I JUST HAD SUCH A EUREKA MOMENT
I was thinking about how I care so much more about Raf and Ratchet's dynamic than Raf and Bumblebee's, and I realised that it's because neither Raf nor Bumblebee go through character development.
The first part that goes into understanding this is that Ratchet goes through a LOT of character development over the show's 3 seasons, and Raf is pivotal to it. This also contributes to why Ratchet became my favourite in general and this incarnation of him is so popular to begin with, it's established early on that there's more to his cranky demeanour than "haha crotchety old man". It stems from overbearing crushing grief at the loss of his homeworld and lightly hinted-at disappointment in himself for failing to save Bumblebee's voice box. Throughout all of his arc, Raf gives him encouragement and reassurance. Raf and Bee are there for him at his absolute worst breaking point to get him to keep going. I started to like Raf as a character when Ratchet began to like him, because Ratchet's development happened because Raf gave him the time of day to listen to him and make him feel heard. Bumblebee doesn't develop and therefore he and Raf don't actually really need each other narratively beyond just having a friendship.
If I were to give Bumblebee something to develop for, it would probably be more overt insecurity or low self-esteem. When he loses his T-cog, he beeps something to which Raf responds (iirc) "you're not useless, Bee!" which would imply that, having already lost his voice, losing even more of himself is a thousand times more devastating. He feels like without a voice he's already less than his teammates. But hey! Look! Raf listened to him and reassured him! And this is going to feed into point #3
Now Raf, he mentions in the Out Of His Head episode that he feels ignored at home because his family is so big, and he loves being friends with Bumblebee because Bumblebee listens to him. And it is very much vice versa as he is the only human that understands Bee.
So basically, what brings Ratchet, Raf and Bumblebee's entire dynamic together as a trio is that they all need someone to listen to them, and they all listen to each other.















