Grindor is almost identical to Blackout. The base gray is slightly darker, its barely noticable in person and harder to see on pictures. His joints and chest have a darker coloration to them, his face is silver, and a weird, unnecessary rust like splatter on his arms, waist skirt and rotor. Honestly i kinda like his paint scheme more than Blackout's. I think the darker colors fit the mold better. His articulation is a bit loose but nothing major enough to floor polish any joints.

Grindor also has new articulated hands. Its nice that Hasbro took the effort to fix this.
Ravage is also included replacing Scorponok. He has ball-jointed legs and ok paint and details. He can still store on Grindor's back or underneath in copter mode. Really nothing much more to him.

Transformation is still the same, although i should point out that where his shoulders tab into his chest the connection is nowhere near as tight as it is on Blackout. I dont think its a genuine fix but more of a QC issue, as the top tab on his left shoulder doest tab in at all.

Helicopter mode is the exact same as Blackout, despite Grindor technical having a different vehicle in the movie. Anyway nothing too much to say other than some new minor paint and details. Almost non of the rusty paint is present in vehicle mode making it seem more unnecessary.
Comparison pics with Blackout.

Is Grindor worth getting? Yes and no. If you missed out on Blackout then Grindor is a worthy replacement. If you already do then he's ok to skip, unless you really want Ravage.

 

I missed out on Blackout and after getting Grindor I'm glad that I did. I much prefer the darker grey on Grindor's limbs and the hands are obviously better, both in articulation and in color since they're not just one color. I'm not crazy about the rust paint, but I'll live with it. The only real downside I can think of is missing out on Scorponok. Ravage is neat and all, but since Grindor here is gonna be Blackout on my shelf it'd be nice to have his partner/pet (also Scorponok technically shows up in RotF anyway so he wouldn't be out of place, just saying).

 

Can Ravage somehow be mounted on the forearms as a gun?

 

The rust deco is kinda hilarious since in the old Identity Debate days that was used as evidence that copter-bot was actually a revived Blackout. It's such an obscure detail I'm amazed they bothered to replicate it instead of taking the opportunity to come up with a more unique colorscheme like they did with Shadow Raider. I mean I suppose this is meant as a stealth-reissue, but still. I guess Grindor is just dirty and corroded?

The retooled hands are fantastic, and really unexpected. I dunno how many other figures gain articulation in a re-release.

Ravage looks kinda blah. The silver head is pretty random, and the underbite seems a bit strange. Plus I think the old Legend figure's oddly playful expression made him a whole lot more endearing.


Since I already own Blackout and the DNA kit and Legends Ravage, this is an easy pass.... unless maybe it ever hits deep discount. Would be nice to have a back-up copy in case the thin panels snap.

 

Unfortunately no there's no peg on either the arms and Ravage.

 

I just opened mine and to be honest I'm a little disappointed. Ravage was missing one front leg out of the package. I debated returning/exchanging this to get a complete Ravage, but I decided to go ahead and check out Grindor and make sure I actually want to keep him. The tabs which hold his shoulders in place and the tabs which hold the sections together underneath his forearms are all almost useless. The fit isn't tight enough or the tabs are too shallow and as a result, pieces keep coming untabbed anytime I try to move anything on the figure. I never bought Blackout, thought about it but the hands bothered me. I thought Grindor was going to be a perfect solution, but now I'm thinking it's not worth the $$.

Edit: I spoke too soon about Ravage. Despite a thorough search on, in and under the couch earlier, I just stood up and the missing leg randomly fell off my lap and onto the floor. No idea how it got there unless it fell out of the packaging when I was checking to see if it was trapped in the display base.

Edit 2: Finally transformed him. He looks so good in helicopter mode, but what a massive PitA he is to transform! So many problem areas which don’t want to sit flush and if you fix one, it just makes another one pop out of position. I eventually got him mostly looking like he’s meant to, but it was not a pleasant experience.

 

I just received my Studio Series 73 Grindor and Ravage today in the mail and even though he's just a minor retool/repaint of blackout I'm glad he's got wrist swivels and can move his hands finally I didn't transform grindor to helicopter mode for this review because he's basically the same as blackout in alt mode with minor paint differences

 

better articulated hands for Grindor

 

Grindor 73 is such an awesome retool repaint

 

So glad they made this guy!

I loved Blackout, but could not get past his horrible hands (it totally detracted from the figure IMO) that he ended up in my donation bin.

Grinder rights that issue for me…. 

This mold is back in my collection and will get a prominent spot on my display.

 

What a great repaint. Fills out the character list, gets some upgrades..Im in for 2. Ill swap out blackouts hands, and keep the crappy hand one in chopper mode.

 

I was excited to get this guy since I missed out on Blackout but he is quite the headache. He does not stay tabbed together. Was this a problem with Blackout too or did Grindor just get hit hard with tolerance problems?

 

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat. My Blackout isn't perfect but he does eventually hold solidly in vehicle mode with some effort.

Grindor simply will not tab together. On top of that, his knees, ankles and arms are so loose. He can barely stand, only helped by the fact his chicken legged posture helps distribute the weight. He's ultimately just going on a shelf so I don't feel like going through the effort to track down a better copy (especially since so many seem to have this problem), but it makes it hard to enjoy the thing they did improve on him- those great hands.

 

I ended up feeling like mine was holding together a little bit better once I had transformed him once or twice, but that may’ve been due to improved familiarity more than anything. Still an imposing shelf presence.

 

I missed out on Blackout, so Grindor is a 100% win for me. Love the deco, and I seem to have won the QC lottery on leg/ hip joints. The arms are solid and the panels snap in perfectly on either side of the cockpit in robot mode. Sure, the panels can be a pain going to alt mode, but I've managed for everything to lock together solidly once done.

The hands. Those glorious, articulated hands. Bravo.

 

Shoulders and knees are weaker than Blackout but I think Grindor is more fun because of the hands obviously.


You get to choose which Ravage to carry.

 

That is not rust...that is dirt, mud from the FOREST BATTLE. Remember ?

 

Optimus remembers...

Do you remember?
Fighting with me in that forest scene
Do you remember?
I broke off the arm of Starscream
Do you remember?
Megatron had returned from the dead
Do you remember?
I like to go for peoples heads

By the way, didn't I break your head?
Please excuse me, I like to break peoples heads
Not sorry, I wanted to break your head
Piece of can

 

Do you need to pop pins out in order to switch the hands from Grindor to Blackout?