Transformers Generations: Fall of Cybertron Grimlock review

As cool as Grimlock looked, I despise how he tended to act and sound like a real idiot. "Me Grimlock King!" is iconic, but it really doesn't convey how powerful he can be. The other Dinobots sharing the same personality didn't help either. I liked seeing Grimlock speak in full sentences in some of the Marvel Comics, I was okay with him acting primitive in Animated, and I found the Bruce Banner/Hulk dynamic to be unique for Cyberverse (that Grimlock makes for a better Banner/Hulk than Mark Ruffalo did in ANY movie he's been in since Ragnarok!). Fall of Cybertron made Grimlock a pretty more epic character in my opinion, as he was not just fanservice for the casuals and 80s nerds but also having a backstory that works well! He and the Lightning Strike Coalition was tampered by Shockwave's experiment as he was altered with dinosaur DNA, and Grimlock was made into a much stronger yet aggressive Cybertronian. Fans, sadly, didn't have as much of a liking to the Voyager figure as they did with the character. Maybe it was somewhat well-received, but not as much as they hoped to. Here's my review of the Generations: Fall of Cybertron Grimlock!

Here is Grimlock in his Tyrannosaurus Rex mode, which takes the G1 dinosaur and modernize it with the stance that the species is now known for: standing horizontally than vertically. The old posture looked more noticeable on robotic Tyrannos like G1 Grimlock and the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord from MMPR. This look for Grimlock works well for what it's going for, though I feel that the beast mode looks good from the front, as the tail from the back looks like another face that sort of looks like a mutant Mammoth Grimlock. I kind of wish the tail was more poseable, but that's a trait G1-styled Grimlocks almost always have (since their tails become the legs). It's not so noticeable in this angle, but the underside of his chest makes is hollow, though at least the legs make it less so. Commenting on the colors, but the gray looks fine with the red highlights, but the gold looks kind of tan; the worst part is how cheap the arms look with how light gray they are in comparison to the rest of his body.

The head can light up if you pull the tab that's behind his head. It looks better in a darker area where the glow is more noticeable, though the strength of the red LED makes the head look less opaque. This gimmick is neat but it does mean that you can't properly make Grimlock open his jaw manually.

Grimlock's weapons can be stored on the sides of his hips (which become his shoulders in robot mode). I do wish that he was able to store the weapons a bit better, though I guess if Optimus was in a joust, he could have Grimlock's weapons on the legs than hold them.

In case you're wondering about Grimlock's scale, here he is with the Studio Series version of the character. I do like how Grimlock's able to look different in some universes, and while RID15 Grimlock's not the exact same character as the FOC guy, I like how he's a different take on the norm.

Grimlock's transformation feels like it's a backwards version of the G1 robot transformation. I saw that because while G1 design normally still faces the front in either mode, this transformation has the dino mode face the back. Also, the transformation isn't quite accurate to how it's done in-game.

Grimlock's robot mode looks better than the dino mode, since it captures most of the proportions that he had in the series. I say that because his upper torso and arms look great while the legs look thin by comparison. Speaking of, the hinges below the knees aren't quite strong enough to let him stand straight, so he has a tendency to lean forward. The robot mode looks decent from the sides and the back, though the lower legs look awful with how little plastic fills in the legs. One final thing I do wish this Grimlock had was shinier gold, especially on the chest.

The headsculpt is my favorite part of this figure. It looks like the mean, lean, fighting machine that G1 fans say Grimlock was in the cartoon, though FOC Grimmy captures it way better here. Also, I love the red visor compared to the normal Autobot blue.

Articulation is that of a normal Voyager amount, though the way Grimlock works from his transformation makes his joints work a bit differently. Neck is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back on some ratchet joints while they move in and out on heavier ratchet joints; those joints make it real hard to pose Grimlock if you don't want to damage the pseudo-butterfly joints/dino leg hinges that he has. The elbows bend; above them are bicep swivels and below them are wrist swivels. The hips move front and back as well as in and out, though they look like they're at an angle. Thighs swivel below the hips, and below them are knees that bend at a right angle.

You can plug the sword into his hand and the shield into his forearm. The sword looks a bit small yet fits well with him. The shield is smaller in comparison, and it can get annoying to have it peg in when the 5mm peg isn't long enoug

For reuses, here is the Japanese release of the mold in the same Generations line. The gray is darker and the gold is more metallic, but what honestly kills it for me is the red midriff. It's meant to resemble the red waist that the G1 version had, but it feels kind of pointless like most red trunk edits on modern Superman suits. T-Rex arms are still in that obnoxious gray plastic.

This is the Platinum Edition variant that came in a 2-pack with a 98% unaltered Bruticus from SDCC. There are a few differences between this and the mass retail version, but this mold has gold chrome that looks kind of off, in my opinion. Doesn't really look like the gold Grimlock normally has.

TakaraTomy made a special repaint of the toy, Fireblast Grimlock. It homaged both a Japanese repaint of Energon Cruellock (Superlink Dinobot Magma Type) and Animated Fireblast Grimlock. I like the unique deco on this toy, but it can only be bought in select Japanese stores at the time of its release.

Weirdly, in the AOE toyline, this Grimlock was repainted like a majority of Dinosaur Transformers were. That was not a bad thing to tie in with cinematic debut of the Dinobots, but the weirder thing was how Grimlock was included in a 2-pack with a silver chromed DOTM Deluxe Optimus Prime for Target's Silverknight subline. Given how G1 accurate its colors were, wouldn't it make more sense for it to be in an Evolution 2-pack from Toys R Us? Would be better than the Energon Grimlock that never got a Swoop in G1 colors!

RID Grimlock may not be the same guy from FOC, but he got a retool in the Japanese RID15 toyline, Transformers Adventure (not any better of a title than RID15). The weapons aren't accurate and Grimlock's gray parts look like pavement, but I appreciate the effort put into this guy to be bigger than the other characters.

Hasbro wouldn't want to miss out on this mold, so they included it in a Platinum Edition 2-pack with Bumblebee; both figures had an inaccurate but still nicely done coat of metallic paint.

Here is a robot mode scale with Studio Series Grimlock. Of course, that scale isn't accurate, but I like seeing how different both characters look.

Here is Fall of Cybertron Grimlock next to Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime. The FOC Deluxes are some of the smallest figures in that size class, which was a massive form of criticism that they received when they first came out. This scale is fine, but Optimus should be a bit bigger like his WFC toy was.

While not the perfect version of the character made by HasTak, it's still a fairly competent toy to not be ashamed of owning in my opinion. Of course, Planet-X made a much better Grimlock based on the games, but I'm fine with this guy in ny collection. That said, give him some shine with some gold paint.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐