Generations Selects Kraken

Prelude: Release the Kraken! Even if said Kraken is actually a robotic manta ray instead of a mythological stop-motion monster with tentacles. And yeah, I have no idea why the name Kraken was given to this member of the Seacons instead of Tentakil, but that’s another discussion. So here we have Kraken, the manta ray. Time to release him and say go!

Robot Mode: Kraken is an extensive retool of Cutthroat, who was himself an extensive retool of Swoop. In robot mode the differences between the three are not that big (colors aside, of course). Kraken is a relatively slender winged robot, looking very cool, and with pretty big boots giving him a solid stance. The beast head on his chest is broader than those of his mold mates, giving him a somewhat more powerful look. The colors are mostly turquoise and black with some yellow highlights. I especially like head, the slight depressions around the visor and on the forehead really bringing out the details here.

Kraken is very nicely articulated, no complaints here, and comes with no less than four weapons. Like all Seacons he carries a part of King Poseidon’s sword, which resembles a kind of short-handled scythe or something. He also comes with a large blaster and two smaller blasters, the latter of which fit nicely onto his wings. The only slight complaint I have about this robot mode are the hands. Due to the large gauntlets (part of the beast mode head) the fists are always slightly at an angle. Not sure why, but it bugs me a little.

Otherwise, though, a pretty good robot mode. I like winged robots and I really like Kraken’s head sculpt, so thumbs up here.

Alternate Mode: Kraken transforms into a robotic manta ray (not a Kraken). The transformation is basically the same as with Cutthroat. He tucks in the legs, the beast mode head from his chest flips forward, the main difference is that the arms swivel forward to become the sides of the beast mode head. Of course this particular manta ray has legs, which manta rays don’t usually have, but we can overlook that, I think. The resulting manta ray looks nicely sinister and more like a bad guy space ship than an actual animal, but that’s just fine. Kraken’s smaller guns go under the wings and his big blaster, combiner fist, and scythe can be mounted on top. Bottom line: looking very good here.

Kraken can also become a weapon for the larger combiner (see below). It’s basically the leg mode, just with the blaster (or all three blasters combined) plugged into the end instead of the combiner foot. The large combiner peg can plug into the back of the combiner hand. Kraken has, to me, one of the better weapon modes among the Seacons, but it’s still little more than an extra.

Combiner Mode: Like all Seacons (except Turtler) Kraken can become an arm, a leg, or a weapon for King Poseidon. More on that in my upcoming review of the finished combiner.

Remarks: Copy and paste what I’ve written about the other Seacons so far. Mindless drone in Masterforce, Western counterpart Sea Wing slightly more prolific due to appearances in the comic books. Moving on. It’s always hard to objectively rate a figure that you’re buying mostly to complete a combiner. Kraken is, to me, neither the best nor the worst Seacon (the latter undoubtedly belong to Turtler), he is somewhere in the middle. He’s a good figure by himself, if not brilliant, and works nicely as part of the group as well. So bottom line: a good figure, but let’s be honest: you’re buying him to complete the combiner.

Rating: B