How exactly is Knock-Out leaps and bounds a better medic than Ratchet?

Ratchet devotes all his time on this show to being a medic. We've seen him leave the base like what? Three times in this entire series. I wouldn't call him a field medic when he's almost never in the field.

Knockout however, what has he done that was so great? Reattach Starscream's arm. Fix Soundwave's visor. Megatron doesn't even seem to have enough respect for him as a medic to worry about him getting killed in the field. Knockout goes on missions more than he's in the lab.

And have you notice that Knockout hasn't even mentioned Synth-en once sense he collected that sample that was spilled from Ratchet. Ratchet is working with the stuff again and Optimus doesn't seem worried about it after what happened last time suggesting that Ratchet has either been working on improving it or is trying to improve it so that doesn't happen again. What has Knockout been doing with that sample all this time? Nothing.

Knockout is barely a medic. It seems more like he's a field medic that got thrown into the role while Ratchet was seems like he was actually a doctor even before the war.

Shockwave however, having invented the "Patch" and having enough skill to clone entire Transformers, I could agree that Shockwave is definitely a much better scientist/doctor than Ratchet. The leaps and bounds thing actually fits the description for Shockwave but Knockout hasn't really done a damn thing in this series besides some pretty basic repair jobs.

 

Knockout has been conspicuously absent the last few episodes so I fully expect him to pop up soon. And I also wouldn't be at all surprised at a head to head, doc to doc showdown on Synth-En.

I miss Knockout but I would really like to see his snarky original personality blast back. He's been ridiculed and sneered at a lot by his fellows, it would totally be in character for him to fight back. Would be awesome.

 

I think he panics because he's grown attached to the small group around him. He's no longer in a giant Autobot army like at the beginning of the war where he was likely kept busy by different transformers passing through his care over and over. No attachment. But now? He can fully take in the pressure and responsibility he has to last few remaining Autobots who he knows well.

Or... KnockOut is calm and collected because he doesn't really give a damn whether his patients live or die?

Okay...KnockOut does get points for keeping Screamy alive, replacing Scream's T-cog, and fixing Soundwave's visor flawlessly. And I guess we can assume he was the one who attached Megatron's new arms. But he didn't bring Megs from the brink of death, that was Dark Energon. And he merely did a scan and "bomb run" with Lazerbeak; no patching.

Hmm... Okay. You win. KO's decent at patching things up.  

Wait, when did Megatron say KO's weakness was his vanity? All I remember is him telling KO to stop preening (i.e. "take things seriously for once!").

 

Ratchet has been ORDERED to stay behind. Should team Prime lose him, they are SOL.

Megatron order's Knock Out to carry out missions. Megatron has also clipped his wings and kept on the ship or assigned him to less dangerous work (overseeing cleanup on Cybertron) of late.

I've point out what I thought was great up top, but if you disagree...

...He and Starscream are going to be scheming with it very, very soon 

If you say so.

Had the story been told from a neutral point of view or the Decepticons, you'd see Knock Out doing a lot more, but alas it's a hero's tale.

Surgery isn't basic repair. Neither is fixing a hole in someone's chest.

EDIT:

Whether he cares or not is irrelevant, I think as he knows what needs to be done. He just...does it.

Possibly (but he does give a damn, we saw how he reacted after Breakdown's demise. I'm sure things would have ended badly for him, had Megatron died while in his care.

Dark Energon may have saved Megatron's life, but Starscream took it out and used it for his own personal gain, didn't he?

The bomb was a decoy, and I don't doubt that Knock Out's "yes, I am that good," attitude didn't help him see the forest for the trees.

Surgery is more than patching up.

I can't recall which episode it was or what he said exactly, but I recall Megatron telling Knock Out to keep his vanity in check, as it was always his vanity f'ing up missions he was sent on.

 

I see Ratchet as a Medic, and Knock-Out as a Field Surgeon. Ratchet's all about making sure the patient gets a full recovery, while Knock-Out's main concern is getting his patient up and running again for battle, even if it means an amputation.

 

Agreed. Weather or not they panic isn't a sign of a good doctor, at least not in the way he put it. A good medic SHOULD be worried about his patience and the only time Ratchet has ever really doubted his abilities is when Raf was hurt because he never took the time to learn about human biology before that. He didn't show any doubts when Optimus was infected with a virus that almost killed him. He was just worried about his patient's life.

Knockout just doesn't give a care. He worries more about his own paint job than he does anyone else. I really wouldn't be surprised if another Decepticon was near death and he had a tiny little scratch that he would rather buff out that scratch than save his fellow Decepticon.

When was Starscream ever hurt that badly? He lost an arm and a t-cog but he was never dying... the only time he might of "bleed" to death he was repaired by RATCHET. It was during that time when he was passing on information in exchange for information.

Attaching an arm is a simple patch up job. Both Ratchet and Knockout have stated that replacing a limb is no big deal. He's never had to deal with anyone in a near death situation like Ratchet has. Not counting Megatron because like you said, that was Dark Energon that brought him back, not Knockout.

Oh I almost forgot Shockwave's greatest medical accomplishment... Fixing his OWN eye. Remember Breakdown's eye patch. Yeah Knockout couldn't build a new eye for Breakdown but Shockwave was able to build a new eye for himself. Just imagine a blind Shockwave managing to repair his eye. That's some skill of epic proportions.

 

Way back in season one, Megatron beat the $#!+ out of Starscream while having Knock Out making sure he didn't die-hate to be on Megaton's bad side.

Breakdown chose to wear the patch as a reminder of his failure.

 

When was that stated? I thought he just showed up one episode after Mech got him and he had a patch instead of an eye. No mention whatsoever.

 

I believe it was stated in the episode that introduced the magnetic gauntlet, where Arcee and Bulkhead got stuck together.

 

Yeah, I believe it was during the episode Metal Attraction too. Whatever the episode, Breakdown chose to wear his shame as a reminder of his failure--it had nothing to do with Knock Out's lack of skill.

 

Am watching it now...

When asking to retrieve the Decepticon invention and Megatron doubts him, Breakdown says:
"What I have lost is a constant reminder that I must never again fail you."

There's nothing there about him wanting to leave the eye un-replaced. Just that he has a blatant reminder that failure is unacceptable and that there IS consequences for it.
For all we know KO couldn't replace it or Megatron ordered it not be replaced.

Edit: ...wait how did we get on this subject?
*backtracks*
government so cheap with technology given to transformers as seen in latest episode--->government is so cheap with aliens they need to employ child labor---> questioning Ratchet's specialty---> Comparing skills to KO and Shockwave---> Questioning Ko's skills based on Breakdown's un-replaced eye.
LOL. Oops.

 

Love the episode! Loved the references to the Wreckers, Dinobots, Beast Hunters.

However, it made me pine for a Voyager Hardshell or any Insecticon for that matter.  

 

I miss Knockout too. I have been looking forward to his interaction with Shockwave. Since Megatron said Shockwave is first lieutenant in charge of all scientific endeavors, Knockout should report to Shockwave.

 

Well he gets to be one of the stars of ep 8. Can't wait  

 

So, first post and I'm jibbering about Prime. Woo!

I'm in the camp of people who both liked this episode, and yet was disappointed by it. Lots of continuity porn is pretty nice, such as the references to Magnus leading the Wreckers, the stuff with Beast Wars, and so forth.

But for the actual episode, while the fight choreography was great...another relic hunt does not please me, and the idea of them fighting over the skull was silly, given it gets established with the Insecticon battle that they don't actually need the whole skull. You'd think Shockwave would just yank a piece and roll with it. It's the Jurassic Park "DNA is everywhere!" concept, even though it doesn't make much sense. For those griping about the different bone hunts, that's likely to clone different types of Predacons (different CNA, after all) to have them work in tandem and support one another. Given Predaking's apparent beastly power, I'd think it takes a long time to clone such an entity, hence why Megatron doesn't just tell Shockwave to throw bajillions of those out there.

Relic hunting was interesting to some extent during the second season because they swapped hands so many times and both teams got lots of use out of most all the relics, even the spark extractor (though it sadly was kind of one-shot and meaningless). Here, I hope they wrap it up very quickly with the next episode, and move on. I'd like some development for the Predacons, so that the Predacon Rising film is the climactic finale and proper battle sequence, instead of just "here's all the Predacons, enjoy!".

Still, nice episode. Soundwave seemingly can do no wrong.

 

I think Shockwave, Soundwave and Knockout would make a great team. Starscream has his armada anyway.

 

Anyone a little annoyed by Smokescreen or was it just me.

Also I'd love to see Predaking return and some new Preds. Especially Ripclaw

 

Meh. I take it as some 18-year-old teenager still trying to find his place in the world. Perhaps the writers are try to turn him into fangirl bait with his self-reflection and projection of thoughts upon Bumblebee? Or the writers could simply just be giving the character depth. Wouldn't surprise me either way.

 

Pretty late but oh well. Good to see a new opening I guess though they did far more alterations than I expected.

Felt bad for Smokescreen and I did enjoy his "chat" with Bumblebee. I really hope he does something great by the end of the show. Miss the old paint job though.

Favorite part was Starscream's line about more scavenger hunts. He really couldn't be more spot on. Hard to believe that with half the episodes this season they still resort to this instead of you know, writing something. The next episode is basically Magnus on a hunt too, blargh.

Then there's this from another thread.