Ratchet (TFA)


 * Ratchet is an Autobot in the Transformers Animated continuity family.



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.

But he's not Kup.

Honestly.

"Young bots—can't live with 'em, can't melt 'em down for spare parts."

- Ratchet, grumbling and moaning

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Horst Lampe (German)

Millions of years ago, 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.

At a certain point, Ratchet was ordered by Ultra Magnus to perform open processor surgery on Arcee to retrieve the access codes. Upon operating, Arcee uploaded the codes into Ratchet's processor and was taken to a secret room, only to discover 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 a supposed to be Omega's mentor to imprint upon and take orders from, in which Ratchet took over her role. Upon hearing that Omega was 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 teach him to be an Autobot.

Upon winning the Great War against a massive Decepticon onslaught, Omega was damaged beyond repair and at risk of losing his Spark. Ratchet was able to put him into a modified stasis until he could repair him. Before going into stasis, Omega questions about how he was an Autobot, but just destroyed like a Decepticon. Ratchet replied, "We do what we must, even though sometimes it doesn't make sense" and coaxed the giant Autobot to rest.

During a routine repair assignment with Optimus Prime's crew, Ratchet was with the group when they 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.

When Prowl was eventually injured by the nanobot creature, Ratchet tried to repair him with no effort until he witnessed Sari repair his patient (and was completely shocked). 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. He also assisted his team when battling Starscream and also saved Bumblebee and Sari from crashing to their deaths.

To make things more complicated, those annoying camera bots followed the Autobots everywhere. Always watching, waiting...

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 eliminated 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.

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.

After receiving a report on increased Decepticon activity from Teletran 1, Optimus ordered Ratchet to remove the 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 Key's theft to Optimus, single-handedly bring the ship online (pun intended), and still participate later in the final battle against Megatron and his forces.

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 heroafter 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.

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.

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!

Ratchet was surprised after discovering that Sari was part Cybertronian and part organic upon scanning her, along with being unappreciated as his medical experience was shoved aside for Sari's Key when he was repairing Bulkhead. Later on, a giant rock creature was transwarped to Detroit after Bulkhead tried to bring back a transwarping Bumblebee. Ratchet suited up with his EMP generator (which he hadn't used since he won it back from Lockdown) to help his team take the creature down 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 to berserk, blowing up everything she touched and even accidentally attacking Bumblebee. Ratchet managed to save Bumblebee from going offline without Sari's Key (which he discovered had no power after Prowl retrieved it from Sari's body). Despite the others' attempts to stop Sari from exploding to save Detroit, Ratchet used his EMP generator to subdue her, although unsure what the effects would have on the technorganic.

Off screen, 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 was taken over by Starscream and Megatron. Forced to take action, Ratchet upgraded Bumblebee's stingers to a more powerful battle-grade mode. When Optimus ordered to reverse Sari's operation to use her AllSpark energy against Omega Supreme, Ratchet refused and helped out his teammates in the heat of battle. He tried reasoning Omega to gain control of his body, but was afraid that he might have to use his EMP on his old friend. Eventually, Bumblebee helped Optimus plant a plasma dynamic thruster to make Omega transwarp around space randomly, while Ratchet saved Bumblebee and Optimus from falling to their deaths.

Along with the other Autobots, Ratchet was transformed into a human by Soundwave at Christmas. He was disgusted with his new human body, mainly due to that he missed his old Autobot one. He later helped Prowl and Optimus rescue a woman out of a burning building. After battling Megatron and his Decepticon army (and watching them vanish without a trace), Optimus concluded that Soundwave had placed the Autobots in a virtual reality program to contain them (and was unknowingly reprogramming them into Decepticons).

As Soundwave regained control of the virtual reality program, the Autobots reverted back into their human forms. Ratchet was not pleased at all after he was desperate to turn back into an Autobot. After spotting an animated icon of Soundwave, Optimus ordered the Autobots to follow him...by driving their alt-modes. However, Soundwave had lured the Autobots into a trap to brainwash them with his music. Eventually, the Substitute Autobots managed to rescue them from Soundwave's control (while Optimus destroyed Soundwave's body). Unfortunately, Laserbeak was able to rescue his master and flew to parts unknown.

Ratchet was the main character in his own little adventure with Captain Fanzone when they were brought to Cybertron via Bulkhead's space bridge. After following a transwarp signature, he discovered that Omega Supreme was found hiding over Cybertron and fought against Sentinel's protests to help  save him from being destroyed.

With the help of Fanzone, Ratchet was able to stop Shockwave from destroying a hospitalized Ultra Magnus and retrieved his hammer, but failed to save Arcee from being kidnapped for the original activation codes for Omega Supreme. Jazz eventually followed them back to Earth to assist Optimus' team and to keep watch over their possession of Ultra Magnus's hammer.

Animated



 * Autobot Ratchet (Deluxe, 2008)
 * Accessories: Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener


 * First shipping in Wave 2, 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 fixit 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 store in his backpack in robot mode, but cannot be stored in his vehicle mode, a rare (but not unheard-of) instance of a toy made in the last decade with accessories that cannot be "stored" in all modes.


 * Awesomely, 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.


 * The original instruction sheet for this toy has an error in step 5, where it depicted the front wheels as staying immobile (i.e., the visible wheel isn't tinted orange), whereas in fact they are part of the front bumper assembly, and swing back in that step along with the bumper.


 * The main problem with Ratchet's alt mode is that he's incredibly out of scale with just about every other Animated toy. In robot mode he's shorter than Bumblebee and his ambulance alt is one of the smallest Deluxe vehicles available.


 * Autobot Ratchet (Bumper Battlers, 2008)


 * 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.


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


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


 * Autobot Ratchet (Activators, 2008)


 * A smaller, simpler version of Ratchet, the Activators Ratchet toy has a spring-loaded autotransform 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.


 * Rescue Ratchet (Multi-pack, 2008)
 * Accessories: Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener


 * A Target-exclusive redeco of Deluxe Ratchet in an eye-searing yellow and light gray (a fairly obvious homage to the live-action movie incarnation of Ratchet). He comes in a set with two Legends-class figures, Prowl and Starscream, seemingly unchanged from their normal releases. He retains all of his original toy's gimmickry. Interestingly, the toy of the Movie Ratchet was redeco'd in a similar fashion, but opposite.


 * Cybertron Mode Ratchet (Deluxe, 2009)

Trivia

 * 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 could be leaving off the EMP generator so he continues to remember (on behalf of those who can't) how he originally lost it.


 * The Autobot medical officer was originally conceived as a female robot named Red Alert. The reason for the rather drastic change is unrevealed although it may have something to do with his slightly more vigorous relative as was the case with that yellow speedster.


 * He can pinch with his magnet-clamps.


 * Ratchet's personality and age resembles Kup. But seriously, he's not Kup.


 * Ratchet's "gut" is used as a physical reminder of his old age, as in his flash back in the episode "The Thrill of the Hunt" his younger self had a more built upper body, as he was in better shape then.