RATCHET
Pros
-cool weapon gimmick in robot mode: as you insert the weapon's post into the forearm, two little grey parts deploy automatically
-good range of articulation (except maybe the head because of the raised plastic surrounding the neck... knees are double jointed though)
-interesting (and very different) transformation to achieve the look of what looks like a cross between Robot Replicas Ratchet and Voyager Ratchet
Cons
-shellformer (personally, I don't care much)
-too much junk hanging off the underside of the vehicle (barely clears the ground and visible from the sides and the rear)
-hip kibble gets a bit in the way (but can be moved)
-kinda floppy between modes (lots of stuff to clip and peg to achieve vehicle mode)
-rear portion of the truck mode looks a bit unfinished
-engineering problem: in robot mode, what is the back panel in truck mode should normally tab to the underside of the roof but can't because of an excess of plastic on the underside of the pivot where the roof folds... no big deal since the backpack would only compress a few more millimeters, but still, you can see it was meant to tab and it just can't
-Mechalive gimmick is lazy (upper legs - no gears, just the inside part rotating)
-Lockdown's EMP device can't be attached anywhere on Ratchet except the roof in vehicle (and even, it does't peg it perfectly because some plastic on the roof gets in the way)
-shoulder kibble can pop off during transformation if you're not careful
Robot mode
Truck mode
Weapon gimmick
Worth getting over the Voyager version? I would say no. The Voyager is still a superior toy. Deluxe Ratchet might not be the best deluxe around, but he's still pretty fun to fiddle with.
