Power Core Combiner Darkstream

Remarks: Many thanks to BlackZarak who loaned me Darkstream here for this review. I already reviewed Power Core Combiner Skyburst, of whom Darkstream here is a repaint, so just some words on the differences. Darkstream is a lighter shade of grey and replaces Skyburst’s blue with red, plus some orange highlights in jet mode. No other differences on the actual figure. Instead of a team of drones, Darkstream comes with a Minicon partner, Razorbeam, who is a repaint of Chopster.

Which brings us directly to the big problem of this figure: it was never designed with having a Minicon partner in mind. Not only does Darkstream lack the plug on his chest for attaching Razorbeam in armor mode, he is also completely incapable of holding Razorbeam in ax mode. His fist holes are too shallow and too wide. G1 Optimus Prime, a figure designed around 1980, can hold Razorbeam just fine (see the picture). But not Darkstream, whom he was sold with.

Darkstream himself is no more and no less than a repaint of Skyburst, who was a so-so figure. But throwing him together with a Minicon that, while not bad on his own either, is almost completely incompatible with him, shows that Darkstream here is nothing more than a cheap attempt at making some more money from an existing figure (or pair of figures). Granted, that’s the idea behind most repaints and not a bad thing as such, but that they didn’t even invest the five seconds it would have taken to notice that, hey, Razorbeam and Darkstream don’t really go together that well, pretty much ruins this duo here for me.

Rating: D-