(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Autobot Ratchet figure. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Ratchet figure here.)

    Like most of the Beast Hunters "upgrades", Ratchet here is an extensive remold of his original "Robots in Disguise" toy. As opposed to most Beast Hunters toys-- where the remolded parts tend to "blend in" fairly well with the parts of the mold that were kept the same-- Ratchet's remolded bits in vehicle mode are blatantly obvious. His middle section of his vehicle mode is still a smooth-looking ambulance, but then all of sudden at both ends everything becomes haphazard-looking and gains a tremendous amount of spikes and additional mold detailing, which is at times impressively intricate-- there's even a large turbo engine exhaust port molded in on the vehicle's back! Colored spikes on the front and back, exposed engine, and dragon-like armor scales are other obvious remolds here. He's also got a new weapon, with is a drill that can open up to reveal a gatling gun in the center. Even better, by pressing in rapidly on the orange slider, you can make the green drill halves twirl around the gatling gun quickly, like a rotor blade. It's quite addictive. In robot mode, most of these spikes carry over, though they're a bit less prominent and more "spread out" in this mode so the "new mismatched" parts aren't quite as obvious. Ratchet's head is been remolded, making him look especially fierce, with ridged chin sides, a monocle on one of his eyes, and what look like fangs around his mouth. This-- combined with the rest of his fierce appearance, the remolded chest that has a green "spark crystal"-like detail, and his weapon-- seem to make him a "light" homage to Transmetal II Dinobot, of all toys. It's a rather cool, unexpected homage, though I don't think by and large it fits Ratchet well.
    Ratchet's color scheme is where this mold-- unfortunately-- largely falls apart. The white of his original form has been kept, but mostly only for the middle section of his vehicle mode and the "heartbeat" stripes on the sides, which don't blend in at all with the haphazard patches of dull brownish red plastic, gray, and light tan mixed w/ light pale orange plastic used on most of Ratchet's other visible parts mode. Worse, the "panel lines" on the back half of the vehicle are made more obvious with mismatched colors, with the red paint very noticeably not matching the dull brownish red plastic used for most of the roof. A bit of gray also unsightly sticks out on each side. On the plus side, the dull brownish red plastic is a very nice color, being a bit different from the original release while still recognizably being part of Ratchet's usual white-and-red scheme. The green and light silver blue paint apps contrast against their surrounding colors excellently, as does the turquoise and green used for Ratchet's weapon, and the light orange and silver make for decent accent paint apps. The light tan w/ light orange mixed in, however, is just an ugly color on anything but a desert vehicle-- it just looks too rusty and sandy. Additionally, the clear plastic windows allow one to see the robot bits inside Ratchet's windows VERY obviously, and the number of accent and secondary colors-- while okay by themselves or in contrast with one or two colors, as I've mentioned-- are a bit too numerous in terms of tones/shades overall on the figure, to the point where Ratchet looks a bit too busy (again, particularly in vehicle mode).
    Beast Hunters Ratchet has some excellent, detailed remolding done-- even though it doesn't "match up" with the unremolded parts in vehicle mode or fit his character very well, it certainly does make him look more visually interesting in both modes. However, his color scheme is a train wreck, with two many different colors and shades of colors all crashing together to make him look rusty, worn-down, and a bit ugly (and not in a good way). If it was just the mold changes I'd rate this higher than the original "Robots in Disguise" Prime Ratchet toy, but because of the mismatched color scheme this is one of the few Beast Hunters "upgrades" that scores lower than its original version.

(Continued from Chapter 12, Deluxe Skystalker)
Autobot Ratchet scowls at the data discs recovered from the Decepticon lab by Smokescreen. Most of them are useless-- charred or cracked by the same plasma blasts that had rendered the Autobot warrior himself nearly unable to return to base. But a few have shocking information on them. Information that not only reveals much about the cloning process used to bring the Predacons back to life, but also about the secrets of the powerful new weapons recovered by Bumblebee.
(Continued in Chapter 14, Deluxe Dreadwing)

Dragonshredder Drill:
-Ancient tool usually used for some less delicate surgical procedures. But also good in a fight.
-Generates an anesthetic vortex that numbs and disables targets.
-Cannon fires pellets containing surgical nano-robots that can repair-- or disassemble-- a target.

Strength: 6.0
Intelligence: 9.0
Speed: 6.0
Endurance: 8.0
Rank: 8.0
Courage: 7.0
Fireblast: 5.0
Skill: 10.0

Review by Beastbot

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