Masterpiece Grimlock is an amazing toy.

[Onslaught Six]

Same. It was at Black Friday, incidentally. Snatched up the single one, too. Then had to wait for Christmas to get him out. Small price to pay!

[138 Scourge]

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

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

Thirded. Saw it the once, thought "Oooh, I should get this." and then thought..."Nah, bills. Jerk". Next time I saw one it was at Vintage Stock marked up to $99. The good news, I like Skywarp better anyway, so things worked out.

As for Prime, I totally missed out on the 20th anniversary Prime, but I think I got the 22nd anniversary version for like, 30 bucks. Clearance chicken is a dangerous game, but danged if I didn't used to be pretty good at it.

[Onslaught Six]

I kept waiting for 22nd, and then he hit, and I didn't have money. Damn me.

[Shockwave]

I second, Grimlock is awesome. There's nothing I don't like about this figure. I found MP Prime pretty easily in both releases, never saw Starscream or Skywarp and only found Grimlock by sheer luck of the guy behind the counter being awesome enough to take one out from behind the desk.

[BWprowl]

They had two MasterGrims out on the shelves at my TRU, no problem there. My places do okay at getting this stuff in. I think I saw MasterScream at Wal-Mart once when he came out, but I have zero interest in that mold, so I didn't sweat not getting him. Same for Skywarp, who looked even less impressive. I wasn't really in the place to be looking to spend $50 bucks on one toy when 20th Prime came out, but I know I saw him a couple times. And I couldn't really bring myself to get 22nd Prime when he came out either (he was everywhere). Shame, that's the only other MP mold I actually want. I've been kinda holding out until I could justify tracking down and spending the cash on an MP-04 Convoy with Trailer, but I've heard the quality control on that one's not so good. What's my best bet in terms of Masterpiece Prime?

[Dominic]

I saw Lewis' last night. It is a good toy, but not quite $60 worth of good. And, it does not matter, as they sold out locally.

If I see one later, and have the money, I will think about it, especially if the toy is on discount. But, it ain't happening for a while.


Dom
-will probably end up spending more on "Generations" though....

[JediTricks]

I got this for my birthday. First off, it's REALLY annoying to get out of the package the first time. I do not understand why Hasbro releases these collector-focused figures in the US with the least collector-friendly packaging possible. Multiple trays and boxes and shells, and no explanation for how to get the figure out. If you do cut the right tape though, and then fuss with the various trays and doodads, you can replace it in the packaging, but that first time out was a real chore. Using rattan instead of twisties is good though, but the feet are just slammed into the tray, you have to get tough with that bottom tray.

Grimlock is legendary. I never had him as a kid, I think I may have had Slag for a minute, but definitely not Grimlock. I was of course aware of the king of the Dinobots though, the character is legendary, even to fans who didn't care about the Dinobots. I was never a massive fan of Grimlock or the Dinobots, I kinda liked the idea but it never was a driving excitement for me. Grim's dino mode didn't appeal to me when I was a kid because it was robotic and a little simple, but when I finally got the Beast Wars Dinobot and Megatron molds, I liked them but I yearned for a robotic dinosaur, and that's when it clicked in my head that Grimlock was a cool robot dinosaur. The idea of giant robot dinos trashing your town makes for an exciting imaginative scenario (even if it is a rather pointless "disguise" mode - giant dinosaur robot becomes large humanoid robot).

MP Grimlock's alt mode is pretty impressive despite being a bit small for a Masterpiece. It takes the cartoon's shape and adds the details one would expect extrapolated from the G1 toy. There's no Inchman control station anymore, but there are metal claws on the feet with jets in the soles, a flamethrower inside the mouth, decent jointing on the legs and arms, and some puppet action which is more fun than expected. The swappable eyes gimmick here is totally opaque despite being on a clear system, but it looks good anyway - although I totally prefer the red eyes in both modes, screw the 'toon. By moving the tail side to side, the head swivels at the base of the neck quite a bit, it's totally fun puppet action - it's done by gears, and if the tail isn't pulled back a little the head doesn't move much, but when you get it all lined up it's boss. The mouth full of silver chrome teeth opens 2 clicks, and pushing the cheek causes it to snap shut, although it's a bit wimpy of a snap it's still fun. Pushing down on the body at the hips causes the head to rise slightly if it's pointed down, this is pretty lame, but if you put the head pointed all the way up instead and then push the body down, the head snaps down which is a much more satisfying gimmick. The 3 finger-claws move but are very close together, I wish they were splayed, and the wrist doesn't rotate, but otherwise it's all good at the arms, they didn't overdo it so it's more true to the original's style while adding more articulation. The use of chrome is just right, very classic, as is the gray coloring and various other colored bits, it's a great deco. The scale of the bot seems to be something that would go great with G1 or Classics figures rather than with larger Masterpiece figures. I can sorta see it fitting with Alternators/Human Alliance scale as well... I think I'll go feed Grimlock some movie people in a few minutes. Grims is pretty solid in this mode, although the tail pieces can get out of alignment playing with the puppet gimmick. Alt mode doesn't use ANY of his accessories, I'm glad they didn't bother with the brain transfer or bow tie or apron for this release, they're not what I'm looking for.

I never transformed the original, so I can't speak to whether or not it's true. This is a pretty simple transformation for a Masterpiece, but the legs keep it from being painfully simple, and there's a sliding gimmick that makes the Autobot symbol appear in the bot mode chest that's clever. It's also nice that the wings get a joint for "flapping" 1 stop. The second step of transformation makes Grimlock into a floppy mess until you get the legs sorted out, then he returns from the brink. There's a chance one or both hips will pop out during transformation, there's a clearance and a weight issue, but it's a ball joint, it doesn't care, it pops right back on. The head tucks away to the back much nicer than ANY previous Grimlock figure, it's still just hanging out between the wings but it tabs down and sits lower, it's simple but works (the tab is weak and it can come loose in bot mode tho'). Transforming back to dino mode is easy, but don't forget the tip of the tail, it's very easy to forget that.

Bot mode is a much leaner, meaner Grimlock than I'm used to, I've been poisoned by the last decade of Grimlock wannabes, too many of which were mediocre (Energon, Classics, Alternators, Titanium), so it is surprising to not see a gigantic chest or huge legs - the upper legs are almost petite even, but not really that out of scale to the chest. The bot mode feels a little unstable due to wiggle in the chest and some fit in the lower puzzle of leg and the head's tab not locking it tightly, but it is fairly stable actually, it more FEELS unstable. It doesn't help either that the upper body is where all the weight is, and the big claws now at the forearms are die-cast metal (the only other metal on this figure is the front and back of the crotch), what is it about Masterpiece Autobots being top-heavy? Grimlock has a solid look and good articulation, and 2 new gimmicks, plus he can use all his accessories. The sliding chromed eye panel is a good trick, and again, I prefer the red to the blue. The crown fits snugly but as accurate as it is, it's not quite delivering that "king Grimlock" comic look IMO. The blaster is cool and straightforward. The sword is red chrome handle with a clear blade, and a decent size. Both hand accessories can fit in the articulated-fingers left hand thanks to a small offset peg off the main peg. The right fingers are non-articulated (except the thumb) because it has an LED in the fist, press the back of the shoulder to light up either weapon - the sword looks way better than the gun for this, although I wish they had tinted it orange instead of leaving it clear since it's rather plain when not lit. The fist rotates and transforms like the left side, which is surprising given there's wiring in there. The big metal claws are now cuffs for the bot forearms, it doesn't entirely make sense to articulate them if they don't do anything with that in either mode, but by folding away the hands, the bot mode is given some big, heavy, nasty melee claw hands with jet nozzles in between, so that's got "imagination-help" charm. Articulation is very good, the knees are difficult to engage and the hips tend to want to de-transform when used, but they can be mastered. There's a little action in the feet on 2 axes, though I would have liked to see more tilt in the feet for an even wider stance.

At first, MP Grimlock seemed only "ok" for a $70 Masterpiece, he's not as detailed, not as complex, not as big, and not as tricky as the others in the line, but on his own he gains a ton of charm points, he delivers on the concepts set forth very smartly. MP Grimlock feels like an evolution of the G1 figure, bigger, better, more detailed, yet still true to what that character was about rather than trying to be something needlessly different and convoluted. I would absolutely recommend this figure on that basis. This is a figure that grows on you based on what it's saying and its charms, so it really needs time in your hands to appreciate it.

[138 Scourge]

Thanks for bolding the bit about the "head snaps up" gimmick, clearly I needed it pointed out.

[Shockwave]

Y'know I see everyone on here complaining about the price, but remember that the Japanese one is currently running for about 150? Yeah, MP Robot Dinosaur that turns into a robot for just over half that? Sold. I heard tale of missing accessories. Anyone got details on that? What does Japanese MP Grims have that we don't? The only thing that annoyed me about this figure was the tail rotate moves dino head gimmick, but it's tolerable. I wouldn't skip it based just on that.

[Onslaught Six]

He's got the brain enhancer thing from Grimlock's New Brain and an apron and serving tray from some other crappy S3 episode I don't care about.