Dalung Master

Dalung Master is a sort-of knock-off of Grimlock by Leader Shine, the notorious and prolific bootleggers. Leader Shine was odd in that they didn’t do straight knock-offs. Rather, they made toys “inspired” by the originals, often containing no duplicate parts from the original.

The toy comes in a killer cardboard box with great artwork all over. The toy is nicely visible in the cut-out window.

Of course this toy is based off of the G1 version of Grimlock. The transformation is nearly identical, but the parts are entirely different.

The dinosaur based Grimlock is now transformed into the dragon based Dalong Master. I have no idea what a Dalong is, or what it’s a master of, but somehow I don’t want to know.

The entirely plastic toy has a variety of textures and finishes. The shiny gold chrome contrasts well with the green textured skin.

The quality is awesome. Leader Shine does some great work, as intellectually shallow as it is. It feels like a real toy.

The long gold tail doubles as the weapon in robot form. It dosen’t stay on well.

Robot mode is not as refined as the original and was clearly designed with the aesthetics of the dinosaur first.

Shoulders and arms are huge, crap just hangs on the back, and there’s no good place to put the tail.

The head is freakishly small.

Because it’s a bootleg of Grimlock, Dalung Master has been highly sought after by the Transformers collecting community, and has such, gained a bit of value. This is more due to the connection to another toy rather than the merits of this toy in itself.

I do love the aesthetics of the Interchange brand that Leader Shine put out back in the day. They used quality materials with amazing packaging. This one is no exception.