Name: Ratchet
Allegiance: Autobots
Function: Medic
Timeline: Movieverse (
First Transformers Live Action Movie Trilogy)
You break it, I'll remake it.
Profile:
Very few Cybertronians can match the medical knowledge and skill possessed by Ratchet. He is unrivalled in his ability to diagnose and heal injuries and illnesses; where no treatment exists, Ratchet is a master of devising new and innovative treatments. Ratchet's knowledge does not end at Cybertronian physiology, either. Ratchet has devoted his existence to studying life in all its forms; its protection, Ratchet reasons, is the highest calling one can aspire to. It is why Ratchet joined the Autobots - he never wanted to be a soldier, but he seeks to preserve all life from the tyranny of Megatron and others like him. Ratchet hates to see any living being suffer - even Decepticons - so he only fights as a last resort, but he is by no means a coward. Far from it. Ratchet is one of the boldest and most daring of the Autobots, charging across battlefields to rescue injured comrades. Supremely compassionate, Ratchet is known among the Autobot forces for his dry sense of humour as well as his life-saving surgeries, exchanging good-natured jokes with his patients as they recover, and often chooses to lighten the mood in the Autobot camp by rallying the troops for an impromptu party. His loose wit and caring attitude puts everyone around him at ease, and doesn't interfere with Ratchet's primary function as a medic. On the contrary - Ratchet knows how mentally taxing and stressful the long, bleak war for Cybertron has been on the Autobots, and does everything in his power to ensure the Autobots remain healthy mentally as well as physically. As one of Optimus Prime's oldest friends, who knew the Autobot leader long before he ascended to the leadership of the Autobot forces, Ratchet has watched with admiration as Optimus Prime has become a great leader - and watched with concern as he has seen the toll the centuries of war have taken on his friend's psyche. Ratchet's greatest fear is that final victory over the Decepticons may cost his old friend his compassionate nature, and thus feels at ease challenging Optimus Prime's decisions when he feels the Autobot leader is straying from his morals. After all, Optimus Prime's wellbeing is also part of Ratchet's responsibility as an Autobot medic.
AM General Hummer H2 Fire Search & Rescue vehicle mode:
Author notes:
When it came to writing a profile for Ratchet, I started by pulling out a good half dozen different on-package bios for different Movie Ratchet toys - I've quoted some parts of those bios in my profile, and paraphased others. I also decided, given the general attitudes of the movie characters and that one scene where Ratchet comments on Sam's pheromones, that this would be a Ratchet who jokes around a bit and throws parties for the Autobots to take care of their mental health.
I also wanted to play into Ratchet's friendship with Optimus Prime. Optimus becomes progressively darker over the course of the movies, and I wanted to have Ratchet recognising the toll the long war has been taking on Optimus Prime and trying to keep Optimus from going completely off the deep end. In my mind, what really drives Optimus' darker turn in Age of Extinction is seeing his friends hunted and killed. We know the loss of Ratchet really hurt Optimus, but in my mind, losing that voice of support and reason also hastened Optimus' eventual fall and left him vulnerable to Quintessa's meddling.
Yeah. I've probably put more thought into this character than the writers of the movies. But isn't that half the fun of what ifs and developing your own impressions of the characters?
Toys of Transformers Movie Ratchet
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Ratchet
There have been a bunch of Movie Ratchet toys over the years, including the Voyager class figure from 2007 and the Studio Series version of the character. But my personal choice for Ratchet is the deluxe class version released in 2010 as a part of the Revenge of the Fallen toyline's later waves, after the line transitioned to the NEST global alliance branding. This one isn't the most accurate looking version of Ratchet released in a non-Masterpiece series, but it nails a very specific look of the character: in my mind at least, he looks just like he did in the Titan UK comics from 2007. For some reason, that comic's version of Ratchet is lodged squarely in my brain as "the look" for the character, and that somehow makes this figure my go-to Ratchet. I quite like a lot of the design features too, including the hip skirts and the way the boxy vehicle mode turns into the mess of parts associated with the robot mode design. It's a figure that I feel has really done Ratchet justice, and so I'm happy to have him as my "default" choice for a Movie Ratchet.
More information on Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Ratchet at TFW2005
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Transformers Revenge of the Fallen toys in my collection.
