He often worked with the more scatterbrained inventor, Wheeljack. One of their more memorable accomplishments was the creation of the Dinobots.
Ratchet served well until 2005, when his shuttle was attacked en route from Cybertron to Earth. He and several other Autobots met their demise by Megatron, who used the ship in his great assault against Autobot City.
But the 'Cons were in the process of moving to a new headquarters, and for a time the Ark was guarded only by the deposed Megatron. Ratchet used this opportunity to sneak inside and talk with the captive Prime, who encouraged him to think as a warrior, not a doctor.
Inevitably, Megatron found Ratchet, whose medical tools were pitiful as weapons. However, the Autobot was able to play on Megatron's hatred of his new leader, Shockwave: Aware that Shock had once been beaten by the Dinobots millions of years earlier, Ratchet claimed to know the secret to his defeat. Thus, he presented Megs with a bargain: If Ratchet destroyed Shockwave, then Megatron would free the Autobots.
The Decepticon agreed, sealing the deal with the Rite of Oneness (the TF version of a blood-oath). Ratchet then jetted off to Antarctica, where Shockwave had once been bested. In the quasi-prehistoric Savage Land, the doctor unearthed the dormant Dinobots and accessed Slag's memories. He watched through the triceratops's eyes as Shockwave (and the Dinobots) were buried in a landslide caused by Snarl's suicidal battle tactics.
Ratchet sent that video sequence to Megatron, who believed it to have taken place just then. When Ratchet returned to reclaim the Ark, Megatron tried to break his oath and destroy him - but was thwarted with the help of the reanimated Dinobots.
So Ratchet gave up his brief stint as warrior and went back to full-time medicine, restoring his moribund comrades to health. As the war revved up again, the constant stream of casualties took all his time and effort. The strain began to show when Optimus Prime was destroyed. No amount of toil could bring the Autobot leader back, and Ratchet was hit as hard as anyone. When the others left HQ for a funeral ceremony, Ratchet stayed behind, tinkering with the ravaged fighters who clung to life in statis pods.
Keeping himself busy, Ratchet drove to a nearby junkyard for spare parts - and right into a sting operation. Undercover cops were trying to capture a car thief called The Mechanic, who saw Ratchet's ambulance mode and decided to commandeer it. Concerned for secrecy, Ratchet played along silently, even allowing the thief and his partner to remove his medical instruments. However, when they reached the criminals' hideout, Ratchet revealed himself - and got a taste of his own cryogenic sprayer. Although useless against Megatron, Ratchet was frozen solid for a while; when he thawed, he the humans had fled, so he returned to the Ark. But the Mechanic stealthily followed, and inside the Autobot base, he was able to use his pilfered medical tools - the cryogenic sprayer and a laser scalpel - with lethal efficiency against their former owner. He also actived the defense systems, which attacked the returning Autobots. Amid this chaos, Ratchet was able to revive Prowl, whose police-car mode evoked the Mechanic's phobia of cops. The thief ran away, but still carried several pieces of Autobot equipment.
The activity helped Ratchet shift from his constant worries about his many deactivated patients. In fact, he even engaged in artistry of sorts: When he later rebuilt the obliterated Bumblebee, he refashioned the spy into a slightly different robot form. "Necessary alterations," he said. Nevertheless, Bumblebee took the opportunity to rename himself Goldbug.
As time went on, Ratchet tirelessly performed his duties. Under Grimlock's authoritarian command, the Autobots' activities were less concerned with defending humans, which led to fewer casualties. Ratchet openly chafed at his leader's callousness, but it did give him the opportunity to concentrate on reviving many of the most severely-damaged warriors.
However, as successful as he was, he saw a huge portion of his efforts undone by the Underbase-powered Starscream. The carnage he wrought was nearly irreparable, mostly from microchip damage. Ratchet longed for the technologies available on Cybertron, but he understood the value of defending Earth. His exhaustion brought about hallucinations - visions of his dormant patients rising and attacking him for his failures.
Then, one night, his nightmares came true. While the bulk of the Autobots were away on a mission, the Decepticon Micromaster Sports Car Patrol snuck on board the Ark. They hacked into the ship's computer and began remote-controlling the deactivated bodies, hoping to spur Ratchet into a rage. But the doctor refused to finish off his patients, no matter how zombie-esque they appeared. Needing Ratchet alive, the 'Cons ended their amateur horror show and announced themselves as Autobots from Cybertron. Offering no explanation of Ratchet's experience, they merely invited him to come with them to the homeworld to properly repair his patients. Dazed and worn, Ratchet blindly agreed, bringing a few dormant Autobots with him through a trans-time dimensional portal...
...Which led straight to Megatron's lab on Cybertron. Threatening to destroy the Ark, Megatron forced Ratchet to use his expertise in reviving Starscream. Using new Pretender shell technology, the Autobot did this...as well as secretly repaired Grimlock, Jazz, and Goldbug (whom he reverted to Bumblebee - artistic license, perhaps). Megatron sent Starscream - now a single-minded killer - to Earth. However, Ratchet had kept the traitorous Decepticon's true personality in his "neural link circuits," and soon the stone-cold assassin turned back into the coward he'd always been.
But Ratchet wasn't done. He contacted the Ark's security team, which had found the bombs Megatron planned to use to destroy the ship. Ratchet opened the trans-time dimensional portal - but Megatron showed up just then. As per Ratchet's instructions, the Ark-bound Autobots sent the explosives through the portal, and the blast destroyed the entire Decepticon complex.
Megs and Ratchet were presumed dead. Ironically, just as Prime's death had affected the weary Ratchet, so now the doctor's demise pushed Optimus over the edge. Not just another warrior, Ratchet was a true friend, and his death caused Prime to agonize over the futility of war. After millions of years of fighting, Prime was ready to give up entirely. However, after a bit of soul-searching and a little fisticuffs, the Autobot leader saw things in a new light: Surrendering the battle meant Ratchet's sacrifice was for naught. Thus, he owed it to Ratchet and every other fallen hero to fight to the end.
Now, this was all assuming Ratchet and Megatron had died; in fact, the truth was far stranger. The lethal explosives had actually fused the two TFs' bodies together, simultaneously blowing them through the portal. However, the portal had shut down in the split-second of transit, trapping them in the void of "unspace." It wasn't until some time later that Nightbeat had a hunch and sent a probe into the non-reality. The probe did retrieve the doctor, but of course Megatron came along as well. The two were melded in body and mind, making for a deranged entity, as well as quite a moral problem for Prime. Was killing Megs worth Ratchet's life, or vice versa? Prime finally subdued them, and they even appeared to want to die. But he only rendered them unconscious, and he had Fixit separate their bodies.
But there was a price: According to Fixit, their nervous systems had been bonded at a molecular level, making their minds inseparable (unlike their bodies). Until a solution could be found, they were left in status pods indefinitely. That is, until Grimlock arrived at the Ark with a shipload of the wonder-fuel Nucleon. Finding no one else on board (everyone was on Cybertron preparing to fight Unicron), the Dinobots pumped Nucleon into all the statis pods...unaware of anything that had happened with Megatron, and not bothering to check who they were refueling.
But the revival was slow, and it wasn't until after the Unicron War that Megs and Ratchet finally awoke. At the time, the Ark was in the possession of Starscream and Shockwave, who were going to use it in an assault on Earth. Megatron found himself battling Shockwave and Galvatron(!), while Ratchet was attacked by Starscream. Indeed, their minds were connected: Megatron was in a haze, envisioning his opponents as Ratchet. Ratchet, meanwhile, was more coherent but still aware of everything that was happening to Megs. When Starscream attacked Ratchet, the doctor lashed at him with a Megatron-esque fury. Then, seeing the threat these villians posed to Earth, the Autobot sabotaged the ship and caused it to crash for the second time.
Ratchet has not been seen since. Only one thing suggests he's still alive: Megatron. Fixit had thought that their relationship was symbiotic; if he was right, then Megatron's survival depends on Ratchet. It's reasonable to suggest that the doctor still lies dormant in a secret stasis pod; perhaps his slumber keeps Megatron's state of mind balanced.
Or Fixit was wrong, and Megs gets along just fine without any blasted Autobot. At this point, it's anyone's guess. What we do know is that Ratchet's life proved him a noble soul time and time again. He was once a partier, back in the day, but his trials on Earth hardened him into a courageous and clever - if pessimistic - fighter. His mind was always his deadliest weapon, and endless self-sacrifice in duty and battle would be both his greatest asset and bane. Above all, many such as Optimus Prime remember him simply as a friend.
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