I believe this is the best torso of any combiner ever, it makes zero sacrifices, it is not hollow anywhere, and if you buy two sets of PCC protectobots you have symetrical tanks for limbs. This is right now my favorite combiner. Any other PCCs as close to this good?

Not my pic....I'm being lzay:
Do not hotlink images -2005 staff

 

i think bombshock from the combaticon set was pretty solid. the bot mode looks a bit stumpy but then again so does heavytread's.

his torso mode looks good though....very bruticus and i like the head.

he and heavy tread are really the only two i like all the way through. i liked searchlight as well but not to combine....though that mode doesn't look bad either. by far though i think heavytread is the best of them.

 

Not really, Heavytread is the best figure that PCC ever produced.

So it's only natural he never saw a true retail release, only as a random pack-in for Black Friday multi-packs.

Which is a real shame because if any one figure encapsulates the full potential of what PCC could have been, it is that one toy.

 

Heavy Tread even retains waist rotation. His tank and normal bot modes are great too!

Do not hotlink images -2005 staff

 

I'm picking up Crankcase just to see if he's as cool...double dipping for symmetry.

 

I was soooo disappointed when I found out he wasnt released.

 

Well, he WAS released, but you had to either raid Walmarts during the hell that is Black Friday and dig through zillions of two-packs to find one that had one of the three withheld 2-pack molds (Heavytread, Undertow, and Skyhammer)...or do what everybody else did and buy them from middlemen who actually did the legwork.

I've never regretted picking up Undertow and Heavytread, though amusingly I almost didn't get the latter until the guy I was dealing with happened to mention he was willing to sell the tank with the boat.

 

I think the generally ugly faces and lack of symmetry and combined elbows hurt the line.

 

god, i wish i still collected movie guys so i had an excuse to get this guy and rebuy undertow.

pick up undertow if you haven't bro. absolutely amazing toy.

 

Heavy Tread has a full release in the UK. No store exclusive/multipack nonsense here. Great toy, wish I'd kept him.

 

How could you have picked up Heavytread? Either you're lying or Hasbro has participated in the most misleading name description of all time. How can you pick up Heavytread if he's heavy?

I call shenanigans.

 

Seriously though, some of the 'Core' torsos in PCC were actually great figures (not all... Double Clutch I'm looking at you) but Heavytread, Undertow were really good and there were still other gems too like Steamhammer, Smoulder and Crankcase.

The drones are... OK I guess. The automorph gimmick is great... for all of five minutes. I wish they just designed a Scramble City like template robot that could be endlessly remoulded and use that for a fully transformable Robot/Alt/Limb guy.

*looks at Combiner Wars*

Oh... wait.

 

He got a normal release here in new Zealand no multi packs needed I just got him and his minicon in one hit

 

When i read about the pcc in old threads, they seem to have not had such a very warm response. They perhaps weren't exactly what people wanted.. But i find the torsos mostly have allot of plus points in their build quality, especially against more modern toys, and their level of detail. I made a whirl custom from the helicopter, searchlight is it, mold which i am happy with. Taking off the pcc port pieces it made sing as an individual figure. For that so far it has been my favorite pcc bot.

The drones limbs are no good really, you want them as bots too. Some torsos haven't aged well and seem outdated. But searchlight(helicopter i think) is a killer design that stands up today, provided you take off the pcc ports that make it kibbly.

 

I think you should hunt down a Maketoys Mobine kit for Heavytread. Or an Iron Army set. Both make him into a great looking giant robot.

 

Since they're not movie toys, you're good to go!  

 

Heavytread is by far the best of the line. Great in all modes and IMO most successful used of the minicon in all modes.
You can still get the Iron Army sets from BBTS, and those are a good option for limbs. As it has been said, the Maketoys Mobine kit is an amazing option (Jungle type for HT). But the Combaticon limbs look nice too.
Undertow would be my second favorite of the commanders in the line. He looks really nice with Crankcase's limbs (and you get a nice land, sea, and air team), but again the Maketoys Mobine is awesome too (the Marine Type was made to compliment UT's colors).
I think the other PCCs are fun, but those two are the highpoints of the line.
If you want a good third party option though, Maketoys Paladin/Chaos is awesome (and is also available on BBTS)

 

I got heavytread at ross for $5. Any chance they were getting the single release or do you think they got overstock from black friday sales and split the packs themselves. I do think I remember getting him after black friday. But it was definitely at ross, and definitely $5 or less.

 

The faces weren't really a problem - they're far more "Generations" smooth than movie overdetailed - but the combination gimmick sabatoging itself through idiotic autotransformation drones largely was the line's undoing.

PCC is barely movie related, and only in the sense that HA Basic Icepick references PCC Icepick as being a previous version of him (though the bio is wrong in that PCC Icepick never had his own drone team). Otherwise, they fit perfectly in a Generations lineup - that's where all my PCC's have gone with Huffer filling in an all-important "original cast" position as the updated G1 Huffer.

It's ironic that PCC sucked when it came to the actual combiner stuff, while the commander/scout class torsos were almost routinely excellent (And this was coming off of ROTF so those were high standards set by ROTF scouts to be meeting). It's the only reason I almost went completionist on all the original 2-pack released molds, only missing Skyhammer because I think he looks terrible.

At the time, PCC pretty much equated to paying the price of a deluxe for a scout class figure with a weapon mini-con, or for $5 more a scout with four drone limbs that had no articulation being passed off as a replacement for true combiners.

Compared to how we pay $10 for Legends - the modern scout class - these days without a standard-includion of a minicon and $15 for a deluxe, the PCC commander figures retroactively are a better value than they seemed.

Honestly, I got mine shortly after the Black Friday rush for effectively retail price so, having them in hand, I didn't pay any attention to where else they may have seen release. 

 

So I did end up picking up Crancase, he's okay, I think if his joints were tighter I'd be more excited about him. Anyway I got my second set of protectobots, so here he is with matching limbs.