Grimlock

Him No Bozo, Him King

Hasbro, Transformers Toyline, 1984

No, you’re not reading this wrong. This isn’t a repeat of last week’s review; it’s an examination of a related toy. It would seem that in the closing months of the last year of the first decade of the new millennium, we’ve defined ourselves as a culture – at least from an entertainment standpoint – by how we’ve reimagined what we’ve enjoyed in the past. Last week’s entry was a discussion of a toy from a cartoon that was based partially off a movie a few years old and a cartoon series a few decades old (which the movie was ALSO based off). Dizzying, yes?

This isn’t to cast judgment on this phenomena. Personally speaking, I believe there have been some wonderful successes in this whole run of remakes and reimaginings. And while I won’t deny I grow weary of it, I also get super-psyched about some of the titles that are next up. Still, it’s fun to go back to the original inspirations and view them for what they are. In some ways, they don’t stand up to the test of time. And in some ways, they really do.

　

Background

I won’t rehash what we’ve already established about Grimlock as a character. He’s the leader of the Dinobots, which are giant robots that transform into dinosaurs. And that sentence is probably all you really need to know to establish this guy’s awesomeness. Oh, and he breathes fire.

Appearance – 3 out of 5

This is a pretty average toy. While this review is based off the Gen-2 line, it’s a near-carbon copy of the original Gen-1 line (the difference being the color – gun-metal gray traded for deep blue – and materials – die-cast metal traded for hard plastic). The character looks pleasantly similar to the character from the cartoon and is nicely proportioned. Screws and joints can be seen but they’re not garish and tend to be worked into the overall look and feel of the toy. There are some nice textures but nothing that truly stands out.

Construction – 2 out of 5

Once again, we have to confront an unpleasant truth about the Gen-1 Transformers toys which is that they were not the perfect toys overall. This toy is considerably top-heavy in robot mode and you find you have to extend his arms fully forward just to keep him from falling over. This lack of balance, coupled with some weak joints (principally the knees and the flaps of his dinosaur-mode torso), makes this toy a little unlikely to survive years and years of play.

Movement – 2 out of 5

Grimlock is deceptively disappointing when it comes to movement. At first, it appears like this toy has some pretty decent mobility. But upon inspection, most of the mobility is as much due to its transformation process as it is to simulate the movement in the robot mode. The hips and knees move only in line with their transformation process, the arms have no elbows, and there are no hip or neck rotators.

Fortunately, in Dinosaur mode, things improve. The tail doesn’t move and the head has a range of motion of maybe 15 degrees, but the legs (the arms in robot mode) sprout knee joints (that go both ways for some reason) that can simulate some varieties of walking and running.

Extras – 2 out of 5

Grimlock comes with two weapons: a gun and a sword. The weapons aren’t terribly well-made or uniquely designed which, when you consider that there’s nowhere for them to go when he’s in dinosaur mode, makes them feel sort of slapped onto the toy. The gun is pretty standard for Transformers (and most toys) of the era, but the sword is really kind of poor and is little more than a shard of plastic. Add these passingly adequate weapons to his lack of elbow or wrist joints and one almost asks ‘why bother’.

Packaging – 3 out of 5

Transformers packaging was the yardstick back in the day and many toy makers can (or at least should) still learn a lot from them. The ID card with a personal quote, character description, and stats was frickin’ brilliant. The beautiful artwork was just that; art. And the points that could (in theory) be redeemed to buy Reflector just added to the near-mythical nature of the packaging.

Overall – 3 out of 5

Like my Devastator review, I’m sure this will cause some controversy. Lord knows, I feel a little ashamed. But this toy, when viewed objectively, has its faults. Mostly in the form of its mobility, there’s a lot left wanting. My single biggest complaint might actually be a little surprising but it’s the lack of size. The Dinobots are supposed to be huge, even compared to the other giant robots they are surrounded by. And they turn into dinosaurs, with their leader being the king of the giants, the Tyrannosaur Rex. Grimlock doesn’t convey that sense of size here. True, most of the Transformers toys were originally fairly uniform in height, but I figure this should have been the first toy to break with that. Optimus Prime might be the beloved child of the Transformers franchise, but this is Grimlock we’re talking about here. This is the King. And the king should’ve been bigger, dammit.

Grimlock

Him No Bozo, Him King

Hasbro, Transformers Animated Toyline, 2007

In the wake of the live-action Transformers movie, Hasbro had a real problem. On the one hand, they had a very popular and very successful movie on their hands. On the other hand, they had a lot of jilted fans that were a little annoyed at the liberties taken with their favorite franchise. Never ones to look back, Hasbro launched their Transformers Animated line in conjunction with their new animated series that drew from every source prior as well as becoming its own entity. However, as has been stated before, Hasbro knows where its bread is buttered and they went to great lengths to make sure the fans didn’t feel left out on this one.

　

Background

Quick question: what’s more awesome than robots that turn into cars and planes? If you said robots that turn into dinosaurs, you’d be right. Such was the thinking when it came to the first sub-class of Transformers, the Dinobots. With a wide variety of origins ranging throughout the different variations of the story, everybody seems to have their own spin on the Dinobots. But one thing that is never questioned is who is in charge: Grimlock.

Grimlock, who transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, is always the leader of the Dinobots and is often jockeying for leadership of the Autobots themselves, typically leading to friction and even out-right confrontation with Optimus Prime. While he is the brains (sometimes a dubious claim) of the Dinobot operation, he’s often the most physically powerful as well. This was beautifully illustrated in the Transformers Animated series.

Transformers Animated was a colorful and somewhat more kid-friendly version of the original series. The characters are a little bit more outlandish and extreme than their Gen-One counterparts, but they also benefited from superior character development. And while the plots of individual episodes tended to be a little less complex, the overarching season and series plots were the wonderful result of the anime invasion in the late 90s. As a result, Grimlock in Animated is like a caricature of his Gen-One self. However, like all good art, through this exaggeration we see even more clearly elements of the character we know and love.

Appearance – 4 out of 5

The Grimlock figure is very well made and beautifully represents the character from the show. And like the character from the show, it clearly harkens back to the original character from Gen-One, all the way down to the nigh-identical transformation sequence. The character is nicely colored and manages to capture the somewhat whimsical look of the character from the series. The only real complaint I have is that seams and screws are way too obvious. There’s pretty much no way for the character to stand that you don’t see at least a few reminders of how the toy was put together.

Construction – 3 out of 5

The figure is relatively solid in its construction and the plastic is a bit on the weighty side, though I wouldn’t bee too quick to apply the adjective ‘rugged’. All the joints are sturdy, but there’s still a certain sense of fragility to the figure that isn’t as common to Transformers as one would first suspect. It feels a little light in the hands and the limbs feel a little too disproportionate for their weight distribution. There’s no clear issue with the construction, but it’s just not quite there to make it solid and well done.

Movement – 5 out of 5

This figure is beautifully mobile. It’s got every joint you need and none of the ones you don’t. There isn’t a pose this figure can’t take. The head turns, the jaw of the T-Rex head opens and closes, the shoulders are ball-joints, there’s a waist, and more. The only thing it’s lacking are ankles and you really won’t miss them. Seriously, both forms are extremely mobile and natural to move. The toy even has opposable thumbs for crying out loud!

Extras – 2 out of 5

Grimlock comes with only one extra, but it’s a doozy. He comes with a flaming sword that (in theory) doubles as a gust of flames from his mouth. The sword is appropriately large for a thug like Grimlock and it even has little sprouting flames that pop out by putting it in his hand. In dinosaur form, the sword is supposed to stick into his mouth to simulate his fiery breath. The reality is not so cool as the sword barely fits in his mouth and when it does, it still looks like a sword stuck in his mouth. A for effort, but a D- for execution.

Packaging – 3 out of 5

The Transformers Animated packaging was quiet nice and bordered on excellent, but it just didn’t quite make it. Each package came with a picture of the figure on the front, a plastic window to see the figure inside, and an explanation of the character’s powers and personality on the back. Unfortunately, the explanation was a little sparse and there was no real explanation of the story itself. Other characters were presented, but they seemed haphazardly chosen and represented only a fraction of the available line. Overall, it was good packaging and well-done, but not anything to write home about.

　

Overall – 4 out of 5

This is a fine example of a very decent toy. While it’s definitely lacking in some notable areas, overall it’s still a well-made toy that’s a lot of fun to play with. The transformation movements are smooth and make sense, the figure is very easy to pose and will hold poses without much effort. I don’t think this is the most sterling example of a Four, but it’s simply too well made and too much fun to play with to reside with the mediocrity of a Three.

Rick Hunter's Veritech Fighter

Robotech’s Golden Boy Returns

Toynami, 2001

Transformable mecha have long been known for their poor transitions from show to toy. It’s often extremely hard to capture all the wonder and awesomeness that a mech in a show displays in a tangible little plastic man. The issues range from the technology to make a hardy enough material that will endure play while still being light enough to cheaply produce. You’ve also got the issue of joint mechanics, figuring out how to replicate the transformation sequence in a believable manner and, oh yeah, it’d be nice if it actually looked like the character itself.

One solution that some toy companies pursued was to simply do away with the transformable feature. If you focused on one form rather than combining both, then you could focus on a single toy (a human-shaped figure for example) and employ every trick in the book to make that toy frickin’ awesome. Such as what Toynami did with their 2001 outing into the Robotech universe.

Background

Toynami remains a relative newcomer to the toy scene. Most people know of it’s (relative) meteoric rise to indie stardom in the wake of the dot com revolution in the 90s and early 2000s. A lot of toy companies cropped up during that time because, with the advent of Internet marketing, they could market worldwide without having to get shelf space in brick-and-mortar toy stores. This meant they could avail themselves of a wider consumer base while at the same appealing to niche markets.

The Robotech fandom is one such niche market. While Robotech may be one of the more famous shows from the 80s anime invasion, it still has mostly faded from the cultural consciousness (unlike Transformers, GI Joe, or Voltron). But there are still die-hard Robotech fans out there and they clamber for solid Robotech toys so hey can recreate the action from the show about earth’s invasion by giant aliens. And so, in the first years of the new millennium, companies like Toynami delivered the answer to so many fanboy prayers.

Appearance – 4 out of 5

Dynamic poses are often a bit difficult to strike for many action figures, but especially so for mecha toys. But one of the benefits of this figure is that pretty much every pose is dynamic. There’s almost no way it can’t not look awesome, like it’s in the middle of some high-risk action shot. This is partially due to the wide stance of the legs, but whatever. The toy looks awesome.

Construction – 3 out of 5

This figure balances some really great features with some really disappointing ones. The toy is, overall, made from some pretty good plastic. The individual limbs and body have some nice weight to them, but still feel light. The problem is the joints don’t feel particularly sturdy and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before playing with the toy wears them out. Also, the same complaint I had with the Alpha toy from a few months back is here with the hands. The toy comes with a variety of hands, all of which have to be yanked out of the joint. A broken hand that can no longer be traded out are all but inevitable.

Movement – 4 out of 5

The Veritech has a lot of linear joints that add to up to a whole lot of movement. In fact, the only problem this toy has joint-wise is that the hip joints are linear but with the wide stance, it makes some poses (especially less dramatic poses) inaccessible. It should be noted – and commended – that the feet, knee, and hip joints all work very well together despite the hips being at such an odd angle. That being said, having waist and neck joints, and shoulder/arm/elbow joints that petty much guarantee unlimited arm movement, this toy is a lot of fun to pose again and again.

Extras – 2 out of 5

Again, like the Alpha review from earlier, this toy comes with a series of hands and a single gunpod. There’re are no additional elements such as missiles or the famous battloid armor from the series (or even the Super Veritech equipment). This lack of materials is disappointing because of all the possibilities the Robotech universe offers.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

The packaging for this toy was pretty unremarkable. It was pleasantly vivid in its overall color, but there was absolutely no explanation as to what the ship was, who Rick Hunter was, what Robotech was about, anything.

Overall – 3 out of 5

This toy is very firmly a Three. It wouldn’t have taken much to push this over into the Four range, but in the same vein, it wouldn’t have taken much to knock it down to a Two. It could easily have gone either way. As it is, this is a pretty fun toy that is clearly aimed at fans and collectors and will be a solid addition to their collections. Just don’t plan on it being the centerpiece.

Battle Beasts

Wood, Fire, Water, and FUN

Hasbro and Takara Battle Beasts Line, 1986

　

If Hasbro is a family, with Transformers and GI Joe being the eldest siblings, and My Little Pony being the little sister, the Battle Beasts are the cousin who died tragically in a car accident last Labor Day weekend.

Toy companies are always trying to come up with something neat, innovative, and engaging to the ever-changing audience. But one thing that rarely changes is the assumption that you get one toy per package. Oh, sure, occasionally you’ll get a two-pack deal as part of a special promotion. But in general, one package, one toy. That’s the way it works, right?

Well, in 1984, Hasbro challenged this notion with the rarely remembered, but fondly recalled Battle Beasts. These simple thumb-sized toys came in packs of two, ensuring that right from the get-go, there was gonna be a pint-sized war.

　

Background

In the Land of the Rising Sun, from where the Battle Beasts hail, they are actually part of the Transformers series (called the Beast Formers, in no way related to the Beast Wars series…that we know of). But like most awesome toys in Japan, Hasbro came along and got the rights to distribute it worldwide. After what must have been whole minutes of brainstorming, the powers-that-be at Hasbro apparently decided that they didn’t want to ensure a guaranteed hit by tying the Battle Beasts in with the Transformers and launched them as their own line. The Battle Beasts did quite well for a bit, but like many of the 80s toy lines, it died a quiet death.

The Battle Beasts were plentiful in design and style, but they all were anthropomorphic animals in battle armor. Many had a hand replaced with a weapon (as evidenced by our little rhino guy who has a mace for a hand) and the others came with little weapons that were all too easy to lose (as evidenced by their absence from the picture). Each figure also had a heat-sensitive logo that revealed what element they belonged to (think of Battle Beasts as a big game of Paper-Rock-Scissors; Fire beats Wood, Wood beats Water, Water beats Fire). Which characters had which element though was random, so it was possible to have the same figure three times, each with a different element. This led to some weird combinations, such as a shark with the Wood element, but whatever.

Battle Beasts’ big selling aspect, though, was that they came in pairs. Right from the start, you were good to go (unless by sheer happenstance you happened to get two warriors of the same element). While there were vehicles and bases (which I never owned, but DESPERATELY wanted…thanks for nothing, Santa), Battle Beasts are mostly known for the paired packaging that made play immediate with a single purchase.

　

Appearance – 3 out of 5

These little guys are surprisingly detailed for being an inch and a half tall. Pretty much everything except the soles of their feet have texture and most characters are painted with three or four colors. The armor designs are pretty generic, but are all stylistically similar and include little notches, spikes, tubes, or other features to encourage imaginative interpretations of their powers.

Construction – 4 out of 5

These little guys are tough. They’re made out of single plastic, so they’re quite sturdy. The plastic is just soft enough that you don’t have to worry about puncturing skin if you step on one with your bare feet, but don’t expect these things to get crushed in the process. They’re quite hardy and very resilient.

Movement – 1 out of 5

For as great as these little toys are, they can’t move worth a damn. All figures have two joints: linear shoulder joints. Heads can turn, legs can’t bend, nothing.

Extras – 2 out of 5

Judging the extras is a wee bit picky because some figures came with a weapon and some didn’t. Those that did not usually came with a weapon equipped (like a drill instead of a left hand). The weapons were usually single pieces of plastic of one color, so they weren’t anything to write home about.

Packaging – 2 out of 5

The Battle Beasts’ packaging was pretty generic. It had a hand-drawn image of the war between two unidentified factions, and a plastic cover showing the two beasts in the package. On the back was an extremely rudimentary explanation of the basic setting, but most of the space was given up to explaining the color-changing decals. There was no real explanation for the plot, why the factions were fighting, or exactly how the factions formed. Or how the decals played into the fight. For example, how did my Lion being a Water element somehow trump my rhino who is a Fire element? Do the decals imbue magical powers? It’s unanswered.

　

Overall – 3 out of 5

Where these any other toys, they probably would have gotten a Two. But the Battle Beasts’ ruggedness, when coupled with their size, makes them too ideal. Yeah, they can’t move, but they’re the size of your thumb! Plus, the color-changing decals made the little figures into an advanced form of Paper-Rock-Scissors, which I believe was a precursor to so many of the toy/video game/collectible combat games that are all the rage now.