I like his beefy robot mode and unique transform. Are his hands capable of holding a 'borrowed' weapon?

oh you lucky jerk!

 

man i'll hafta wait to see this one (don't wanna spoil the transformation)

Are his hands capable of holding a 'borrowed' weapon?

His hands themselves can't hold anything since they're not sculpted in a "kung fu grip" fist. His weapon attaches into a hole (round slot) on his wrist. Theoretically he could hold a weapon if the weapon's post was the same size as his wrist slot. I tried to see if he could hold Jazz or Bumblebee's weapons, but they're the wrong size.

 

Makes you kinda miss the days of A/E/C where the toys all had a universal weapon/fist size (except for the Energon Dinobots.. grr).

I wished I'd realised this when I did my review, but it only just really occured to me why Autobot Ratchet has such a peculiar looking face... it's a tribute to the original G1 Ratchet toy's face!!

 

Just compare the two - the resemblance is uncanny!!

 

I love it!!

 

Interestingly enough Ben Yee's review of this toy wasn't as positive as mine. His main criticism is the paint job - being too day-glo bright and not accentuating mould details enough. I'm personally not a huge fan of the "Constructicon green" colours on this toy either, and I would have definitely preferred a white with red accents colour scheme, but I don't blame the toy for its colour scheme because really, it's just mimicking the colours on the movie version of Ratchet (since this toy is meant to be more movie-accurate). I would have preferred it if Michael Bay had chosen to make Ratchet an actual ambulance, but he didn't - he decided that he would be a fire dept search & rescue vehicle - and the fact is that emergency vehicles are meant to be painted in colours that make them stand out and very visible (for obvious reasons). Most modern emergency vehicles, particularly police cars - sport bright day-glow colours and/or decos on their cars.

 

The day-glo green doesn't look good, but it's functional as an emergency vehicle, so I can easily forgive it. It's a bit unusual that Ben wasn't as forgiving because he's usually very optimistic and generous with praise when reviewing toys (he even gave Injector a positive review - and that toy sucks arse).

Australian NSW police car - note the day-glow orange stripes

UK front line police cars - note the day-glo green

Australian NSW ambulance - note the day-glow yellow stripe (these cops are taking cover from drunk and angry white supremists during the Sydney racial riots from 2 years ago)

This Australian ACT fire engine sports a very similar colour scheme to that of movie Ratchet.

the reason ben gave it the review as he did is because every one of us have seen the repaint that is coming and know that it looks better.

 

for what it's worth the uk cop cars have yellow on them, not green

So Far Rachett is my Fave movie toy!!

WooT!

the reason ben gave it the review as he did is because every one of us have seen the repaint that is coming and know that it looks better.

That's a moot point and is also quite frankly an unfair comparison. This Autobot Ratchet is supposed to represent the Ratchet character from the movie, which is "Constructicon" green. The other Ratchet may look better, particularly in terms of G1 homage - but it's technically less movie-accurate. It depends on which criteria you're deciding to judge the toy on. Sure, there's no doubt that this toy would probably look better in white. But I don't fault this current version for being green. If HasTak only released a white/red version, then everyone would Starscream about how we don't have a movie-accurate Ratchet. It's bad enough that fanboys whine about "show-accurate" G1 toys, despite the fact that G1 manifested as toys first (such a bloody unrealistic expectation of most TF lines - what do they expect HasTak to do? Travel through time??).

 

for what it's worth the uk cop cars have yellow on them, not green

Well, either way it's a bright and noticeable colour, which is what the paint scheme on emergency vehicles are trying to accomplish.

 

Another advantage of Autobot Ratchet not being white - no yellowing! ;)