Looking VERY closely, I see now that the green one is thinner than the gray one, although they both have flat edges. Maybe that's why I haven't had a problem with mine?
I think the issue was 2 fold, the thin edge plus a very hard ratcheting elbow, on both my green and gold version one elbow ratchets harder than the other (left and right in those cases) the softer ratcheting elbow did not beak in green, the harder ratcheting one broke almost immediately on using the elbow. So far the gold is immune to breakage at either elbow, the plastic thickness should ensure it does not happen.
And the mouth. Subjective, but I prefer my TF without mouth/have battle mask gimmick (like AoE Takara tomy leader OP and Animated Voyager OP)
I saw user baltmatrix video review of Gold grimlock, he suggests that the elbow issues are the same. Perhaps not all gold using the new mould? I'm not sure if baltmatrix had a breaking elbow or just noted that the ratcheting is tight, a cursory look at the elbow will tell you if it is the new tooling or not, it is quite obvious.
I'll say this, GEEWUN-ness aside, Grimlock having a mouth just makes more sense. ... however, I just really like Grimlock's head so I much prefer the mouthplate. But it logically makes more sense to me for him to have a mouth.
Picked this guy up from Target over the weekend. Elbows seem strong and fine. I've ratcheted them back and forth at least 20 times and no sign of breakage or weakening plastic. I never got the green one so I can't compare to that. As for the figure itself: I like the look of him, fun to mess around with, reasonable dino mode. I haven't been too impressed with most of the retail Grimlocks but I like this guy.
The elbow has been fixed for certain, today I saw green versions on pegs in target that had the new fixed arm also, good news!
Considering modifying mine to be more G1... thinking mainly about: - changing the dino arms to T-rex claws instead of hands - modifying the dino head to have less of a chin. Anyone else do anything like this yet?
This version of Grimzilla is my first and only sample of RID15, and I'm glad I picked him up. Not mindblowing, but still pretty solid. I liked the design from the reveal of the original mold, as well as the green/black deco, but the QC issues and Combiner Wars hunts put me off for a while. When the fixed version and the homage deco showed up at once, that changed my mind. Dino mode's good and chunky and not too gappy, transformation sequence comes together nicely (and I like the way the legs work out, even with the faux tailtip molded inside the half that doesn't fold up, nice touch), and I find the bot mode reasonably burly and posable. Not to say there aren't a few hiccups with my sample - the bot shoulders/dino hips are kinda loose, but not bad enough to make him fall over; and the elbows/dino knee ratchets are weirdly tight in one direction and loose in the other. Also wish he had a weapon of his own, but Orion Pax's battleaxe looks good in his hand, and there's enough articulartion to get some decent poses with it. Only other thing of note is that the taller, slim head design does look a bit odd with a faceplate - not bad, just sort of strange at first look. Yeah, kinda on the small side, but that's modern deluxes for you. Still looks good with my legends/scout/cyberverse-sized guys, and properly intimidating to the shelf of Tenkai Knights and Halo minifigs. For a one-shot dip into RID15, I'm pleased. ETA: even though it leaves his back gappy, being able to leave the dino head up in robot mode makes for a neat 'monster' form.
Altered Beast. I like it. Anyhoo, I picked this guy up. I might return it... is he supposed to have a like... 15 degree bend at the elbow between ratchets? Like, he holds his poses well enough, but the elbows only "lock" every 30 degrees or so. In between, it's basically reliant on gravity to not move. The ratchet isn't breaking, but it is so loose between each ratchet it's pretty sad. I love the way the figure looks. But between the... "floating" elbows, tiny size, and lack of accessories, I might return it.
