Quote Originally Posted by UltraMarginal View Post
I see what people are saying about the paint apps on the back, especially with respect to the heartbeat insignia. I think it might be a compromise between robot and vehicle modes since the back of the van make up his forearms.
I have seen a couple moded ratchets, sorry no links right now, where they have added the heartbeat sign and it's split around the forearm in robot mode.
the CG model has solid red there, and the solid red would look terrible on the back of the van. perhaps leaving it white is an overall more acceptable look for both modes.
I can understand why the forearms can't be totally red -- but I wouldn't mind broken up red from the pulse insignia. That would be acceptable to me. It would certainly look no worse than some of the random red bits on Wheeljack!!

And the lack of any paint apps on the back of the vehicle (e.g. tail lights/indicators etc.) looks really drab -- and difficult to understand/justify considering that there's no paint apps for the pulse insignia or Autobot logo. Often toys will lack paint apps in one area because of a design feature or extra paint app somewhere else -- and Ratchet has a sparse paint job and his only accessories are two really soft rubber knives. I can't imagine where, with the budget money that's saved from sacrificing these logos... unless it's that "automorph" head gimmick... but I find that hard to accept considering that we have many other Deluxe figures with better paint jobs and some kind of gimmick. :/