Masterpiece Grimlock is an amazing toy.

[138 Scourge]

Well he is. There's your review.

Slightly longer version:

Okay, this thing, I tell you. When I was watching G1 back in the day, I loved the hell out of the Dinobots. They combined my two favorite things, dinosaurs and Transformers, and they did it well. You guys really have no idea how excited I was seeing their debut. The thing I loved most was just how bad ass and unstoppable they were. It was appropriate for dinosaur robots. The barely controllable part was a lot of fun, too, because they'd only be busted out of their cave when things had seriously gone south. When the movie and Season Three rolled around, they became more lighthearted jokey comedy characters, still able to pretty much take out anything, but their relative dumbness was treated more as a jokey thing than as making them near-uncontrollable. And the amazing thing about the Masterpiece Grimlock toy is that it's able to pull off, as one toy, both attributes of Grimlock simultaneously. Well played.

Dinosaur Mode: Grimlock's packaged in Dino mode, so that's where I'm starting. I have to say, it looks really impressive in the box, I could see kids not knowing about Transformers and falling in love with this bigass robot dinosaur. And then I can see their parents spotting the price tag and saying "Oh, hell no, junior, you'll be getting, um, here's an Extractaur. You're gonna take it and like it." Sucks to be those kids. But this dinosaur toy is pretty amazing. It is amazingly accurate to the cartoon's dino mode, which does make for a fairly dated and kind of silly looking dinosaur. But look, back in the eighties, this is what we thought a T-Rex looked like. He can stand in a more modern interpretation type pose, and balances pretty well, so there is that. So everywhere on this guy you've got tons of detailing. Panel lines, rivets, pipes, vents, all kinds of things to just make this figure look more complex and awesome. Everything locks down well, making this a satisfyingly solid toy. And the articulation in this mode is pretty impressive. The finger articulation gets me, such tiny little hands and you can move around each finger? Nice work. And the tail's got articulation, too, no mean feat since it's all the folded-up robot legs. Which ties in to the action features here. The head swings side-to-side when the tail's moved, it's kind of a useless feature, really, but kind of neat and doesn't impede anything else on the toy. The jaw, when opened, snaps shut at the touch of a button, that's kind of fun. And there's a feature that makes the head snap upwards, but I'll be honest, I can not figure that bit out at all, and the instructions mention it, but they're effectively useless in figuring it out. Then you've got the eye-color gimmick, it's really pretty easy to get to, the eyes are all on a wheel you find when you flip out the forehead. I love this gimmick, I mean, I'd have been thrilled with red eyes, and been okay with blue, but having the choice is just extra fun. The dino just evokes goofy fun Season Three Grimlock, the dino looks tough but appealingly dippy. I just wish this set had come with the apron and serving tray for some more fun with this mode.

Transform this sucker: It's easy. He transforms almost exactly like the original, mostly. Except for the hands and legs. The hands come out through a panel in the wrist instead of sliding out, and the legs. Man, the legs are awesome. Instead of hanging to the side like some kibble, the tail manages to retract into the back of the legs, and a bunch of stuff folds into the inside of the legs to make the robot legs essentially solid. That's really clever how it works, and yet, you really don't need the instructions to figure it out, you just fiddle with them and they pretty much go where they need to. Robot back to dinosaur's a little trickier, you've gotta make sure the hips are folded down exactly right, but it's not as tricky as the first few times transforming Masterpiece Prime, or as much of a pain as getting Alternator Grimlock transformed. The only other big difference in in how the dino head folds away. There's a recessed bit in the robot back that makes it work. It's still a dino head just hanging there, but it integrates into the robot a little better than the original. It's less steps than other Masterpieces, but it works. They could have come up with something entirely different, but instead, they went with what worked before and just made it work better.

Robot!Where the dino mode conveys the jovial goof of the third season, this mode conveys the hardass of the first couple seasons. His hips look a little skinny compared to his bulky upper body, but the bigass feet mean he balances well. The dino toes don't retract into the forearms as some of y'all (I want to say Sparky?) hoped, but the dino claws hanging out in 'bot mode's never bothered me, so I'm okay with that. I really like how the colored bits on the legs are clear plastic panels instead of sticker details. And how the face has so much detail around the mouthplate. It's all one color, but the way the light hits hit accentuates the faceplate and just makes the thing look great. And here we have the eye-color-change feature again, but it's even easier here. Just flip down a switch on the back of the robot head, and the red visor flips up and reveals the blue visor. Again, I'm more down with the red visor because of the toy, but the blue looks really good. Maybe, again, not a strictly necessary feature, but a really nice touch to make sure this thing looks as good as possible for everyone. Because y'all know Transformers fans, people would argue whether the visor should be red or blue if it couldn't be both. Well played, Masterpiece designers. Then you've got the lightpiping gimmick with the hand, which, okay, it ruins the articulation on that hand, but c'mon. Who doesn't want more Laser rod gimmicks? The sword he comes with lights up all the way down the blade, the gun only lights up and the tips of the barrels. It works out great, that looks really good either way you go with the light-up hand. Sadly, the other hand isn't good at holding either weapon that I've found. It's a minor quibble, though, but it does mean there's not an effective way to have the figure holding all it's accessories. The only other accessory is the crown, and that's...for me, that's a kind of double-edged accessory. Because in the comic, Grimlock led his Dinobots into battle against Trypticon, and...they didn't exactly win, but they survived until Ratbat called Trypticon back. On the strength of this victory, Grimlock was unanimously elected Autobot leader. Now, when I read that, I flipped out and thought that was SO RAD! So this crown reminds me of how awesome that was, but it reminds me of how bad he was at his first term of leadership, which I straight did not care for. So yeah, kind of like it, kind of don't. But what I love unreservedly? This robot mode.

Overall!: A fantastic toy. I've made a lot of comparisons to the G1 Grimlock in this review, but that's because this toy is clearly determined to be every version of that Grimlock you want. Goofball, Badass, really bad leader from the comics. Some of you guys know what it's like to remember a G1 toy to be badass back in the day, then you get it again and go "Whut?" This toy is what I remember G1 Grimlock being. Big, awesome, complex when it has to be, simple when it can get away with it. Even in an era where I really want to curb my toy spending, I shelled out eighty bucks on this thing in a heartbeat. If you can, it's well worth picking up. I don't quite have all of 'em yet, but I'm pretty sure you guys can trust my word when I say it's the best Grimlock toy ever. By all means, go for it.

[BWprowl]

Heh, you beat me to it. I might write my own review later, though I mostly agree with you. The sheer presence this thing has is incredible.

I do think I should help you out on the weapons-in-the-other-hand matter though. There's a little raised hole section on top of the hand, right where the finger chunk connects to the hand. The gun and sword have little pegs on their undersides that plug into that hole, and allow him to hold them properly.

[Sparky Prime]

The dino toes don't retract into the forearms as some of y'all (I want to say Sparky?) hoped, but the dino claws hanging out in 'bot mode's never bothered me, so I'm okay with that.

Yeah, I remember saying that when we saw the first prototype images of him. I got MP Grimlock earlier this week and I have to say, in actually owing the figure, it doesn't bother me that the dino toes don't fold back onto his arms. They don't stick out as much as I thought they would. All in all, as you said, it's an amazing toy.

[Dominic]

I need to scrape some money together for this one.


Dom
-rather likes Extractaurs.

[138 Scourge]

I don't have anything against Exctractaurs either, but they're a lot cheaper than MP Grimlock is, is the only point I was making.

But Dom, for real, get the money together for this dude, he's totally worth it. I had to do some serious financial jiggery-pokery (used a 50 dollar giftcard I'd been saving since January, sold a bunch of other toys, and took in extra work on a weekend) to make myself feel right about shelling out the money, but I don't regret it a bit.

Is this the most expensive Masterpiece in America so far? Prime was...fifty bucks, wasn't he? And then Starscream and Skywarp were...fifty-five and sixty, respectively? I guess it's just a ten-dollar price jump, and TRU is always more expensive than the other places, but dang.

[Onslaught Six]

What, is he seventy bones? Really?

Fuck that.

[Dominic]

I am going to need to buy books in a few weeks though. Erg....


Dom
-hoping Grimlock lasts into mid-fall at least....

[andersonh1]

Is this the most expensive Masterpiece in America so far? Prime was...fifty bucks, wasn't he? And then Starscream and Skywarp were...fifty-five and sixty, respectively? I guess it's just a ten-dollar price jump, and TRU is always more expensive than the other places, but dang.

I paid $62 at Wal-Mart for 20th Anniversary Optimus, but that's the cheapest I ever found the figure. And you have to remember, Prime had plenty of die-cast. The figure wasn't that cheap when it came out again as part of the Classics line. I don't remember Starscream's price, but I think Skywarp started out at $60, even though it was much smaller than Prime and lacked die-cast.

[Onslaught Six]

Starscream was straight fifty--if you could find him.

[andersonh1]

Starscream was straight fifty--if you could find him.

Yeah, I saw one MP Starscream one time at retail, and that was it.