Icebird

Icebird is a Mutant from the Beast Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

O RLY?

Icebird is the wise and powerful leader of the Mutants, though he resents his inability to return to robot mode. He has as a goal to eschew technology completely and evolve to a completely organic existence. As a side-effect of his mutation, he is able to read minds and communicate telepathically, shut down machinery at will, and become invisible.

Wow.

Fiction

Toy bio

Icebird views Optimus's heroics with forgiving tolerance, and is said to be greatly feared by Megatron, implying an active role in the Beast Wars. Icebird bio

Universe

Who is morphing? Oh my God, bear is morphing! How can that be?

The "discarded children of Megatron's experiments", Icebird and his Mutants were one of several groups summoned by the Oracle for a greater purpose. They were tasked with traveling to the Outer Orion Cluster, where they would heal themselves by repairing their fractured sparks and finding their true hidden potential. Before the Mutants could leave on their quest, Icebird attacked Optimus Primal for not going far enough in his battle against the technological Vehicons. Tigatron separated the two before harm could befall either of them. Departure

Now you see them, now you don't.

However, the Oracle had sent the Mutants on a fool's errand, and Icebird and the others found their destination to be a Quintesson court. Though the others grew worried and suspicious, Icebird attempted to calm them. He was certain that the Oracle would not lead them astray. Icebird appeared to be mistaken, however, as Sharkticons swarmed his group and began devouring them gruesomely. Betrayal

Icebird and Poison Bite managed to survive, using their incredible senses-warping abilities, and the two revealed themselves to the Quintessons while most of the five-faced beings were busy, light years away, invading Cybertron. Icebird and Poison Bite began to glow, and technorganic plants bloomed and surrounded the Quintessons and their Sharkticon army. As their would-be-executioners were slaughtered, Icebird glowed brighter still. His polar bear head morphed into a monstrous blue face through which Primus himself spoke. "Thank You For Your Role In This, Quintesson. I Can Always Count On Your Interference To Drive My Children Forward." The Quintesson Judge Heirodyus felt his body melt away as Primus bid him adieu. Icebird and Poison Bite had found their balance and their purpose. Wreckers: Finale Part II

IDW Beast Wars comics continuity

Icebird was one of the many protoforms from the remaining Axalon stasis pods to be reactivated by Razorbeast. He and his fellow Mutants took up residence in a swamp. When a Predacon scouting party intruded on their home, Icebird was the first Mutant they spotted. Their leader Transquito followed him, fooled by his seemingly-harmless owl mode. Once he had lured him into a remote location, Icebird transformed into his bear mode and mauled the hapless Predacon while declaring that both Maximals and Predacons were unwelcome in the Mutants' lands. The Gathering #3

Toys

Beast Wars

One day, Hedwig got really sick of carrying Harry's letters...

• Icebird (Mutant, 2000)

Part of the final year of Beast Wars toys, Icebird is a deluxe-sized toy that transforms between two organic beast modes: a snowy owl and a polar bear. In bear mode, his "true" robot-mode head is revealed by flipping open the back panel and tucking away the bear-mode head. His owl-mode's beak moves up and down to a button-activated spring-loaded plunger mechanism, but it doesn't work particularly well. In both modes, the panel with his Mutants faction symbol (on his right foreleg in bear mode, or his leg leg in owl mode) can be flipped up to reveal mechanical detailing.

• More information on Icebird at TFU.info

Notes

• Official Hasbro stock photography of the Icebird toy shows him with metallic red machine-bits rather than the metallic blue of the final toy. Why this change was made is unknown. Maybe the red "damage panel" seemed a little too much like bloody gibbets of torn flesh?
• The exact placement of Icebird (and the other Mutants) within the fiction can be argued. Though their packages labeled them "Beast Wars", they came out at a point when the Beast Wars toyline and cartoon were well ended and Beast Machines was well underway. Further, their backstory and tech specs make reference to Megatron's mode-lock viruses, conflict between organic and mechanical Transformer life, and most tellingly, the Oracle, all of which were specifically central points of the Beast Machines storyline. Hence, the 3H BotCon materials placed them on Beast Machines Cybertron as part of that conflict, while the IDW comics defaulted to their packaging label, ignored any conflicting backstory, and made them a part of the Beast Wars on Earth instead.