Human Alliance Icepick

This winter's been way too warm. This guy would surely agree. Icepick dislikes humans intensely, but with his combiner team destroyed, he is desperate for an effective partnership. Rogue soldier Sergeant Chaos more than provides, offering Icepick intelligence on Autobot targets in exchange for a chance to go along on a destructive ride. Wait, what? Combiner team? When did this guy have a combiner team? He's a "Human Alliance" character, which means he's from Dark of the Moon. There are no other versions of Icepick in the movie continuity. There was a Power Core Combiners Icepick, but he didn't have a team. Generation 1 Icepick was a leg for Monstructor, but the movie isn't G1. Is Icepick another multiversal singularity?! This Icepick has definitely embraced the icy implications of his name - not only is his body mostly white, with a little bit of icy metallic blue for accents, but apparently when he came to Earth and was looking for a vehicle to trans-scan, he also caught a glimpse of a hockey goalie's mask. His "face" is a translucent purple shield with solid black bars running all over it, and it appears there's a molded face behind it. He really does make for a fearsome-looking robot. There are sharp points all over the place, and they're backed up with a lot of bulk. The only thing he's really missing are some appropriate cold-weather feet - how's he supposed to move on ice and snow with dainty little tootsies like these? We're not asking for Snow Cat-like skis, but something. Oh well. He's got big, wicked-looking spiked pads behind his shoulders, and comes with two C-clamp guns that can clip onto his arms, making him look even more dangerous. Considering his size, converting Icepick is pretty complex. There's a lot more twisting and back-and-forth folding than you'd expect, which is why it's a good thing Hasbro has the instructions on their site. Fittingly, Icepick turns into a snowmobile - it's a small, one- (or two-)passenger vehicle, which was the aim of this line, and it makes sense for the chilly connotations of his name. The skis in front pivot up and down slightly, but don't turn, and there's a single large tread in the back. The guns can clip onto the rear rollbar, or in between the handlebars. A purple logo on both sides of the nose reads "Frecon" - either a portmanteau of "freon" and "Decepticon," or a suggesting that after losing his unknown combiner team, Icepick is now a "free" (as in, unaligned) 'con. Like Tailpipe, Icepick also has a third mode, and it's completely ridiculous. You basically flip the snowmobile's tread around to the front, and suddenly it's... I don't know, a chainsaw? It's dumb, and is probably too heavy for anyone to actually hold unless they have stiffly ratcheted elbows, so ignore it and enjoy the two good modes we got. This is technically a Human Alliance release, so naturally he has a human to ally with. The only thing the packaging tells us about (ough) Sgt. Chaos is that he's a rogue soldier who feeds info to Icepick, but a feature on Hasbro's Facebook page provided more information (for both Sgt. Chaos and some of the others): Brandon "Sergeant Chaos" Khendsovan grew up in Alaska. He hated the cold weather... until his family moved to Phoenix. Then he longed for the biting freeze of snow and ice. He enlisted at a young age as an outlet for his aggression, and rose through the ranks due to his natural talent and work ethic. Only his slight willingness jump to excessive force held back his career, but he was politic enough to keep these instincts in check. When the Cybertronian war came to Earth, he knew he had found his calling, and applied to NEST. He never quite fit in, not seeing any significant distinction between the Autobots and Decepticons. When the Decepticon Icepick recruited him, he was more than happy to supply intelligence on the Autobots in exchange for money and the opportunity to finally fully cut loose. Isn't that better than not knowing anything? I mean, the toy is literally faceless (he wears a helmet and facemask that obscures everything), but that doesn't mean the character has to be. He's a new mold, with a fancy tactical vest over his pale gray jumpsuit. The figure barely breaks the 2¼" mark, but has swivel/hinges at the shoulder, hips and knees, plus a swivel neck. A lot of the Dark of the Moon Human Alliance toys were pretty dumb, but by at least having two good modes, Icepick ranks as one of the better ones. -- 01/05/16

Tweet