Review – Transformers Animated Voyager Class Grimlock

“Grimlock more than lives up to the reputation of his Tyrannosaurus Rex mode. Ill-tempered, powerful, and always ready for a fight, he loves to throw his weight around. He likes the way the ground shakes as he stomps around, and the way people scatter when he roars.”
— from the back of the box

Transformers Animated Voyager Class Grimlock, as with many releases in the Transformers Animated toy line, arrives in toy stores in his alternate mode. The box is beautiful, with a large window displaying the robot T-Rex for everyone to see; you can see how he’s just waiting for some lucky kid to break the seal and free him from the packaging.

Transformers Animated Voyager Class Grimlock in Tyrannosaurus Rex Mode

In T-Rex mode, Grimlock stands fairly steady on his two, massive legs, and the overall articulation is excellent and he retains his dinosaur mode fairly well. One point of concern is the chest in dinosaur mode (the robot mode’s “wings”); while playing with Grimlock in T-Rex mode I often found these two pieces clicking apart, which meant that Grimlock had to take a time-out so that I could snap the pieces back together. Other than this one weak point, the dinosaur mode holds up very well to casual play. (Though I suspect he would also do well in a sandbox.)

One cool feature of Grimlock is — as the box proudly proclaims — his “Snapping Jaws.” A button on the T-Rex mode’s neck activates Grimlock’s oversized jaws; see the animation at right for a look at how wide Grimlock’s mouth can open. It’s no wonder his quote on the back of the box reads: “Where are Decepticons? Me Grimlock getting hungry!”

Sure, it’s a pretty basic gimmick but it’s fun and works great on Grimlock, so that makes it a bonus on this toy.

Transformers Animated Voyager Class Grimlock in Robot Mode

As cool as Grimlock’s T-Rex mode is, though, there’s going to come a point when you’re going to want to transform him to robot mode. Grimlock’s transformation isn’t extremely difficult — he’s rated as a Level 3: Advanced Conversion toy — but there are a few spots that require a bit of force. The arms, for instance, must be gripped firmly and snapped up so that the “elbow segment” nests slightly inside the upper arm. (This YouTube Video does a good job of showing how to transform Grimlock from T-Rex mode to robot mode.)

Once he’s in robot mode, Grimlock is ready to grab his flaming sword and, with his hands, just about anything else that you want him to hold. As you can see in the animation (at right), Grimlock’s hands — because they’re his dinosaur feet — can grasp whatever you want him to. This is great if you want to give him a weapon that doesn’t actually belong to him.

Grimlock also uses the “pipelight” feature found on many toys (the first I remember seeing this on was an R2-D2 figure many years ago). When light is directed at the blue window in his head then his eyes light up; this is another one of those basic features that, even though we see it all of the time, is fun. Extra points for Hasbro for using this, since it adds just a little extra to the toy’s value.

One last feature of Grimlock in robot mode, which I won’t show here because the previously mentioned YouTube Video does an excellent job of demonstrating, is his sword’s “flaming” effect. When snapped into his right hand, and the wrist rotated, the sword pops out plastic flames to make it look as if it’s on fire. A lever on the sword retracts the flames.

Closing Thoughts

Standing right around the 7″ mark in robot mode, the Transformers Animated Voyager Class Grimlock is easily one of the best-looking Grimlock action figures ever produced. If you’re a Transformers collector, or just a fan of robot dinosaur toys, this is the Grimlock to buy. Don’t bother tracking down an older version, since none of them look as great — or are as readily available — as this one. Highly recommended.