Death's Head
27-01-12, 08:36 AM
If this is the last we will see of the Powercore Combiners, then Undertow is fine toy on which to bow out. Making a refreshing change from the usual slew of tanks, jets and cars, Undertow is a sleek looking speedboat type thing. He comes with a great little Mini-Con too, the diving gear themed Waterlog.
Undertow’s vehicle mode is very sleek and modern, yet there’s something of an Edwardian/ Steampunk feel to his alt mode. Mainly this is down to those large brass coloured gattling guns that make an incongruous addition to the craft. The brass detailing persists along the bow of the craft and the engine block to the rear of this mode. These painted areas are nicely complimented by the use of tan plastics for the weapon emplacements by the cockpit. The choice of colours for the toy is excellent. The black doesn’t dominate as much as you think, thanks to those stripes and is complimented well by the nautical choice of pale blue and translucent green. Even the intrusive combiner points don’t seem out of place. It’s a fantastic looking thing and easy to imagine this bombing along the ocean waves. If there is one criticism that you can level against Undertow, it’s that on closer inspection, he looks very much like those anorexic Pretender robots that just relied on an uncomfortable arrangement of limbs to pass themselves off as a vehicular form. The highly visible robot head is a bit of a giveaway, so wisely the designers clamped that bit of green plastic over his face to just about convince that he’s ‘in disguise’. Waterlog can be clamped to the Powerlinx point to offer the vehicle mode some additional firepower – not that Undertow needs it really.
Blessed with a quick and easy but never boring Transformation, Undertow’s sleek looking aquatic mode gives way to a stocky looking robot. The blue plastic comes to the fore in this mode and is nicely complimented by those blacks, greens and golden colours. He is blessed with a fantastic range of movement with movement at the head, shoulders, elbows (double jointed –ooh!), knees and hips so he can strike some cool poses and interact with other figures with ease. The lack of any vehicular kibble means his range of movement is much freer making this chap a surprisingly lithe and dexterous figure. Those excellent guns can swing around to give him some cool looking weapons to wield in robot mode. The combiner points do look a bit silly, but the fit in well with the overall robot. They can be left straight, but this restricts movement of the head, so I do prefer moving them out to the sides as per the instructions. The head sculpt is also very nice, with that visor adding to the nautical theme. Paint apps are kept to a minimum, but with such a great choice of colours for the plastics, Undertow doesn’t need any additional accents to make him stand out and look the business. He really is a great looking figure and one that demands to be played with.
Mini-Con partner Waterlog is a bit of a sideshow and even a slightly unnecessary addition. The additional firepower he brings is unnecessary, but would make Undertow quite a force on the battlefield. Waterlog is a triple changer of sorts, featuring a weapon, armour and robot mode. His armour mode is good, making a sensible addition to Undertow’s chest without making it look like the messy hug many other Powercore Mini-Cons give their larger partners in such modes. His Targetmaster configuration is less of a success as although he can be held in Undertow’s hand, he is very clearly just lying on his back with his legs bent and his hands clasping his thighs to keep them in place. A minor improvement would have been to have his head be able to rotate around. The robot mode also looks good, with a nice frogman look to the figure. Unfortunately, carrying all that weapon kibble on his back makes him prone to toppling over backwards. This can be rectified by folding the wings to the front, rather than the back but on my example at least, the plastic hasn’t been cut cleanly for the wing components and they don’t like being folded in this fashion without putting undue pressure on the joint and making an ugly ‘crack’ sound.
No Powercore Combiner is complete without the requisite Torso mode. Undertow’s isn’t so good. It’s very wide with the legs feeling very far away from the torso. It looks awkward and uncomfortable. Undertow’s superb articulation in the legs and sensible weight distribution mean that the gestalt mode is very stable indeed and a degree of movement is possible without the figure falling over. Just a shame it’s so uncomfortable looking. The saving grace is the excellent diving helmet head.
Undertow is probably the ultimate realisation of the Powercore Combiners. Like all the others, there are elements that don’t work so well, but overall he’s a real triumph of form and function.
134913501351
Undertow’s vehicle mode is very sleek and modern, yet there’s something of an Edwardian/ Steampunk feel to his alt mode. Mainly this is down to those large brass coloured gattling guns that make an incongruous addition to the craft. The brass detailing persists along the bow of the craft and the engine block to the rear of this mode. These painted areas are nicely complimented by the use of tan plastics for the weapon emplacements by the cockpit. The choice of colours for the toy is excellent. The black doesn’t dominate as much as you think, thanks to those stripes and is complimented well by the nautical choice of pale blue and translucent green. Even the intrusive combiner points don’t seem out of place. It’s a fantastic looking thing and easy to imagine this bombing along the ocean waves. If there is one criticism that you can level against Undertow, it’s that on closer inspection, he looks very much like those anorexic Pretender robots that just relied on an uncomfortable arrangement of limbs to pass themselves off as a vehicular form. The highly visible robot head is a bit of a giveaway, so wisely the designers clamped that bit of green plastic over his face to just about convince that he’s ‘in disguise’. Waterlog can be clamped to the Powerlinx point to offer the vehicle mode some additional firepower – not that Undertow needs it really.
Blessed with a quick and easy but never boring Transformation, Undertow’s sleek looking aquatic mode gives way to a stocky looking robot. The blue plastic comes to the fore in this mode and is nicely complimented by those blacks, greens and golden colours. He is blessed with a fantastic range of movement with movement at the head, shoulders, elbows (double jointed –ooh!), knees and hips so he can strike some cool poses and interact with other figures with ease. The lack of any vehicular kibble means his range of movement is much freer making this chap a surprisingly lithe and dexterous figure. Those excellent guns can swing around to give him some cool looking weapons to wield in robot mode. The combiner points do look a bit silly, but the fit in well with the overall robot. They can be left straight, but this restricts movement of the head, so I do prefer moving them out to the sides as per the instructions. The head sculpt is also very nice, with that visor adding to the nautical theme. Paint apps are kept to a minimum, but with such a great choice of colours for the plastics, Undertow doesn’t need any additional accents to make him stand out and look the business. He really is a great looking figure and one that demands to be played with.
Mini-Con partner Waterlog is a bit of a sideshow and even a slightly unnecessary addition. The additional firepower he brings is unnecessary, but would make Undertow quite a force on the battlefield. Waterlog is a triple changer of sorts, featuring a weapon, armour and robot mode. His armour mode is good, making a sensible addition to Undertow’s chest without making it look like the messy hug many other Powercore Mini-Cons give their larger partners in such modes. His Targetmaster configuration is less of a success as although he can be held in Undertow’s hand, he is very clearly just lying on his back with his legs bent and his hands clasping his thighs to keep them in place. A minor improvement would have been to have his head be able to rotate around. The robot mode also looks good, with a nice frogman look to the figure. Unfortunately, carrying all that weapon kibble on his back makes him prone to toppling over backwards. This can be rectified by folding the wings to the front, rather than the back but on my example at least, the plastic hasn’t been cut cleanly for the wing components and they don’t like being folded in this fashion without putting undue pressure on the joint and making an ugly ‘crack’ sound.
No Powercore Combiner is complete without the requisite Torso mode. Undertow’s isn’t so good. It’s very wide with the legs feeling very far away from the torso. It looks awkward and uncomfortable. Undertow’s superb articulation in the legs and sensible weight distribution mean that the gestalt mode is very stable indeed and a degree of movement is possible without the figure falling over. Just a shame it’s so uncomfortable looking. The saving grace is the excellent diving helmet head.
Undertow is probably the ultimate realisation of the Powercore Combiners. Like all the others, there are elements that don’t work so well, but overall he’s a real triumph of form and function.
134913501351