Grimlock

Grimlock is one of my most favorite Transformers, when Hasbro released their version of the Takara Masterpiece figure, i had to have it.

Old Grimmy has been a firm fan favorite since his appearence in the G1 second series episode S.O.S. Dinobots.
He`s an awesome warrior, rivaling Optimus and Megatron in his skill and power, however his intelligence is lacking.

This version of the figure differs slightly to the Takara release, the grey plastic is darker, he has additional painted detailing on his biceps, thighs and waist, the dino toes are now a painted gold rather than a polished gold, finally the teeth and claws have been slightly rounded for safety reasons.

The T-rex design resembles the original G1 toy, which was originally a Diaclone toy.

He still has the golden robotic neck covered with clear plastic, the back of the figure has most of the detailing of the original figure, but it’s missing the little cockpit for the Diaclone driver.

There are a few gimmicks in Dino mode, swinging the tail side to side will move the head side to side.

The arms are on ball joints at the shoulders with a single elbow joint and three jointed fingers.

The legs (which become the arms in robot mode) are ball jointed at the waist and they have double jointed knees, but these are limited due to the kibble of the design.

The two front toes are connected, the single back toes are jointed so they can point down.

The head has two gimmicks, first the mouth opens and can be closed by a button hidden in his cheek (it can also be closed by hand).

Second, the eyes can be changed from the toy look (red eyes) to the cartoon look (blue eyes), by lifting the brow and turning the eyes around to which colour you want.

Aside from chromed teeth, there is a flame cannon hidden in the mouth (non functional obviously), it’s a nice touch.

Transformation is simplier than most Masterpiece figures, it borrows much from the original toy with a few minor differences in the legs, the tail now ends up inside the back of the lower leg rather than at the sides.

Robot mode is impressive and meaty, i’m not sure if he scales well with the updated Optimus Prime as i don’t have that figure yet, i’d hope Grimlock towers over him.

Considering the lack of metal, Grimlock has a decent weight to him, once the chest section is locked in place, he feels pretty sturdy.

As i mentioned already the legs have had the biggest re-design, and for the better.

They now have slightly posable toes and are balanced better than the original toy who was very front heavy and lacked a decent heel.

It’s a wonderful piece of design that i really appreciate.

From behind the “wings” draw your attention, the dino head fits into the molded back without being too obtrusive. The dino arms are still posable and can be placed in whatever position you can get them in.

For accessories this version of the figure comes with the twin laser blaster and Energon sword, and a gold chrome crown which was missing from the Takara release.

This version is missing the waiters bowtie, apron, tray and glasses from the Takara release, and also the intelligence transfer helmet.

For me the crown is a better accessory than the missing items.

Grimlock can hold the blaster and sword in either hand, the sword has a little peg on the tsuba (the red hand guard over the handle) which pegs into the left hand for stability.

The left hand has joints on the index finger, the other three are jointed together like MP Prime and ball joint on the thumb, the right hand is molded in a fixed position apart from the thumb due to a light up gimmick.

The light up gimmick functions by a button hidden on the back of the arm, when pressed and held the sword or blaster will light up.

I think the sword looks more impressive with this gimmick, but the blaster only lights up on the tips of the barrel.

The robot head has a similar eye gimmick as the dino head to again represent the toy (red) or cartoon (blue), and is activated by a small red switch on the back of the head.

King Grimlock needs his crown.

In the Marvel comics Grimlock made this crown after defeating Trypticon and proving himself fit to lead the Autobots.

Here, the crown fits nicely over his head and can even stay attached in dino mode, due to the chest having plenty of space in dino mode.

Grimlock stands just under 9 inches in dino mode and just over 9 inches in robot mode.

His G1 self comes up to his waist in robot mode and up to the top of his legs in dino mode.

Along with the US version of Starscream, Grimlock is my favorite Masterpiece figure, simple smart design nailing the characters look.

I used to see a bunch of these on Toys R Us shelves back in 2010, i’m not sure how easy he is to find now.

But if you see him for a good price and haven’t yet invested, do so or Grimlock will eat you.

One of my rats, Gretel invaded my photoshoot.

Me Grimlock like booby lady….