Autobot
Ratchet (Bumper Battler) [Animated]
Ratchet's vehicle mode
is a bit more chibi-fied version of his normal
ambulance mode. As with most Bumper Battlers, it's a bit wider than
the mainline toy. He's got the same general color scheme as the mainline
Ratchet toy, obviously, but also like most Bumper Battlers, he's got quite
a few paint apps. It's pretty apparent that Bumper Battlers have more of
their budget that goes towards paint than normal deluxe figures, as there's
no huge big unpainted areas of the toy (except for the roof, which really
isn't supposed to have any detailing anyways). Some additional details
that aren't on the deluxe toy are include painted sirens, an orange painted
"tow cable" on the front of the vehicle, three black lines on the sides
of this mode, and painted rear windows. He also has a stylized version
of his name on the sides of the roof of this mode, which is a pretty nice
touch. Also like all Bumper Battlers, pressing down on the Autobot symbol
on his hood will activate anywhere from 1-4 sequential sound effects which
are played out in a semi-randomized manner. It's amazing the sheer number
of different ordered sound effects you can get out of the toy, and they're
never played in a manner that doesn't make any sense-- and the show voice
actor does Ratchet's voice on the toy. Pressing in on the front bumper
of his vehicle mode will automatically transform him to robot mode and
also play some of these random sound effects. Here's a list of all the
different sound effects I got out of Bumper Battler Ratchet after a couple
dozen button presses (though again, with the vast number of different random
ordering of sound effects he has, I may have missed a few):
-Electromagnet blast sounds
-Transform sound
-Police siren sounds
-Grunting sounds (several)
-Engine revving sounds
-Laughing sound
-Car crashing sound
-Car screeching sound
-"Let's roll!"
-"Take that!"
-"Come on, you Decepticreeps!"
-"We're ready for ya!"
-"A little magnetism oughta do the trick!"
-"I'm Ratchet!"
Like any Bumper Battler,
Ratchet's "robot mode" is just the top half of the vehicle mode folded
back to reveal robot mold detailing, with the bottom half of the vehicle
mode remaining the same. The bottom part of the "revealed" robot mode has
little mold or paint detailing, but the actual robot parts are detailed
very well-- the mold detailing is very angular like the cartoon styling,
and he has a fair number of paint apps on his chest and head (and he doesn't
look sad, he has a more typical expression on his face! Yay). One thing
that is odd, however, is that the molding for the top of his hips is painted
on the left side, but not the right side. Ratchet has no articulation whatsoever,
sadly.
Bumper Battler Ratchet
is about middle-of-the-road as Bumper Battlers go-- he's got a pretty good
vehicle mode with tons of paint detailing, though his robot mode is a bit
extra-heavy (but then again that's typical for Bumper Battlers). There's
nothing particularly bad about him compared to other Bumper Battlers, so
if you have a young person in mind who likes the character, he's an easy
purchase.
Review by Beastbot