>>9902121English Red Alert was going to be called Ratchet just as his Japanese counterpart was but IIRC there was something about Hasbro being very against using the Ratchet name at the time. Probably a reason why there never was a toy named Ratchet in the west after G1 all the way until the 2007 movie where Bay brought the name back for reasons and Hasbro were forced to follow suit. I don't think copyright reasons was why Hasbro didn't use the name in the early 2000s. At least he had red visor for the eyes and his left arm blaster is also red
Japanese Red Alert is because of his sirens obviously and that there was technically already a Prowl, the Mini-con from the Emergency team. At least he had red sirens and combined with someone who is red.