Official Images of Animated Cybertron Ratchet

I've never quite understood why the Cybertronian vehicle modes needed cockpits or cabins. It's not like anyone's going to be driving them around.

Ok lets get to the nitty gritty here...


Why would a robot need defibulators ??? Since when do robots have heart failure ??? (Please dont try to compare a "spark" to a human heart)

Why has a vechicle mode been given legs ??? And if they wanted to make it like a star wars "walking AT-AT" then why do the legs have simulated threads for feet ??? For that just make him a tank and forget the legs...ya think ???

Rated X wrote:Ok lets get to the nitty gritty here...


Why would a robot need defibulators ??? Since when do robots have heart failure ??? (Please dont try to compare a "spark" to a human heart)

Why not? If a spark is fading, and it needs some sort of energy shock to get it going again, since ya know sparks are energy.

Why has a vechicle mode been given legs ??? And if they wanted to make it like a star wars "walking AT-AT" then why do the legs have simulated threads for feet ??? For that just make him a tank and forget the legs...ya think ???

Actually that is a great system of propulsion, 4 "legs" with treads, each with their own pivot joint to the main frame means it can conquer terrain that would make 4x4s cringe. Huge clearance too.

Rated X wrote:Why would a robot need defibulators ??? Since when do robots have heart failure ??? (Please dont try to compare a "spark" to a human heart)

Maybe they're not defibrillators, just some fancy sci-fi devices.

Why has a vechicle mode been given legs ??? And if they wanted to make it like a star wars "walking AT-AT" then why do the legs have simulated threads for feet ??? For that just make him a tank and forget the legs...ya think ???

All-terrain transport. Think of a suspension system, but intuitive with wheels that can adjust to the terrain to ensure a smooth ride for any patients in critical condition who shouldn't be jostled too much.

Good point guys. It might allow more maneuverability as an all terrain vechicle. But with that being said, What "rough terrain" is there on Cybertron ??? (In reference to G1 Cybertron, of course. Feel free to let me know if other series portray Cybertron differently)

Trust me they are defibulators. Weve all seen them in movies when somebody is about to die. And if they are just fancy sc-fi devices, why did the Autobot medic choose to weild them ??? I think we are all on the same page...They look ridiculous. LOL


If I recall correctly Ratchet actually used a gun and fought to the death in the G1 1986 movie. (somebody once said on another blog Ratchet traditionally does not use guns)

Rated X wrote:Good point guys. It might allow more maneuverability as an all terrain vechicle. But with that being said, What "rough terrain" is there on Cybertron ??? (In reference to G1 Cybertron, of course. Feel free to let me know if other series portray Cybertron differently)

Trust me they are defibulators. Weve all seen them in movies when somebody is about to die. And if they are just fancy sc-fi devices, why did the Autobot medic choose to weild them ??? I think we are all on the same page...They look ridiculous. LOL


If I recall correctly Ratchet actually used a gun and fought to the death in the G1 1986 movie. (somebody once said on another blog Ratchet traditionally does not use guns)

This isn't G1 though. This is Animated. And just because they LOOK like defibrillator used in movies completely unrelated to Transformers, is no evidence they are defibrillators.

There was plenty of rough terrain depicted on Cybertron in the ANIMATED cartoon. Rubble-strewn battlefields in the very Animated episode that showcased Cybertron-form Ratchet, for instance.

Rated X wrote:Why would a robot need defibulators ??? Since when do robots have heart failure ??? (Please dont try to compare a "spark" to a human heart)

Honestly, Transformers have always been more like alien lifeforms than robots. They look and function like robots, but they are definitely not normal.

It's hard to say they aren't, but look in the past, they've urinated (07 movie), have genders (anywhere Arcee appears), have wives (Esmeryl from the Victory manga), things typical robots can't do/have. I don't see what's wrong with defibrillators.

Also, if the vehicle mode is in action on any other world, it is likely to have rocky terrain.

But when have Transformers kept theyre Cybertron mode on another planet ??? It seem from the two series Ive watched G1 and Beast Wars, there always seems to be a reason to scan an "Earth Mode". Even when there were no humans to hide from...

As far as the defibulators. It seems to me to be a corny way to promote non-violence. Kind of silly when all his comrades have guns. Im just not into gimmicks. Another animated series toy gimmick I thought was stupid was to give Soundwave a electric guitar. I honestly think they went to far with the animated line. (I only but the cool looking figures which are few in my opinion)I only saw one episode and all it was missing was singing chipmunks...

Rated X wrote:But when have Transformers kept theyre Cybertron mode on another planet ??? It seem from the two series Ive watched G1 and Beast Wars, there always seems to be a reason to scan an "Earth Mode". Even when there were no humans to hide from...

Again, this isn't G1 or Beast Wars. It's ANIMATED. And Ratchet also spent time working in deep space on a space bridge repair crew, working in asteroid fields. Asteroids presumably have rough enough terrain for an ATV to be practical.

As far as the defibulators. It seems to me to be a corny way to promote non-violence. Kind of silly when all his comrades have guns. Im just not into gimmicks. Another animated series toy gimmick I thought was stupid was to give Soundwave a electric guitar. I honestly think they went to far with the animated line. (I only but the cool looking figures which are few in my opinion)I only saw one episode and all it was missing was singing chipmunks...

It's not a way of promoting violence. If there's one thing Transformers are NOT, it's non-violent. None of the Autobots in Animated had guns--the Decepticons were military hardware, while the Autobots were more domestically-oriented.

And there was no such thing as "too far" with Animated. Sure, the guitar was campy, but in an awesome way. But it fit with Soundwave's theme--he used it as a sonic weapon. Seriously, watch more episodes before you judge it.

It would make sense that they are difibulators (for jump starting sparks or whatever), and maybe some kind of close range electrical weapon,
and besides, isn't ratchet supposed to be an emergancy vehicle, should something happen, such as the roads break or crack up, or ratchet has to clear past rubble to get to other transformers, he is able to do it in vehicle mode, and a lot faster then in robot form.
thats probably what the legtreds are for, capable of traversing land, but if the ride gets bumpy, it isn't inhibited,
and since they were on earth, the need for the legs was offset by the need to fit in. not to mention the mining area, and the possible dangers that present itself.
The defibs could also contain other systems for repair, they could be multipurposed.

Nekoman wrote:Interestingly enough, the thought to be Toy's R" Us exclusive Cybertron mode Ratchet has shown up on the websites for Sears and K-mart of all places. Previously, we had thought this item was to be a Toy's R" Us exclusive as indicated by the sticker on his packaging, but nothing is confirmed in either instance. Additionally, official images were provided as well, to view them,

Thanks for the news credit! I didn't even know I found something new!

atomic1fire wrote:It would make sense that they are difibulators (for jump starting sparks or whatever), and maybe some kind of close range electrical weapon,
and besides, isn't ratchet supposed to be an emergancy vehicle, should something happen, such as the roads break or crack up, or ratchet has to clear past rubble to get to other transformers, he is able to do it in vehicle mode, and a lot faster then in robot form.
thats probably what the legtreds are for, capable of traversing land, but if the ride gets bumpy, it isn't inhibited,
and since they were on earth, the need for the legs was offset by the need to fit in. not to mention the mining area, and the possible dangers that present itself.
The defibs could also contain other systems for repair, they could be multipurposed.

All good points, to be sure, but why does it have a cockpit? There's no-one that's going to get inside and pretend to be driving Ratchet around so as to not arouse suspicion.

That's one of the reasons I liked the Cybertronian forms of the movie Transformers, because they were like self-propelled comets rather than vehicles. It was nice.

Dinobot Prime wrote:

atomic1fire wrote:It would make sense that they are difibulators (for jump starting sparks or whatever), and maybe some kind of close range electrical weapon,
and besides, isn't ratchet supposed to be an emergancy vehicle, should something happen, such as the roads break or crack up, or ratchet has to clear past rubble to get to other transformers, he is able to do it in vehicle mode, and a lot faster then in robot form.
thats probably what the legtreds are for, capable of traversing land, but if the ride gets bumpy, it isn't inhibited,
and since they were on earth, the need for the legs was offset by the need to fit in. not to mention the mining area, and the possible dangers that present itself.
The defibs could also contain other systems for repair, they could be multipurposed.

All good points, to be sure, but why does it have a cockpit? There's no-one that's going to get inside and pretend to be driving Ratchet around so as to not arouse suspicion.

That's one of the reasons I liked the Cybertronian forms of the movie Transformers, because they were like self-propelled comets rather than vehicles. It was nice.

I always figured Cybertronian forms' "cockpits" weren't cockpits at all, merely where they housed their sensory equipment. Think of a Cylon's eye. They need SOME way to see where they're going in vehicle mode.

Hmm, this looks familiar....

On cockpits:

The idea for a sensory hub has a lot of merit.

However, Sari proved to be a small protoform. It would make sense for a protoform to have a place to ride inside of it's mentor/parental unit/whatever. Also, Animated did not rule out minicon sized robots, they could also use a cockpit, f only to be out of the wind.

The purpose to the Earth modes were to blend in on Earth. But what if other races know about the Cybertronians? Then, a new alt mode would not be required, but a cockpit would be functional to remove immediate suspicion, and be user friendly to those races. The difference is "That's a funny looking car" versus, that vehicle has no cabin! How is it driving?"

One thing I love about the comics, is the willingness o fodder with other races. Anyone see the space staton fo rthe fianl Wreckers comic? Or the joint we meet Nightbeat in Cheap Shots? For that matter, the micromaster world he sees in SPotlight:Hardhead It would not suprise me one bit if the majority of the universe is populated by purely organic human sized beigns, give or take a few inches.

I've ben doodling an alt mode for FLashwave. The guy hates organics, simply becaue they tend to get in the way of himj trying to do Cybertronian things. That said, he wouldn't let me design him without the cockpit, because he knew it wouldn't be practical. (Yes, I'm tLING ABOUT MY FAN CHAR IN THE THIRD PERSON...) He'd rather have two chairs that he can tie organics too and do all the driving than to not have them and be called out. Otherwise, I'd be using the Pre-Earth Road Rocket from the SPotlight:Galvatron and up straight, instead of tring to sling an f-14 stlye cockpit between two angled fan-wheels.

The argument for the Movie comets does not hold completely true, either. Proto Prime has a windshield. Starscream almost has one between his engines, but not quite. Also, Prime's mode was land based in the comics,and some of te comic bots did have cockpits.

I'll pass on this one. One Ratchet for me is clearly enough.

Honestly, I just dont like weapons other than guns. I can barely stomach the sudden increase in swords since the 2007 movie. They try too hard to give them human atributes.

Which leads to the other complaint: Cockpits

I think since G1 was the birth and we only saw lines of Cybertron toys decades later, the world was too used to cockpits to pay attention to the issue. The first G1 cartoon had Cybertronian vechicles with cockpits. I think back then they didnt feel like re-drawing the characters robot modes for such a short time before they got to Earth. They had to account for the vechicle windows and cockpits most of them had on their chests in robot mode. In other words, the artists were lazy...

Actually, I commend Michael Bay for being the first one to address this issue by giving them Cybertronian robot modes and then a new robot mode for Earth. And I think its cool that the Fallen never actually transforms in the movie. I was not a big fan of Megatron's jet mode in the first movie because it looked like a jet made of folded up robot parts, just like the Fallen's jet mode.

Rated X wrote:Honestly, I just dont like weapons other than guns. I can barely stomach the sudden increase in swords since the 2007 movie. They try too hard to give them human atributes.

That's YOUR personal opinion though, Melee weapons have practical applications too. They're more energy-efficient and stealthy. Battles can't ALWAYS be fought from trenches, eventually hand to hand combat can't be avoided.

Even your beloved movies, which I get the feeling was your first taste of Transformers, had larger amounts of hand to hand combat than most other Transformers series.

Which leads to the other complaint: Cockpits

I think since G1 was the birth and we only saw lines of Cybertron toys decades later, the world was too used to cockpits to pay attention to the issue. The first G1 cartoon had Cybertronian vechicles with cockpits. I think back then they didnt feel like re-drawing the characters robot modes for such a short time before they got to Earth. They had to account for the vechicle windows and cockpits most of them had on their chests in robot mode. In other words, the artists were lazy...

Actually, I commend Michael Bay for being the first one to address this issue by giving them Cybertronian robot modes and then a new robot mode for Earth. And I think its cool that the Fallen never actually transforms in the movie. I was not a big fan of Megatron's jet mode in the first movie because it looked like a jet made of folded up robot parts, just like the Fallen's jet mode.

We already went over this. and Michael Bay was NOT the first guy to depict the Transformers with different robot modes before gaining earth modes. Beast Wars was the first to do it. And then Armada depicted Optimus, Red Alert and Hot Shot with pre-Earth robot modes.

The reason The Fallen doesn't transform is because he didn't have a alternate mode in the movie. The first Cybertronians, the Primes, weren't Transformers. The Cybertronians who COULD transform are the decedents of the servants of those Primes.

As for Megatron's jet mode... now you're just rambling. That has nothing to do with the topic of discussion.

Rated X wrote:Which leads to the other complaint: Cockpits

Personally, I don't have a problem with TFs, even on their home planet, having cockpits.

I figure, these are robotic life forms. As such, they would evolve. In fact it has been stated several times over several versions of the fiction that they evolved the ability to transform.

So, if they were originally just robots that served the race that created them, and they evolved the ability to transform, any vehicles they transformed into would very likely have had cockpits.

Even if its millions of years later, they may still have that trait. Kind of like an appendix in the human body.

I never considered JazZeke's explanation about why The Fallen doesn't transform in the movie. It makes a lot of sense.

I thought that Animated did a lot of interesting things and made a lot of well done homages to G1. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible(at least not in my opinion). I choose to view Ratchet's "defibrillators" as perhaps a Cybertronian variant on his magnets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Ratchet use said "defibrillators" to move Arcee into his storage compartment when he transforms? I probably should go and watch the episode again.

I don't know if this was addressed yet, but in Beast Wars, the reason the Predacons and Maximals needed to find alternate modes was simply because there was too much energon on the planet and it overloaded their robot modes. The organic modes that they acquired were capable of protecting them from said overloads. Rated X was correct in saying that there were no humans to hide from in Beast Wars, but incorrect to suggest that they scanned "Earth Modes" in order to hide.

Deacon_Frost2004 wrote:I never considered JazZeke's explanation about why The Fallen doesn't transform in the movie. It makes a lot of sense.

Well, it's not so much "my" explanation as what was stated in the expanded canon of the movie comics. Which, I really recommend getting--they flesh out the movieverse like the filling in an apple pie, make it actually an interesting universe. "Defiance" really makes Revenge of The Fallen a lot easier to understand.

I definitely need to get Defiance one of these days. I was in a Barnes & Noble and read a bit of it while waiting for a friend and never got to finish it. It looked really good though.