Death's Head
08-09-11, 07:22 PM
Wave two of the Powercore Combiners has, to be honest, left me a little cold. And this from someone who actually likes the things! Following on from the qualified successes of Smolder and Huffer, the likes of Icepick and Sledge have been disappointing toys. Those two and the clumsy looking Arielbots and Destructicons have made it hard to defeat any negative criticism levelled at the line, and that’s even before we get to the Minicon partners!
If Wave 2 does have one saving grace, then quite possibly, it is in the form of Leadfoot and Pinpointer. I’ll be the first to admit that the names aren’t brilliant and Leadfoot is up there with Treadshot/ Treadbolt in contest for the dullest Transformer name ever, but at least the toys are good to compensate.
As these are packaged in robot mode, we’ll start there. Leadfoot is a slightly funny looking guy, with an alooft, snooty look to his face which to me puts him in the vein of something of an ‘older’ Transformer, and indeed, his whole design (in robot mode at least) makes him look like he’s from the same generation as, say Kup. The lower forearms are also massive, and quite bulky, which although may seem a little odd at first glance, actually suit the guy. I’m particularly fond of the big Optimal Optimus style fingers! The connector pegs in robot mode are a little distracting though, particularly as they hang off his wrists. There’s better use of his leg connectors (for want of a better term), which act as heels in robot mode.
Leadfoot’s old fashioned, blocky robot mode gives way to a surprisingly sleek F1 style car, which is a sort of futuristic take on these kind of vehicles that instantly brings to mind Beast Machines Mirage. The transformation is really nicely done; the arms fold back and clip to the lower legs, which in turn pivot up and clip in place over his thighs. The fingers swing forward in front of the rear wheels to form exhaust pipes, whilst the front wheels fold out and snap into place over the head. A really nice sequence and everything fits together perfectly. As a racing car, a half hearted attempt to give him some advertising style deco has been done in the form of ‘Blackrock’ (the human fossil fuel magnate featured predominantly in the old US G1 comic), which although another toe-curling bit of navel gazing, does at least make some sort of sense in this context, with real world race team vehicles having similar sponsors, and it’d be nice to think that Leadfoot was done out in Blackrock’s corporate colours, which would at least explain the odd mix of white, orange and black. The gold trim to the wheels is a nice touch, as is the silver paint applied to the exhaust pipes which make Leadfoot look rather crisp and smart. Indeed, one of the main appeals to me of the PCC range, is how tight and detailed these figures are, compared to some of the larger figures we’ve seen in the Transformers range over the last few years. Even the weaker PCC figures have at least this going for them.
Pinpointer is, surprisingly, a very nicely sculpted Minicon. In robot, he looks stocky and powerful, and I like that you can swing his gun barrels over his head for a muscular looking attack mode. His face has a splash of silver, along with the engine block on his back, but sadly, its rather lost in that sea of translucent wee-coloured plastic, which ruins what would otherwise be a very nice little figure. Pinpointer is little more than a glorified Powermaster engine. He doesn’t really convince as a Targetmaster weapon (er, just the robot stood straight and plugged into Leadfoot’s thumb), which is a shame, as he’s one of the few Powercore Combiners where the weapon mode is properly hand held – or at least as close as, given those big hands Leadfoot has. In engine mode, Pinpointer plugs into the front of Leadfoot, which looks a bit silly to be honest. Not only as it unbalances the vehicle mode, but it also makes a nonsense of it – as an F1 vehicle, Leadfoot’s engine would be at the rear of the vehicle – which is a bit of shame. The yellow plastics don’t mesh well with the orange and white of Leadfoot, and just make the whole toy look like a rather manky cracked egg. Still, you can achieve an attack mode, which is quite fun. Pinpointer’s armour mode is identical to his engine one – he just plugs into a different area of Leadfoot. This is the one area where the toy does fail a little. The connector peg for the armour mode is tucked inside the cockpit. Whilst it’s easy to open the cockpit, the peg is tucked away inside, it’s not easy to flip it out of such a small confined space. I had to use the smallest blade on my pen knife to get it out.
The torso mode is excellent, lovely alien looking head sculpt, but its just let down by the arms not correctly plugging into the wing mirrors on the car body which means they come away from the torso quite easily (as my pics show).
Despite a few minor shortcomings, Leadfoot remains perhaps the highlight of the PCC two packs released so far and is a worthy purchase.
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If Wave 2 does have one saving grace, then quite possibly, it is in the form of Leadfoot and Pinpointer. I’ll be the first to admit that the names aren’t brilliant and Leadfoot is up there with Treadshot/ Treadbolt in contest for the dullest Transformer name ever, but at least the toys are good to compensate.
As these are packaged in robot mode, we’ll start there. Leadfoot is a slightly funny looking guy, with an alooft, snooty look to his face which to me puts him in the vein of something of an ‘older’ Transformer, and indeed, his whole design (in robot mode at least) makes him look like he’s from the same generation as, say Kup. The lower forearms are also massive, and quite bulky, which although may seem a little odd at first glance, actually suit the guy. I’m particularly fond of the big Optimal Optimus style fingers! The connector pegs in robot mode are a little distracting though, particularly as they hang off his wrists. There’s better use of his leg connectors (for want of a better term), which act as heels in robot mode.
Leadfoot’s old fashioned, blocky robot mode gives way to a surprisingly sleek F1 style car, which is a sort of futuristic take on these kind of vehicles that instantly brings to mind Beast Machines Mirage. The transformation is really nicely done; the arms fold back and clip to the lower legs, which in turn pivot up and clip in place over his thighs. The fingers swing forward in front of the rear wheels to form exhaust pipes, whilst the front wheels fold out and snap into place over the head. A really nice sequence and everything fits together perfectly. As a racing car, a half hearted attempt to give him some advertising style deco has been done in the form of ‘Blackrock’ (the human fossil fuel magnate featured predominantly in the old US G1 comic), which although another toe-curling bit of navel gazing, does at least make some sort of sense in this context, with real world race team vehicles having similar sponsors, and it’d be nice to think that Leadfoot was done out in Blackrock’s corporate colours, which would at least explain the odd mix of white, orange and black. The gold trim to the wheels is a nice touch, as is the silver paint applied to the exhaust pipes which make Leadfoot look rather crisp and smart. Indeed, one of the main appeals to me of the PCC range, is how tight and detailed these figures are, compared to some of the larger figures we’ve seen in the Transformers range over the last few years. Even the weaker PCC figures have at least this going for them.
Pinpointer is, surprisingly, a very nicely sculpted Minicon. In robot, he looks stocky and powerful, and I like that you can swing his gun barrels over his head for a muscular looking attack mode. His face has a splash of silver, along with the engine block on his back, but sadly, its rather lost in that sea of translucent wee-coloured plastic, which ruins what would otherwise be a very nice little figure. Pinpointer is little more than a glorified Powermaster engine. He doesn’t really convince as a Targetmaster weapon (er, just the robot stood straight and plugged into Leadfoot’s thumb), which is a shame, as he’s one of the few Powercore Combiners where the weapon mode is properly hand held – or at least as close as, given those big hands Leadfoot has. In engine mode, Pinpointer plugs into the front of Leadfoot, which looks a bit silly to be honest. Not only as it unbalances the vehicle mode, but it also makes a nonsense of it – as an F1 vehicle, Leadfoot’s engine would be at the rear of the vehicle – which is a bit of shame. The yellow plastics don’t mesh well with the orange and white of Leadfoot, and just make the whole toy look like a rather manky cracked egg. Still, you can achieve an attack mode, which is quite fun. Pinpointer’s armour mode is identical to his engine one – he just plugs into a different area of Leadfoot. This is the one area where the toy does fail a little. The connector peg for the armour mode is tucked inside the cockpit. Whilst it’s easy to open the cockpit, the peg is tucked away inside, it’s not easy to flip it out of such a small confined space. I had to use the smallest blade on my pen knife to get it out.
The torso mode is excellent, lovely alien looking head sculpt, but its just let down by the arms not correctly plugging into the wing mirrors on the car body which means they come away from the torso quite easily (as my pics show).
Despite a few minor shortcomings, Leadfoot remains perhaps the highlight of the PCC two packs released so far and is a worthy purchase.
667668669670671