This makes me want him.

 

The rear section of the helicopter from the tail section up to the main rotors ends up on his back. This piece is removable and can be mounted on his shoulder, but it doesn't look like the version in the film, where he has his tail rotor mounted on his arm.

The instructions explain the official rotor weapon configuration, but as explained above it's not the same as the configuration used in the film. The film configuration isn't really possible with the figure.

 

Ohh, is that what that was in the movie? I was confused by that scene, with Prime chopping up the rotor he was waving around but then the rotor was still on his back.

 

Bought this guy today and it is awesome.
I guess it wouldn't be that awesome if I already had Blackout, but I didn't.
Highly recommend this figure if you don't have a previous mold.

 

Not BLACKOR!?!?

 

How do I get this guy to hold the helicopter blades in his hands?

 

You can't, (stabily) but he can hold he whole back piece and use it ala movie one.
It should be in the instructions, if not:
Take off the back piece, plug it on his "minicon port", and put the small peg in his hand.

 

they didn't remove the radar blob at the front did they?

(not the long stick sticking out but the ball thing)

because on the ch-53 flying stallion doesn't have that but the mh-53 does...

 

The automorph on mine is just about nonexistent. It doesn't feel like the gears are catching at all, and the head piece only moves if you do it by hand. The part where the torso clicks into the waist is also fairly loose.

Having said all that, I really really like the figure, especially the head. I have the original (non-premium) Blackout, and his head is just a black painted blob. Having four distinct colors on the head (gray, gold, black, and red eyes) really looks good.

 

he's the same exact mold so yeah he still has it.

 

i sorta guessed that. Though they could have chopped it off.

Honestly the mold is ok. Needs to lose that gimmick because thats what makes his back a stupid brick

 

I'm hoping to pick this guy up in the upcoming Costco 2-pack with Ratchet.

I don't have any version of Ratchet, but I already have Blackout (original, non-premium), and love the figure. I've never really experienced any problems with his automorph, though. However, his waist isn't parallel to his top half, it is tilted slightly to one side. I dunno if that would have any impact on the automorph.

 

he looks slightly better than the terrible blackout figure, but im gonna get him to complete my onscreen character collection from ROTF

 

Got one off HTS a couple days ago. Grindor is pretty cool in terms of deco, his Automorph was faulty, though (I was fortunately able to fix it).
I prefer Premium Blackout, Whirl, and Evac to this toy, but it's still cool nonetheless and worth getting for anyone who missed Blackout.

 

Got mine from HTS Saturday. I have no idea how the automorph is supposed to work, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work correctly when I transformed Grindor. Overall I like this toy, and I'm glad I picked it up.

 

I have to say, this guy was tough to find at stores. I finally found him at Target. I was hunting for him, because I didnt feel like paying 10 bucks more to have him shipped from HTS. Ireally love this guys colors. Don't know why, but I think they are top notch. The mold is great, and my automorph works fine. 2 thumbs up, and I own Blackout and Whirl as well. He might be my favorite.

 

Courtesy of Alucard from the TFClub:

It turns out that Grindor is a Blackout clone in a similar way that Thundercracker is Starscream clone: a different character with the same robot and alt mode. I think Hasbro made the colors for Grindor much lighter to better distinguish it form the original. At least we know that Scorponok is the same since it was in the movie before being defeated by Jetfire.

 

Just to be more nitpicky about it, Grindor's TF Wiki page says this:
Although his toys (and seemingly the CG model of his robot mode) are identical to Blackout's, and although the toys' packaging retains Pave Low licensing information, Grindor's alt mode in the movie is in fact a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion—essentially a slightly upsized Pave Low operated by the US Marine Corps. The ROTF video games include licensing information for the Super Stallion instead of the Pave Low. The alt mode switch may be explained by the retirement of the USAF's Pave Lows in 2008.

 

Whats wrong with the Left side of Ha bee battle mask?