Double Clutch with Rallybots

Autobot Double Clutch is a character making his debut in the Power Core Combiners toyline. No information is available on him except for on the back of his packaging card:

“DOUBLE CLUTCH has always been a master of diversionary tactics. His entire team is built around the idea of confusing and disrupting DECEPTICON operations. The speed and noise of the RALLYBOTS alone is enough to strain any robot’s sensors. Add to that all the electronic countermeasures built into the team, and the RALLYBOTS become the single greatest threat to DECEPTICON strategy. ”

Autobot Double Clutch

Vehicle Mode

The back window can flip forward to reveal a Mini-Con attachment port. (NOTE: No Mini-Cons are included in this set.)

Robot Mode

Though he has all the right joints in all the right places, some like the hips and elbows are difficult to work with. The common neon-blue PCC combiner joints behind his elbows don’t help any either, though the ones on his heels are required as they form part of his feet.

Rallybot Drones

The four provided Drones are not individual characters on their own, and thus feature no transformation into a robot mode.
However, each Drone does also have a retractable Mini-Con port.

Race Car Drone (right arm)

Tuner Drone (left arm)

Drag Racer Drone (right leg)

Street Racer Drone (left leg)

Commander Mode

The two Drones for the arms feature no elbow joints or poseable hands.

Because of how Double Clutch transforms into Commander Mode, the shoulders of the combined form are always rotated backwards a little.

Contrary to my publicly-known belief that many of the smaller toys in my collection are among my favorites, I am very particular about which small toys I let in, especially when it comes to Transformers™. I have three sets of Mini-Cons I’ve scrounged together over the years, but I don’t have a big crush on most Mini-Cons even though the gimmick is nice enough. I don’t own any Legends-class sets, and I have a few Scout-class sets. It’s not that I dislike all of these just because they’re small and can’t be easily manipulated by my adult-sized hands, but rather that what’s out there usually isn’t to my personal taste(s).
I also have ever only owned one Transformers combiner, and that’s a G2 Devastator that I bought back in the early ‘90s. (There are a few G1 combiners I would still like to get, though…) Mostly I stray from Transformers combiners because 1- until recently they required a lot of extra combiner kibble to achieve their combined forms (which I consider “cheating”); or 2- they simply didn’t look good in any of their forms, combined or separately. (To be fair, if I didn’t like multi-component giant robots, I wouldn’t be a long-time fan of Super Sentai which is consistently populated with combiners!)

The biggest problem I have with Double Clutch lies in his lower arms. When in robot mode, the elbows frequently pop-off like there’s no tomorrow! Additionally, those PCC combiner joints behind his elbows get in the way a lot. The combiner joints in his ankles are tough as hell to pry out for robot mode, and my fingernails really don’t appreciate the strain I have to put them under each time. The front torso panel also has a tendency to unhinge a lot.

I like automatic transformations for the most part. On the 2007 movie’s toy line, with the ones I got the Automorph Technology was hit-and-miss, but I still appreciated the effort.
When I first heard in 2010 that all PCC drones were not going to have robot modes, at first I was mad, but when I heard they would instead feature auto-morphing, I found that an acceptable exchange. I still do today, now that I actually own some of them. Obviously the first time you change them you don’t know where to hang on to, but you figure it out quickly enough by referencing both the box and instructions. I don’t know why they all have Mini-Con ports, though, considering they’re not much bigger than the Drones themselves…

Inserting the arm Drones onto the shoulders will always guarantee that Double Clutch’s elbows will pop-off, or that they will simply un-peg. This leads me to my other big complaint of the set- how Double Clutch’s arms transform into combination mode. They’re already bent at an awkward and unstable angle, but there is simply not enough reach in the arms to make them properly fit onto the pegs back there! This is most obviously noticed by the fact that the combined mode’s shoulders are always angled backwards, which is really a pain for posing. If there had been elbows, that would have been something… but there aren’t.
Also, I don’t know why, but the right lower leg (Drag Racer Drone) only auto-morphs half way; I have to pull out the undercarriage of the car and can feel it snap awkwardly into place. And the combo mode always leans to the right side because the right lower leg is a hair short and the foot design isn’t very stable.

From the get-go, I was not wholly impressed with what was presented in the Power Core Combiners line, and I’d heard a lot of Trans-fans complaining about them. Plus, they were Scout-class figures with Legends-sized cars, which didn’t sound very appealing either. But, I kept an open mind and knew that if the right one came along, I’d give it a fair chance. Well, I have done just that with the Autobot Double Clutch with Rallybots set. For the most part, I like the proportions, colors, and the gimmick overall. It has a nice stocky torso, fair-enough surface detailing, and I like the look and function of the Drones. However, it’s those elbow joints and how unstable the combiner’s shoulders are that almost make me regret buying this set in the first place. I also kinda wish it had come with even one Mini-Con just for the heck of it to act as a hand-held weapon in combiner form since he doesn’t really have any hands to speak of.

A combiner made up of triple-changing Voyager-class figures… that didn’t suck… or use combiner kibble. Now THAT would be awesome! (You listening, Hasbro-?)