Tag Archives: Grimlock

February 18, 2018

Grimlock – Transformers: Generations – Power of the Primes (Voyager Class)

Moving up to the bigger figures, we are going to look at the Voyager Class Grimlock. For those who were on the ride for the Combiner Wars, you will remember that the Voyager Class figures were the main torso of the Combiner teams. They were bigger, and the leader of the given team.

This is a really nice representation of the G1 version of Grimlock. He is missing his T-Rex torso, splayed out behind him like a pair of wings, but I like this a lot better. As the Voyager Class figure of the team, he comes with the feet that will eventually be used with Volcanicus…but not until we get to wave 2, and the rest of the DInobot team. He also comes with the Enigma of Combination, which allows him to form Volcanicus with his team.

As with his brethren, he comes with a clear portion painted gold on the inside. This is a great look, and nice to have it flow through the whole team.

Leave it to Grimlock to have a power that would make him smaller so he could test his mettle.

With the team thus far. I am still bummed that Swoop has a blue torso. I know it fits in with the cartoon, but boy does it make him look like an outsider with the rest of the team in red.

Transformation of Grimlock is not too tricky, just tricky enough to be fun. He has that WIDE stance that we know and love from that silly T-Rex.

He has all of the important parts that are needed to be a good Grimlock. The face really sells the look overall.

From the top, things are a bit sketchy. There is a LOT of extra stuff stuck on back there. Since Grimmy turns into a torso as well, there are a few extra pieces that need to go someplace. It isn’t the worse, but not as clean as previous releases of Grimlock.

And once again with his team, this time in dino-mode. They look great together. I can’t wait to get the other two and have a full team for the first time in my life. It is going to be epic.

Also a full team means Volcanicus. And to make him, Grimlock needs to form the torso. And what a nice torso he makes. I love his T-Rex head becomes the chest with an Autobot logo right in the middle. The hips swing around and form circles on the front of the shoulders, which looks outstanding. His Volcanicus head even has a sort of crown, which of course we know Grimlock is.

Some of my Grimlocks. There have been a lot, but these are the closest representation we had leading up to Power of the Primes. In the back is the Masterpiece Grimlock. Giant in size, he is a fantastic piece. Then there are the two outside Grimlocks. On the left is the Fall of Cybertron version with the redecoed Gold Chrome version from Target on the right. I was actually quite amazed that the Fall of Cybertron version was larger than the Voyager Class here in Power of the Primes. It was also a Voyager Class, but It just didn’t feel as big until they were side by side.

As with any figures, there are likes and dislikes, but in recent years with the Prime Wars Trilogy, Hasbro has been making some absolutely fantastic G1 remodeled figures. Grimlock is in amongst those figures. I can’t wait to get the rest of the team!

1 Comment | tags: Dinobot, G1, Generations, Grimlock, Hasbro, Power of the Primes, Toy photography, toy review, Transformers, Transformers: Generation, Voyager Class | posted in Action Figures, Cartoon, Comic Books, Toys, Transformers

April 23, 2017

Clobber and Skytread – Conclusion of Wave 2 of Titans Return Titan Masters

By Carnitas Fever

It was strangely hard to get my hands on the last two figures in wave 2 of the Titan Masters in the Titans Return series. I did however find them, and then they slipped through the cracks and hid away for a while. But they are out and they are ready to join their wave.

Clobber:

Clobber’s vehicle/weapon is a repaint of Crashbash’s, as well as Clobber’s robot body.

The T-Rex is a new color scheme going with yellow and grey. Hey, do you know of another gold and grey T-Rex? I bet you do. Just wait, the surprise is coming.

First we have to look at the rest of the modes. The vehicle transforms into a dragon. Ugh! Not this guy again! That is not a great mode for this guy. It is a bit forced. Especially to have Clobber stand on his back like this. Last time for this mode.

Then there is the weapon. Basically the T-Rex laying down with a handle on his back. It works fine, and I do not suspect you would make a much better weapon from a robot T-Rex.

Now for the surprise:

Yup, that is in fact Grimlock. Now, why did they call him “Clobber” rather than Grimlock? The running theory is that Grimlock is already working hard in the Robots in Disguise show and toy line, so Hasbro went with a different named character. I don’t get it, but whatever. His head looks great!!!

Skytread:

Skytread is a retool of Terri-Bull that we saw back in wave 1. He is a rename of the figure Flywheels from way back in 1987. Flywheels was able to separate into a tank and a jet, so that makes sense with this figure and vehicle combo. Plus the color scheme matches fairly well, though Flywheel was more burgundy, and not so much pink.

In tank mode, Skytread gets to ride up top and control the 4 cannons that can move in their separate pairs.

Flip it over and spin it around, open some wings, and Skytread is flying high in jet mode.

The colors on Skytread are a bit off. It was really hard to try and photograph, but the pinks do not match up well at all.

The jet is the basis for the gun mode, where basically the wings fold in and you have a gun, 4 barrels underneath and the nose of the plane for a 5th barrel.

I don’t know if I would say this is Flywheel’s head. It looks a bit on the generic side to me. I am definitely not an expert on Flywheel, and most of the pictures I have seen are not really that great.

A couple of retools for the second part of this wave. They are good figures and fine heads. They are welcome to my team.

Leave a comment | tags: Clobber, Flywheels, Generations, Grimlock, Hasbro, Headmaster, Headmasters, robots, Skytread, Titan Master, Titan Masters, Titans Return, Toy photography, toy review, Toys, Transformers, Wave 2 | posted in Action Figures, Comic Books, Comics, Toys, Transformers

May 22, 2016

Decepticon Hunter Bumblebee vs Major Mayhem and Decepticon Hunter Grimlock vs Back/Forth – Mini-Con Battle Pack Wave 2 (Robots in Disguise)

By Carnitas Fever

This is wave 2 of the Mini-Con Battle Packs that includes on Autobot with a bunch of special armor, and a Decepticon Mini-Con.

Decepticon Hunter Bumblebee vs Major Mayhem:

Bumblebee comes with Major Mayhem. In the show, Major Mayhem is a bunch of characters, so it is a bummer for anyone who wants to army build this guy. You will have to army build with a bunch of Bumblebees too. That could get pretty expensive.

Our fearless leader is in the new Commander-style scale, where he is an in-between size from the Legion and Warrior Classes.

He fits in so well in scale with the Warrior Class figures of the big guys like Grimlock and Optimus.

Bumbleebee comes with 5 pieces of armor and a gun. The first gun we have seen the Robots in Disguise Bee carry so far. The armor is for the shins, shoulders, and head. The gun fits in well with what we have seen in the show.

Major Mayhem is a cyclone style mini-con, or a dude that changes into a ball. His transformation is as simple as it comes. He has a strangely long neck to get his head out to the front of his body.

Bumblebee’s armor can combine with his weapon as the gimmick goes. It becomes a gun.

It is very reminiscent of the gun that was given to the Generations Bumblebee back in 2013.

Decepticon Hunter Grimlock vs Back/Forth:

Grimlock come with 7 plates of armor and no weapon. He comes with Back/Forth who is yet another Cyclone Mini-Con. We have a lot of balls going on in this series. I would have thought we would see a torpedo type in here somewhere.

Grimlocks size is a bit on the small size, but he is a bigger figure, so he is too big for each of the scales. This Commander Class is too big for the Legion Class, and too small for other figures in the Commander Class with him. But he is not a total waste. This is the best example we have of Grimlock so far. He has better transformation than the Legion Class, and he doesn’t have the wobbly elbows that has plagued the Warrior Class Grimlock. The color is good, with more of a green look to him.

When he gets his armor on, it is clear that he IS the weapon. He didn’t have a weapon in his regular form, he shouldn’t need one as a Decepticon Hunter. On his forearms, he has long saws that can be used as a weapon.

When the armor pieces are combined, it creates a dangerous looking T-Rex head that Grimmy can wear on his arm.

Better yet, he can also use it in dino mode, where he gets an extra-big head to attack with.

Overall these are fun figures. The armor works well, and stays in place. The weapons are pretty fun for the most part. I think they did a better job with Bumblebee and Grimlock with the execution of the armor, and combining it into a weapon.

There is one more wave coming out in the future with Strongarm, and it looks like Sideswipe again? It looks like the next wave will feature Autobot Weaponizers versions of Mini-Cons, so we could get an epic Sideswipe and Strongarm with some great weapons capabilities.

Leave a comment | tags: Back, Back/Forth, Bumblebee, Decepticon Hunter Bumblebee, Decepticon Hunter Grimlock, Forth, Grimlock, Hasbro, Major Mayhem, Mini-Con, Mini-Con Battle Pack, Robots in Disguise, Transformers, Transformers: Robots in Disguise | posted in Action Figures, Cartoon, Toys, Transformers

September 9, 2015

Gold Armor Grimlock (RiD) with special Guest Star Gold Ranger (Dino Charge)

By Carnitas Fever

“Finally you got here Grimmy.”

Gold Armor Grimlock. In the same two vehicle repaint wave as Night Ops Bumblebee.

“One sec. I will have you out of here.”

Good use of the Decepticon Hunter Sword, huh?

“Look at your packaging Grimmy. You are supposed to be ‘Gold Armor.'” “You are ‘Orange Armor’ at best.”

“Me not happy Orange!”

Somewhere in the production process, gold became orange. It is a total mess. Not even close. I know this was supposed to pay homage to the G1 Grimlock, but this is not the way to do it.

“Me no silver either.”

Not even the silver color on the back packaging. We know well that Hasbro has a hard time bringing to light what they have preproduced. This is yet another example of that.

“Me T-Rex, not Godzilla.”

Love him or hate him, we have Godzilla Grimlock in the Robots in Disguise show. This is a real stretch to even call a T-Rex.

“Well Grimmy, looks like we both needed a repaint this time.”

Bumblebee got a bit of paint on the terrible yellow wheels. I don’t think I can leave “Gold Armor” with orange armor.

But wait! What is this? A figure that is supposed to be gold, and actually is. Gold Ranger is the newest release in the upcoming/current wave of Power Rangers Dino Charge. We are going to get a whole host of bad guys, so we need more good guys to fight on the Ranger team. Looking like something that belongs on the stage with KISS, this guy has it all. Two shoulder armor pieces, back spikes, a silver sword, and a gold Dino Com.

Look at that back piece. A new hero is born, and there are a bunch of Rangers that are going to be jealous.

“Grimlock, I have gold armor, and I can help you. Good guys have to stick together.”

“Me Grimlock want gold too.” “And you shall have it big guy.”

“The answer is Gold Flake from Tamiya. Now to take you apart and get you all fixed up.”

Ah Grimlock. You always have so much potential. I think the problem is his being at an unattainable level for so long. They were fantastic figures for so very long, all the way up to the recent Generations line where we got a Fall of Cybertron version that was amazing, and in this scale. I love the attempt to nod to the G1 color scheme, that we have had for so long. Grimlock went green in the RiD series, and we got a close G1 repaint here. Silver and Gold with red around the waist. The only way to pay homage to Grimlock is a full repaint… except the waist. The red is good there. The rest has to be redone. I guess I can fix that wonky elbow problem while I am in there. This will be my first full repaint of a Transformer, but I think this is a great place to start. Until next time toy fans!

Leave a comment | tags: Bandai, Bumblebee, Dino Charge, Gold Armor Grimlock, Gold Ranger, Grimlock, Hasbro, Night Ops Bumblebee, Power Rangers, Power Rangers: Dino Charge, Ptera Ranger, Robots in Disguise, Transformers, Transformers: Robots in Disguise | posted in Action Figures, Cartoon, Comic Books, Power Rangers, Toys, Transformers

October 26, 2014

Slog – Transformers: Age of Extinction

By Carnitas Fever

Well, we continue to get some new Dinobots that never made it into the movie. This time around we get Slog, a larger Voyager Class figure. He is very large and in charge. Strong and bulky with a lot of the medieval armor look that we have seen with the other Dinobots.

Take this knights of ole’. Slog comes with two lances, and he doesn’t even have a horse to ride. I like how strong he looks. Big thick legs, and great armor layered all over. His face/helmet is really cool with lots of details. There are a lot of rubber parts on him that could pose problems in the future if they are not taken care of properly. He is the color I think they should all be. Some of the other Dinobots are outrageously bright. This grey/black combo with touches of red are really well executed.

I found his transformation to be very difficult, and his chest area when turned into the Apatosaurus would not stay in place. The directions were to change Slog from the dino into a robot. So, for the initial transformation, you had to reverse the directions, which is a terrible way to present this anyway. It will be near impossible for kids to make this transformation on their own. I also don’t like the giant balls that hang out on the sides of the neck where the lances can be attached. There is a lot for me not to like in this mode. I am going to keep him in robot mode from now on.

We might as well take a look at him with his lances and side “guns” attached. One of the guns on mine is loose, so it will not stay up very well. The lances coming out at head height is a bit weird visually.

I think he is a good fit with the other T4 Dinobots. It is funny because his coloring is how I think all of the Dinobots should look, but with him in the grey color, he gets lost in the Skittles of Dinbots. They should have made him yellow, and then we would have had a complete rainbow of Dinobots.