Toy Review - RtS Solar Storm Grappel

[jaydisc]

That's the first picture I've seen that does the head mold justice. It is indeed quite excellent.

[kaiden]

I havent opened my united grapple yet. still playing with lugnut. i am annoyed that the packaging pics still use the silver paint hook. comparing to my henkei inferno, its disappointing they didnt use chrome so the 2 would be a better match with each other.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm a bit disappointed that TOMY has followed Hasbro's suit in giving the United toys light piped eyes, but then paint the eyes over which effectively blocks and newters the light pipe gimmick (so what's the damn point of having the light piping in the first place??). I already noticed with United Tracks that the paint blocks the light, although it's a bright sky blue so it looks okay.

But anyway, I got bored while waiting around while my wife was shopping for clothes, so I played around with United Grapple and to my surprise discover that in spite of the painted eyes, they still manage to light pipe quite well.



The blue paint actually illuminates rather than blocking the light! Now I don't know if this is because they've used a special kind of paint that allows the light to go through, or if it's just a fluke because the paint's too thin. If it's the former, I wonder why they don't just go with giving the toy transparent blue plastic? Weird. So I suspect it's the latter.

[lcz128]

The blue paint actually illuminates rather than blocking the light! Now I don't know if this is because they've used a special kind of paint that allows the light to go through, or if it's just a fluke because the paint's too thin. If it's the former, I wonder why they don't just go with giving the toy transparent blue plastic? Weird. So I suspect it's the latter.

Uh dude - this is olllldddd news. They've been doing it since inferno or earlier. The clear blue paint is so that they can use the clear plastic for everything else on the figure - eg the windows, headlights but still have the option for blue lightpiping.

think about it. All the clear parts will be on the same sprue. If they do a clear blue and a clear plastic then that'd increase their cost. If they instead do all clear blue plastic, they cop crap from fans saying they should've gone clear. Now instead they've gone clear and painted over blue and now they get people complaining they should've gotten clear blue? @_@

[GoktimusPrime]

Uh dude - this is olllldddd news. They've been doing it since inferno or earlier. The clear blue paint is so that they can use the clear plastic for everything else on the figure - eg the windows, headlights but still have the option for blue lightpiping.

My Henkei Inferno has pure blue plastic for its eyes dude.

I know Hasbro's been doing this practice for some time... but it's only been recently with United that I'm noticing that TakaraTOMY are now following suit.

think about it. All the clear parts will be on the same sprue. If they do a clear blue and a clear plastic then that'd increase their cost. If they instead do all clear blue plastic, they cop crap from fans saying they should've gone clear. Now instead they've gone clear and painted over blue and now they get people complaining they should've gotten clear blue? @_@

I wouldn't have complained if Grapple's windows were blue. And if they wanted to give him clear windows - fine... give him clear eyes. White light piping works too, just look at G2 Laser Optimus Prime. And I find clear light piping works really well too.

But I guess they want to appease all those "show accuracy" people who insist on having Grapple with blue eyes... *sigh*

[Hursticon]

Grapple,
He excels at engineering and design and this is reflected quite well with this mold which, just like the G1 figures, is a retool of the Universe 2.0 Inferno mold.

As a mobile crane, his truck based Alt mode carries the look of a utilitarian vehicle quite well.
With accurate markings, emergency clearance lamps and an extending arm with hook he differentiates effectively well with his Fire Engine counterpart although one should pay particular attention to his Crane Arm which is unfortunately quite precariously fixed only to his right arm and could possibly break if excess force is applied.

His transformation, whilst being identical to Inferno, is quite fun and intuitive with intelligent use of folding panels and a spring loaded head reveal, Grapple may serve as a slight challenge to younger fans but will easily be figured out upon multiple transformations.

Bot mode is where this figure really shines if not only hampered by a somewhat disappointing Crane Arm placement that often interferes with certain poses and shelf display.
Thick limbs and a bulky torso really help to make Grapple standout as a construction expert whilst also lending his look to that of a heavy weapons expert - If only he had these weapons...

He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for a solid and reasonably large transforming robot toy, Grapple is a must have for G1 collectors, fans of construction vehicles and/or those who are just looking for that tough Autobot to fill out their ranks.

[GoktimusPrime]

The arms tend to snap off easy too... which can be annoying during toy play. I had him throwing Beachcomber across a ravine on an alien world where Decepticon sappers had destroyed a bridge (aka, the space between two beds ) - and during mid-hurl one of his arms came off. Kinda broke the exciting tension I was building up there. Gah. Then later I had Grapple lift his arm up to speak into his wrist to talk to Beachcomber on the other side - other arm from his throwing arm... it came off. Gah! So yeah... gotta be a bit careful when moving the arms about, which may be okay if you're just fiddling for display poses, but can be mighty annoying when doing "real time" toy play.

Btw, does anyone know what differences there are between Grapple and Grappel other than the head colour and Autobot logo?

[Vector Prime]

The arms tend to snap off easy too... which can be annoying during toy play. I had him throwing Beachcomber across a ravine on an alien world where Decepticon sappers had destroyed a bridge (aka, the space between two beds ) - and during mid-hurl one of his arms came off. Kinda broke the exciting tension I was building up there. Gah. Then later I had Grapple lift his arm up to speak into his wrist to talk to Beachcomber on the other side - other arm from his throwing arm... it came off. Gah! So yeah... gotta be a bit careful when moving the arms about, which may be okay if you're just fiddling for display poses, but can be mighty annoying when doing "real time" toy play.

Btw, how old are you again Gok?

[GoktimusPrime]

0.398 Vorn

[GoktimusPrime]

Made a Grappel and Grapple comparison pics thread here.