of the G1 character, then there's no way this is meant to describe the Ratchet from the original cartoon series. It was only in the pages of Marvel Comics that Ratchet was pitted against Megatron repeatedly (they were directly at odds in issue #8, issue #57, and #70), and his bad memories manifested themselves as nightmares in issue #56 (though this could also be, I will begrudgingly admit, a sideways reference to the completely unrelated character from Transformers: Animated who is also named Ratchet).

Ratchet is, of course, identical in design to Ironhide, the only differences being his color scheme (and different paint deco) and the addition of some ambulance roof lights and an alternate head sculpt. Ratchet is white everywhere that Ironhide was red (with the exception of some thermoset plastic parts that serve as connecting joints and remained the same color), and red everywhere that Ironhide was grey. The black parts remain the same. Ironhide was designed with a modular panel in mind that could be easily swapped out, ensuring Ratchet's roof lights could be added without making wholesale changes to the mold, though the V-shaped design (a bit like his forehead crest, actually) wasn't exactly what I'd been picturing. Ratchet's head design is an entirely new one, though it does share elements with Ironhide like the rounded audio receptors, a similar facial shape (Ratchet does have a more prominent chin guard) and the vestiges of a mohawk-like head crest, though Ratchet's isn't as pronounced as Ironhide's. The boomerang-shaped forehead crest that helped to complete Ratchet's distinct look in the original media is here, though due to design limitations it's somewhat small and understated here (it's got to be durable enough not to break off, and small enough to fit inside the opening in his upper torso when he transforms).


Ratchet brings to the table everything that Ironhide did—his ambulance form (which vaguely resembles the "Rescue Ratchet" version of the movie character) is a patchwork of puzzle piece-shaped panels, with unconvincing painted windows and divisions running through them at odd angles that all but ruin the lines of his vehicle mode, making it look as if he spends far more time running red lights than trying to initiate conversations with them. His transformation is nearly at an Alternators level of complexity, with numerous hinged panels and counter-intuitive steps, finally yielding a robot form that's adequate, but with surprisingly minimalist articulation (his elbows and knees bend less than 90 degrees, and his head cannot swivel all the way around). The dynamic way in which his ankles can bend makes up for this somewhat (he can still stand flat-footed even with his legs spread wide apart) but I would have been happier if the movement of his other joints had been given a wider range. Like Ironhide, it seems Ratchet is unable to complete his transformation fully to robot mode—a factory-issue toy cannot fully extend his head for robot mode, due to the way his internal assembly fits together. Leaving his rear wheels visible in robot mode rather than swinging the panels around into his backpack does help slightly, but the only way to allow the toy to raise his head completely is to actually whittle away at the plastic connector in his midsection so that the parts fit together more snugly. (My Ratchet seems to hold together poorly compared to Ironhide, popping apart at the waist every time I try to transform him.)

In addition to the alternate paint deco in vehicle mode, Ratchet also gets new paint operations on his shoulders that seems to be meant to evoke the plus-shaped crosses on the original character's animation design. Unfortuantely, the sculpt doesn't seem to accommodate it very well due to the raised details on his shoulders. The six large, plainly-visible screws on the front of his arms are still quite bothersome, too. Hasbro has been utilizing a clever technique with their Littlest Pet Shop toys wherein they assemble the toys with screws but then insert a plastic plug to close up the unsightly gap and help preserve the look of the toy. Surely they could start doing something similar with Transformers, because the visible screws totally ruin the fantasy of these being gigantic robots from outer space and remind the consumer all too well that these are tiny six-inch toys.

Speaking of which, the cute little paint operations on these toys have got to stop. Some of the recent Transformers Universe toys have either served as vehicles for stating the obvious (Galvatron and Silverbolt with the numeral "25" stamped on them; oh, it isn't the original toy line's 25th anniversary this year, is it?) or reveling in the obscure (the tampograph on Onslaught that reads "MONZO 12782" is Hasbro's way of acknowledging a helpful fan by stamping his online handle and birth date on the toy) or have been decorated with vanity license plates with cute little messages (Sunstreaker's license plate reads "WE R 84," a thinly-veiled reference to the year Transformers made its debut; Ratchet's license plate says "H3L PU2," because as we all know, Autobots communicate in l33t speak). Am I the only one who doesn't want my toy collection slathered with inside jokes and self-referential graffiti? It's almost as if Transformers is turning into a parody of itself. (And don't even get me started on the new Hot Shot and the references in his toy biography to his obsession with JaAm. We no longer need the fandom to make a mockery of Transformers—Hasbro's officially doing it for us now!)

Quality control issues continue to plague the Transformers Universe toy line. Where Ratchet was designed to have relatively thin front wheels (necessary due to the design of his legs) and thicker rear wheels, the first toy I bought was misassembled with three skinny rear wheels and a single fat front wheel. This is the fourth toy from this series that I bought with problems right out of the packaging (the others being Silverstreak and two separate versions of Starscream)—and while I'm the first to admit that I'm statistically more likely than your average consumer to encounter a defective toy simply by merit of the fact that I buy so many of the darned things, four times in the course of a few months really is a bit excessive—particularly when Transformers Universe is the only Transformers toy line I've been regularly collecting. (For the past three years, I've also been faithfully buying Mattel's die-cast Cars from the Disney/Pixar film of the same name; guess how many of those I've had to return since 2006? Zero.)


All in all, I'm of two minds when it comes to Ratchet. The defective assembly soured my experience with this toy somewhat, and I really could have done without the silly joke on the license plate—but the allusions to the compelling comic book version of Ratchet were nice (the Marvel iteration of the character is far more interesting to me than the comparatively mild cartoon version), and despite this toy's inherent design flaws it's still a very good update for the character—particularly since the only other Ratchet toy I have on my display shelf is a gimpy little Diaclone-era toy with no head! With this in mind, the new Ratchet is by far superior to the G1 edition, despite all his many shortcomings, and that alone is reason enough to buy this toy.

Zob

Zob's Thoughts on Robot Heroes Ironhide vs. Kickback

I've actually had these guys since Christmas, and intended to write a more timely review of them, but there have been so many other great toys coming out lately that I've had a steady supply of new material to write about for several weeks running. This is the first week in a while that I haven't found anything new (aside from some Smurfs figures that I'm sure nobody here wants to hear about), so I'm finally taking the opportunity to write a little bit more about these wonderful little toys.

IRONHIDE

Most of the Robot Heroes based on G1 characters have taken their cues from both their Sunbow animation models as well as the original Hasbro toys, creating an interesting amalgam of design features that still makes the characters recognizable, no matter which medium you may be the most familiar with. This certainly isn't the case with Ironhide, who bears absolutely no influence from his 1984 toy; he's completely the product of Shôhei Kohara's original animation design. Now, it just so happens that Ironhide and Ratchet were two 1984 toys that I never owned as a kid; I simply had no desire to spend my hard-earned allowance money on gimpy, headless robots that looked nothing like the characters from the TV show. I only just barely picked up the Takara encore reissue of both toys last summer, in fact. I'm at a point now where I can look past the inherent un-cartoonishness of the toys and appreciate them for what they are; the early Diaclone designs have a certain charm in and of themselves.

That said, I certainly don't begrudge the fine folks at Hasbro from using the cartoon version of Ironhide as the basis for the Robot Heroes toy; it's a far more recognizable and iconic look for the character. A more toy-inspired Ironhide would have wheels on his arms and feet, which would have ruined the quaint simplicity of his cartoon styling. (While a headless Robot Heroes figure might be an interesting novelty, can you imagine the endless string of complaints from fans?) On the other hand, it would be a little more consistent with the rest of the toys in the series; Ironhide almost looks too plain and lacking in detail when compared with some of the other figures in the line.

Ironhide isn't completely unlike the PVC version available in Japan in the Super Collection Figure line and later through Hasbro under the Heroes of Cybertron banner. The PVC figure actually suffered from a misproportioned sculpt, since I suspect the person who designed the figure was taking the foreshortened human's-eye-view of his model sheet far too literally, resulting in large feet and a disproportionately tiny upper body. The Robot Heroes incarnation of Ironhide, meanwhile, was created this way deliberately, with the characteristic oversized head and gigantic, chunky arms and hands typical from this toy line. He's advancing on one foot, with one fist closed and the other hand open as if he's about to either give a well-deserved high-five to a fellow Autobot, or deliver a smackdown to some unsuspecting super-deformed Decepticon. Whatever it is that he's up to, he's smirking delightedly so he's clearly quite happy about it.

Ironhide's cast entirely in bright red plastic, with the parts that are normally black or grey in animation (his fists, shoulders, and upper legs) depicted here with shiny gunmetal paint. It's not an altogether horrible look for the character, but it's a little different from the way he looked in the original cartoon series. What's really distracting, though, is the placement of his Autobot symbol, which somebody decided would look really good smack-dab in the center of his chest—which is, of course, also his front windshield. I realize that the proper placement for his Autobot badge (between his windshield and his front bumper) may have been too difficult to apply with a tampograph, but the windshield thing really bothers me. It's just a pet peeve of mine. You need to be able to see through that windshield when he's in van mode, and you can't do that when there's a giant red robot face badge blocking your view of the road. What would have been wrong with, say, putting the Autobot symbol on his shoulder instead? In any case, it's only this one flaw that mars an otherwise excellent representation of the character.

KICKBACK

Kickback was the first of the three original Insecticon toys I owned. He's not really my favorite, though. (That distinction belongs to Bombshell, because of his cool cerebro-shell stinger, and the fact that I love all of Michael Bell's voice performances.) It always bothered me how cheatsy Kickback's transformation was, since all you do, essentially, is lay him down on his back and rearrange his limbs a little. It also bugged me how his head was visible even when he was transformed into insect mode—at least until the cartoon came along and depicted him in the exact same manner, thus validating the toy's design in my mind somehow. The Robot Heroes version of him is the first time the character has appeared in any form in many years, ever since he died a fairly ambiguous death in The Transformers: the Movie (and may or may not have returned briefly for "Five Faces of Darkness," depending on how much you want to trust the third-rate Korean animation studios).

The sculpt is a really good likeness, though it's based far more heavily on the 1985 toy than the cartoon design—right down to the rub symbol indent on each of his wings and the screws holding his shoulders and hips together! The most significant change here is that Robot Heroes Kickback actually has hands; the Hasbro version of the character actually had claws (when he transformed, each of his arms split in half to form two of his grasshopper legs). His head sculpt does show some influence from the cartoon model, sporting more conventional square-shaped goggles as opposed to the strange triangular-shaped visor that also appeared on toys like Swoop and Blaster. Where the Robot Heroes incarnation of Shrapnel (aka "Insecticon") had long, prominent antennae on his shoulders, Kickback's grasshopper wings are sadly understated here, giving him almost Action Master style proportions. He's the most dynamically-posed of the three Robot Heroes Insecticons; with his left hand raised, he looks like he's greeting an old friend (and is about to con him out of his lunch money); with his right hand raised to his head, he looks as if he's proclaiming, "Eh? What's that? Can't hear you because I'm too busy screwing you over!" He's got three points of articulation, at both arms and the head; his right leg also looks like it should be able to move (it was cast as a separate piece of plastic in the production mold) but it is firmly glued in place.

Kickback is colored very much like his original toy, with plenty of color applications that are designed to mirror the consumer-applied stickers, as was done with Shrapnel (and Bombshell, aka Hardshell, to a lesser degree). The only major gaffe is the color of the insect legs embedded within the backs of his robot legs, which should be purple instead of silver. Aside from that, his colors are sensible and accurate, and they come very close to matching the hues used on the other Insecticons (though the purple on Bombshell is a little muddier). While Shrapnel and Bombshell have some awkwardness to their sculpts, Kickback is really quite dynamic, making him my favorite of the Robot Heroes Insecticons.

Now, if only Hasbro would get cracking on those Robot Heroes Constructicons!

Zob