Note: Mods, if there is already a thread for him, please kindly merge.

Scored Grimwing last week during one of my hunting romps.
To cut the long story short - He is awesome.



Compared to other Predacons I have (Predaking, Lazerback and Skystalker), this figure stood out as one of the best Predacon to date.

General Observations:
One thing that impressed me when I unboxed Grimwing was to find out how tight the joints are. Unlike my Predaking figure, Grimwing looks solid and are able to hold the poses well. In addition to that, the proportions for Grimwing is spot on 'heroic' looking. it is difficult to explain, but all i can say is that once you have him, he looks the part of a hero instead of a villian.
There is also alot of sculpted detail on the figure, which pleases me to no end.



Articulation:
Excellent articulation all around. He is what to be expected from a modern Voyager figure and Grimwing delivers it in spades. The pictures I took will show the types of heroic and good poses he can pull off. All in all, as an articulation nut, I am impressed. He looks dynamic, he looks bulky and even his beast mode, you call pull of some really nice poses.



Colors:
Springer in Beast form - minus the triple changer feature. Yup, that is right, he has green all over him, but not to the point that it becomes gaudy and becomes an eyesore. he has the right amount of green on him and the different tones of green are distributed equally in this figure. even the grey plastic used is not the typical swirly grey plastic but solid dark grey plastic. it adds to its appeal. The wings are painted green and tampoed with some Cybertronian symbol.





Beast Mode:
UrsaGrpyh? Urzagriff? Hmmm..whatever, the beast mode is servicable at best and his spots the usual 'bend-over and transform to beast mode' scheme. Not very intituive but like I said, serviceable. I think alot of thought can be but into the transformation scheme, but seeing how impressive the bot mode is, this is quite forgiven. Only a bit. But all I can say, you could still pull off some neat poses in the bot mode.





Transformation:
what is there to say? It is simple, straight to the point and if you transformed some Beast Hunters figure, you will know where to start and relish on how simple yet elegant the transformation is. i did it even without prior to watching youtube reviews or even instructions.

Blackbeak:
In my honest opinion, this add on would have been fun, but the string gimmick is a let down for me. He is suppose to be his own character, but to me, he is kind of a waste. But all in all, which Cybertronian you can find that carries a decapitated bird head that talks back as a weapon? Novelty value here. But dies off quite fast.



Conclusion?
Grimwing also marked the return of normal sized voyagers into the line. DOTM was atrocious at best since most of the voyagers are like slightly tall deluxes. But Grimwing doesn't disappoint. And I will say this again - he is big, bulky, looks powerful and a fun to play figure. I had many great hours playing, posing and taking pictures of him, and till now I am still impressed with the figure. He is a solid figure and will make a nice addition to those collecting the Beast Hunters line and those who love Beast Wars/Machine. Even if you are not a fan of Beast Wars, I'd say, give him a shot. You might like him.

Go get him. he is worth it and some how, I can't help to fathom that his bio reeks of Beast wars Silverbolt (who is also a fuzor like Grimwing.)

My final score - 8/10.

 

Thanks for the review!

Figure went from a 'no' to a 'maybe' now for me!

I understand where you are coming from regarding heroic poses. His normal standing position of shins curved in and shoulders squared / chest out makes him look very imposing.

2 issues for me though:
1. I can't get past his simple 'transformation'; being a voyager this adds to his disadvantage.
2. Blackbeak looks like a really weak weapon. The other Predacons' weapons seem to gel pretty well with the robot modes but Blackbeak looks like an afterthought.

p.s. Looks like Storm Eagle from Megaman X

 

Repaint into RID Megatron with a new head. Yum.

But love it as it is. May get him eventually.

 

Thanks for the pictures!

Is this guy out in the states now? Or just the online stores (BBTS)? I think I want to get him now.

 

Want him! XD

Can his beak closed/fully closed?

Also, can I request a comparison pic between him and FoC Shockwave, or Generations Warpath? Thanks  

 

I agree..something about the design really screams something like "heroic warrior"

The beast mode looks OK at best..bot mode is worth the price of enetry if you ask me..WOW..

BLACKBEAK...Congratulations Hasbro.. You had one of the COOLEST character ideas with these 2 in a long time, and it got wasted into a spring weapon gimmick.

If Blackbeak was a decent little legends figure that somehow TF'd or something...just the character bio had me sold..The little evil troll thing that whispers bad thoughts into the big guys ear.. MAN you had it goin on..than you shove a spring down the birds throat and call it a day?!?! One of the biggest character wastes in a long time.

Thanks for the write up..I will buy this one

Need comparison pics too..good review

 

Most of my stuffs are in storage, but here are some pics for the request.

Yes, the beak can open and close


Comparo with FOC Grimmy


With Deluxe Generations Warpath

 

I dig the look of him...badass in my opinion. Sure the transformation is simple, but I'm cool with that.

 

I want it now badly, I have some cool picture ideas between this and BW Silverbolt. With a little working, I could see this turning out as a BH Silverbolt.

 

Great looking figure.
Thanks for the pictures.

 

Am I the only one who is incredibly reminded of Prime Dreadwing? Really good looking robot mode, boring transformation.

Except... wow, this transformation is godawful. Doesn't even look good in non-robot mode. But... the robot mode is just SO striking. Definite pass for me, but I have to give credit where it's due.

 

These Predacons seem to be getting lazier and lazier with the transformations... but their bios are some of the best I've seen.

I was under the impression Blackbeak was more of a second head growing out of Grimwing's back, kinda like the mythical Chimera has. Too bad that's not the case.

Grimwing himself looks... kinda Soviet. The symbols on his wings (especially his left one) seem vaguely like the hammer and sickle, while his beast mode is very bear-like. Probably just a coincidence, but a neat contrast to the decidedly American Optimus Prime. And with Grim's bio and oddly heroic proportions, I can't help but think of the old "heroes on both sides" adage.

 

I'm guessing it's the proportion, and face? at least it is for me

Thanks, and he is BIG! O_O

 

He looks great. People keep comparing him to Silverbolt but... eh, that's a stretch at best. Yeah they're both "fuzors" (really hate when that term is applied to mythical creatures that existed before Beast Wars cartoon) but the similarity comes to a crashing halt there. Honestly, for reasons that escape me, he reminds me of Tigerhawk. (I think it's the green and the more toe-like claws on all his feet) and now I kind of wish he had Tigerhawk's more involved and original conversion.

I just wish he didn't look so generic. Every winged beast in this line puts the wings on the back. It's like the designers had no idea what to do with them. Granted wings on the back make sense, but when practically every one of your beastformers have them, you need to start being more creative.

 

I was unsure about this guy at first, but damn your robot mode pics convinced me that he's a must. I wonder what kind of repaints they'll get out of him?

Thanks for the reveiw and all the pics.

 

Nope, the legs/thighs, forearms, and shoulder pads are all very Dreadwing IMHO.

 

had him for a few days now. i initially really hated him for being so simplistic, but i love the look of bot mode that ive been swayed into the "like"

the only thing i can say really bad about this guy is why the hell do they think not having any form of locking in is acceptable?

 

Bumped from "probably not" to "more likely" for me.

Darn these Predacons. Darn them all to heck!

 

Was going to skip this b/c of the lazy ass alt mode but man this look so awesome!
Will probably cave and buy it when it comes out.

 

I'd agree if there was such a thing as an ursagryph existed outside of this guy in fiction, but to my knowledge he's the first prominent example. A few other people seem to have independently come up with the idea, but Grimwing appears to be a brand new hybrid animal, using terminology similar to mythological creatures.

But yeah, this dude's great, and I definitely want to grab him.