#ranting about ratchet

[assassyart]

Question: what's the story behind the picture you made of Ratchet in a dark-looking area looking back at the viewer with some weird evil-looking creature above him?

Ah, yeah, I suppose this does look weird out of context! This drawing is All 4 One fanart, one of the Ratchet & Clank games I...actually don't like playing, but I did enjoy the story. This game centers on a creature called a Loki that can possess life forms. The Lokis are enemies with the Cragmites as well, which is a detail I found interesting.

This fanart is basically a bad ending AU of All 4 One, where the Loki Master chose to possess Ratchet (whom he has captured in the beginning of the game) instead of the larger creatures he favors. This is why Ratchet's visible eye is blue and matches with the creature— the Loki above him is actually inside of him, I just added the visual cue to make that point clear.

The Loki himself says the "smaller ones are easy to control" ... besides the glaring fact that Ratchet is a badass and that Lombaxes being the sworn enemy of the Cragmites is an added flavor of irony, it just seemed like a cool idea to me. It's rather impossible to make Ratchet a villain under normal circumstances since he's so naturally kind-hearted, so I have to get creative if I wanna have fun with it lol.

[starscream-is-my-wife]

I realize that in Nature Doc au, they could figure out Ratchet's name by somehow stumbling upon an actual ratchet! Since ratchets are an actual tool used for repairs, and they were invented before the current time frame of the au

It would be so funny if the somehow still didn't get it right though

If only Ratchet and Clank was a thing but they missed it by several years, how unfortunate!

Bumblebee looks a lot more like a Bumblebee so it was easier to but two and two together for him lol

[ilghosty]

alternative scenario

[saltynsassy31]

*drags myself through the floor and slams this down*

I present to you

FULLMETAL BARTENDERS AVIAN AU

Divine Nugget Au

(Rant as to why I chose the White-throated Needletail as Blurr's bird and some minor AU lore under the cut)

And that's not all! It comes with a FULL FLEDGED COMIC!!!!!

I spent a whole fucking week on this

I haven't done a comic in 4 years now, I can't believe this is my come-back XD. Though, on that note, know that I probably won't be pumping out any more comics - not any time soon, at least. But I do got more stuff planned for this au! If you ask about it, I'll 100% rant about it LOL

Tw// ⚠️mild gore in the 3rd panel⚠️

While exploring the woods with his team, Swerve had an unfortunate encounter with a crazed hunter. In an attempt to escape, he got injured, but it seems he wasn't the only one caught in the crossfire...

.

.

Okay

So when you look up what the fastest bird in the world is, Google with show the Peregrin Falcom

But there's a catch

The Peregrine is only fast when diving

When it dives to catch its prey, it can go up to 389km/h

Which yeah, pretty fast

But when casually flying, it only goes up to 120 iirc

The Needle Tail?

It can go up to 170km/h

Some have even recorded going over 300! (Close to the Falcon's dive, I believe)

Additionally, these birds only fly. Their habitat is literally listed as "the air," and some even believe they sleep while flying! They only ever land to brood and mate, and then they're off again. Their legs are so short that, if they ground, they can't fly again because it doesn't give enough room to flap their wings.

It fits Blurr perfectly!

It also has a blue-ish colour pattern I can work with lol (it's green, but it looks blue, lol)

Though, also, he isn't 100% like the Needle Tail, just based off of it. I still want avians to be sorta their own species and doesn't have to be exactly like their bird counterparts cuz they aren't them, they're their own thing.

That said, Blurr is one of the shortest from Avians population, still.

They're pretty big.

Another trivial detail of the design!

I was stuck between having his arms be his wings or have them be separate

Until I saw a drawing where they had both, and I realised, "Wait, why isn't that done more often! That's so cool!"

So that's sorta what I did

It's mainly to catch small prey when grounded and to stay better perched up on trees since they're much bigger and having extra fingers helps a lot. Or when they're climbing against a tree to pick up fruits, it gives them an extra boost and can better hang from it

But they're pretty much useless besides that lol

Just neat lil design choice

Other lore stuff. The time in which the au takes place is vaguely modern? But with fantasy aspects? I still haven't decided lol

Technology exists, but not in the way we have it sort of deal, idk, this au is pretty bare bones right now, so go wild with it XD I don't mind it, I love brainstorming it with people. I know this au isn't as big or complex as some others out there, but it's fun, and I hope yall like it too fjsjajaj

[ithecrystaldragonheart]

Transformers Prime Incorrect Quote

Optimus:And this is our medic, Ratchet.

MC:...

MC, with their whole chest:UPGRADES PEOPLE, UPGRADES!

Ratchet:???

Rafael, the only other person who's watched the movie:*Trying and failing to keep upright, he's laughing so hard*

[toastingpencils37]

TFP Ratchet makes me so fucking ill

[brandwhorestarscream]

Reincarnation AU

Poor Mom of Triplets Rodimus so Exhausted. Luckly the Lost Lighters have heard the phrase "It takes a vilage to raise a child." Suprisingly Whirl is up there in compatition for most beloved uncle with Drift. Seriously who knew the Psychocopter was really good with bitties.

It's probably a good thing since Roddy wasn't the only one to fall to the Reincarnation shenanigans. He was merely the first. When Drift, Ratchet and Megatron all fall pregnant the call back to Cybetrton reveals Optimus, Starscream, and Prowl are all greatly gravid.

[Meanwhile somewhere off stage Tarn is feeling Things™️. He kept his array pure for Lord Megatron The Cause. And somehow he is experiencing the mechpreg.]

He's having such a hard time lmao. Even tho the crew adores the bitties and are always happy to help out their captain, they're still very young and can't really be away from their carrier for too long. Offers to babysit last perhaps a megacycle, tops, before the bitties get squirmy and cranky and their tiny sparks begin reaching for their maternal bond, and Rodimus has to hurry back to them

Funny enough, he actually gets the most rest when he's not by himself: though he trusts Drift and Ratchet completely with the triplets, and go an extent Ultra Magnus as well, Roddy struggles to actually relax when he's alone in his habsuite or office and his kiddos are elsewhere. It's like a reflex he can't control: whenever his sparklings are out of sight it's like a switch just flips in his mind. His thoughts swirl around them, always insistently pulled away from whatever he's supposed to be doing. Wondering if they're alright, if they're hungry, or if Pinky is getting anxious without him like he tends to, or if Maroon was still trying to choke himself by sucking on his own fingers. What if they miss him, what if they're too much for their sitters to handle, what if they think he's abandoned them, what if they trip and fall and hurt themselves and he's not there to make sure they're ok?! What if something terrible happens, like what if they fall down the stairs and break their cranial casing? What if there's another psychotic sociopath hiding aboard somewhere that takes his sparklings hostage when he's not there to protect them?! What if they get attacked by space pirates?! What if they DIE?! Of they die it'll he all his fault and he's the worst mom ever and-

On and on it goes. Whenever the exhausted carrier tries to nap by himself, his thoughts just spiral and throw him headfirst into a fit of anxiety. Rodimus has some of the worst imposter syndrome we've ever seen, and i think that would carry over to how he sees himself as a parent: he has no idea what he's doing and he loves these sparklings more than life itself; the only thing he wants, more than anything, is to do right by them. To give them the life they deserve, to be the mother they deserve. He's scared to death about raising them, honestly, so afraid to make a mistake and ruin their lives. He'd never forgive himself if he let them be hurt or, worse, if he hurt them. Having them out of sight exacerbates his anxieties, because he can't possibly know exactly what they're getting up to.

And because of all that, exhausted mama Rodimus gets his best sleep either on his berth with the three ragamuffins puppy piled on top of him, or in common areas when someone else can keep the kiddos occupied and he can keep an eye on them. Knowing they're safe and right in front of him but also knowing that he's not the only pair of adult hands available, the combination let's his body finally relax and he is out. Either helm down on the table or crashing onto the nearest shoulder, Rodimus drops into such a deep recharge so fast the first few times it happened the crew worried he had actually fainted. And when I say out I mean out, face completely limp in exhaustion, mouth open, and snoring. Everyone in the vicinity is happy to let him recharge, Primus knows he needs it. Drift makes sure to get him a blanket, and it's not long before the triplets are lured in by the warm softness and their mother's form, getting all comfy in the little blankie nest at his side 🤭

Sorry, that Rodimus part went on waaay longer than I expected it to, I just love him sm ok 🥺

BUT HOO BOY THE NEXT ONE

Ratchet and Drift and Megatron all at roughly the same time? Damn. I feel like idw Megatron would be quietly horrified because, in his (probably correct honestly I love him but I shouldnt lie) opinion, he is not fit to be a carrier. Ratchet is crabby with Drift when he finds out, grumbling about outdated contraceptives and overly affectionate conjunx, until he's able to actually do a paternity test at Rodimus's prompting. His babies don't have a sire, so maybe...?

Ratchet is surprised and suspicious when the same turns up for him. Once is a random occurrence, twice is a coincidence, thrice makes a pattern. For the three of them to all turn up carrying at roughly the same time was already very unlikely, but for two out of the four pregnancies onboard to be asexually conceived... the chances of that happening randomly is astronomically small. He pulls Drift in for the same test, and wouldn't you know it? No sire. Same story with Megatron. When they get in contact with Cybertron, he finds they're all thankfully on the same page. Starscream had pegged it as incredibly statistically unlikely, though he hadn't had paternity tests performed to determine the lack of a sire. It's almost surreal, once said tests are done, hearing that every single one of them is expecting what is, essentially, a naturally occurring little clone of themselves.

Final closing thoughts because I've rambled enough: I'm still incredibly amused by the idea Tarn in labor, high as a kite from the epidural, tell Nickel, "Nooo don't touch my seal, that's for Lord Megatron" 😂 poor Tarn man, saved himself for all these years, only to get slapped with virgin mary syndrome and BOOM, magic baby. He gets all the pains of childbirth without even experiencing the act of conceiving the baby in the first place. Press F

[mothraranger]

I read one fic and now I ship the Animated versions of Ratchet and Ultra Magnus, I shit you not...

...aaannd I wanna give them a kid or two!

[knockouts-medibay]

The Forbidden World AU rant 2

Okay so since last night was a story tl;dr because I don't like writing actual stories/don't like HOW I write actual stories, lemme get onto how I think a few mechs would get their alt mode and what it'd be on the world where Monster Hunter takes place

Rodimus - Rodimus is one of the first to get an alt mode as he was the first one who got absolutely bodied by the unique fighting styles of each of the different monsters. He'd try to scan a Rathalos (but since there's an oppy x silver rath figure out there it's not that), gives up, and settles on Teostra as his alt mode after finding the elusive fire cat dragon and being able to scan it without problem unlike the Rathalos.

Megatron - Megatron is one of the more hesitant to give up his cybertronian alt mode but eventually settles on Arkveld because it looks absolutely badass and fits his color scheme better than most the more avaliable monsters.

Tailgate - Tailgate is immediately infatuated with the smaller monsters and falls in love with the Amstrigian, a small bird like monster and adapts that as his alt mode. His second choice would've been Tracktail Lizard

Whirl - Yian Garuga. He loved the way a smaller sized monster beats the shit out of anything in its path, breathes fire, can poison and screams at the top of its lungs. Still a wildcard but now can scream at people even louder

Cyclonus - Another one more hesitant to give up his cybertronian alt mode, but after a scuffle with a few large monsters, Nargacuga was his choice as it was swift and he felt was easier to traverse dense brush with.

Rung - He was one of the few bots lucky enough to have accidentally seen Estrellian, and gotten close enough to scan the rather elusive beast before it walked away. Hopefully now people will be less likely to forget our boy, Rung 💀

Swerve - Oh Swerve. He was another one of the few bots off the Lost Light immediately after landing. Getting lost almost immediately, my guy found Zamtrios and chose it as his alt mode. He didnt know about how it went from chunky shark to absolute unit of a monster. Someone has yet to tell him about that

Ratchet - Ratchet was stuck with Swerve after the silly guy got lost and had to track him down himself, on the way he found the Ivory Lagiacrus, choosing it as his alt mode. It makes travel through rougher and watery terrain a lot easier

Comment who I should do next coz I do have a bunch of ideas but I dont want to absolutelt destroy the length of this post with bots and their alt modes

[waywardsou2]

Does anyone remember Ratchet and Clank: All for one. I fucking loved that game as a kid and I haven't seen anything about it in fandom. Do people just not like it? Did it just not gain enough traction. Like where is my boy at?

[assassyart]

I know he sacrificed his life at the end to save the universe, but I always found a but weird that after he killed Ratchet in a fit of rage, he didn't seem to regret what he did like ik he was probably thinking he could fix this when he saves the lombax but still tpu would've thought he would've had a "what have I done moment?"

I also find if weird that the great clock isn't a time machine and yet it can go through the past by 6 minutes

Ah. Yay. :) I love talking about Alister Azimuth's thinking process. Thank you for the invitation to rant about this!

The end of A Crack in Time is one of the best parts of Ratchet & Clank, period. It has two incredibly emotional scenes, and every character is so well done. Buuut there is obviously one part of the ending that sticks out, and that's when Alister Azimuth killed Ratchet. This was the moment the player finally realizes just how far gone Azimuth is and that all of those flags were, indeed, bright red. To understand why he made this decision, we have to get into Azimuth's mindset. It's important to note Azimuth's decision wasn't just a fit of rage.

Azimuth had revealed to us that he does not view this current time he is in as "real" and, as such, has been treating everything he does and everyone he meets as temporary until the present gets back on track and he fixes his mistake. He sees talking to Ratchet about the past as pointless because it'll be "fixed," so why does it matter? (But even he can't stop himself from gushing about Kaden.) He even declines to help the Vullards while they're being attacked by the Agorians until they offer him something he needs to reach his goal. He views everyone as just another stepping stone to reaching his goal. He's detached himself emotionally from this world because it is not real to him.

This is similar to how Nefarious views everything in ACiT as well, just less exaggerated and silly. In a way, the two are pretty similar. Nefarious copes with his loss believing he can rewind time to "wrong" the "right" while Azimuth copes with his mistake, chasing after the idea that he can still fix it. Both are consumed by their failures in the past.

While Azimuth does try to care about Ratchet, it's clear that he doesn't let himself care that much about any one individual more than his goal. He doesn't even care about himself making it out alive after being captured by Vorselon— he only cares about fixing his mistake (and pushes this duty onto Ratchet as well). He is still putting up that emotional wall between him and Ratchet, so he won't get attached. Because to him, Ratchet won't exist once he "fixes" his mistake. This Ratchet he is currently fighting alongside will be gone, replaced by a completely different person— a Lombax that got to be raised by his father and mother, and never had to face the hardships "Ratchet" went through.

In Azimuth's mind, once he achieves his goal and fixes the past, this "Ratchet" will die. There is no point crying over someone you already accepted will not exist. He will simply care about the Ratchet that he will "save" in the past, not the one he doomed in the present.

Azimuth believes The Great Clock will fix all of his problems. Ratchet going back into the past to find out what happened to Orvus only strengthens Azimuth's belief that this will work. It has to. He does not even want to entertain the idea that it won't work, because that would mean he'd have to sit with himself and think about all of the awful things he did to get to this point.

"For the Lombaxes," he says, as he kills one of his own. "For Kaden," he says, as he kills his best friend's son. "To fix the past," he says, as he ruins the present.

It's only when he is faced with the fact The Great Clock won't fix his problems, that Ratchet (just like Kaden) is desperately trying to salvage the mess he made, that he has doomed the universe... that is when he realizes that he was chasing after something that was never going to work. You can't run from the past. You must learn from your mistakes. Azimuth wouldn't listen to Ratchet, just like how he wouldn't listen to Kaden. History repeated itself, and now his mistake was going to get Ratchet killed. All of his guilt from everything he did washes over him at once. He apologizes, but that doesn't change anything.

And he knows that. Azimuth's redemption comes from the fact that he doesn't run from this mistake. He faces it head-on, and his last words break the emotional wall he had set up before—

"Take care of yourself, Ratchet."

He's finally acknowledged the past can't be fixed and that he's doomed Ratchet to being the last Lombax yet again, but his final words are one of care and hope. He sacrifices himself for Ratchet and the present. In this action, he atones for his mistake.

And gah. This character is so amazing. I hate him. I love him. He's one of the best characters we have in the series, and I could fill an entire video essay just babbling on and on about this beautiful ending. Every character in this ending can be dissected for their choices, and this ending has definitely impacted the series far more than any of the others. I would dare Insomniac to top this ending, but I think it's dumb to even try. There's no topping this.

The game itself might have some flaws, but this ending is just perfect. I'd change absolutely nothing about it. What a banger ending to a banger character.

[keferon]

The reverse mecha au plus the post about Deadlock and Ratchet has me thinking about Roddy.

After Ratchet and Deadlock meet for the first time and have spent some time getting to know each other- Ratchet would receive a comm mid rant about tedious organic biology. He'd answer and then go back to ranting as if nothing had happened.

Some days later. Deadlock is fighting quints guns blazing, blocking Ratchet from interfering cuz the damn medic is way too damn insistent- when this giant fucken ship pulls up above them and the LITERAL honest to God SUN jumps down from it. Tiny small sun. On top of a quint. Cooking it alive juuuust the way you like your steak.

Literal goddamn Sun casually jumps off the quint and saunters over to where Deadlock is stood flabbergasted, arm raised in the direction of a different approaching quint soon to be burnt to crisp.

The ball of light stops before Deadlock's mech. "'sup?"

(Bonus cuz fuck I love these guys too much!

Ratchet: OI! FLAMES OFF!

Roddy, does as he's told with a pout: you're no fun

Deadlock: °-°

Roddy, waves a servo in front of Deadlock's mecha's head: I think I broke him.

Ratchet, sighs: Fuel. Now.)

- RR

OMG

When Rodimus finds out Deadlock is actually a tiny human? He's gonna be ECSTATIC AHAHAH

[kingghoost]

Quickly analyzing a one-off line from The Optiratch Argument™ because I'm bored

We all know that The Argument™ was mainly about Ratchet's frustrations with Optimus' "cowardice" (BIG quotation marks) but one of Ratchet's lines really stuck with me:

"Oh- and let me guess, I'm just the medic." (TFP S1E22)

Typically when people are angry, they don't vent about just one thing. Though he was talking back to what Optimus said about the Vehicon being a miner and not a warrior, that comment seemed completely irrelevant to the argument's main topic (at least in my point of view)

One big (yet hidden) flaw in Ratchet is his lack of self confidence. His job is to cure the sick and injured, yet he never really seems to realize the value he has on his team. He truly is great at what he does - and he goes above and beyond to be of service (medic, scientist, sort of engineer... that's impressive!) Despite all this, the fact that he is the only non-fighter really seems to eat at him. His main whereabouts most of the time being in the base makes it worse paired with the fact that he seems to be the most eager to jump and "get things done." Their numbers are already small, so he feels that anything he could do isn't enough to overthrow an entire military.

By saying "Just the medic," it implies that he determines his self worth by his rank. In his eyes, he is "just" the medic. Not a great warrior that overpowers the enemy and saves his comrades, but a doctor forced to sit by and wait for his teammates to return with fresh new injuries, dead or alive.

"-Help us, we know. But you nearly caused the loss of something.. Irreplaceable. Our medic, and our most trusted friend." (TFP S1E22)

Now Optimus, on the other hand, does acknowledge what Ratchet has to give to the team, most importantly Ratchet's worth as an individual. He knows what lengths Ratchet goes to save his comrades (and, most of the time, himself) from the brink of death, he knows what a genius his old friend is for being able to conduct such intricate research with limited supplies - Hell, he knows that Ratchet built some of those supplies himself.

Learning about how Ratchet thinks so lowly of himself must've been shocking, to witness the one closest to you feel the need to experiment on himself with untested material in the hopes of being "useful" ... I think it broke Optimus' heart a little, not to mention how he was already hurt by Ratchet's rant.

Though the episode ended with things working out in the end, I really like the idea of The Argument™ making a huge mess out of both of them. At that moment they were fine and made up, but what they said/learned about each other that day will never quite leave them.

[muletia]

Ratchet is the type of bot who when asked "would you still love me if I were a worm?" would respond with "no" in the most indignant and irritated tone, only to immediately start explaining how he’d take care of you anyway <3

“Ratchet?” you ask, staring at the medic as he reads a report at his workstation.

“What?” he sighs. “I’m busy,” he adds, though he tilts his helm slightly in your direction, making it clear that you have his full attention.

“Would you still love me if I were a worm?” you fire the question.

The writing stops. And although you can’t see his full faceplate, you can make out the emerging grimace of irritation.

“What kind of stupid question is that?!” he bursts out. He turns to face you, gesturing wildly. “No? Do you have any idea how much time I’d have to spend educating myself about such primitive organisms? How many hours I’d need to ensure you had the proper living conditions? I already have my hands full as it is.”

You’re convinced that he’s finished his rant and given you a clear answer, but before you can open your mouth, Ratchet adds:

“And how do you even imagine functioning, hmm? The probability of someone stepping on you would be practically certain. I’d have to keep you with me constantly to make sure you didn’t end up dead, and that’s just what I need. A worm crawling all over my keyboard, and having to warn everyone to watch out for you. No, absolutely not.”

The tension fades when he notices your smile. Ratchet falters, now realizing he’s fallen into your trap.

“Ugh, don’t talk to me for the rest of the day.”

“I’d still love you if you turned into a worm too.”

He turns away from you, but it’s not enough to hide the growing blue blush blooming across his faceplate.

[dezmolad]

WORDS CANT DESCRIBE HOW I HATE THIS PLOT IN REGENERATION ONE. its so disappointing as ratchet was one of the most prominent characters in G1 Marvel comics?? He was super important to Optimus, and we saw it multiple time across the comics. He was important in megatron story, too!! Both in megatron's plot and in a more personal sense. Reducing it just to Megatron torturing and using Ratchet's knowlege is just SO SHALLOW AND USELESSLY EDGY. It's expecially sad when we get to the fact that in original comics there was a plan to continue the plotline of Megatron's and Ratchet's mental connection, with Megatron controlling Ratchet. It was cut due to the comic being closed. But I imagine it would be something way more interesting AND giving Ratchet way more agency than that

It sucks that at the end Ratchet just exists to die to finish off Megatron. He was one of the best characters in the Marvel comic. I joked that Furman constantly tortured him, but he genuinely gave Ratchet some of his best moments, and in the end it feels like his death barely registered for anyone, even Optimus. A shame really.

[transformers-spike]

Heya :3 I saw a "what if Cybertronians saw a human with Tourette syndrome" ask and I was like... oooooh what about Autism? I mean like high functionning *cough cough* me *cough cough*

You know with the overstims, the "eww I hate *insert texture here* it feels weird" , the huuuge hyperfixations, the probable constant wearing of noise cancelling headsets when there's too much noise?

Like OMFFGGG NOW I'M IMAGINING RATCHET JUST BEING SO UNDERSTANDING WHEN I'M LIKE "help me I need peace or else I'll fucking explode" DURING A SENSORY OVERLOAD AND HE JUST HELPS ME GET TO A MORE QUIETER SPACE AND WAITS FOR ME TO FEEL BETTER AJDSIUFYARUKSYFHAWI-

(sorry for the rant + luv ur writing and art :>)

Bro I'm 100% into this. It's something I'm keenly familiar with because I'm also autistic.

I think the constant metal grating against metal would absolutely kill me, so noise-cancelling headphones it is.

Ratchet can be helpful in a "remove human from overstimulation" sense, while Bumblebee is a lot more keen to just hang around you until you feel a bit better. Dunno if his beeps help tho...

Smokescreen fucks up at first by being loud, but he'd pretty willing to learn, and certainly does his best to make you feel ok

Just hang around Ultra Magnus and Optimus if you want general quiet

Soundwave is helpful in the most basic way. He's a silent motherfucker, and this automatically gives him an advantage