Ratchet [Shining Version 01–Shining Roll Out]

Despite the mountain of Blokees Transformers Blind Boxes kits I own, I’d never picked up any Shining Version blind boxes… until recently. I grabbed a few at Toylanta from my friends at Polaris Bros, and Ratchet here was one of them.

Shining Version kits are essentially upgraded Galaxy Version releases with light-up features. This Ratchet is based on his Galaxy Version 01 kit, which I never actually owned—though I do have the Shattered Glass version. That led to a brief moment of confusion where I could’ve sworn I’d built this before. Of course, Ratchet shares a lot of parts with Ironhide, which I have covered, so that probably didn’t help either.

Rather than retread familiar ground, I want to focus more on what makes the Shining Version different.

Ratchet is largely based on his original cartoon appearance, which I prefer as a cartoon guy. That said, it’s a little hypocritical on my part—my attachment to Ratchet actually comes more from his role in the early comics. It's complicated.

The standout feature is, of course, the light-up elements. His eyes and chest both illuminate, and it looks fantastic. The real highlight is the chest, which is formed from the windshield of his ambulance mode and features a readout on the surface. When lit up, it looks incredible. I keep finding myself imagining a little animated screen in there.

The eyes look great too, but the chest is absolutely the star of the show.

He doesn’t include the snap-on “pew pew” effect parts that came with the original kit (and with Ironhide), but he does come with an Energon Cube—one I somehow forgot to include in my photos. It’s the same cube included with several other kits, and I’m actually pretty fond of that accessory, so I’m a little annoyed with myself for leaving it out.

Another thing I did intentionally leave out is the display stand. I’ve gotten so used to newer Galaxy Version kits not including stands that I almost forgot they used to be standard. The Shining Version stands are a bit larger than the older Galaxy ones, which is a nice touch, and they include plug-in Autobots and Decepticon symbols still.

Overall, this is a really fun variation on the standard Galaxy Version kit. The added light-up feature gives it just enough extra presence—and, that chest readout really makes it all special.