AWWWWW YEAH baby, we are going to start with the big guy himself! I hadn’t found the Voyager, but man ole Grimlock here looked pretty impressive in his box. Now the current Leaders are $45, so I couldn’t get both him and Prime…let’s see if I made the correct choice…
Let’s start in Dinomode…I mean the INSTRUCTIONS started in dinomode after all…even if in robot mode…and let me tell you, it wasn’t just simply reversing the instructions…but I digress. This is a big dino. I mean he is taking up my light box box.. Here we can start some of the nit picking…first, that is a LOT of chrome. Not bad…but I could deal with all grey metal plastic to be honest. The funny part is the the box pictures has all gold plastic instead. I know one day that will scrape. Next I have to talk about his legs…well one part about them…
The hell is this? This is a Leader Class toy…a $45 buck figure…and they can’t have the hands fold in? I mean c’mon…there could have been a cover or something…ok, it does work slightly like a heal spur, but this is a real let down.
Next I want to go over the body. This guy is rigid. No flexibility at all. So this entire length stays straight. And this isn’t the easiest to balance. The tail portion is actually his weapons, and these don’t quite fit in just right, and so they can pop off as well. I really think a hinged mounting would have saved it…
The last thing I want to harp on is those oh so so soooooo tiny arms. I mean there are jokes about t-rex arms, but this takes the cake. Now I do have to say the dino head is pretty boss with all them sharp teeth and crazy eyes…Also the chrome looks great with the head. I really could go on about what I don’t like about this mode…but I wanted to end on a high note.
Now let us talk the Robot mode…this glorious bot…this is what attracted me to him instead of Prime. The Chrome is broken up here, and looks great. I love the design, especially the split t-rex head. The whole dinobot robot team is to sport a knight motif, and I love it!
The head has an awesome sculpt. Now I do wish the neck was on a ball joint so he could look up and down. Side to side is still rather tight. The beastly eyes are shared here as well.
Articulation is decent, though not much with the neck, nor a waist swivel. Still the legs give plenty of play. The wrists swivel and elbows are decent. The shoulders are on hard ratchets and don’t have the fullest range in motion, but I really don’t care too much to be honest.
Really, when you deck him out with his weapons, it out shines the faults in the robot mode. He balances great in dynamic poses, and that is all I want.
The dinobots are the warriors. I will have to say, they look the part. I look at Grimlock here, and I don’t see the rampaging beast. I’m hoping he will be more like a Klingon warrior of honor. Hell I look at this guy and I think if he was voiced by Michael Dorn, it would be perfect. We will just have to see.
I have to say if you are on the fence about the Leader Class Grimlock, ask yourself are you wanting both a badass robot AND dinosaur? If so, pass…but if you are just a robot junkie, I can endorse him fully. Now if I can find the voyager in the next few weeks…
-Starscreamer
Starscreamersrants 
Great review! He sure ain’t screaming Grimlock to me, but I do find myself digging the robot mode a lot. Mace is very cool. I think the chrome looks pretty good too. The dino mode is interesting (maybe a smidge of Transmetal Megsy in there?) but it seems pretty far afield from what Grimmy looks like in the movie.
I’m trying to be resolute and not buy any AoE figures, but I am a Transformers fan, so I’m afraid over what’s going to happen the first time I see these on the shelf.
Some figures seem easy passes in this line, Galvatron snd Drift come to mind. Others though, like the Dinos and Lockdown, I will get.
Shit, I haven’t seen Lockdown yet!