Takara Masterpiece Ratchet : MP-30 Review

4/28/2016

Takara Masterpiece Ratchet (MP-30) is a white version of MP-27 Ironhide except Ratchet comes with an emergency light on his roof and a few different accessories. The packaging is generic, on the front we have the Nissan logo Ratchet in robot and vehicle mode and the type of van that he is, a Nissan Cherry Vanette. On the back we get a view of the different accessories he is packaged with as well as a height comparison. If you have Mp-27 Ironhide then you will see right away that besides from the paint job and head sculpt they really aren't much different this is probably why Takara decided to produce MP-30 Ratchet so soon after MP-27 Ironhide. For further details on this figure PUNCH the "Read More" option below!

What's in the box?

MP-30 Ratchet comes packaged in vehicle mode and with the battle sled exactly the same way MP-27 Ironhide did. Ratchet also comes with a decent amount of weaponry, with some of his weapons being unique tools which we thought were a clever edition to the Cybertronian Medic. To the right you can see MP-30 Ratchet & MP-27 Ironhide in their packaging. The major difference between the 2 figures and something that seems to have started with MP-29 Shockwave is that Ratchet comes with stickers. They provide 2 different types of stickers, ones with the Autobot logo and ones that are just medic crosses. We chose to use the Autobot cross logo on our Ratchet because we feel it gives him a more finished look.

MP-30 Ratchet in packaging

MP-27 Ironhide in packaging

MP-30 Ratchet Stickers

MP-30 Ratchet accessories and instructions.

MP-30 Ratchet Vehicle Mode

Once you get the stickers placed on him Ratchet looks great. He is show accurate and there is really nothing too crazy about his design. You can mount one of his blasters to his roof and they store underneath him just like the feature from MP-27 Ironhide. Additionally he looks exactly like Ironhide in vehicle mode except he is white instead of red.

MP-30 Ratchet Vehicle Mode (Side View )

MP-27 Ironhide (Side View)

Transforming and Posing

Transforming MP-30 Ratchet is extremely simple. We did not encounter any difficulty transforming him from vehicle mode to robot mode. Once transformed there are a variety of options for him. He has so many different weapons, that he can use or that can be attached to the battle sled the same way they did with MP-27 Ironhide. Ratchet also comes with an additional face piece which we were not too happy with because it looks like he is giving a creepy smile (Photos on the right). Posing Ratchet is alot of fun and his design makes him sturdy enough to get some cool poses, check them out below!

MP-30 Ratchet : Battle Sled

Size Comparison

MP-30 Ratchet is sized perfectly to the other Takara Masterpiece figures and he is height accurate based on the original series. Check out the comparison shots provided below!

FINAL RESULTS

There really isn't anything negative about MP-30 Ratchet, but there really isn't anything amazing about him either. He is a repaint of MP-27 Ironhide which isn't really Takaras' fault since that's how he was originally designed for the show. They did give him unique tools which is a plus because without them he would not be anything more than an albino Ironhide. He can be posed easily and is scaled to the correct height when compared to the other figures. These are the reasons we are giving MP-30 Ratchet....**DRUM ROLL**.... 4 PUNCHES!