I think he's an incredibly sub-standard Voyager. Comparing him with even more recent Voyagers like Dark of the Moon Megatron and even Grimlock's casemate, Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, and I find that these toys poop all over Voyager Grimlock. And whenever I think of this toy's full price I am reminded that I paid about the same for my pre-ordered Masterpiece Autobot cars.

As mundane as Evasion Optimus Prime's colour scheme is, I've found that it's an incredibly fun toy to play with. I just don't get that same enjoyment when I play with Grimlock. The engineering level is actually below that of Beast Machines -- and I find that's the case with all of the AoE Dinobots, actually. Okay, Beast Machines were bad Transformers toys, no doubt's there... but from a technical POV a lot of them were actually pretty well designed action figures (just not good Transformers). Much like the cartoon series, if it weren't Transformers it'd be actually pretty good. Take a look at say Deluxe Class BM Optimus Primal. Yes, it's a ridiculous looking gorilla mode and incredibly unorthodox^bizarre looking robot mode (the whole rounded technorganic aesthetic), but from a design perspective it's an exquisitely well crafted toy. The sculpting is so well done that you can see muscle fibres ripping across the body of the beast mode, and there's even airbrushed paint apps on the toy. And the beast mode is the weaker of the two for that toy -- the robot mode is remarkably solid for a Deluxe figure, whereas Voyager AoE Grimlock looks "half hollow" in robot mode from behind. Yeah alright, Optimus Primal's Shuriken gimmick sucks, but AoE Voyager Grimlock's weapon isn't great either. And this is compared to a Beast Machines toy; a line that's notorious for sucking!

But yeah, if you "have to" get an AoE Grimlock, the Voyager looks to be the best (or least worst) version. I'm not going to pay double the price for the Leader Class version; especially after seeing what passes for a Leader Class toy these days w/ First Edition AoE Optimus Prime. For anyone else who's unsure or not in a hurry to own this toy, I highly recommend waiting until it's on sale. As Paulbot says, paying full price for this toy is just paying an "impatience tax."