Toy Review - Age Of Extincion (Leader) Grimlock
Name: Grimlock
Series - Generations
Sub-line – Age of Extinction
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here – Out now
Approximate Retail Price - $99
Approximate Size - 25cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Sub-Group - Dinobot
Alt-mode - Robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex
Main Features/Gimmicks - Snapping jaws
Main Colours - Bronze, silver, black
Main Accessory - spiked club
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psd8671505.jpg
Robot Mode
Well, if you are looking for something G1’ish you are going to be disappointed. If he wasn’t named Grimlock you would probably think ‘What a cool looking bot!’ But if you are a G1 nut you will find a myriad of flaws here, from the turquoise eyes to the shape of his head to the older-style armor look. He does have his hind leg claws coming off the wrist which is nice though. However take away the G1 concept and he is actually quite a cool looking figure. Fairly imposing and his weapon looks like it could do some damage. The grey spikes that go down either side of his chest look quite nice and he is fairly well proportioned. He has decent articulation and poseability as well.
http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/...psc037bfc7.jpg
T-Rex mode.
Well, he’s a T-Rex, and a big mother at that! Not as big (in either mode) as previous Leader class figures which I was a bit disappointed at, but this seems to be happening right across the whole TF toy range. He is certainly a lot mode elongated and not as stocky as other Grimock's we have come to know. Again, if you are looking for G1 inspired stuff here you will be disappointed. The silver on his back and head could sort of be considered a kinda shout out to the grey that we are used to, but that’s a bit of a stretch. The feet are big and balance the figure well and the robot hands become the hind claws which sorta works as long as you don’t examine him too closely. The whole aesthetic is kinda bony armor covering both the back and the torso which works well. The head looks bitchin – a huge gaping jaw that can be opened and closed and full of razor sharp (yet rubber ;)) teeth with a predatory expression. The horns to me look a bit like rabbit ears, I like the look of the ones on the Voyager version better. You can more the head with neck for poseability, it would have been nice to just be able to tilt the head alone. You cant change the position of thie hind legs much without him losing balance and like all T-Rex figures you can more the forearms though they are that tiny it doesn't make much difference. But overall a pretty impressive looking T-Rex and besides MP Gimock the biggest Grimock T-Rex we’ve had to date.
Colour Scheme
Bloody awful! :mad: I hate the colours on this figure! The silver, black, brown and bronze simply don’t work together in my opinion. In robot mode it’s not too bad but in Dino mode it just makes him look a mess and highlight that it is lots of different moving pieces coming together rather than making it look like one whole piece :(. Why they chose this colour scheme I do not know, gun-metal or battleship grey would have been a far superior look and I think his alt-mode would look twice as good for some colour uniformity.
Transformation
I know we’ve come to expect bad transformation instructions from Hasbro in the past few years but seriously – they sell him to you in Robot mode and then give you instructions on how to turn him from Dino into Robot. That’s just stupid and should have been picked up before he hit the shelves. As it was this was a figure I definitely had to turn to youtube for to figure out. Once done though, you can see how he all fits together and subsequent transformations are not that onerous. All the pieces snap together quite well and quite tightly, no issue there at all. A good transformation, maybe a tad simplistic for a leader-class but personally I was not after another Sentinel Prime challenge.
Overall
Well, it’s a giant fricken Grimlock that turns into a T-Rex so no matter what your predilection that should earn a few plus points right there. The dinosaur mode looks cool except for the colour scheme – the head being a highlight. The robot mode looks very cool and is the better looking of the two modes. If you are a massive G1 fan such as myself you will probably keep him in T-Rex mode though simply as out of the two it is far more G1 Grimlock reminiscent. Both modes in my opinion are more detailed and look better than the Voyager version. I paid full price for him while on a day trip away since I don’t know if/when this figure will reach my tiny town, but if you think you can find him cheaper than $99 I would definitely do so as even though he is worth getting, I’m not sure he is worth that price tag. If you are unsure whether to get him at all, maybe wait to see how much you like Grimmy’s foray onto the big screen and make your decision then.
