Cliffbee.com Icepick Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Icepick
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Demolitions
Alternate Mode: Monster



MONSTER MODE
Height: 4.5cm Width: 3cm

   A jade and claret bipedal Monster, Icepick shares his colours with Wildfly (claret) and Bristleback (jade). Jade is the dominant colour with claret on the sides of his legs, head and claws. He has small beady white eyes on top of his head and a Decepticon logo on the chest. There are a few green, red and yellow stickers adding some colour, although in truth the jade and claret work well by themselves. It's an unusual combination, but it manages to work since both shades are fairly dark.

   I'm not entirely sure what sort of animal this mode is based on. The sculpt of his rather flattened head suggests he's based on some sort of reptile, but he's standing like an ape. The claws are quite short since they have to double as the robot fists, but they work a lot better than the undisguised robot fists of Scowl, who shares a bodyplan with Icepick. While the inspiration is unclear, the scales on his head and claws sell this as an animal monster mode of some sort. Yes, it's a folded up robot mode trying to be a monster, but I'm happy to report that Icepick does a better job of this than a lot of his teammates.

   There's really no play value here. The shoulders can swing out to the sides and he's able to wield his lilac handgun, but neither of these really add anything. All told it's a pretty limited monster mode, and while it's nothing special, decent colours and some good features make it one of the better Pretender Monster alt modes.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Considering how trivial the monster mode is, this is slightly more complex than can be expected, although it's still simple. Fold the claret leg sheath down to form the lower legs of the robot, flip the head up to form the robot head and straighten the arms. Give Icepick his gun.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 6.5cm Width: 3.5cm

   As you might expect, Icepick is mainly jade with claret as the secondary colour. His head, upper arms and boots are claret while his rather simple face is painted white. The Decepticon logo is still on his chest and the other stickers are still there, although less prominently. The colours are essentially the same as those of the monster mode, and again work in this mode, although not quite as well since the face really needs to stand out a little more.

   This is Icepick's better mode, even if it is a very simple robot. The facial sculpt is disappointing, but they've done a great job of putting a rounded head underneath a flat panel (the monster head). While monster mode isn't well defined, now we have a fairly well defined robot shape. There's a gap between his thighs and a recess between the claret boots (which are a single piece). Unlike Scowl, there's no giant kibbly block over his head, and while Icepick doesn't have proper fists, the claws are fitting.

   There's some play value here, although not much. The elbows are hinged and the shoulders can swing out to the sides. Granted, these joints are for his transformation, but they still count as articulation.

   Better than his monster mode and fairly good as Pretender Monster robot modes go, and while there's enough visually to make it work, Icepick's robot mode is still small and simple.

The Pretender Shell

   As with all the Pretender Monster shells, Icepick's shell is a soft plastic case with a hard lilac plate on the back, and he stows away underneath this plate. The soft body of the shell is orange, which is exposed on the limbs and head while the torso is painted blue, and resembles a caveman's tunic. There's a gap in the blue at the front where he sports yellow and purple - I suspect this is meant to be the monster's chest. The blue and orange works quite well, even if the yellow eyes are lost amongst the orange of his head.

   There's a rocky texture all over this shell, right down to the long claws on his hands. When I say long, I mean more than half as long as the robot is tall - fearsome for any Autobot on the same scale. Unlike a lot of the Pretender Monster shells, this figure has proper legs, moulded in a slight squat. The squat works since the figure has a slight hunchback and looks like a slow lumbering beast.

   This is probably the best of the Pretender Monsters' shells, and is easily Icepick's best feature. While it's small and encases a fairly average Transformer, it looks better than a lot of larger Decepticon Pretenders' shells.

VARIATIONS

   None I'm aware of. Goryu of the Japanese Dinoforce is a repaint (with a different shell).

OVERALL

   A fairly mediocre monster mode and a robot mode that's decent are almost side issues here, since the Pretender Shell is really nice. I'd actually recommend Icepick to Pretender fans purely based on the strength of the shell. The Transformer itself is somewhat weak yet one of the better Pretender Monsters. If you only want one of this set, Grab Icepick - 5/10

"Transformers" and other indica trademarks of Hasbro and/or Takara.