Toy Review - JP MP-30 Ratchet

RATCHET
Series - Masterpiece
Sub-line - none
Size/class - n/a
New/remould/redeco – Remould of MP Ironhide
Wave - n/a (MP-30)
Released here - released in Japan April 2016
Approximate Retail Price – 80,000 yen
Approximate Size - 16cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Nissan Cherry Vanette Ambulance
Main Features/Gimmicks - Weapons sled
Main Colours – White, Red
Main Accessories – Weapons Sled, various guns, tools, replacement face

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psa8fb16sy.jpg


Vehicle Mode
Like Ironhide, this is such a blast from the past – some of us actually remember when this is what an Ambulance looked like! The paintjob is crisp, if somewhat plain looking with a palette of white (very hard to take a photo of without it glaring as you can probably tell from my pics :o) broken up with bits of red and of course the blue tinted windows. There are extra stickers you can apply to break it up more but frankly I couldn’t wait to play with him so I’ll apply them later.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...pshtnygcwt.jpg


Robot Mode
A nice big stocky robot which is a good head above most of the MP Autobot Cars in height. Once again you are looking at a lot of white here so the included stickers are your friend. Usually stickers with MP’s irritate me, I feel all the paint details should be built it in but these feel very sticky and secure when applied. A lot of little things you can change such as attaching different weapons, faces and he comes with some actual medical tools (which considering we are dealing with robots means wrenches much like the Animated Ratchet toy). Like all MP toys he offers some great poseability for play and action shots. Whilst some may complain he still looks a tad plain, go rewatch some G1 – this is what he looked like on the cartoon and that is what the MP line strives for.

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...ps52ytykir.jpg


Transformation
The same as MP Ironhide but I dunno, he just seemed to go smoother somehow in a way I can’t attibute to previous experience. Whether they have made the joints a tiny bit looser or they bevelled those edges a tiny - I don’t know but it seems to be a smoother transformation. If you own Ironhide you don’t need the instructions for this – a very good level for an MP toy.

Overall
He looks like G1 Ratchet more than any toy (including the original) ever has so Takara have hit their mark. He’s not a green emergency vehicle, he’s not an updated version, this is G1 Ratchet at his best! Heartily recommended :)


http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psbgc4bn2d.jpg

Any paint chipping?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Omega Metro

Any paint chipping?

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Nah :)

Just got my Ratchet today. I'm glad they have fixed the gun issues from Ironhide. I'm going to display ratchet in the pose from the attack on the shuttle where he was dual wielding guns at the Cons. Now to find some really good scissors to make him cartoon accurate.

Are the stickers for the shoulders on a white background or on a clear background?

Just wondering if I'll use the official ones or do a custom with some red contact paper...

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Originally Posted by millhouse

Are the stickers for the shoulders on a white background or on a clear background?

Just wondering if I'll use the official ones or do a custom with some red contact paper...

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A white background

It was easy to cut up the official ones. You can only tell when looking really closely that I stuffed up a singe edge which is curved.

Dunno if anyone's swapped their Ironhide's shoulders... but i ended up swapping his back and doing Ratchet's instead tonight.

The shoulders looking better are definitely a red herring! Basically, the piece that people have been swapping has a screw tube coming out of it, 90º to a hollow slot beneath it. If you look directly at the hollow slot on both pieces, you can see the screw tube isn't dead centre, it's offset by... exactly the size of the gap that appears when you have nice shoulders.

You can see the difference again when you place his arm back onto his shoulder. Have it almost in car mode and look at Ratchet's right arm, with the front window swung up. With Ratchet's cross facing out towards the side of the car, look at the right side of the shoulder block. That piece has a wedged angle, that will either line up with the end of the shoulder joint above it (gap, pretty shoulders), or sit the offset amount to the left (no gap, ugly shoulders)

The reason some people have gaps on one side and not the other after making the shoulders pretty is simple... You can't slide his arm since it's offset, so you have to twist the arm to get one side looking good. Doing so pushes the other side out more, since the shoulder blocks are supposed to be right up against each other, but instead one is angled.

Seems to me based on that, that it's Ratchet who is misassembled, though really what you choose to do is up to personal preference!

I've recently received my Ratchet and I'm in love. He's so good and imposing despite being a medic, since he's just a hair below Shockwave in size.

I don't have Ironhide so Ratchet is a new experience for me and I love so much about him. The white paint is nice, compared to Wheeljacks' white plastic and he has a pretty snazzy transformation that showcases a lot of TT's innovation with the Masterpiece line.

I was worried about Ironhide's diapers when I first say him but it's not a problem in the slightest for Ratchet, they just don't seem that noticeable.

Received this robot a few days ago. Just transformed him formthemdirstntime tonight.

Very nice figure. Iron hide was reallyngood. But ratchet looks even better. The white colour really suits this mold. The hip kibble disappears.

I went to town with a knife and gave ratchet two Red Cross stickers on both shoulders. Would have preferred decals rather than stickers. Hope they don't lift.

Overall, if you are choosing between iron hide and ratchet, I suggest getting ratchet. If you can get both that's even better.

Hopefully if I get time this weekend, I'll open up shockwave to have a look.

What sticker combo did everyone else use for ratchet's shoulders?

Dam, this masterpiece line is getting so awesome.

I'm currently using the "Premium Collectables hasn't even sent me a shipping notification yet" combination. :p I think that I'm going to go with having either plain red crosses on both shoulders, or a plain cross on one and a cross /w Autobot logo on the other. Hhmmm... I wouldn't mind seeing photos of people's combinations to see how they actually look. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I'm currently using the "Premium Collectables hasn't even sent me a shipping notification yet" combination. :p I think that I'm going to go with having either plain red crosses on both shoulders, or a plain cross on one and a cross /w Autobot logo on the other. Hhmmm... I wouldn't mind seeing photos of people's combinations to see how they actually look. :)

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Hey we are using the same combination :D

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Originally Posted by willocrew

What sticker combo did everyone else use for ratchet's shoulders?

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I'm waiting to see what Reprolabels make for Ratchet, if it doesn't add too much detail then I'll probably just cut the original labels to get the nice red cross.

also like GoktimusPrime i'm on the waiting for shipping notification boat :D

Video review on Youtube (only 2.15 minutes)

Im going to leave my shoulders blank - partially because they were sometimes like that in the almighty G1, but also because I suffer from indecisive sticker paralysis syndrome. Too many choices!

My bumper had a bit of chrome scratching. At this point they're so close to toon accuracy that these little remaining toy details are a distraction. No more half measures please.

Still a cool dude. Seems like a good candidate for Hasbro to release? But who knows.

Got mine on the weekend (thanks Drifand!). Much like Ironhide, the transformation is great, and he seems to stand out quite prominently amongst the Autobots...maybe because of all of that bright white :) Mine had some white paint wear/scratching near the top of van, but the chrome is fine.

As you can see, I took a scalpel to the red cross stickers. It's doable for the large and medium size crosses, but the tiny crosses which go on the skirts of the van are near impossible to cut (I ended up ruining mine) and I had to resort to the Autobot crosses instead. No biggie, just a minor irratance directed at copyright laws :)

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psov70dvem.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psbx1scltl.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llamatron

Video review on Youtube (only 2.15 minutes)

Im going to leave my shoulders blank - partially because they were sometimes like that in the almighty G1, but also because I suffer from indecisive sticker paralysis syndrome. Too many choices!

My bumper had a bit of chrome scratching. At this point they're so close to toon accuracy that these little remaining toy details are a distraction. No more half measures please.

Still a cool dude. Seems like a good candidate for Hasbro to release? But who knows.

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Nice review.

Nice photos Ralph (I have that same display case ;) )

Got the shipping notification for mine earlier today - hopefully he gets here by Friday.

Ambulance mode
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psvlmtoocr.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psfyoiglwl.jpg

Before and after sticker application
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...pskv5glat6.jpg

Robot mode
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...pslkps4bav.jpg

Toy accurate weapons
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psy39m3pvu.jpg

♪Instruments of destruction...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...pse7d6dacy.jpg

Repair beam emitter
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psn43se6le.jpg

Arc welder
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psaqs1a4qa.jpg

Laser scalpel
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...pskw6s58qi.jpg

Cyber-spanner and magno-wrench
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psm3dxlcmd.jpg

This was meant to be a reference to the Rod of Asclepius, but I forgot that it's only meant to have one snake, not two (Mercury's Rod has two snakes). Gah. :rolleyes:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psvdeqetx5.jpg

Corrected Asclepian pic
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...pspgnjz6r3.jpg

Comparison with G1
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psjfediw6p.jpg

Love how some of the action shots are in sequence.
And very nice reference to the Rod of Asclepius. Lots of people get it wrong even big medical organizations. Just not sure if they had cobras in ancient Greece?:D

I just opened mine and transformed him, I receieved it from HLJ a while ago upon release but for some reason he just sat there...
He's so shiny and bright and smiley! I love it :) I'm not 100% sure on what to do with the stickers, I think I like the idea of the Autobot one on one shoulder and regular cross on the other.

Has anyone else experienced any white paint flaking off their MP Ratchet?

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Originally Posted by philby

I'm not 100% sure on what to do with the stickers, I think I like the idea of the Autobot one on one shoulder and regular cross on the other.

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That's what I've done, with both robot and vehicle modes. :)

I finally got to open mine up the other day and despite only recently getting Ironhide (and playing with it more than usual for a MP toy), I wasn't bored or felt like it was a chore to transform Ratchet, as this design is just a delight to transform. A little tricky with the chest area, but the result still amazes me every time I transform this mould.
And the legs... the way they turn into cartoon legs and hides everything... one of the best (since MP-01).

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Has anyone else experienced any white paint flaking off their MP Ratchet?

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Not personally, but I believe it's a fairly common issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Has anyone else experienced any white paint flaking off their MP Ratchet?

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I've heard a reliable rumour the factory ran out of the mould with late orders. So to make up the numbers they used a Michael Jackson mould, used whitening cream & hoped nobody the wiser. Sounds like you were unfortunate to get one of these.

looking at the faces for Ironhide and Ratchet, it seems that the actual face is one part and it is connected to the rest of the head. Has anyone tried removing the actual face part from one and swapped it to another? I have an idea for a photo but I would need the open mouth face from Ironhide swapped onto Ratchet.

The faces are indeed separate pieces, but no, I haven't tried swapping.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by willocrew

What sticker combo did everyone else use for ratchet's shoulders?

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Toyhax has released their label set. Video of them as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TMX6EmDMB4

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Has anyone else experienced any white paint flaking off their MP Ratchet?

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A little bit here and there, not noticeable unless you look real hard, but it is disappointing.

I swear Takara must not be able to apply white paint properly, because i've had white paint rub on Ramjet, Wheeljack (reissue) and now Ratchet.