Robots in Disguise Ruination
Along with the Beast Wars (Cryotek), Beast Machines (Bruticus), Generation 2 (Scourge) and
Car Robots (Optimus Prime, Landfill etc) molds used in the Robots in Disguise line there remains
a single group of Generation 1 molds who stand as the lone decepticons aside from Scourge (who
hasn't been released as of this writing) and the two jets in the two packs. They are known as
Ruination now, but many older fans know them as Bruticus.
Okay, so since this is a G1 mold is raises a few points. First of all all Transformers made
before the last wave of G2 toys which includes all of G1 and the majority of G2 (which comprised
mainly of remolds and repaints of G1 toys in the beginning anyway) were essentially bricks. However,
they were cool because they transformed and they were transformers.
Then the Beast Wars era came. We were amazed with the poseability of the robot modes of the
majority of the transformers. Sure they had a lot of kibble and backpacks (something you never
saw on a G1 toy) and sometimes the beast mode was a bit lacking, but they had their charm, as
G1 toys did.
However, this is RID, not G1, so I will be rating it based on the present and past. If I was
reviewing a G1 toy I would not take Beast Wars and ball joints into consideration since they
hadn't happened yet. With that in mind, here's the Ruination review.
Mega-Octane
The central component of Ruination, Mega-Octane is a flatbed truck decked out in army camoflage.
He's pretty neat in truck mode, and has a bunch of cool weapontry you can attach to him, though his
plastic tires are a bit of a let down with the rubber tires of Fire Convoy and the Autobot
brothers.
Transformation is pretty simple, just yank and straighten (hmm, that sounds kinda bad), and you
have a classic G1 robot. Pin head (though nowhere near as bad as the other components), blocky
arms and legs, and very little movement allowed. Actually, he can only move his arms up and down
and swing them outwards, but that's the extent of their movement. You can also bend his legs
to the side, but there's no knee joints at all, so that movement is pretty useless. Don't get
your hopes up either, Mega-Octane is the source of all the movement in Ruination and the most
poseable standalone member.
Ro-Tor
Well, he's a helicoptor. His blades spin, his wheels roll, that's about it. Just a regular
old basic sized toy. Also you should note his blade is positioned wrong in the packaging, so
you need to spin it around to keep it from smacking into his rear blade.
Transformation is simple, pull and rotate and swing down. Easy as pie. You get a weird
looking robot is what you get. His arms are kinda funny and a tad too long, and there's no
real articulation to speak of. You can spin his arms around at the shoulders, and he kinda
has knees, but other than that he's a brick. Still, he has a certain charm to him, I dunno,
probably because of the blade on his back I guess. I like this guy, he's neat looking I think.
Movor
Well, if they could give a dumber name I'm sure they would have. Movor is a space shuttle, and
insanely out of proportion. Actually, all the Ruination parts are out of proportion, but that's
not the problem. Anyways, Movor's shuttle mode is good. It rolls and you can fold up the wings
if you want. Not bad at all.
Transformation is the same as Ro-Tor's, but you end up with a pretty dumb looking robot.
He has no hands to speak of, just his shuttle's nose with holes in them. His shoulders are
actually on ball joints (like Movor's) but that's the extent of his poseability. He doesn't
even have makeshift knees and both of his legs are stuck together. Kind of disappointing.
Rollbar
And Rollbar is a Hummer sort of jeep. Actually it's not quite wide enough to be a HV, but it's
close enough. Not all that bad vehicle mode. Transformation is simple, like a spy changer,
just pull and rotate his legs, flip his hood back and pull out his arms.
Robot mode is eh. His head is tiny compared to the rest of his body and his arms are connected
to his body pretty much at the elbows, which makes for some pretty useless arms. He also
has knees similar to Ro-Tor. They don't count as knees, but you can pretend they are.
Armorhide
Armorhide is a tank. The turret moves around, but the gun won't move up or down, so he's stuck
aiming straight ahead. His turret also moves upward (a part of the transformation) so you
can get a weird sort of extendo tank. Also, the color scheme is a bit weird. Light blue and
black, I guess he's trying to hide in the ocean or lakes or something, I dunno.
Transformation is also basic and the robot mode is a brick. His arms move up and down and
he has those fake knees the others have, but he's really a brick. Yep, bunch of bricks
are these guys.
Ruination
So, combination isn't all that tough, so I won't go into it. You should note that any of the
four basic toys can be used for any limb, so mix and match how you like.
The result is kind of blocky and pretty much a big plastic brick. He can move his arms up
and down and his head spins (which is more than any of the limbs can say) but that's about it.
However one cool thing is his huge amounts of weapontry. As was the tendency for G1 stuff, each
limb comes with at least two guns, and all of them attach to Ruination somehow making him a giant
walking arsenal. Very sweet. He even has some huge double barrel guns on his back which he would
be able to fire if he could bend over in some way. As they are now, he can only fire them
into the air.
So, all in all, Ruination is pretty decent, for a G1 toy. As a RID toy he's very lacking in
well, everything. He has no gimmicks at all and all of the parts and the gestalt are pretty
much bricks, though the huge amount of weapontry is always good to have. With the price being
around five bucks for each limb ($6 at TRU where I got them) and ten for Mega-Octane you'll
have to spend at least $30 for the complete Ruination set, which may or may not be worth it
depending on how much you like articulation.
