The Energon Pub

[D-Maximal_Primal]

So I got Grimlock in the mail today, and as he is my first Studio Series figure, and he and Thundercracker will be my only ones for a bit once he gets here as I intend to patiently wait to see the rest in stores.

But enough with that, let's get some thoughts, shall we?

We'll start with Dino mode. It is large and impressive. Not perfect granted, but it is still a very impressive piece, and far better than any movie Grimlock before him (and for that matter, better than most Grimlocks before him). The paint work is spectacular, he has oodles of paint to look at, and all the robot bits are pretty well hidden away or repurposed in plain sight enough to be barely noticeable.

Transformation is fun, and I like that he takes a bit after TLK Scorn. Oh and he doesn't need to partsform, another big plus over the previous leader.

The robot mode is where this guy truly shines though, it is masterpiece level in paintwork and gorgeousness. He looks insanely movie accurate from every angle, and I love how intimidating he looks. While is posing is somewhat limited and not as wide ranging as other figures, he can still move a more than acceptable amount.

In summary, he is a great example of a guy who needed the better movie toy treatment, and he got it, spectacularly. Easily recommended at retail price guys, no need to be skimpy with this mother. And finally: he is loads better overall than pretty much every Grimlock toy ever, and definitely better than any Grimlock I own.

[Seibertron]

My nitpick is his hands. But otherwise a great leader class blackout!

I really like Blackout, he looks great. The hands bug me a lot though. By any chance are the hands assembled backwards? It seems like they'd be a lot better if they were flipped around. Unfortunately due to the style of pin, extracting that pin to try it out is beyond my skill level.

[nycPrime]

Received Blackout today. I find the helicopter mode to me a panel-y fiddly mess. As I'm popping one part in, another part is fighting to pop out. Are others experiencing the same? Maybe I'm mistransforming it.

[william-james88]

Glad that Grimlock is everything you were hoping for D-Max, he looks great and I look forward to him. Especially since it could rinse out the bad taste I have in my mouth after handling Studio Series Bumblebee and Crowbar.

That Bumblebee is easily the worst toy I have handled in the past few years. He just falls apart and is one hell of a chore to transform. I ended up just removing the piece that didnt cooperate ( the roof of the car) and then plugged it back in when I was done. I cant believe such an engineering mistep would be released by hasbro. A pin would have made all the difference in the world.

I do like Sarscream though. He works really really well for a voyager class and it doesnt at all feel less complex from using the engineering of a smaller class. And man, they used that same technique for the alt mode paint job that Takara used with the recent Beast Wars toys, giving it all that texture. Super cool and well done. And the plastic has a great quality to it. Its everything I would want from a transformer and my favourite toy of the year so far (with Bumblebee being the worst).

[-Kanrabat-]

This confirm my two most wanted for the first wave: Starscream and Grimlock.

Come on out over here already!

[william-james88]

This confirm my two most wanted for the first wave: Starscream and Grimlock.

Come on out over here already!

Starscream is out, I got him from walmart.ca

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/transforme ... 0197590399

[Hip-Hoptimus Rime]

Received Blackout today. I find the helicopter mode to me a panel-y fiddly mess. As I'm popping one part in, another part is fighting to pop out. Are others experiencing the same? Maybe I'm mistransforming it.

The rear side of the pelvis has a small rectangular slot. The arm that holds the big round dome over his head in robot mode has 2 rectangular pegs, one smaller than the other. Make sure that smaller peg is tabbed into that slot, it should help.

[william-james88]

Received Blackout today. I find the helicopter mode to me a panel-y fiddly mess. As I'm popping one part in, another part is fighting to pop out. Are others experiencing the same? Maybe I'm mistransforming it.

I experience that with Crowbar.

[nycPrime]

Received Blackout today. I find the helicopter mode to me a panel-y fiddly mess. As I'm popping one part in, another part is fighting to pop out. Are others experiencing the same? Maybe I'm mistransforming it.

The rear side of the pelvis has a small rectangular slot. The arm that holds the big round dome over his head in robot mode has 2 rectangular pegs, one smaller than the other. Make sure that smaller peg is tabbed into that slot, it should help.

I was wondering about those pegs. I was watching a video on YouTube and it made a click noise when it pegs. I couldn't for the life of me get it to click in. When you tab it in, is it secure? Will try again tomorrow when my thumbs don't hurt as much.

[Hip-Hoptimus Rime]

My nitpick is his hands. But otherwise a great leader class blackout!

I really like Blackout, he looks great. The hands bug me a lot though. By any chance are the hands assembled backwards? It seems like they'd be a lot better if they were flipped around. Unfortunately due to the style of pin, extracting that pin to try it out is beyond my skill level.

Hey boss, I pulled his hand off and mounted it back on the arm 90degs over. It's not pretty but I think it looks and works better.

I'll do a quick write-up soon.

[Seibertron]

Hey boss, I pulled his hand off and mounted it back on the arm 90degs over. It's not pretty but I think it looks and works better.

IMG_20180410_214715262_LL.jpg

I'll do a quick write-up soon.

That would be awesome my friend. Looking forward to it. How you have the hands is how I wish they were by default. I wonder if there was a way to knock out the pin easily and flip the hands around if it would hamper with the transformation at all.

[Carnivius_Prime]

That Bumblebee is easily the worst toy I have handled in the past few years. He just falls apart and is one hell of a chore to transform. I ended up just removing the piece that didnt cooperate ( the roof of the car) and then plugged it back in when I was done. I cant believe such an engineering mistep would be released by hasbro. A pin would have made all the difference in the world.

I do like Sarscream though. He works really really well for a voyager class and it doesnt at all feel less complex from using the engineering of a smaller class. And man, they used that same technique for the alt mode paint job that Takara used with the recent Beast Wars toys, giving it all that texture. Super cool and well done. And the plastic has a great quality to it. Its everything I would want from a transformer and my favourite toy of the year so far (with Bumblebee being the worst).

I agree about Starscream but I'm kinda disappointed you hate Bumblebee that much. I've enjoyed mine a lot. The roof thing could be fixed (and mine seems better now I applied a bit of nail polish to make that joint more snug and less prone to popping off). Only issue I have is getting the hood into place in both modes. I feel I'm missing some step to make it easier but not sure what but I love the toy a lot both in car and awesome robot mode and he's spent a lot of time on my desk in the past couple weeks getting transformed and posed a lot.

[Carnivius_Prime]

In summary, he is a great example of a guy who needed the better movie toy treatment, and he got it, spectacularly. Easily recommended at retail price guys, no need to be skimpy with this mother. And finally: he is loads better overall than pretty much every Grimlock toy ever, and definitely better than any Grimlock I own.

Nice review. I would buy him at retail price if I could afford retail price. I've still gotta eBay some older toys off before I can come close.

[william-james88]

I agree about Starscream but I'm kinda disappointed you hate Bumblebee that much. I've enjoyed mine a lot. The roof thing could be fixed (and mine seems better now I applied a bit of nail polish to make that joint more snug and less prone to popping off). Only issue I have is getting the hood into place in both modes. I feel I'm missing some step to make it easier but not sure what but I love the toy a lot both in car and awesome robot mode and he's spent a lot of time on my desk in the past couple weeks getting transformed and posed a lot.

Where exactly did you apply the nail polish?

[Bucky]

Would guess one of those two unnamed leaders is Grindor. Do the Blackout mold in lighter gray plastic and new head and you're done. We already know they're doing repaints with Starscream getting his tattoos, and I'm sure some people would want Grindor to reenact that forest fight from RotF anyway. That's easy money, and I don't see Hasbro passing that up.

So really, its just a question of who the last leader would be. Constructicons would be cool, but they're such minor characters in the big scheme of the movies that I doubt it. Would guess something like the Fallen, another Dinobot, or a Jetfire that can combine with the voyager Optimus somehow. Not a lot of other BIG bots that make sense for that size if they're trying to keep stuff in scale.

Grindor had crossed my mind, and at first I was really hoping they wouldn’t go that route. Thinking more on it, though, if they did do some retooling, I’d kind of really like that. A lighter gray, like you said. A new head wouldn’t be a bad thing, even though I’m sure they actually share the same head design in the movies. I’d really be into the idea of them retooling his disappointing hands, and adding a movie accurate rotor weapon hand attachment, like Grindor had inRotF. That, in place of the Scorponok figure, would be enough to make Grindor’s silhouette stand out from Blackout’s. Blackout’s rotor gun is neat, but Grindor’s rotor was used more like a big saw blade in the movie. I sincerely doubt we’ll get that though.

If they’re going to do any of the constructicons, I’m hoping for Long Haul. He’s certainly huge enough to be in scale as a leader class figure. Plus he’s got a really solid design.


I’m glad Starscream is getting so much love. That figure is really top notch. I’m so glad I didn’t pass on him and Optimus, like I had originally planned. I do wish that he came with that buzzsaw attachment that was in the Amazon and HTS images.



Pretty glad I passed on SS Bee. I think I’m gonna pick up the Movie Best warhammer one instead.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Where exactly did you apply the nail polish?

I put a thin layer on the insides of the clear plastic joint (after having removed that whole roof piece from Bee) with just a smidgey bit more on the tiny bumps that supposed to fit into the tiny little gaps of the yellow piece. I let it dry for a while then put it back on and it fit much tighter. Of course a proper pin the way through like you say would have been nice but this seems fixed enough for me.

I even just held him up by the roof and shook him a bit and it's still fine.

[william-james88]

Thanks man, very helpful. Once Hip-Hopotimus Prime does a write up, we could news both these fixes in an article

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Would guess one of those two unnamed leaders is Grindor. Do the Blackout mold in lighter gray plastic and new head and you're done. We already know they're doing repaints with Starscream getting his tattoos, and I'm sure some people would want Grindor to reenact that forest fight from RotF anyway. That's easy money, and I don't see Hasbro passing that up.

So really, its just a question of who the last leader would be. Constructicons would be cool, but they're such minor characters in the big scheme of the movies that I doubt it. Would guess something like the Fallen, another Dinobot, or a Jetfire that can combine with the voyager Optimus somehow. Not a lot of other BIG bots that make sense for that size if they're trying to keep stuff in scale.

Grindor had crossed my mind, and at first I was really hoping they wouldn’t go that route. Thinking more on it, though, if they did do some retooling, I’d kind of really like that. A lighter gray, like you said. A new head wouldn’t be a bad thing, even though I’m sure they actually share the same head design in the movies. I’d really be into the idea of them retooling his disappointing hands, and adding a movie accurate rotor weapon hand attachment, like Grindor had inRotF. That, in place of the Scorponok figure, would be enough to make Grindor’s silhouette stand out from Blackout’s. Blackout’s rotor gun is neat, but Grindor’s rotor was used more like a big saw blade in the movie. I sincerely doubt we’ll get that though.

A SS Grindor as a straight redeco of Blackout would be a big cheat, and not for the reason you think. Grindor is not an MH-53 Pave Low employed by the Air Force, but a slightly different CH-53E Super Stallion from the Marine Corps, so the vehicle mode needs some minor retooling.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Thanks man, very helpful. Once Hip-Hopotimus Prime does a write up, we could news both these fixes in an article

Is cool. I'll be taking some time away from things for a bit as my beloved pet rat Cookie has passed away this evening and I came here to try take my mind distracted to ease the pain but i feel like i'll probably lash out in some way and don't want to cause any trouble. Take care, folks and I hope to be sharing and enjoying these studio figures again with you soon.

[Evil Eye]

He'd need quite heavy retooling by the looks of things- an extra rotor blade most notably, along with a different nose, a tweaked tail and an enlarged "spine".

Grindor would be awesome though, mainly because we'd have the forest battle in scale with decent figures at long last!

[Hellscream9999]

Got blackout monday, he's pretty cool in bot mode, just has really limited articulation. Copter mode is frickin' enormous easily the best part about him, I think he might actually scale with a lot of figures in both modes. And yeah, he's a panel-y mess, but I knew what I was getting into

[notsoalex]

When I received a package a few days ago, I was thrilled, because I knew that the first wave of Studio Series Leader Class figures were in there. And they were (thank goodness), and I opened them. And I loved them.

Both of them have very nice boxes, and they also include instructions... which are about as clear as mud.

​Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots. His boxart is very similar to the one he had in AOE, he's a grizzly dinosaur. I personally prefer a robot, but I could care less for the box.
​Here is the side, with a window so you could see the Autobot symbol.


​Wow... just... wow.​ The paintjob is amazing. He has great patina drybrushing all over the figure. It's in all the right places, but I think there should've been some on his left forearm and mace, but it's fine the way it is.
​
​There's that deliciously monstrous mug. He has red eyes (yay) and really looks like he jumped out of the screen, and is ready to clobber your brain (and rats for Ronaldo).

Look at that exquisite molding detail! If you though Blackout was nice, take a look at this guy!

​Yes, this is a picture of his crotch. Wait, don't leave, I can explain. Something interesting is that these three pieces have to align perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle, or the front piece will pop off.​

He has some real good articulation, but poseability is somewhat limited due to the beast kibble. But the figure looks so good standing regularly, he doesn't really need to be posed much.

Transformation is actually a lot easier tan I thought it would be, which I guess is a plus. With that, dino mode!

Sweet jeebus, he looks amazing! That's all I can really say. Articulation is good, he has enough in the legs, his arms are balljointed, and his mouth can close (somewhat).Sadly, his butt-flap is on a loose pin, so it just flops down in dino mode. While you could bend the flap onto the mace, it is susceptible to warping. Hopefully this is just my copy.

FINAL SUMMATION
This figure is amazing. It has completely blew me away, the two modes look as if they jumped out of the big screen, both modes are nice and big, the molding and painting is impeccable... I could go on and on and on. This is highly recommended, even if you don't like the movies.

Thanks for reading.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

In case anyone was wondering, while it doesn't tab anywhere, the flame accessories that came with TLK Leader Megs work with Grimlock. They can sit pretty well inside the mouth, and the teeth really help

[lakebot]

Saw these at Target Monday afternoon and picked up a Grimlock and Stinger. They had all the others there as well and I was debating about Starscream but decided maybe later. Grimlock looks about as good as I could ask for which is why I bought it. Non-masterpiece, I don't see them making a better figure. And that face/head sculpt! Wow! Stinger has a sweet alt mode. The rest of them, sans Starscream, don't grab me. Bumblebee looked okay but having the masterpiece made me pass it up in a heartbeat. Same thing with Optimus. I believe I have all of or just about all of his movie figures(one from each movie) so I passed. Really would like to see a Thundercracker but my TRU never did get them in from what I've seen. They did get some new toys in(I noticed Jurassic World toys for the new movie)but there's no telling how long ago they were ordered so I am not holding out hope I'll ever see a live Thundercracker in the wild.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

So I got Thundercracker today, and hot damn, I love both of my studio series figures for so many of the same yet different reasons. But the short story version is both are really really really cool/good.

So Thunders then. The first thing he had going for him was being a Nitro Zeus with new head and paint work. That mold and figure was my figure of the year for 2017, so I was already thrilled. the second thing is that Cracker is my favorite seeker. Thirdly, He improves upon Nitro Zeus in the ways that Nitro was lacking: the paintwork. The paint is gorgeous! The blue is amazing and I love the red and white in jet mode along with the black, grey, and yellow from robot mode. It's gorgeous! And finally, that head is so slick. It's like a cross between Waspinator and movie Starscream, and the paint work is perfect on it.

so without further ado, have some pictures, including one featuring another cool thing about Zues/Cracker: that back jet kibble, while cool looking to some and cumbersome and lazy to others, makes for a great perching help.

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