The "Cyber Battalion" version of Grimlock looks (fairly predictably) a lot like G1 Grimlock in his t-rex mode, but with a bit more detailing than you would expect on the G1 toy; it's heavily inspired by, but not a direct 1-to-1 update of the design. The proportions of the t-rex mode are a bit more "modern", with the tail not dragging on the floor and a slightly more "upright" stance. The legs are some moderately obvious robot extras, though, as the robot hips are clearly visible from the front near the bottom of the chest, and the upper tail is far too chunky and too clearly the lower legs and feet. The legs, general shape of the main body, and the head are pretty solid proportionally, though. There's some really nice circular, mechanical details on the hips in particular, as well as ridges on the claws, circular gear-like details and hinges on the t-rex arms, and segmented detailing on the tail. The head is detailed a bit oddly, though; I think there's actually a bit TOO MANY details, which is not something I often say about TFs. It just looks like they couldn't quite figure what version of Grimlock to homage here. One thing that is a bit of a surprise is that Grimlock's colored like his Age of Extinction toys, even though otherwise he has no visual hints of that design on him. By far the most common color is the same brownish bronze plastic used on the AoE Grimlock toys, but a positive change is that there's a bit of glitter in it, making the shade semi-metallic in nature. The other main color is black, where the plastic (used on the upper robot legs, t-rex arms, and robot fists) is another glittery, semi-metallic shade of the color, and the paint is a glossy shade. They both contrast fairly well against the brownish bronze. The light milky gray is of a slightly bluish shade, but is otherwise still the usual blah, boring shade of the color (though thankfully it's only really used on the lower jaw and the end of the tail). On a similar color note is the silver on the chest and upper portion of the head, but although it's a good color, it doesn't contrast against the brownish bronze all that well. For articulation in this mode, he can move at the jaw (with a little lever on the back side of the skull), at the t-rex shoulders, and at the hips (at two points). He can technically move backwards at the knees too, but it looks odd in this mode and is clearly meant for the robot mode arms.
    Grimlock's general transformation and look in robot mode is very much taken mostly from the RID2015 Grimlock design (the Warrior class toy, in particular), but a bit leaner in terms of the legs and body. Instead of the main body and the t-rex head folding behind the back like with G1 Grimlock, the chest of both modes is the same (with this version having the front of the chest flip out to put the t-rex head inside it). The head is even sculpted with details that look very similar to RID2015 Grimlock's head, beyond the faceplate which is more G1-ish. As is usual, the t-rex legs make for great arms, with fists folded out from underneath the claws, and the chest is solid. The legs look pretty nice from the front, but from a side view they're skinnier when compared to the arms, which doesn't really fit Grimlock and looks a bit "off". Just like with RID2015 Warrior Grimlock, the t-rex arms fold back a bit around the shoulders, but are still fairly obvious. There isn't really any other extras in this mode, though, which is quite impressive (the VERY front of the t-rex snout sticks out of the back of the body, but this is barely a thing even from a side view). The color scheme is broken up a bit more in this mode, with the black spaced out more, and there's some silver on the face and lower legs as well. The arms could've used some paint, though. A neat little mold detail is that-- even though the lower tail folds into the lower right leg-- the lower left leg also has similar detailing, as if the tail split into halves. That said, the leg halves are different colors with the "real" one being gray, which kinda ruins the effect a bit. For articulation, Grimlock can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, hips (at two points), and knees, which is definitely above-average for a Cyber Battalion toy and much appreciated.
    I'm a bit conflicted about Cyber Battalion Grimlock. On the one hand, it's a pretty solid design, with a nice t-rex mode (albeit with a fairly weak tail), a surprisingly kibble-free robot mode, good proportions, and pretty darned good articulation for a Cyber Battalion toy. On the other hand, it treads the line too much between G1 Grimlock, RID2015 Grimlock, and AoE Grimlock to the point where it never really hits the mark on any of them, and thus kinda looks like a new character, especially in robot mode where he's so much leaner than you'd expect from Grimlock. Still, that aside, if you can get over the more-expensive price because of the exclusivity, it's a pretty good toy and easily my favorite of the first bunch of Cyber Battalion toys.

Review by Beastbot

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