Tag Archives: Tyrannosaurus

Toy Review – Nemesis Grimlock

Don’t ya love it when you come across an incredibly cool action figure that you didn’t even know existed?

It’s such a good feeling for the avid collector, but an increasingly rare one.  No longer do we only find out what Transformers are being released by perusing our local toy stores to see what’s on the shelf.  No sir, we do most of our shopping online and are well aware what toys are in the works, usually a good year before they actually get released.

Well, a really cool figure got past me years ago that I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago when I was on a Japanese site, looking for a Wipe-Out to go with my TR Trypticon, and came across this gem by accident.

So let’s take a look – from the Movie Advanced line – at the dark, the dangerous, the friggin awesome – Nemesis Grimlock!

 

First off – why haven’t you heard of Nemesis Grimlock?

I asked around a lot of my TF buddies and, like me, they had never heard of this toy.  And it’s easy to see why.  This redeco of the AOE Voyager Class Grimlock toy was an exclusive figure you could only obtain by attending a Transformers Expo that ran for 8 days in Yokohama, Japan back in 2014.  Thus if you don’t hail from Japan, this spot of news was easy to miss.

 

Robot Mode

Like all the other Nemesis characters (Prime, Hot Rod, Primal etc) Nemesis Grimlock has his colour scheme made up of blacks, purples and light blues.  And damn does it work!  So much cooler than the awful baby-poo brown and death-grey colour scheme of the original toy.  For the first time I find myself really liking a Movieverse Grimlock in his robot mode.

Fricken bitchin!

He has decent articulation and is able to be posed fairly well.  He scales quite well with other Nemesis characters and his weapon looks like it could deal a lot of damage.  Overall fantastic!

 

Robo-Dinosaur Mode

To be honest I don’t think they’ve made a good looking Movieverse Grimlock toy outside of the Studio Series one.  Every other one has got weird colour schemes and weirder features.  Proportions wise Nemesis Grimlock has the same flaws as his regular AOE counterpart.  But given that this is meant to be an evil version of Grimlock, the weird huge face and teeth with the psychotic eyes work for once – you could imagine that this is the criminally insane version of Grimlock that arose from the bowels of Unicron himself.

The hellishly insane version of Big Grim!

The club can be attached to the tail to make… err…. an extremely long tail, but is best left detached.  Nemesis Grimlock comes with a jaw chomping gimmick, some articulation and scales OK with Nemesis Primal, if not the other Nemesis robots.

 

Transformation

Not particularly hard or fiddly – you’ll pick it up fairly quick.

 

Worth Getting?

A Nemesis Grimlock figure?  Hells yes it is!  I don’t care that it hails from the Movieverse continuity rather than the Generations line, it’s still a cool concept.  Surprisingly this figure isn’t that hard to find online, probably because no one is actively searching for it, and isn’t ruinously expensive so if you fancy him you shouldn’t have too many headaches tracking one down.

 

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toy Review – Titan Changer Grimlock

The Authentics line is not the most beloved of Transformer toylines.  People don’t rant online about their local store being out of stock or discuss on message boards how excited they are about a new figure coming up.

What the Authentics line is known for is being relatively cheap, usually G1 inspired and relatively easy to find.  Most supermarkets will have a few Authentics toys in their tiny toy sections so if you live near a Coles or Woolworths chances are you can find one.

 

There have already been two Grimlocks in the Authentics line.  If one were to use classifications from the Generations line you would say a ‘Scout’ class and a ‘Deluxe’ class.  Both were OK looking, but of course not brilliant and made of extremely cheap materials.  Hasbro has decided to continue with this theme but upscale it, so let’s have a look at the new Titan Changer class of Authentics toy with an all new Grimlock figure.

 

Robot Mode

Tall!

Undoubtedly G1 inspired and with the simplicity of his look you could almost classify him as a representation of how he looked in the old G1 Marvel comics.  Interestingly he has some shoulder mounted multi-missile launchers which are far more indicative of Cyberverse Grimlock toys.  Perhaps this is to make up for the fact he has no other weapons and no accessories.

This figure has limited articulation, having some swivel at the hips and shoulders as well as being able to bend at the knees.  No elbows however and no neck swivel.

“Me Grimlock frolick!”

The toy is extremely lanky, his overly long legs putting him on a height scale with many Generations Leader-Class figures.  He is also extremely thin, and if you turn him around you will see there is almost literally nothing behind him.

“WHO STEAL GRIMLOCKS CALVES?!”

 

Space Tyrannosaurus Mode

It’s… actually not that bad

It’s…. OK.  The back of the dinosaur mode is very boxy, almost the opposite of the overly elongated POTP Grimlock figure.  The head is a lot flatter than your usual Grimlock toy.  He has a small lever on the back of his head which allows you to open and shut the dinosaur jaws and is his only real gimmick.  As the robots arms become the dinosaurs legs, the figure has no knee movement and his upper arms are locked in position.

Look, its not great OK.  But we’ve had some pretty average looking dinosaur mode toys for Grimlock over the years so it’s not like this one is significantly worse than a lot of the others.

The Space T-Rex sniffs the air, trying to locate the scent of its next meal

 

Overall

I think my kids put it best when they were fiddling with this figure this morning: ‘This is a kids toy isn’t it Dad, cause’ it’s so light’.  Firstly I love the fact they think most of my Transformers are intended for adults since its dad that gets them – bless their hearts!  But it was a good analysis from them – this toy being such a big figure made out of such cheap plastic means that it is best suited for younger fans who want their own Grimlock toy to play with.  Combine this with a simplistic transformation and relatively low price tag (mine cost $30[AU] from Aldi) and it means that while this is a Grimlock most collectors will happily skip, it may be a great gift for their offspring.

 

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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