Grimlock is a strange little mixed bag for me. After initial reactions, I don't strongly dislike that it lacks the dalmatian spots of the classic BW toy. If I was to guess, I think maybe whoever was in charge of deco decisions either believed the old cow spots looked dumb, and/or wanted to mix in a bit more G1 Grimlock homage to the design, which might explain the gray and the red around the ribs. Even so, the deco feels a bit underdone in spots, especially when it comes to robot mode, which could use some dark paint to blend out the side chest panels/dino thighs. It's especially funny to see the blank bands on the tail, which I can only assume were done to make the unpainted tail mount and tip/sword look intentional. Even so, the look is reasonably good, more so in dino mode than robot mode, but the robot mode does have a sweet toy-inspired head sculpt.

Overall, it ain't bad even if you were there mainly just to get Mirage from the pack.

 

The split paint on the legs bother me. I will fix it soon...

 

Raptors are my favorite dinosaurs, so I felt obligated to get some version of this mold. While I wish the design was better, Grimlock at least fixes the most egregious paint issues Dinobot had. It's a little weird they invented an entirely new color pattern instead of going for the silly dalmatian pattern the original is famous for, but I rather like it.


The thigh panels don't seem to want to close sometimes, which is pretty annoying.



The color layout changes so drastically between modes! Grimlock looks rather unpainted here, really should have colors 'bleed' from one part to another instead of everything suddenly coming to a halt at these hard edges. Though I kinda like how those odd red patches on the sides evoke Dino Damage from the old Jurassic Park toylines.

I love all the articulation the arms get. Wrists swivels instead of a rotating rotate blade is an excellent trade-off. The legs are kinda stiff, which combined with the gold plastic color is giving me terrible flashbacks to Protoform Starscream (who's arms were practically immobile). His waist also wobbles a bit, which is kinda unnerving.



Wouldn't say this is a must-have or anything, but for me it's nice to once again get a TF just because it turns into something I like.

 

The dino thighs actually tab in on my Grimlock, they will not tab in on my Dinobot. My Grimlock also doesn't have a wobbly waist like Dinobot.

 

I had no idea why they chose the deco they did for this guy, but after getting in hand it somewhat makes sense, but not really.
The head is cast in black while the neck, arms, lower legs, and back of the dino are all cast in gray plastic. All that white you see on those pieces is all paint. Even on the legs, most of that white is painted over the brownish-gold plastic (which I am not entirely confident in). Painting the entire piece white and then dalmation spots on top probably wouldn't be cost effective, but why didn't they just cast all that in white? Dinobot had all his dino parts cast in the same color. Without looking at the molds themselves I don't have a good answer. Maybe someone in committee really did think the dalmation spots were dumb? (not that they were going to be buying one anyway)

Painting this guy is going to be a hassle and a half, but half of the reason I got this was as a gift, so maybe they won't mind the changes and I won't have to bother? That gold plastic though. Looking pretty nervous. I'm tempted to keep him in the box and just wait to see how long it take to crumble without touching it or getting sunlight even.

 

Anyone want to sell their Mirage? I didn't like Grimlock so I skipped the pack.

 

No, but I am selling Grimlock at cost.

On topic, I’m glad I got to try this mold but beasts really aren’t my thing. Nothing glaringly wrong with my copy as compared to the issues some have had with Dinobot. Except for those forearms I’d probably be happy with this fig if I collected BW figs.

 

It feels to me like it's kinda a hybrid of the Various original BW Dinobot Grimlock repaints, with the "Dalmatian" version colours but laid out in a similar fashion to the Walmart Dinobots version with the top of dino head markings.
Though I think from the box art the original intent may have been more like this...

...or at least the full robot chest deco-ed to match up the head markings, if not the grey plastic break blending & extra accents completing the boots and knee armour I wanted, but it got nixed by the dreaded budget.

Absolutely fell in love with this mould in-hand, and I've being trying to avoid getting sucked into picking up the Beasties, this fella and Skywarp have made it that bit more difficult!

 

And thus, Hasbro's evil plan has borne fruit.

 

Joke's on them, they're gonna have to do an Elephant remould of Rhinox as Santon/Maximal Ironhide, a Lio Junior/Maximal Prowl...somehow(?), and Terranotron/Maximal Swoop recolour of Terrorsaur to get my monies for more Beasties!  

 

I am really enjoying this figure. While I find the robot mode silly looking, the raptor mode is convincing and the conversion became very satisfying once I learned the nuances of the it. If done properly, the hip pieces connect together securely and the robot legs tuck into the body of the dino mode effortlessly.

Grimlock is a figure done well. I give credit where credit is due.

 

Outside of the thigh pieces in raptor mode that are the torso sides in bot mode not locking in for beast mode, I have zero complaints.

I love the headsculpt. The color deco may be eclectic, but it does stand out and he really seems to have some character to him.

 

The tolerances on the thighs are pretty exact, they only have to be very slightly out of alignment to cause the popping.
You have to make sure the shoulder pauldron's flat side is properly lined up with the torso/thigh back panel hinge, and the bicep swivel has to be exactly in neutral position with the top of the bicep facing straight (Raptor mode) forwards.

Even slightly off I've found the bicep will pop the thighs, if you want to do more dynamic raptor poses though you'll just have to accept the pop I'm afraid.

 

Prelude: Do you know Grimlock? Of course you know Grimlock, who doesn’t know Grimlock? But do you know that Grimlock was part of Beast Wars? That he was a repaint of Dinobot? That he appeared in the IDW Beast Wars comics? That he got a figure in the Kingdom toy line? Well, now you know! And knowing is half the battle. The other half? Stomping Predacons into the ground, I guess. So let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Grimlock is a repaint (with a new head) of Kingdom Dinobot, so this review will focus mostly on the differences between the two figures. Grimlock’s new paint job is a mixture of white, black, and grey, along with some gold for the legs and feet. The original Beast Wars figure was a Gold Plastic Syndrome victim, we shall see in a few years if the same holds true for Kingdom Grimlock. The paint job isn’t one hundred percent accurate when compared to the original Beast Wars Grimlock, as we’re missing a few black spots on the chest and the forearms weren’t grey, but overall it’s a close match. Apart from the new colors there are no changes to the body of the figure and personally I like the color mix. It’s a bit eclectic, granted, but I like it.

The new head is an interesting tidbit, as it looks more like an Optimus Prime head than a Grimlock head, to be honest. In fact, though, it’s basically the original Beast Wars Dinobot head, as in the one from the original toy, which looked nothing like the kisser Chopperface would sport in the TV series. So, Optimus Prime? Grimlock? Dinobot? Take your pick. Again, I like it.

No other changes to the robot mode. Same great articulation, same weird weaponry, same excellent robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Of course Grimlock transforms into a Velociraptor as well, no changes here except the paint job. Now the original Beast Wars Grimlock was mostly white in this mode with black Dalmatian spots all over his back. Here Kingdom Grimlock differs quite a bit, as he is mostly white on the sides and belly, but his back and his lower legs are grey, while the top of his head is black. Not sure which one is the weirder color choice, to be honest.

No other changes to the beast mode. The colors look weirder than those of Dinobot, sure, but that’s about the only difference.

Remarks: Grimlock never appeared in the Beast Wars TV series. He was a toy-only character (and “just” a repaint, at that) and whether or not he was the actual G1 Dinobot leader was a topic of much debate, despite his toy profile text making it pretty clear. IDW finally made it canon through their Beast Wars Sourcebook and Grimlock’s appearance in the two IDW Beast Wars miniseries. So, given that we got a great Dinobot toy in the Kingdom line, it was not much of a surprise that we would get a Grimlock repaint out of it, even if it was just in a two-pack with a G1 figure. Still waiting on that Hardhead repaint.

I know a lot of people got the two-pack only for Mirage, but me, I really just wanted Grimlock. Not sure why, to be honest, apart from being an avid Beast Wars fan. Maybe the oddity of having such a famous character in such a barely-known form somewhat appealed to me, I guess. So bottom line: not really a figure for Grimlock fans (at least not those who adore his classic G1 look), but Beast Wars fans who like the more obscure characters from the old line will like him, I’m sure. Now let’s just hope the gold plastic will hold out.

Rating: B+

Source: Transformers-Universe.com