I have a GameObject with a RectTransform that I would like to remove via script. In other words, I want to replace the RectTransform with a regular Transform in the inspector using a script.

In the inspector, you can simply click the RectTransform dropdown and select Remove Component from there and the RectTransform is replaced with Transform. Of course this only works if there are no Components that rely on the RectTransform directly.

If I try this approach with a script like: Destroy(GetComponent<RectTransform>()) I get an error stating:

Can't destroy RectTransform component of 'MyGameObject'. If you want to destroy the game object, please call 'Destroy' on the game object instead. Destroying the RectTransform component is not allowed.

Of course, this is somewhat expected, since you can't remove a transform from a gameObject. In the case where I am trying to get back the old Transform component however, this behavior is undesirable.

So my question is: is there a way to replace the current RectTransform with a simple Transform component via script, and how is this done?