Gnarly, thanks!

 

Ractonite is not a figure I thought I'd want, but after getting Transmutate and being intrigued enough with the concept, this figure both looked better and was on sale for $15 so I went for it. I was also tempted by the images of the fan-found removable chest bits, but that didn't end up working on my sample as the chest is firmly glued in place. Still, I like this mold better than the Paleotrex fossilizer design by a lot. It is confusing that this design is a Predacon though, as it very much seems like a Maximal.

Robot mode pluses:
+ normal Transformers proportions and WFC-deluxe height
+ has robotic sculpting around the torso, especially the upper torso
+ WFC-standard articulation plus double-hinged elbows
+ stable, easy to pose
+ good range of motion
+ stocky robo-fossil knight theme shines through excellently, especially with the fold-down visor
+ 5mm holes in roughly the hand location for faux-hands
+ hand-peg can hold bone-sword up or point it forward
+ comes shipped in alternate arm configuration with right arm barfed out of beast head, which looks so fun
+ official arm configuration also has some benefit of a shoulder-mounted shield
+ crest is removable and can be pegged onto hand-peg to act as a handheld shield
+ good diversity of color without feeling like a mess
+ crest horns removable and end in 5mm pegs (even the nose horn), can be used as smaller weapons or plugged into forearm holes for extra pointy bits
+ non-crested arm can unfold for extra attach reach
+ red eyes striking

Robot mode minuses:
- not much of a sculpted hand, only the faintest hint of a couple fingers around a 5mm port tipped with a hinged 5mm peg a la Micro Master "hands", and they don't face up when the elbow is engaged, instead the "barbell curl" inwards
- rectangular slot just below neck
- paint brushing deco is clumsy in spots, and doesn't extend to the back of the crest or the top of the torso
- either you have to look at one arm's screws, or the other arm's pins
- no official weapon storage
- date stamp painted in small white characters on the outer half of the thigh

It's obvious to see there's a lot more going for this figure than against it, but that hands issue will be a dealbreaker for some collectors. Otherwise, it was a struggle to find negatives in this robot mode.


Transformation thoughts:
- this is of course a pull-apart rather than a transformation
+ unlike the Paleotrex mold, Ractonite's pretty easy to figure out where everything goes as it's all logical, and there's a clever bit with the robot waist pegging into the robot shoulder to make the beast pelvis
- based on the sculpting, it seems like the robot heel was designed to be folded away but that got abandoned
+ front hip connection points seem like they wouldn't work but retain motion and function


Beast mode pluses:
+ sculpt really conveys the personality of a Styracosaurus fossil, right down to the herbivore teeth
+ paint job carries across the idea of old bones, even the white paint on the ribs looks like filled-in spots like you might see in a museum
+ red eyes convey a sense of life to a mass of assembled bones
+ most of the robot stuff ends up hidden away on the undercarriage
+ decent range of motion and poseability for such an unusual hip transformation
+ very stable
+ 5mm peg in mouth can act as a tongue

Beast mode minuses:
- robot mode hips plainly visible
- pose choices a bit limited by a lack of forward/back motion on rear ankles
- some of the white plastic and gray plastic parts visually clash rather than flow
- 5mm pegs unhidden behind front feet, robot heels unhidden behind rear feet

Here, there's less to be excited about, it gets the job done but it's not as cool. The pluses do carry the day in quality and quantity, but you wouldn't want to buy this for the beast mode alone.


Weapon modes pluses:
+ ridiculously huge boney hammer is fun and uses a significant transformation joint not utilized for anything else
+ big bone sword and spikey backpack combo is alright for imaginative play, and the bone sword uses a 5mm peg not utilized for anything else, plus a clever connection point at the handle where the robot arm clicks into the robot upper torso, really feels like someone thought about this design
+ medium bone sword and medium hammer combo is alright too
+ has plenty of connection points, pegs and ports for your own creative play ideas

Weapon mode minuses:
- as with any of these Fossilizers/Weaponizers, they're mostly "it's a thing because it's vaguely shaped that way and we say so"
- the hammer and the medium sword/hammer combo both leave parts unused
- no official stilt mode
- more pegs than ports, which limits combinations a little
- no official way to remove chest panels to attach to Optimus Primal, and the fan mode can break parts

Pluses take it here too, but they're not a huge selling point for the figure, more like fun extras. The big boney hammer is charming, no question there. The other two modes are fine but not really stand-outs. It is cool to see the designers did think about how these parts would combine though.


Overall, I like Ractonite more than I expected, it's well thought out. It's the same limitations as with any Weaponizer-type figure where you have to pull it all apart and reassemble it, but both beast and bot modes look considered rather than slapped together. The chunky knight look works great for the bot, if they had only sculpted more of a hand around those 5mm forearm ports I think this would have been a lot more popular than it seems to be. Regardless though, there's a lot of imaginative play here, if you're only going to get one Fossilizer I would highly recommend a Ractonite mold over a Paleotrex one.

 

Some Baidu user already beat you both to the punch.  

But yes, it's indeed a cool mode.

 

Saw him on discount and took my chance at getting my first ever fossilizer and I'm... disappointed?  

In bot mode, he has no distinguishable hand aside from vague shape and 5mm port (one big minus)
But then, in fossilizer mode, he also... not really that good looking as a weapon / armor? From the photos, I'm guessing that Paleotrex become better weapon than Ractonite  
Fortunately his fossil mode is good or else I dunno what mode should I put him on.

 

I got two of the same horns. Yeah, it's mildly annoying and triggers my OCD, but at the end of the day, it's not terribly noticeable, nor does it make Ractonite look ugly in any sense. On the plus side, my figure's nose horn came out fairly easily. Doesn't look like it suffered th "glued in" issue that others have, which I'm at least thankful for.