How Ratchet Got His Hands Back

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|- {{#if: IDW Publishing | |Publisher || IDW Publishing}} |- {{#if: | |Published by || }} |- {{#if: | |Imprint || }} |- {{#if: | |Published in || }} |- {{#if: May 23, 2012 | |First published || May 23, 2012}} |- {{#if: | |Shipping date || }} |- {{#if: | |On-sale date || }} |- {{#if: May 2012 | |Cover date || May 2012}} |- {{#if: | |Credits || }} |- {{#if: | |By || }} |- {{#if: | |Manga || }} |- {{#if: | |Manga by || }} |- {{#if: | |Original story || }} |- {{#if: | |Story & art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Story and color art || }} |- {{#if: | |Story || }} |- {{#if: James Roberts | |Story by || James Roberts}} |- {{#if: | |Story consultants || }} |- {{#if: | |Story concept || }} |- {{#if: | |Screenplay by || }} |- {{#if: | |Screenplay || }} |- {{#if: | |Adaptation by || }} |- {{#if: | |Adapted by || }} |- {{#if: | |Adaptation || }} |- {{#if: | |Based on || }} |- {{#if: | |Writer || }} |- {{#if: | |Writers || }} |- {{#if: | |Writing || }} |- {{#if: | |Written by || }} |- {{#if: | |Written & art || }} |- {{#if: | |Plotter || }} |- {{#if: | |Plotters || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot by || }} |- {{#if: | |Plot/Script || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripter || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripters || }} |- {{#if: | |Script || }} |- {{#if: | |Scripting || }} |- {{#if: | |Script by || }} |- {{#if: | |Script and art || }} |- {{#if: | |Sript [sic] consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Translation by || }} |- {{#if: | |Artist || }} |- {{#if: | |Comic artist || }} |- {{#if: | |Artists || }} |- {{#if: | |Art || }} |- {{#if: Alex Milne | |Art by || Alex Milne}} |- {{#if: | |Additional art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Flashback art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Art assistant || }} |- {{#if: | |Art assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Line-art || }} |- {{#if: | |Line-art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Line art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciller || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencillers || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciler || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencilers || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencil art || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencils || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencils by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciled by || }} |- {{#if: | |Penciling || }} |- {{#if: | |Guest penciler || }} |- {{#if: | |Layouts || }} |- {{#if: | |Pencil breakdowns || }} |- {{#if: | |Breakdowns || }} |- {{#if: | |Breakdowns by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustration || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrations || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrator || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrated by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustration by || }} |- {{#if: | |Illustrations by || }} |- {{#if: | |Finished pencils || }} |- {{#if: | |Finishes || }} |- {{#if: | |Finished art || }} |- {{#if: | |Finishes by || }} |- {{#if: | |Inker || }} |- {{#if: | |Guest inker || }} |- {{#if: | |Inkers || }} |- {{#if: | |Inks || }} |- {{#if: | |Inks by || }} |- {{#if: | |Ink finishes || }} |- {{#if: | |Ink assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional inks || }} |- {{#if: | |Inking || }} |- {{#if: | |Backgrounds || }} |- {{#if: | |Backgrounds by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colorist || }} |- {{#if: | |Colorists || }} |- {{#if: | |Colourist || }} |- {{#if: | |Colourists || }} |- {{#if: | |Color || }} |- {{#if: | |Colors || }} |- {{#if: | |Color art || }} |- {{#if: | |Colour || }} |- {{#if: | |Colours || }} |- {{#if: | |Colored by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color by || }} |- {{#if: Josh Burcham | |Colors by || Josh Burcham}} |- {{#if: | |Color art by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colors assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assists || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assistance by || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional colors || }} |- {{#if: | |Additional colors by || }} |- {{#if: | |Color assist by || }} |- {{#if: | |Colour/Computer FX || }} |- {{#if: | |Computer coloring/effects || }} |- {{#if: | |Color Reconstruction || }} |- {{#if: | |Flats || }} |- {{#if: | |Flats by || }} |- {{#if: | |MTMTE Profiles || }} |- {{#if: | |Letterer || }} |- {{#if: | |Letterers || }} |- {{#if: | |Lettering || }} |- {{#if: | |Letters || }} |- {{#if: Chris Mowry | |Letters by || Chris Mowry}} |- {{#if: | |Lettered by || }} |- {{#if: | |Lettering|Production || }} |- {{#if: | |Special Thanks{{#if: | To}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Collaborators || }} |- {{#if: | |Contributors || }} |- {{#if: John Barber | |Editor || John Barber}} |- {{#if: | |Editors || }} |- {{#if: | |Editing || }} |- {{#if: | |Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Compiled and Edited by || }} |- {{#if: | |Original series editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Original Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Deputy editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Assistant editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial assistant{{#if: |s}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial Assistance
provided by || }} |- {{#if: | |Senior editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Associate editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Story consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Project manager || }} |- {{#if: | |Production by || }} |- {{#if: | |Designer || }} |- {{#if: | |Design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Designed by || }} |- {{#if: | |Design/editorial || }} |- {{#if: | |Book design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection designer || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection editor || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection Edits by || }} |- {{#if: | |Graphic design || }} |- {{#if: | |Graphic design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Collection Design by || }} |- {{#if: | |Creative Director{{#if: | / Layout}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Contributing editors || }} |- {{#if: | |Research editor{{#if: |s}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Managing editor || }} |- {{#if: | |{{#if: |Editor-in-chief|Editor in chief}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Editorial consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Dinosaur consultant || }} |- {{#if: | |Publishing manager || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover art{{#if: |ist}}{{#if: | by}} || }} |- {{#if: | |Cover Design {{#if: |and Elements }}by || }} |- {{#if: | |Inside cover || }} |- {{#if: | |Apologies to || }} |- {{#if: 2005 IDW continuity | |Continuity || 2005 IDW continuity}} |- {{#if: Current era (2012) | |Chronology || Current era (2012)}} |- {{#if: | |ISBN || }} |- {{#if: | |TPB ISBN || ISBN }} |- {{#if: | |UPC || }} |- {{#if: | |Page count || }} |- {{#if: | |Price || }} |- {{#if: | |Packaged with || }} |- {{#if: | |Printed in || }} |- {{#if: | |Animation || }} |- {{#if: | |Music || }} |}{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}} There's nothing left to lose as Ratchet confronts the 'bot behind the plague on Delphi.

Synopsis

At the Delphi medical facility, the furious Fortress Maximus dispatches the two Genericons threatening the remaining Autobots there, tearing one in half and decapitating the other with his shoulder compartment. As Ratchet and First Aid return to tending the inflicted, Pharma pulls a gun on Ambulon, accusing him of freeing the Decepticons and releasing the virus plaguing the facility, on the basis that he is a former Decepticon himself. First Aid, however, turns the tables on Pharma when he examines the Genericons' remains and discovers that they were not Monoformers, as Pharma had claimed. Ratchet puts the final pieces of the puzzle together, and requests that Pharma transform; when he refuses, Ratchet diagnoses the virus as being activated through transformation. First Aid and Ambulon have not succumbed to its effects because the former has a malfunctioning transformation cog, while the latter has no reason to transform, his alternate mode being only the leg of a prototype combiner, but Pharma will not transform because he knows this already, being responsible for the plague in the first place. Pharma shoots out a life-support system to cover his escape, rabbiting down a hidden tunnel in a CR chamber while the other medics scramble to save the lives of their patients. Backstreet fades particularly fast, forcing Ratchet to transform into ambulance mode in order to give him a full systems boost from his reboot coils. With the virus now activated within him, Ratchet sets off after Pharma.

Meanwhile, aboard the Lost Light, Tailgate meets with Ultra Magnus and requests to undergo the Rite of the Autobrand, having realized the foolishness of his earlier decision to be a Decepticon. Grudgingly impressed with Tailgate's skill set, Magnus agrees to teach him the Autobot Code, nearly driving the poor little bot out of his head with intense study of the code's ten thousand pages. Tailgate's interest is caught by clause nineteen-eighty-five; remembering the giant robots pursuing Skids, he inquires about clause nineteen-eighty-four, which Magnus informs him relates to the supposedly non-existent "thought warfare".

Elsewhere on the ship, Rung meets with one of his oldest patients, Red Alert, concerned that the paranoia he helped the security officer overcome is returning. Red Alert insists that he heard a noise emanating from a crack in the floor of the chamber in which the Sparkeater was found, but that should be impossible, as that chamber is at the lowest point on the ship, with only outer space beyond. Despite Rung's skepticism, Red Alert produces a recording of the sound, which Rung recognizes as a distorted voice...repeating "kill me" over and over again...

Back in Delphi, Ratchet catches up to Pharma, who gleefully explains his master plan: he engineered the plague in order to shut Delphi down so that he could escape a deal he made with the Decepticon Justice Division that forced him to kill patients in order to harvest their transformation cogs for the DJD's transformation addicted-leader in return for Delphi's safety. The two Genericons—Sonic and Boom—were paid by Pharma to surrender to the facility, and once locked up together, to merge into their audio-equipment alternate mode and project a blast of weaponized sound calculated by Pharma to corrode Transformers from within: the "big bang" that contaminated all who heard it. His vigorous monologuing has blinded Pharma to one thing, however: as Ratchet slowly rusts away in front of him, his liquefied innards have pooled around Pharma's feet, infecting him. Pharma escapes to the roof of the facility with the only vaccine, but is surprised by the appearance of Ratchet's remote-projected holomatter avatar, which distracts him long enough to let Ratchet catch up and tackle him, causing the vaccine to fall off the building. Ratchet and Pharma grapple, but when Ratchet's arm breaks off, Pharma tumbles off the roof, and is left clinging onto the edge, unable to transform to jet mode and fly to safety without activating the virus. Ratchet turns to leave him to his fate, and the traitorous medic tries to shoot him in the back: luckily, the near-dead Drift appears and slices Pharma's hands off, letting him plummet to his presumed doom.

Thanks to Pharma's vaccine, saved from its fall by Ratchet's holomatter projection, the virus is cured, and everyone leaves for the Lost Light. On the return journey, Ratchet invites First Aid to succeed him as the ship's chief medical officer, recognizing both his skill, and his dedication and honor: it was he who transmitted the escalating death rates—caused by Pharma's cog harvesting—over the Wreckers: Declassified frequency. The two doctors lament the loss of both Ironfist and the old Pharma, but First Aid remarks that Ratchet will always carry part of Pharma with him. Two parts, actually: Ratchet has replaced his worn-out hands with Pharma's!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear in flashbacks.)
{{#if: ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"

Fortress Maximus (2)
Ratchet (3)
First Aid (5)
Ambulon (6)
Pharma (7)
Drift (8)

Backstreet (9)
Ultra Magnus (11)
Rung (13)
Red Alert (14)
Pipes (16)

|

!! style="background:#ffdddd;" | Autobots }}{{#if:* Sonic (1)

Boom (4)
Tarn (15)|

!! style="background:#ededff" | Decepticons }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fbefde;" | Humans }}{{#if:* Tailgate (10)

Nova Prime (12)|

!! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Misc }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"|

Fortress Maximus (2)
Ratchet (3)
First Aid (5)
Ambulon (6)
Pharma (7)
Drift (8)

|style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"|

Backstreet (9)
Ultra Magnus (11)
Rung (13)
Red Alert (14)
Pipes (16)

|}|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |

Fortress Maximus (2)
Ratchet (3)
First Aid (5)
Ambulon (6)
Pharma (7)
Drift (8)

Backstreet (9)
Ultra Magnus (11)
Rung (13)
Red Alert (14)
Pipes (16)

}}{{#if:* Sonic (1)

Boom (4)
Tarn (15)|

| style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |

Sonic (1)
Boom (4)
Tarn (15) }}{{#if:|

| style="background:#fbefde;" valign="top" |

}}{{#if:* Tailgate (10)

Nova Prime (12)|

| style="background:#ffeeb8;" valign="top" |

Tailgate (10)
Nova Prime (12) }}{{#if:|

| style="background:#d5e6d5;" valign="top" |

}}{{#if:|

| style="background:#fedeb5;" valign="top" |

}}

|}

Quotes

"I have the world's worst alt mode: I turn into a leg. Ambulon: From the verb 'to ambulate,' meaning 'to walk about.' It's a stupid name..."
"...but all the best names are taken."

—Ambulon and Ratchet

"It's just—I thought it would be more of a ten-point plan...? One: Don't do bad things. Two: Don't, er, be rude... stuff like—three: don't be a Decepticon. Stuff like that."

—Tailgate on the unexpected intricacies of the Autobot Code

"Relax! A few weeks of cripplingly intense study and it'll be over! It might even be fff— It might even be fff— I can't—my mouth just won't—I can't say it."
"Fun...?"
"That's the one!"

—Ultra Magnus and Tailgate

"I'm not convinced you're paying attention."
"...what? Oh. Sorry—I, er, I thought I saw some graffiti on your desk. Yeah, some—some really tiny graffiti: 'Ultra Magnus is an O.C.D. control freak who uses learning to hurt people.' But it was just a speck of dirt."
"DIRT?!"
"It's okay, sir—it's gone. It can't hurt you now."

—Magnus and Tailgate quickly become this book's next great double-act.

"Pharma, I've been held at gunpoint by the best—Megatron, Starscream, Killmaster—remember Killmaster? With the wand?—and I've never known anyone take so long to explain their grand plan."

—With a dry cool wit like that, Ratchet could be an action hero.

"You died a long time ago, Pharma. And as for me... my hands don't work, I'm miles from anyone I truly care about, and I'm still coming to terms with the fact that after a four-million year build-up, peace has turned out to be a massive anticlimax. Bottom line? I've got nothing else to lose."

—Ratchet

Notes

Continuity notes

The absence of Cybertron's first moon is mentioned again, previously noted in issue #1 and an important plot point over in Robots in Disguise #3. Tailgate claims (falsely) to have coordinated the first search for it, meaning it's been missing since the early days of Nova Prime.
Speaking of Nova Prime, Tailgate claims (false) responsibility for persuading him to look beyond Cybertron. (He probably didn't know how that turned out.)
Ultra Magnus tells Tailgate to relax, a word he later denies the existence of due to never having heard of it.
Ratchet's holomatter avatar returns, a concept only seen once since Simon Furman's time on the series ended. A quick explanation is offered for why the tech was phased out in universe: it's energy-intensive, it demands total concentration, and the hair never looks real.
While talking about Red Alert's history, Rung mentions the security officer's belief in "the Institute", a mysterious facility previously mentioned in "Chaos Theory Part 2". This scene has a very sneaky payoff in #10.
Likewise, Drift mentions Ratchet having once saved his life long ago in Rodion, a story that will be shown to us in #9.

Transformers references

The opening moments of the issue, as Fortress Maximus tears one of the Genericons in half and slams the pieces together, is an homage to Last Stand of the Wreckers #5, in which Overlord did the same thing to Guzzle.
A patient named Tracer is listed among those at Delphi. Whether this is supposed to be a new character or one of the existing Tracers is unknown; as the Micromaster Tracer was an Autobot in Japanese fiction, we'd guess it's him.
Rung and Red Alert's session numbers are clearly evocative of issues of the Marvel UK comic: #97 was Roberts's first issue; #113 was the issue that hooked him; #288 was the issue in which he got a letter printed; and issue #332 was the final installment of the series. The significance of #7 is not apparent.
On the subject of numbers, Rung's patient number for Red Alert is the numbers used for Red Alert's Japanese toy releases (his original toy ID, Smallest Transforming Transformers, and Binaltech Asterisk numbers respectively).

Real-world references

Ironically, clause Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a direct reference to what you might be thinking. Rather, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "thought warfare" homage [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Nineteen Eighty-Four|{{#if:the novel of the same name|the novel of the same name|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}]] by George Orwell, in which a totalitarian state controls the populace through "thought crime" and "double think," both forms of thought control, though "thought warfare" in the IDW continuity is often taken more literally.

Crew Manifest

Fortress Maximus, Ambulon, and First Aid return to the Lost Light with Ratchet.
Red Alert admits finding 207 of his fellow crew suspicious.
5 deaths, 5 new arrivals since the launch.

Errors

First Aid's hands are inconsistently colored. In some panels they are red with white fingers, while in other panels these colors are switched.

Soundtrack

"Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" by [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Belle & Sebastian|{{#if:||Belle & Sebastian}}]]
"Carries On" by [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros|{{#if:||Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros}}]]

When a thread was compiled for the soundtrack on the IDW boards, the second of these songs had been lost, so Roberts suggested the following as a replacement:

"City Sickness" by [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Tindersticks|{{#if:||Tindersticks}}]]

Foreign localization

Japanese

Title: ""Meii" Ratchet no Fukkatsu" ("名医"ラチェットの復活, "The Resurrection of "Doctor" Ratchet")

Swedish

Title: "Hur Ratchet fick händerna tillbaka" ("How Ratchet Got His Hands Back")

Covers (3)

Cover A: Ratchet, infected with Red Rust, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez.
Cover B: Ultra Magnus teaches Tailgate the Autobot Code, by Nick Roche and Joana Lafuente. This cover was accidentally printed in a blurry, low-resolution quality.
Cover RI: Ratchet and Drift, by Marcelo Matere and Priscilla Tramontano, the first half of a combined image formed with the RI cover to Robots in Disguise #5.

This looks familiar.
You will deal with this now!
I am cooler than you.

Reprints

The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 2 (October 17, 2012) ISBN 1613774982 / ISBN 978-1613774984
- Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #4–8.
- Bonus material includes art from most covers, "Meet the Crew" and "Meet the 'Cons" pages.
- Trade paperback format.

The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 1 (September 3, 2014) ISBN 1631400401 / ISBN 978-1631400407
- Collects The Death of Optimus Prime, More than Meets the Eye issues #1–3 & #4–5, and Robots in Disguise issues #1–5 & #6.
- Hardcover format.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404741 / ISBN 978-1631404740
- Collects More Than Meets the Eye volumes 1–5.
- Bonus material unknown at this time.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 53: Liars, A to D (December 26, 2018)
- Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #1–6, and Spotlight: Trailcutter & Hoist.
- Bonus material includes an all-new interview with James Roberts, rare archive material from the dawn of More than Meets the Eye, Alex Milne's sketchbook, a cover gallery and a forward by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.

Transformers: Mer än ögat kan se (June 15, 2019)
- Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #1–8 & Annual 2012, Spotlight: Trailcutter & Hoist, and a special illustrated edition of "Bullets".
- Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

More Than Meets the Eye Volume 2 – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 1 – cover art by Saren Stone
More Than Meets the Eye Box Set – cover art by Marcelo Matere
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 53: Liars, A to D – cover art by Don Figueroa (Whirl) and Alex Milne (retro)
Mer än ögat kan se – cover art by Alex Milne and Joana Lafuente.