Transformers Review: Fall of Cybertron Grimlock (Platinum Edition)

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“Me, Grimlock, no bozo. Me king!” (TF: The Movie, 1986)

Transformers Review: Generations FoC Grimlock (Platinum Edition)
Size: Voyager (Giftset)
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A TF review written exclusively for Inside Pulse by Rikkomba
 
All Hail Grimlock!

Dinobots were advertised as one of the main selling points of Fall of Cybertron; however, only one of them made it in toy version, their boss, the one and only Grimlock, King of… himself.

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Grimlock is one of the few FoC Voyager class toys, together with Blaster, Soundwave and Soundblaster. The size difference shows, as you can see in a comparison with War for Cybertron Soundwave (deluxe class).

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Size does NOT matter

Unfortunately, size is all that Grimlock can offer. Despite the character’s historical awesomeness and its central role in the Fall of Cybertron videogame, the toy leaves a lot to be desired.

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In robot mode Grimlock has several problems regarding articulation, including: tilted feet, double knees, no waist joint and stupidly tight, complex and inefficient shoulder joints. The amount of sculpted detail is OK, and the Platinum Edition version I am reviewing replaces SOME of the opaque golden painting with gold-like chroming. The result is underwhelming, and it is not clear why some of the original gold colored parts were not “upgraded”. The only accessories are a decent sword and a completely retarded shield. The latter is so small that Grimlock’s own forearm would probably provide better defense! However, what we are given is OK for a couple of poses. Weapons can also be attached to the sides of the alternate mode, Grimlock’s standard T-rex mode.

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Unfortunately, this is where this toy’s design falls apart. For unexplained reasons, the creators of this mold thought it would have been a great idea to deprive the beast mode of its entire lower body. The result is that Grimlock has no guts. Third party add-ons have already been advertised to fix this, but I am not sure if it is worth spending 50$ to fix a 20$ toy.


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Grimlock’s profile is nice enough, mainly because the legs cover the T-rex’ body. However, following normal transformation steps will leave you without any hip articulation. The picture above shows a variation where the hips (the robot mode’s shoulders), are not transformed “correctly”, adding proper articulation.

Being a Voyager, Grimlock had to include some gimmick of sorts: the trigger on the T-rex’ head turns on a red light, making it look like the T-rex is… having a red light turned on in its throat. This can also be activated in robot mode, lighting up the transparent orange plastic within the chest.

   
Meh, Grimlock

 

It is unfortunate that one of the most anticipated Fall of Cybertron toys turned out to be such a disappointment. FoC Grimlock lacks proper articulation, lacks proper accessories and is missing half its body in beast mode. While there are ways to improve this, I don’t recommend spending 50 quids to fix a badly designed toy. FoC Grimlock is better left on the shelves.

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Until next time,
Rikkomba