Review: #696
Name: Ractonite
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - War for Cybertron: Kingdom
Year of Release: 2021
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 2)
Mold Status: new
ALTERNATE MODE:
Ractonite transforms into a skeletal Styracosaurus, as part of the Fossilizers subtype.
This is a really cool concept and Ractonite pulls it off well here, and thanks to the color scheme of what you would expect a fossilised skeleton would look like in a museum, it works much better than Paleotrex.
In terms of size, Ractonite looks bigger than he actually is thanks to being a beast, however he is quite thin and hollow.
The head sculpt is one of the more impressive aspects of this figure. The mouth can open and close.
For articulation, with the length of the limbs and the way the joints are, it's a bit harder to pose.
A great skeletal beast mode and one that is immediately unique and iconic.
TRANSFORMATION:
Being a Fossilizer, Ractonite parts-form, and splits into many pieces in order to form the robot mode. The front legs are the arms, while the rear legs are the robot legs. The head forms a shoulder pad and at this point, you'll realise that you basically stand the beast up.
ROBOT MODE:
As good as the beast mode is, the robot mode... is an acquired taste. It's definitely different and ugly at first glance but it may grow on you.
Ractonite is top heavy, most of the mass is on top, so the proportions can appear to be off.
The head sculpt has a sort of knight theme to it, with a visor and face plate.
Articulation is pretty good with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles. Although the ankles are more like mid-shin given how high the hinge is.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the robot mode is how both arms ends with a 5mm peg. The left arm isn't to bad as you can peg the beast's tail as a weapon, but the other hand looks terrible. The cover art shows it as a fist with a cannon, so you'd wish if that was only the case.
However, the beauty of parts-forming is how you can remove and rearrange, and you can get to the point of having the beast head as the hand, although this isn't without its problems.
You would expect the small feet to cause stability issues, and this is true to a degree, but the ankle tilts really help. It's an okay robot mode overall if you can get over the design.
FOSSILIZER MODE:
The gimmick of a Fossilizer is the ability to disassemble and reassemble into weapons for other figures.
The first mode for Ractonite is a gigantic hammer, although unfortunately you're left with pieces that aren't used elsewhere (although you can probably find places to peg them onto).
To be honest, it's a bit of a big weapon for Deluxes (above is Huffer), so it's more suited for Voyager or Leader figures.
Next is a gigantic lance, a shield and some leftover parts.
While still oversized, this is easier for figures to hold, since you're basically attaching a whole Deluxe to another Deluxe.
The overhead parts are iffy since they end with the beast mode's horns. Speaking of which, the main horn can be impossible to remove, as it has paint in there that has effectively glued it into place.
Lastly, you get a club and another lance weapon.
Like the first mode, this has parts left over.
It looks pretty good for what it is. At the end of the day, no matter which mode you use, there will be parts left over or look awkward as a compromise.
OVERALL:
Ractonite is a nice figure. You have to get over the ugliness of the robot mode but after that, the cool beast mode and the play value of being able to separate and plug it to other figures, is what sets this figure apart from the others in the line.
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