The Energon Pub

Now before I get pilloried , just hear me out. Ratchet in the Marvel comics was pretty weak by TF standards. His laser scalpels couldn't harm Megatron or the stronger 'cons, yet...

1. He tracked down the Dinobots when Shockwave had gained control of the Decepticons and, after Megatron betrayed them, still stood his ground and was able to defeat him with a last-minute tackle.

2. Rescued the Dinobots from Guardian by exploiting a weakness.

3. Snarked off against Grimlock.

4.Tricked Megatron and was able to use Pretender technology to repair Bumblebee, Jazz and Grimlock

5. Warped bombs into Megatron's base and sacrificed himself to stop Megatron.

6. And...



One-punching Starscream. Then sabotaging the Ark to crash-land.

Here's his bio

Am I right? Am I wrong? I just remember Prime moping about and sacrificing his life over video game characters! Meanwhile Ratchet just kicks ass!

Beyond showing an amazing scene between Ratchet and Starscream, you make an interesting argument. Overall, I would agree and contend that both Marvel-US and Marvel-UK presented (more) characters on a regular basis that were more heroic than Optimus Prime. What I find strange is that it seems that Optimus Prime might have been too "strong" and too "heroic" of a character for not only Marvel-US/UK, but also IDW to handle due to the fact that for most story-arcs, he is either MIA or in the ICU. Beyond the last approx. 10 issues of the Marvel-US series, has there ever been a story-arc in the Transformers comic universe in which Optimus Prime has ever been a steady character such as Prowl, Bumblebee, or Cliffjumper?

Maybe the writers at Marvel, etc. wanted to showcase the heroics of the average Transformers by having Optimus Prime always remain in the shadows. But how can this be a tenable argument if we have never really seen any sustained action from Optimus Prime beyond heresay and the last-minute arrival to turn the tide of a near-complete Autobot defeat?


- Bob

Yes, now that you mention it, I think Ratchet owned Megatron more than Prime did. What I liked about him was that he was never a wimp. Even when he knew he was outmatched physically, he had brains to overcome Megatron's strength. So basically, he's 2-0 against Megatron and he pretty much kept the Autobots going after Shockwave wiped them all out in the beginning after arriving on Earth.

Ratchet = WIN.

Ratchet was badass, let's forget that he was the one who repaired all the Autobots after Megatron was out of the picture.

This means that he essentially orchestrated Shockwave's asskicking in the following issues.

Bobton03 wrote:Beyond the last approx. 10 issues of the Marvel-US series, has there ever been a story-arc in the Transformers comic universe in which Optimus Prime has ever been a steady character such as Prowl, Bumblebee, or Cliffjumper?

Well, he was a steady fix in the Marvel US Comics from about issue 47. Through the Underbase Saga and the return of Megatron, then the Matrix Quest and finally the fight with Unicron. He got plenty of page space (as opposed to screen time) and Furman made good use of it. I really did like Powermaster Prime, as opposed to the earlier Prime, whom I never favored very much. However, Grimlock was my favorite character from the second half of the Marvel US series. But Ratchet, he took no **** from anyone, and he was prepared to sacrifice himself each time he fought Megatron and when he crashed the Ark to eliminate him and Starscream one last time. As for Prowl, Bumblebee and Ciffjumper, I think Prowl was thrown to the side after the early issues all the way until Grimlock revived him with Nucleon in the latter issues, only to have Prowl be jealous because Prime picked Grimlock to lead after he croaked (again!) in the fight against Unicron. I never liked Prowl anyway, he was too much of a blowhard. Bumblebee was consistent, even when he was switched to Goldbug for a while, but I really liked when he became a Pretender. But he kinda was left out towards the end. As for Cliffjumper, I never heard anything from him after the first 12 or so issues. Which is good because he was worthless.

For me, it's that Ratchet stands up against Megatron, Starscream despite his main weapons-his laser scalpels-barely tickling Megatron.

And he keeps it up. He's not a Prime. He's not a warrior. He's a medic who does some of the ballsiest things in the comics. He embodies Autobot ideals.

Hmmm.... I'm going to say they're on par with each other. While Prime never went to such drastic measures as much as Ratchetl did, he never had to. He was a soldier who used his troops and his other skills/assets to prevent most situations from getting out of hand. Also, as leader he couldn't throw his life away because then the Autobots would be in disarray, and risk joining him. Yeah, okay, he did die for a video game, but I chalk it up to bad writing, his second death was proper.

As for Ratchet, he had to go such drastic measures because he shouldn't been those situations in the first place. Don't get me wrong, he rises to the occasion every time, but with such few combat abilities to call upon, his best play is the suicide card. Also, I think he went the distance because in his mind, sacrificing his life for many is merely an extension of his job as a medic. You see everyone you know die to left and the right of you despite your best efforts, and then you see a chance to prevent it, you take chance, regardless of consequences, because you're sick of death. If it had been Jazz in those situations, he would probably get the job done without losing his life, and with style.

So I'd say Ratchet and Prime on equal terms heroically, but Ratchet does go all the way for a victory.

Something just occurred to me, Ratchet is the exact opposite of Megatron.

Megatron is a killing machine, Ratchet is not
Megatron ends lives, Ratchet saves lives
Megatron's armcannon is one of the strongest weapons around,Ratchet doesn't have any real weapons.
Megatron doesn't care about other people's lives, Ratchet does, even more than his own
Megatron would sacrifice others to achieve his goals, Ratchet would sacrifice himself to achieve his goals
Megatron's gun altmode is a symbol of death, Ratchet's altmode is a symbol of life and healing
Ratchet couldn't break his end of the bargain with Megatron, Megatron could
Megatron couldn't restore Starscream, Ratchet could
Megatron was saved by the Decepticons Micromasters, Ratchet was deceived by them
When both of them were fused, Megatron wanted to live, Ratchet wanted to die

And that's why Ratchet was one (if not the most) favourite character in the Marvel Comics - I still don't know why a lot of people idolize Prime, when Ratchet was a greater hero.

... Too bad no TF media used/uses Ratchets character as was in Marvel Comics.

Chupacabra Convoy wrote:Hmmm.... I'm going to say they're on par with each other. While Prime never went to such drastic measures as much as Ratchetl did, he never had to. He was a soldier who used his troops and his other skills/assets to prevent most situations from getting out of hand. Also, as leader he couldn't throw his life away because then the Autobots would be in disarray, and risk joining him. Yeah, okay, he did die for a video game, but I chalk it up to bad writing, his second death was proper.

As for Ratchet, he had to go such drastic measures because he shouldn't been those situations in the first place. Don't get me wrong, he rises to the occasion every time, but with such few combat abilities to call upon, his best play is the suicide card. Also, I think he went the distance because in his mind, sacrificing his life for many is merely an extension of his job as a medic. You see everyone you know die to left and the right of you despite your best efforts, and then you see a chance to prevent it, you take chance, regardless of consequences, because you're sick of death. If it had been Jazz in those situations, he would probably get the job done without losing his life, and with style.

So I'd say Ratchet and Prime on equal terms heroically, but Ratchet does go all the way for a victory.

I also agree with all of this. And I think Prime would do the same thing if he were in the same position as Ratchet.

Also let's not forget Prime telling ALL OF HIS TROOPS to return to HQ after he realizes the attack on MacDill Air Force Base was just a distraction for them to leave Autobot HQ practically exposed and unguarded. While doing this, he decides to STAY BEHIND and try to start an alliance with Scorponok (backed by his Decepticon army). Now I thought that this was pretty ballsy on his part.

We're goin back to 85 here i think..they were great, great stories and introduced the dinobots AND shockwave to us all, then later Jetfire etc. Also great stories followed on from this, particularly Dinobot hunt, great stuff, great era..poor Ratchet eh, he certainly had his hands full in this arc..shame about his toy.