Fall of Cybertron Grimlock is nice because he fits well in the Generations/Classics line with his updated G1 look. Being a Voyager class toy, he is almost the right size. I prefer a Cybertron mode Grimlock to be some kind of giant tank like in the “War Within” comics and the Titanium figure. After all, what would the origins of a dino mode be on a planet that has never seen dinosaurs? But I am not really complaining because this is a nice replacement for the really small and weak Classics Grimlock.
The Robot mode is great. The head could have been done a little better, but I suppose that may have been whoever designed him for the video game. He comes with a cool looking sword and a shield. The shield can be mounted on his forearm. The shoulders are mounted in a strange way. They are not really attached to anything, so they have a tendency to move in ways they are not supposed to. But with a little care this can be avoided.
The dino mode looks great from a distance, but as you get closer, several problems are apparent. Posing is severely limited because the hips are attached to the body. The legs become the tail, but are wide and taper smaller before they reach the body, which gives a strange appearance, sort of like a gila monster. The main body is hollow, and not very big, so if you look at Grimlock from the side, you see a blank area. A little bit more kibble on the robot mode would have made a larger, more solid dino mode.
His gimmick is a light up feature that triggers from a switch on the back of the dinohead. In dino mode, it lights up his head and mouth. In robot mode it lights up his chest and some body detailing. Compared to MechTech and other recent Gimmicks, this one is pretty cool. Oddly, every time I press the button, I expect to hear a menacing growl or roar. Generally I hate light and sound effects, but this light effect is pretty good and it would have been nice to include dino sound effects.
Overall, Grimlock is really close to being a great toy. The dino mode is disappointing. I think if they had made the transformation similar to the original G1 Grimlock, the toy would have been much better.
Dino mode: 6
Robot mode: 9
Posability: 7
Playability: 8
Durability: 8
True to Game/Cartoon: 8
Overall: 8
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