Chainclaw (PCC)

Chainclaw is a Decepticon-allied Mini-Con from the Power Core Combiners portion of the movie continuity family.

Chainclaw helps his larger partner Icepick carry out acts of brutal destruction by powering up each of the Decepticon's different battle modes.

Toys

Power Core Combiners

• Icepick with Chainclaw (Commander Class, 2010)

• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

Part of the second wave of Power Core Combiners toys, Chainclaw was available only with his larger partner Icepick. Uncharacteristically for the Power Core Combiners line, he features only three official modes, instead of the standard four: robot, armor for any Commander robot, and a (non-firing) Powerlinx-plug-mounted multi-missile launcher, which serves as the weapon mode for both his partner's robot and vehicle modes.

The Powerlinx plug on his back makes him compatible with any toy with a Powerlinx socket, enabling you to double-stack Mini-Cons or mount any weapon that has a 5 mm post-hole.

This mold was also used to make Power Core Combiners Bomb-Burst and United Fracas and Spanner.

During the period between 26 December 2010 and 31 January 2011, Hasbro ran their "Supercharge Your Holidays" promotion: for every $20 spent on Hasbro-branded product, customers could receive a free, random product from a list provided by Hasbro. Among the items on the list was "Transformers Combiners & Speed Stars Mini Vehicle". According to this discussion thread on Allspark.com, Icepick with Chainclaw was one of the figures distributed.

• More information on Chainclaw at TFU.info

• Power Core Combiners Special Value Offer (Value Pack, 2011)

Icepick was also made available as part of a Walmart-exclusive Black Friday "Value Pack", combining a 5-pack team with a Commander 2-pack via packaging tape and a couple of stickers, for the whopping price of ten bucks, merely a third of what the two toys would normally cost.

So far, Icepick has been found attached to the Grimstone/Dinobots, Mudslinger/Destructicons, and Steamhammer/Constructicons sets.

Notes

• It's conceivable that Icepick and Chainclaw's names were originally intended to be swapped around. While "Icepick" works about as well for either robot, the Commander is the one with "chains" (his treads) and claws.
• While the other versions of this mold have a hand-held launcher mode, Icepick's packaging and instructions give separate—but exactly the same—transformation instructions for Chainclaw's "two" weapon modes.
• The back of Icepick's packaging depicts a Chainclaw that is purple instead of aqua. Presumably the change was made so he wouldn't look too similar to his wave-mate Mini-Con Throttler.
• In a reverse of the norm, the released Chainclaw has more paint operations than either the packaging or stock photography show: the final toy has silver paint on its arms and around its Powerlinx socket.