It all folds into the legs, maybe some into the arms too? You can see it best here. There is one big panel the smaller ones fold into, and then all of it folds into the leg proper.

 

Isn't that literally Grapple?

Lol

This'll be why I'll get this guy  

Preach it brother.

 

Also looks like the crane is attached to the silver armature that folds up. I think there is a backpack panel that supports the armature/crane assembly that covers up the arms and has some aide detailing then the rest is coming from the legs as you pointed out.

 

Similar, but different from TT Grapple. They'll look great together. I'm in.
Guess I need a Hound and a Cliffjumper to emulate that one scene.

 

Hauler's alt truck mode is different from Grapple's, and his robot mode wasn't shown, so G1 Cartoon Hauler could have a totally different robot mode from Grapple and still be accurate to the show. His robot mode would be a new design like they did with Slammer.

 

Wow it looks so cool with those small details. Very, very nice alt mode and exactly what I was looking for. I really hope quality will be good and even when it's XTB (I don't like them too much) I might bite on this. Btw I'm only interested in Inferno and Grapple. Not familiar with this character though.

 

If anyone wants to sell their MMC Hauler to get this one, lmk. I have their grapple and in my head those two should be the same. I may grab this artfire though.

 

Some of these questions can be answered by looking at the prototype for Dante. You can see here, like the render, the housing part for the head also "floats". The old physical prototype pics can help you compare to the renders to see what changed and what parts move where. You can also see what parts are diecast. I hope they do a good job matching the paint to the plastic. MMC nailed the paint matching with Roadcrane.

XTB salvaged a majority of this design, improving details and making new feet that aren't giant skis.

 

Looking forward to this as I'll have one of each of the Inferno molds from TT, Ocular Max, Maketoys, and now XTB.

 

Already Sold Out on Showz
[Pre-Order] XTransbots MX-35 Caravaggio Grapple Limited Version

 

Limited Stock for this on Omegalock. Members only just now

 

Since I'm sure HasTak won't do their own, this may not be a bad addition!

 

I think the character "Hauler" only showed in the 1st 3 episodes (the 1st open and closed story ark). Sometimes he was green and others he looked like Grapple. Grapple himself didn't officially appear til later.

 

TFSource still has him.

 

I wouldn't put it past TakaraTomy to eventually do a green re-paint of MP-35 Grapple to make a Hauler. They've done it before with their other lines to re-use the mold. I think the first one was many years ago as a "retailer exclusive" and I could see MP-35G being a TT Mall Exclusive. Hasbro/TT practically invented the "not an animation error = new character" concept with giving Hauler a new color and biography/backstory. Pretty impressive for a animation error only seen for a couple seconds that never speaks and never transforms.

But I like the idea of having a second mold and a different transformation process. XTB couldn't make the crane boom vanish using the same TT magic, but they do other things that I may enjoy. Since we never see Grapple transform we've got no way of knowing if he should have a crane boom hanging off his back or a nozzle hand. XTB is free to come up whatever robot mode they want! I'm all for getting as many different molds as possible for the re-paint characters so they do not look identical. If TT ever does make a Grapple I won't feel bad as I've already bought the MP-35 mold once.

Glad I got my PO on this guy before he started selling out.

 

BBTS still had it so I put in my preorder there. Wow didn’t think these would sell like this.

 

This is how I feel about it too. I preordered him on the basis that this now makes him not “just a repaint/slight remold”. It’s obvious he is based off the same design, but he’s got a mold all to himself (in terms of my collection) so that will add just enough uniqueness.

 

Retconned and back again...
@Chris McFeely !

 

Pre-ordered, but I don't know why.

He's not what necessarily imagine Hauler being (I'd want a Hook redeco).

Maybe I'm an easy mark for the super special limited edition gimmick.

 

Interesting. When Hasbro decided that Hauler was an ex-Constructicon it kind of ruled out for me that he'd be both the same model and same color as Hook. You know, the 8 Constructicons and Hauler was ret-conned to be one of them in order to justify his toy paint scheme.

Hauler would be the smaller crane and Hook would be the larger crane or else they'd be identical twins. I'm not thrilled that a lot of figures share a mold, but to share both mold and color would bug me. You could just buy Hook twice and have a Hauler? Just knowing that the animators thought Grapple would be in the 1984 wave but got pushed back to 1985 is enough to convince me that he should be Grapple shaped.

But an interesting idea that Hauler should be a bigger crane like Hook. We don't see all that much of Hauler in the cartoon so you can't be wrong!