When I started collecting, it's already too late to pick up any Hasbro made Master Piece (Prime and Starscream) in any retail stores

beside evilBay. Later on Hasbro released Skywarp and I was quite happy with it. Now they released Grimlock, a very popular G1

character that I am not a big fan of but the dinosaur mode is adorable. With no big sweat of finding it, unlike Skywarp, I now got my

second MP figure.

 

Grimlock's alternate mode is the T-Rex. Saying him a T-Rex, he is even much more like a Mechagozilla, looks just exactly the same

copy of his G1 representative. There are many Master Piece style gimmicks on this mode to play with, such as swinging the tail can

waggle his head, pushing dow the body can raise his head, opening his month wide and pressing a button to shut it, and able to

change his eye color. He is highly detailed and poseable, a very fun dinosaur mode to play with. The dinosaur forearms are fully

articulated as there are shoulder joints, elbow joints, and movable fingers. But the forearms plastic feels kind of cheap. He also feels

quite sturdy, not quite fragile as Skywarp was felt. Only fear is the chrome paint, especially his teeth, may wear off after time and play.

 

If you ever see his cartoon transformation, you will never have problem transforming this figure. His transformation scheme is just

identical as in cartoon, only somewhat challenging part is folding his tail into the feet. Takara/Hasbro does a great job on represent

him as he looks just identical as him in cartoon. Couple more features here, too, but not as much as in dino mode. He eyes/visor can

switch color and his right hand (and right hand only) can light up the sword and gun after pressing the button to light up the LED

inside his right fist. Some people think this light feature is unnecessary because it totally ruins his right fist, but I am okay to this

feature, because there is a bigger problem for me to worry about, his legs. Grimlock is kind of top heavy and he has thin legs. Either

Hasbro's QC issue or something else, his hip joints are pretty loose. That makes him difficult to pose especially when legs need to

open wide. Luckly mine is not as bad as described in this thread, but just like people said, he is not cheap, Hasbro should take care

of this issue. So if put the angle right, he can still perform some decent poses. On the other hand, he has much more play value than

Skywarp in the robot mode as Skywarp is pretty much a display statue. I am also worried about his shoulder ball joints (dinosaur's

hip joints) being loose after time but so far they look pretty tight. The third accessory is a golden crown, which he doesn't use it

anywhere but in the comic books. This is a nice addition to give him some different looks. Too bad these accessories have no place

to store in the dinosaur mode and I have to keep them separately.

 

Transformation: 7 - Not difficult and not frustrating. Too bad some parts feel (and is) loose.

Fun: 9 - Lots of fun in both modes plus all those little gimmicks. Too bad the loose hip joints deduct it from perfect.

Display: 10 - Super nice to display in dino mode. Looks very good in robot mode either, but just watch his legs. You don't want

him to tip over while displaying him on the shelf.

Value: 6 - $69.99 is bloody from TRU. Even by using Thrust's returned money to bring $12.86 down is still bloody. Considering his

Takara's price can make me feel better but he still suffers some QC issues.

Overall: 8 - Unfortunately like Skywarp, with this high price tag he is still not perfect. True, he is much better than Skywarp. Display

nicely in either modes and has more play values than just display. But the loose hip joints is a shame since he is big and heavy, as

this problem is reasonable and forgiveable to find in the small and light deluxe class. Also shame on TRU to bring his price tag $10

up higher than what he was originally asked for.