Ymir’s crouching down in Dino mode like a cat scrunching down on their belly to pounce shows just how impressive Ymir’s articulation is.

Equally and oppositely, not a fan of the colors for this toon version, most especially the flat yellow chest piece. Nuh-nuh-nuh-no, that won’t do at all.

Good thing New Age makes a ton of repaints.

I dunno how deeply I’ll taste the rainbow but a Metallic/Toy and G2 repaints are definites for me.

 

It's kind of strange to me:
As we know, DX9 designer left to form NA.
So people saying DX9 Devastator is v1.0 and NA Devastator is v2.0
Same DX9 dinobots is v1.0 and NA dinobots is v2.0

How come I don't see much improvement in design? Some of the cool feature in 1.0 actually missing in 2.0. Like NA Devastator became pants-former. And NA Grimlock's head is no longer hidden.

Seem the designer lost his magic or become lazy.

 

they’re just prioritizing toon sculpt and articulation now

the designer has gotten way better because now Devastator doesn’t look like complete garbage in every mode and Grimlock has like twice as many joints while still looking more toon

 

He looks really damn good. The inner robot legs are a negative but the Dino mode is so articulated.

 

Looks good but it will take more than that to replace my already existing legends dinobots.

 

Looks very impressive, if I had to critique anything it would be the dino head on the back being present (though its very unobtrusive) I just loved the way the DX9 version snuck the dino head away

As you can see, I too loved the head being hidden in the chest but in terms of articulation and proportions its far superior, besides, we dont know who designed what anyway.

 

So it’s safe to say that he will probably be out before any of the autobot cars? Seeing how this image looks to be a near final figure.

 

This is Legends scale. I'm just shaking my head in absolute wonder that this is a Legends scale. Even if the inner bot legs are the way they are, that is amazing for the detail.

Also, why has no one else tried a flame effect from the dino mode into the flaming sword before? Because that's just genius. If that were in MP scale (or even Studio Series scale), it would look exactly as it should, which is amazing.

 

I'm not sure if every NA's designer is former DX9, but they design new figures, not to improve their v1. For that, there will be improvements and some sacrifice.
For the Devastator and especially this Grimlock I think they are better. Grimlock is much more toon accurate, better articulations in both modes.
And about the dino head on Grimlock's back, it's actually both toy and toon accurate. Having it hidden is cool, but I prefer not.

 

Fair enough. It definitely is a just a hopeful guess. The main reasons for my optimism are due to the fact that with everything else they've announced so far that is still upcoming, Grimlock pretty much looks ready to go, whereas a lot of the other figures they've announced are still only in the render stage. With them being this far along with Grimlock seemingly out of nowhere (no render tease or anything), I get the feeling the rest of the team are probably decently far along as well. I know the Dinobots are an important team to a lot of people, so I would think NA would want to get all of them released in a pretty timely manner.

I definitely agree that other figures and repaints will be released in between each Dinobot. With how many figures NA has been releasing this year alone, I guess I'm just giving them in the benefit of the doubt. I won't be surprised/upset if the whole team isn't out when I guessed, because yes, they do have a lot on their plate right now.

I do think it would be surprising if the whole team isn't out by the end of next year tho. That's 17 months (leaving out CNY) to get out the whole team, along with at least everything they have announced as of right now. I feel like they could do it. But who knows, I could be totally wrong.   I have little knowledge of the design process and release process. For all I know, they could just be planning on releasing only Grimlock for now to start up the hype train for the rest of the team, and work on the rest of their stuff before continuing with the Dinos. Only time will tell I suppose. I only hope we don't have to wait too long  

 

The arms!   The AAAAAAAAARRMS!!!!! Guys, did you see the arms?! Look at those arms! Its a dinobot that can actually be posed expressively in dino mode! The tail is impressive as well, but just look at those arms. And speaking of arms, double-jointed elbows in bot mode. On Grimlock! This guy is more articulated and alive looking than any representation of the character has ever been.

The sculpt is fantastic. He makes the bland looking cartoon design look dynamic and, well I already said he looks alive but again, he looks alive. Would I prefer more of the greeblies from the toy or MP? Of course. But damn, this guy on his own is enough to make me a believer in the toon style.

Speaking of toy, we can see that his chest panel is a separate piece which means they've almost certainly laid the groundwork for a clear panel in toy mode. Hardly surprising but welcome confirmation anyway. I'm seriously salivating at the thought of this mold in toy deco.

Btw, did I mention how much I like the arms?

As for negatives... who can think of negatives while looking at those arms? I kid, I kid. I agree that the inner legs in robot mode are unfortunate but, if @NOCV doesn't do a kit to fix them, then I'll do one (might have to wait a while though). I also would like even more articulation. The way Grimlock's head always swivels at the base of the neck is great but it would also be nice if the head could swing side to side. When you have the dino angled forward with his chest parallel to the ground and you want him to look to the side, he ends up turning his head sideways rather than keeping parallel to the ground. Not sure if anybody will ever figure out a way to do that without severely messing up the sculpt but, if it were possible, it's one thing I'd really like Grimlock to have.

Anyway, I think I'm going to have to change my plan to wait for Ex. He's just too gorgeous i I need both. Btw, I can't believe I haven't mentioned it before now but look at those freakin' arms!!

 

Wonderful post. Agreed 100%

 

Yes, as far as I understand on their Weibo, NA was replying some comments that Grimlock will be the next character, and they have no plan to mess up the upcoming order yet.
So for their current plan, after H44 will be H45 which we don't know yet. Even H46, H50, H51 which were revealed earlier will also be in order. (Not counting their delayed Stunticons, so that might be the only exception for now, Flying Tiger in the comment is also Menasor)

 

I think it would also make sense to get the Dinobots out in a timely manner since they are the Constructicons rivals.  

 

Seems strange that they revealed those figures so early.

 

Looking good. I’ll echo loving how expressive the dino arms are. I don’t really need a toon version, as SS86 fills that niche, but looking forward to the EX and G2 versions.

 

I'm so in for this and at least the destined toy/EX version. You just know the chest insert will get the translucent treatment for that deco.

 

Dino mode is the absolute star here. I don't like the arms & legs in bot mode.

 

Deluxe class Cyberverse Grimlock came with a flame piece that had a 5mm peg at the end so he could hold it, though it looked more like a club than a sword.

I don’t have much of an interest in the NewAge figures as I have too many Iron Factory figures to swap to another third party but this figure is very tempting. Might even scale well with the Iron Factory figures… hopefully.