Sighting and Review for Leader Sized Grimlock from Cyberverse
Sunday, July 7th, 2019 10:28PM CDT
Categories: Toy News, Reviews, Site Articles, SightingsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 44,814
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Transformers Cyberverse Ultimate class Seismis Stomp Grimlock, aka the Leader sized Grimlock figure, was found in a Canadian Walmart last friday by yours truly. This toy has yet to hit the US (if it has, let us know) so I thought I could give you a pictorial review since there is very little coverage on this toy.
While it is leader sized, the Cyberverse Ultimate class is very much a thing of its own at its own price point. You get a toy bigger than any Transformers Siege leader figure for the price of a Siege voyager figure, so you basically get what you are paying for. For 4-8 year old kids, that can be a rather big value. They get a nice big toy and parents don't have to spend a lot for it. And the toy itself, isn't bad, for the money. It's basically as articulated and complex as any toy from the fabled Cybertron line from over 10 years ago. Of course, the sculpt is not as detailed, the plastic is lighter and it is more hollow.
Here is the imposing robot mode. The Jetfire in the images below is voyager sized.
While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.
The articulation is the same as the Age of Extinction voyager, or just about. So yeah, gorilla arms. But to be fair, this bot doesn't come with any weapons that would demand extra arm articulation and story wise, he fights more in beast mode than robot mode. Here is what I got to do for posing. You will also see the seismic stomp gimmick at play below. Stomping his feet does set off two spring loaded gimmicks where clear blue plastic stomp effects pop downwards onto the floor.
The transformation was surprising in the fact that there was at least one new thing to the classic G1 Grimlock transformation. The legs themselves make up his belly rather than mainly the tail. It's more complex than the transformation of POTP Grimlock when going from Bot to Dinosaur. The details of his robot chest line up nicely with the lower back of the dinosaur mode to make it seem like those robot mode details are not out of place on the dinosaur mode. The dinosaur mode is rather short when keeping it in a vertical axis (as was POTP Grimlock's), which is what official renders do. However, if you raise him up a bit, with a stance similar to the original Grimlock, it works much better. Especially since his tail is raised up permanently. While I do not like that about his tail, that particular issue ends up moot when posed upright. It also gives Grimlock a nicer range of poses for his neck. I do like the details in his mouth when you open it. The T-Rex mode has as much articulation as most Grimlock dino modes of the past. The gimmick here means those same blue pieces come out of the tail now.
In the end, if you want to give your kids a nice big Grimlock without breaking the bank, this does the job nicely. The transformation is not dumbed down and the articulation does the trick for this character. And for any Grimlock fans, this looks very nice and imposing on a shelf. It's just very much a kids toy, and I don't see anything wrong with that, especially at that lower price point.
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Posted by TulioDude on July 7th, 2019 @ 10:38pm CDT
Posted by Fires_Of_Inferno on July 7th, 2019 @ 10:43pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 7th, 2019 @ 10:53pm CDT
Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:That's actually a really nice Grimlock. What was the price for him?
40$CAN plus taxes. Same price as a Siege / Studio Series voyager. But it's slightly bigger than a Leader.
I too, saw it at Walmart. But I'll wait for a sale. That Grimlock is definitely on my list though.
Posted by Sabrblade on July 7th, 2019 @ 10:53pm CDT
Ah, so it's War Within Grimlock's face.william-james88 wrote:While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.
Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.
Posted by Hellscream9999 on July 8th, 2019 @ 4:01am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Ah, so it's War Within Grimlock's face.william-james88 wrote:While the legs are rather chunkier than usual for Grimlock, it goes with the overall bulky look, so I don't mind that. What I do mind is that head sculpt which while nice on its own does not invoke Grimlock enough. The eyes are too insectoid to my liking and instead of giving him either a mouth or a faceplate, they went with a merger of both with a teeth detailed plate (I think?). Either way, it looks nothing like the drawing on the box, nor like any take on G1 Grimlock I can remember.
Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.
Was gonna say, that sounded like war within grimlock - who even had a toy in the titanium line
Posted by SG Roadbuster on July 8th, 2019 @ 8:07am CDT
Posted by william-james88 on July 8th, 2019 @ 8:38am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:
Or Spotlight: Grimlock Grimlock's face.
More Spotlight Grimlock since the eyes look less like a visor.
And, ha, I never saw that before. Granted, I didn't read war within nor was I keen to collect the titanium line. The deco choice for the head is of course not at all like either of those two.
Posted by Absolute Zero on July 8th, 2019 @ 3:54pm CDT
Posted by Ultra Markus on July 8th, 2019 @ 7:12pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on July 8th, 2019 @ 7:34pm CDT
Posted by CobraKai on July 9th, 2019 @ 9:23am CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on July 9th, 2019 @ 8:32pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 9th, 2019 @ 11:20pm CDT
chuckdawg1999 wrote:45 minute youtube vids will always give you more info than a pictorial review. Also I've yet to see a 45 minute review on anything from Cyberverse, not that I've looked too closely
It's possible. I saw it happen on other simple toys. A LOUD 5 minutes intro. 20 minutes of ranting about the story, the character, ect. 10 minutes screwing around the box and every single details. 5 minutes on the actual toy. 5 last minutes talking about sponsors, e-begging, and filler time to click other videos that pop on screen.
BAM! 45 minutes.
Posted by CobraKai on July 9th, 2019 @ 11:28pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 9th, 2019 @ 11:35pm CDT
CobraKai wrote:Don’t forget the 5-10 minutes touching on their personal lives or that they’re sick.
Oh yeah, a classic. And when it's time to show how to transform the toy, the only thing we see are the reviewer's hands.
Posted by CobraKai on July 10th, 2019 @ 7:38am CDT
Posted by Stargrave on July 14th, 2019 @ 2:40am CDT
Any fans of the animation style of the cartoon and toy packaging will surely enjoy what they've done here. We've included the translated Twitter summary for each character which lists their respective voice actors in the Japanese dub.
Enjoy the images and as always share your view with the Seibertron crew in the forums!
Optimus Prime's translated description:
"\ \ Cyber Bath first release July 13 / "Optimus Prime" played by Takehito Koyasu can reproduce the proof of the leader, the deadly matrix attack gimmick that is activated by rotating the matrix (° ꒳ °) no"
Windblade's translated description:
"\ The first server Berth will be released July 13 / Autobot female warrior "Windblade" played by Atsushi Yuki transforms from jet to robot (= Ω ω)) Target age is over 5 years old and it is a specification that can be transformed even by your child!"
From Bumblebee's translated description:
"The first BBS is released on July 13. The Bumblebee, played by Ryohei Kimura, has a gimmick that can activate the Stinger Sword of its Special Move in both vehicle and robot modes. As it is above, it is a specification that even a child like that can transform it! "
Megatron's translated summary:
"\ Ebi fried rice! / "Megatron" of Cyberverse series played by Shigeru Chiba will be released on July 13th tomorrow. Chiba TRON is still alive as ever in Cyberverse ... (´-` )"
And at last we have Starscream's summary:
"\ \ Cyber Bath first release July 13 / New leader of the self-proclaimed Decepticon played by Tsuruoka Satoshi "Star Scream" transforms from a jet to a robot (· ᄇ ·) و 対 象 Target age 5 years or older Therefore, it is a specification that even a child like that can transform it!"
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2019 @ 9:22am CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on July 14th, 2019 @ 10:56am CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2019 @ 10:59am CDT
It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 14th, 2019 @ 11:03am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?
Yup.
Unless it's some sort of special exclusive Takara edition, the days of the "superior Takara paint job" are gone.
Glad that Hasbro decided to give us the "Takara paint" (while increasing the prices) instead of Takara giving the Japanese the "Hasbro paint". At least we no longer have to import anything anymore in order to have the "superior paint".
Posted by Skritz on July 14th, 2019 @ 11:10am CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2019 @ 11:12am CDT
It might have been mentioned in the cartoon thread (this is the toyline thread), but I can't recall without double-checking.Skritz wrote:Huh, Takehito 'Dio Brando' Koyasu back into an Optimus role! That's one I didn't expect. He was Optimus Primal.
Posted by ZeldaTheSwordsman on July 14th, 2019 @ 1:24pm CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Sabrblade wrote:It's the sharp cleanliness of the lighting and photography.chuckdawg1999 wrote:Is it me or do the Japanese stock photos look different, like the toys have a different paint job?
Yup.
Unless it's some sort of special exclusive Takara edition, the days of the "superior Takara paint job" are gone.
Glad that Hasbro decided to give us the "Takara paint" (while increasing the prices) instead of Takara giving the Japanese the "Hasbro paint". At least we no longer have to import anything anymore in order to have the "superior paint".
Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 14th, 2019 @ 1:35pm CDT
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.
It was a case-by-case basis. Most of the times, the Takara were better. Especially for the Henkei line. But sometimes, the Hasbro were the superior one. Especially for the TF Prime line when Takara's had NO paint and only stickers. Animated was debatable. Takara's were super painted, but had that super shiny color. Making them less cartoon accurate.
No matter superior or inferior, one would had to pay at the very minimum double or triple the Hasbro price for the Takara one factoring shipping. At least now, there's no longer any hard choices to make.
Posted by ZeldaTheSwordsman on July 14th, 2019 @ 1:58pm CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Honestly, in a lot of cases I don't think the "superior Takara deco" was better enough to be worth the fuss or the extra cost and bother.
It was a case-by-case basis. Most of the times, the Takara were better. Especially for the Henkei line. But sometimes, the Hasbro were the superior one. Especially for the TF Prime line when Takara's had NO paint and only stickers. Animated was debatable. Takara's were super painted, but had that super shiny color. Making them less cartoon accurate.
No matter superior or inferior, one would had to pay at the very minimum double or triple the Hasbro price for the Takara one factoring shipping. At least now, there's no longer any hard choices to make.
Evidently I didn't emphasize a certain key word properly. In a lot of the cases where the Takara deco was the better one, I don't think it was so amazingly better as to be worth all the fuss or going to extra cost and trouble to import.
Posted by thedistinctroom on July 14th, 2019 @ 2:54pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 14th, 2019 @ 3:43pm CDT
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Evidently I didn't emphasize a certain key word properly. In a lot of the cases where the Takara deco was the better one, I don't think it was so amazingly better as to be worth all the fuss or going to extra cost and trouble to import.
On my end, I should have added:
"Whenever it was worth it paying double, triple, or quadruple the usual price for better paint was up to the buyer."
For me it was not worth it 90% of the time.
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2019 @ 5:16pm CDT
Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.
Posted by william-james88 on July 14th, 2019 @ 5:59pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.
Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?
Posted by Sabrblade on July 14th, 2019 @ 10:23pm CDT
Double-checking, indeed it is!william-james88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.
Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?
Posted by william-james88 on July 14th, 2019 @ 11:17pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Double-checking, indeed it is!william-james88 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Or it could be a generic, who simply reuses Grimlock's character model, albeit recolored.thedistinctroom wrote:Ooops. Grimlock is depicted with a red chest, instead of a yellow one. He's on the artwork for Megatron. Lower left-hand side of image.
Speaking if which, was the gladiator fighting megatron in the begining of the Megatron is my Hero episode a generic using Grimlock's chatacter model?
So there you go, thats the scene the art is referencing, with accurate deco and all.
Posted by ZeroWolf on July 20th, 2019 @ 3:55am CDT
Here's what he has to say about this figure:
Chuckdawg1999 wrote:I'm not going to go over all the complaints about the Cyberverse line, you're here so you're at least interested in this figure. After decades of being almost forgotten it's nice to see Alpha Trion getting some love if my counting is correct this is the third figure, the character has gotten. Drawing heavily on its G1 design the figure cuts a rather regal and knowing pose, Trion has seen and done things. Transformation is simple and as always the action feature works just ok. I can really only recommend it if you're a fan of Optimus Primes' wise mentor
We have embedded the video below for your convenience:
What do you think of this version of Alpha Trion? Will you be getting him to add to your collection, or are you happy with one of his other versions? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews! Remember as well to check out all our SDCC coverage, including galleries of the upcoming Cyberverse toys, here!
Posted by Sabrblade on July 20th, 2019 @ 8:57am CDT
It would seem that Alpha Trion is now forever doomed to continue aping the look Vector Prime's vehicle mode, which itself was already very similar to the Sith Infiltrator from Star Wars Episode 1.
Despite the Cyberverse line being so limited in articulation, I would actually argue that this particular Alpha Trion figure may look quite good when placed in a G1 collection among other similarly-articulated molds from the 1980s, specifically some of the non-Diaclone/non-Micro Change molds from 1986-onward. Like, this figure might look good standing next to some of the movie figures from 1986 like Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, Springer, Wreck-Gar, Scourge, Cyclonus, etc.
Posted by Deadput on July 20th, 2019 @ 11:55am CDT
Posted by Ultra Markus on July 20th, 2019 @ 1:34pm CDT
Posted by Nathaniel Prime on July 20th, 2019 @ 1:41pm CDT
Ultra Markus wrote:give it a slight retool and color change to blue and white and we could have scourge
Or make it white and we get Vector Prime.
Don't pretend like there aren't any Primes in the show.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on July 21st, 2019 @ 1:57pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on July 21st, 2019 @ 1:57pm CDT
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Warrior class Slipstream and Spark Armor Cheetor are Target exclusives.
A source would be really handy here.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on July 21st, 2019 @ 3:09pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:Warrior class Slipstream and Spark Armor Cheetor are Target exclusives.
A source would be really handy here.
The transformers Instagram channel
Posted by notsoalex on July 21st, 2019 @ 4:05pm CDT
The Facebook post also has attached a stock render for the already released, "Seekers 3-Pack," containing the Rainmakers, Ion Storm, Nova Storm, and Acid Storm. We already knew these were Target exclusives, and already had stock photography done.
So, would you buy any of these figures at your Target? Thoughts on the newly revealed Slipstream? Tell us below in Pub forums!
Posted by ebonyleopard on July 21st, 2019 @ 4:09pm CDT
Posted by Decepticon Stryker on July 21st, 2019 @ 4:17pm CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on July 21st, 2019 @ 4:32pm CDT
Posted by Wireless_Phantom on July 21st, 2019 @ 5:18pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 21st, 2019 @ 6:14pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on July 21st, 2019 @ 6:37pm CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:I wonder who will distribute these bots in Canada?
Toysrus probably.all these exclusives seem randomly distributed because the US lost its main toy store. But canada didnt.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on July 21st, 2019 @ 6:45pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:I wonder who will distribute these bots in Canada?
Toysrus probably.all these exclusives seem randomly distributed because the US lost its main toy store. But canada didnt.
I dont care for the random seekers, but I genuinely want that Cheetor.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on July 21st, 2019 @ 8:30pm CDT
Posted by Nathaniel Prime on July 21st, 2019 @ 8:34pm CDT
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Target exclusives? Bugger. My local targets stopped carrying everything Cyberverse except the 1-steps
We still got mostly everything here, except that Ultra Class Shockwave (I need to find that toy again)
At least I can expect seeing these figures, and hopefully they won't shelfwarm like a certain Target exclusive mask.