Name: Fracture ("Decepticon Fracture")
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Racer
CAR MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 14cm Width: 7cm
A black racer with white on the airdamn and spoiler and red around the enclosed cockpit, Fracture is a repaint of Classics Mirage based on the Gobot Crasher. I'm not sure why the designer had to go with Decepticon Fracture rather than Crasher, but either way the tribute is obvious. She sports black plastic tyres, a smoky transparent canopy, silver wheels and a silver Decepticon logo in front of the canopy. She sports the number 1 on the airdam in black and on the sides in white. The colours are sufficiently different that she doesn't feel like Mirage, and close enough to those of the Gobot that those familiar will pick the tribute. The actual colour scheme works well, too. It's not especially feminine - at least not by Transformers standards - but the Gobots line never felt the need to assign gender based on colour.
The original Crasher toy was a Le Mans racer, however Fracture is similar to G1 Mirage's car mode - the enclosed cockpit brings this toy a little closer to that Le Mans racer but it's still clearly a different style of racer. The vehicle slopes up - the base of the spoiler is much taller than the front of the car, and there are some air intake vents moulded around the cockpit region. The front support struts are painted black and there are twin black exhausts at the back on either side, rounding out her detailing.
There's no real play value here, other than the rolling wheels. Fracture does roll reasonably well on her tyres - and mine rolls straight, which is nice. I can't see how the designer could have put too much relevant play value in here without impacting on the Transformer itself, so I'm not really worried about the lack of play value. As a minor bonus, if you look inside the cockpit, Fracture's head sits in front of the seat, sitting low enough that you have to look to see his face.
A simple yet effective car mode. It's difficult to see how the designer could have put too much play value here without compromising the toy. The concept repaint of this repaint is quite innovative and the execution is good. Granted she doesn't really look especially feminine, but it's not hard to see Crasher here.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Unclip the airdam and set aside. Lift the rear, pull out to form the legs, split the legs and fold up the spoiler to form feet. Swing the sides out to form her arms, rotate the waist. Fold down the shoulderblades, swing the nose down to form her chest and reveal her head. Unfold the arms and swing out her fists, give her the airdam as a handheld weapon.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 15cm Width: 8cm
Fracture is now a fairly even mix of white and black, with the black concentrated on her limbs. The red is present on her torso, forearms and boots while her head is black with a pink face and white eyes. The Decepticon logo sits on her chest, as does the black "1". Her three main colours are well mixed here and look pretty good in this layout. It's a nice colour scheme, even if she doesn't have the lightpipe that Mirage has. The pink face - which is accurate to the Gobot cartoon - is obviously quite feminine, as is the slender waist of this mould.
So the slender waist and high shoulders do suit a female character such as this, although the mould itself isn't really designed as female. This flaw of the mould is less of an issue here, even if it's still not quite right. The layout works well overall - her legs work well and the split spoiler looks quite nice as her feet. There is some black kibble on her back, it's not something which stands out at all - the black really helps.
The poseability here is excellent. Her head turns, the shoulders are ball jointed while the elbows have two hinges and a rotator each. The waist rotates, the hips are ball joints with flaps covering the ball joints, the knees are double hinged and the ankles ball jointed. Fracture has small but meaningful heelspurs which, along with the ankle balls, give her a variety of stable poses. The airdam sits in either hand as a gun.
As with most Classics moulds, there's no gimmick as such. The poseability is great and the gun works quite well, allowing Fracture to display in some nice poses. The hourglass waist is less of an issue on this female version of the mould, so the major flaw here is less of an issue. The repaint is nice, although the pink head is a little incongruous, so it's really one for those who appreciate the Gobot tribute.
VARIATIONS
None as such, although she is a repaint of Mirage as mentioned. Universe Drag Strip also shares this mould.
OVERALL
A clever repaint with a nice colour scheme and an innovative source of inspiration. While Crasher is certainly obscure, many older fans will appreciate the idea here. I wouldn't recommend her over Mirage, but the narrow waist works better on a female character. Fracture is a nice repaint if you can get your hands on her, so if the idea appeals to you, I'd recommend her - 7/10
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