The Core Class line continues to give fans pocket-sized versions of fan favorites and uncommon characters, both as new molds and repaints. We have Grimlock now completing the original Dinobot trio and getting us halfway towards Volcanicus, while Nemesis Prime gives us an obligatory black repaint of Optimus and Thundercracker completes our trio. Ironhide, however, provides us the opposite of Ratchet as we originally had him as a Voyager and Ratchet as a Core Class guy before Hasbro gives us a tiny Ironhide as we have here and the inevitable Voyager Ratchet. But with all that said, let's review them now.
The entire wave along with Ironhide are in their alt modes. Grimlock looks decent from the upper region but is a bigger mess than his Energon toy elsewhere. Nemesis Prime retains the same faithfulness to the Earthrise toy like with Optimus Prime, even if the proportions are a little off. Thundercracker looks great in the (possibly) same coloring as his Siege and Earthrise toys, and Ironhide is basically Ratchet in red but without a siren.
Here is Grimlock in-between Slag and Sludge, continuing the trend of having him tower over the others as he should. Slag still has better proportions than him even if he is hollow by comparison. Poor Sludge is Sludge. At the very least, Grimlock has a neck hinge and leg articulation but no knees.
Next to his larger SS86 counterpart, he is puny and not as proportionate as him. Transforming him is just like the typical Grimlock procedure we're used to, though the claws end on the outside rather than the front side of the arms. The design feels much blockier than the normal G1 iteration, which is ironic since the actual Grimlock design is much more refined by comparison. the backpack also hangs lower than normal, but the articulation has the typical use of ball joints for the shoulders, hips, and knees while the neck and forearms swivel (the latter meaning they don't have proper elbow joints). Instead of the sword, he has a gun made from his tail, a trope I haven't seen since the Classics toy.
For a robot mode size, he is amusingly shorter than either Slag and Sludge, in contrast to his height in the normal G1 stuff he's been in. At the very least, his proportions are in-between the normal appearance of Slag and the whatever-is-going-on nature with Sludge.
For a robot mode size comparison, he is definitely a baby when put next to the SS86 counterpart. Turning him into the leg mode is basically the dino mode but the legs are hinged forwards and the upper body being messed up to make room for the knee joint's peg. It's weirdly asymmetrical, but the reason why the left kibble piece is not attached to the spot it should be is due to it likely clashing with the upper thigh of Volcanicus, especially with the left leg for Grimlock having a slit for the knee articulation to not be messed up.
Up next, we got Nemesis Prime. He's got black plastic and replacing the red and blue, and windows go well in red while headlights are teal. I think the truck looks mostly good but it isn't anything that special apart from the painted rims that Hasbro didn't give to the original.
The irony of Nemesis is that this is the first version of the character I ever own, which is amusing since the WFC trilogy made a big deal out of two repaints from the Siege mold. I'd love the Netflix version, but at least this guy has a teal axe that the instructions showed on the Kingdom release.
And now we got Thundercracker in the house. The Kingdom Starscream mold was already great, and I am happy to have Skywarp in my collection last year, and I'm happy to have Thundercracker in the collection for once. Also I notice the tailfin is a bit wonky.
TC gives us back the null-rays that Starscream had but not Skywarp, who had a fork that was used for some weird sword that was only present with Iguanus and Rodimus and wasn't followed up on with future waves. Shrug. Legacy's weapon idea was kind of stupid, ngl. But my SW has his null-rays from a third party eBay seller.
And now we got Ironhide with Ratchet, both mold mates, and getting killed in the movie. They're nearly identical in terms of tooling since they have the same altmode, but Ratchet's got a siren and Ironhide doesn't. Ironhide also has an Autobot insignia while Ratchet doesn't on the front, but their windshields are different shades of blue while the guns are molded in different plastics but given silver paint and the wheels are different shades of grey.
The robot mode is the same as with Ratchet, but the shoulders are grey like in the cartoon rather than painted with insignias like with Ratchet, the head is retooled for the character (though it appears smaller in some ways for the face), and the elbows, thighs, and waist are broken up in color for Ironhide while they are the same color on every other part of Ratchet (the waist is painted red, though). Also, my Ironhide doesn't tab in as well and his right shoulder is cracked out of the box so good job Hasbro.
Overall, this wave has been mostly alright. Grimlock does what he tries to do despite not being the best, Nemesis looks great and makes me want to get his Voyager toy, Thundercracker makes me wonder how we'll get the other Seekers, and Ironhide is fine but I hate his quality control. Now we await for the rest of the Dinobots and DOTM Bumblebee in the next wave(s).
Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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