Review: #85
Name: Icepick w/ Chainclaw
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: PowerCore Combiners
Year of Release: 2010
Size Class: Scout with Minicon (Wave 2)
Variations: none
VEHICLE MODE:
Icepick transforms into a snow plow type of vehicle. It looks good at first glance, but like many of the PowerCore Combiners, there are inevitably, quite a lot of aesthetic flaws. First off, apart from the plot, cab and treads, the rest of the vehicle is robot bits, they do work at disguising themselves as bits of vehicle but you can still pick it up. There's small plastic wheels underneath the treads so Icepick rolls fairly well.
There's also the obligatory visible combiner ports, at least their bright baby blue somewhat blends in with the colour scheme, so it doesn't stick out as much. You can attach Chainclaw (the Minicon partner) as a cannon on top of the vehicle mode. A bit bulky but it works really well.
I love the silver painted used for the plow, and the paint applications are decent. As you'd expect, this is a solid vehicle that all clicks and peg into place securely, just that there are some really obvious hinges.
TRANSFORMATION:
Icepick has a simple transformation, I wouldn't say it is the best, but it's easy so it's fun to convert him between modes. I find that due to the large reliance on multiple joints, they get loose really fast, and this spoils the figure. When going into combiner mode, it's not too involving and feels uninspiring as it's basically the same as most other PowerCore Combiners, in that you fold the legs up, and fold in the arms and "tada!" it is done.
ROBOT MODE:
Icepick's robot mode looks good, the colour scheme works well and just generally looks like the Decepticon he is supposed to be. The claws add in a lot of character and I like the use of the vehicle elements.
From the back you can see all the jointing. The combiner ports are still very visible, but at least you can treat them as jet packs now. Icepick has long arms, but they are very flexible, having a lot of joints and articulation.
The head is small, and it's only on a swivel. It's... okay, not the best out there, and still much better than a lot of movie (particularly ROTF and DOTM) heads. Worse thing about this figure?? Too many joints, and too much potential for floppiness, which is just what Icepick is. The arms in particular are prone to just dislodging due to the way they are jointed, which makes him very annoying to pose at times.
Let's diverge a bit and focus on the Minicon partner, Chainclaw. In my opinion, the best PCC Minicon out there, in robot mode, he looks great and had reasonable articulation. He also features a lot of paint applications so he's not just a mass of transparent blue plastic.
He can transform into a few weapon modes, the first one is the vehicle weapon mode as shown above...
...which is sadly the same as the robot mode weapon, now a shoulder missile launcher. Ironically, it's on the exact same post as the vehicle mode, you can't help but feel cheated somehow.
However, the only reason he shares two modes is because his proper robot weapon form requires a fist hole of some sort, which Icepick doesn't have due to his claws. So his gun mode is pretty well done... from some angles, as he's pretty much just Chainclaw lying down facing the sky. Seriously, all these Minicon modes seem half-baked.
Lastly is the chest armour, which, surprisingly, is decent and one of the better chest armours. I find that the lack of heelspurs on Icepick make him hard to stand at times, but not a bad little robot in the end.
COMBINED MODE:
Now it is time for the more imposing mode, the combined mode. Borrowing the drones from Bombshock, I find that the combined mode looks really really good. I had to change the legs a little bit, since in the official configuration it feels like Icepick is squatting. Anyway, I love the triangular chest, just the wideness, makes him look a lot more menacing and imposing.
It's not all good though as the chest is the arms folded up, resting there, yup, it's not pegged in anywhere, so even just handling him will cause you to reposition the torso again.
One of the highlights of this mode is the head, which is molded in transparent blue, what's so awesome is that it's detailed enough that when you have a light source, the lightpiping is just fantastic. It fits right into the ice theme.
Icepick has a thin side profile, sometimes hard to keep him balanced and standing upright.
Poseability is what you would expect, but have to watch out for the stability as he's easy to fall over when you attempt poses. One of the better combined modes in the line.
OVERALL:
I like this figure, but he has some stability issues. The dislodging is really annoying in robot mode, it is just how he was designed, and it's not fun when he gets to the point of flopping around. Other than that, this set packs a great Minicon, and Icepick himself makes a good combiner torso, I recommend this if you can get him for a cheap price.
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