Being one of the biggest stars of the Fall of Cybertron video game, it was only logical that Grimlock received one of the bigger-scale toys from the line. In his robotic t-rex mode, Grimlock does a pretty good job of mixing old with new. He still has the same major features and color layout of his G1 version, but his stature's been modified a bit to how scientists currently think a t-rex walked-- with its tail up in the air. His head design is also a bit different, but in a good way, in my opinion. He does have a few proportional issues in this mode, however, and neither of them are minor. For one, his tail is way too bulky, being comprised of both of his legs, and looks off. Also, although from a side view he looks fine, from a frontal view you can see that Grimlock's chest/stomach area is entirely hollow in this mode, which ruins the image of him being the "big buff brute" here, a little. His main color scheme of various shades of gray with some light tan on the side is a bit on the dull side, too. I understand that it's accurate for the most part, but the dull tan really doesn't work well in place of the gold-- it really should've been painted. Plus, even on the metallic gold paint that covers a few spots on Grimlock such as the sides of his tail, it STILL manages to look dull, as it's way too pale. Thankfully, Grimlock has some really eye-catching orangish red transparent plastic used for his eyes (in both modes), the interior of his robot chest, and his weapons, which at least gives him one nice-looking, bold main color. There's also a fair number of silver and light red paint apps across his chassis-- the silver blends in enough with his various shades of gray where it's not that big of a deal, but the light red helps give Grimlock a bit more of the "FoC energy piping" aesthetic and looks quite good against the gray and tan. As for mold detailing, Grimlock's got plenty of it-- vents, hinges, and the like are molded in everywhere (accurately to the video game model, of course), so he definitely has no issues there. Grimlock's sword and shield both look excellent, game-accurate, and quite intimidating, and I love how the transparent plastic emulates the "energy weapon" quality of these weapons. They can store on either of the hips of this mode, but they look a little out-of-place when you do so; I wish there was a place to store them that wasn't so conspicious. Unusual for voyager-class toys nowdays, Grimlock has an electronic gimmick-- pull back on the tab behind his head, and his mouth will open and light up orange, like he's getting ready to breathe fire. This is a great, unobstrusive gimmick, and is one of the highlights of the toy, particularly in dino mode. For articulation here, Grimlock can move at the shoulders, mouth (if you pull it back; once you let it go, it will spring back to the "closed" position); at three points on each hip (though it's very oddly restricted here, due to the manner in which Grimlock transforms); and at the knees (at two points), slightly forward-and-back at the ankles, and at the base of each toe. I wish his tail could swing a little, and his hips are definitely a bit annoying to move around, but otherwise he's pretty good in that respect here. One thing to watch out for-- the ball joints that Grimlock's dino arms are on tend to be just a tad too big, so the pieces around them can split a little. It's usually not bad enough for the dino arm to come off completely, and can be fixed with a little glue, but it's still definitely worth mentioning.
    FoC Grimlock transforms in a manner not dissimiliar to his original G1 toy, which means that although he has a bit of a backpack made up of the neck/front arms/head of his dino mode, otherwise he doesn't have any dino mode kibble in robot mode, which is fairly impressive. His proportions are quite a bit better in this mode, with the only obvious discrepency being that his legs are a little bit two-dimensional; they look fine from the sides, but from a frontal view they look a bit too skinny. I do love his broad shoulders and skinny waist, though-- he really comes off much more like a hulking bruiser in this mode. His headsculpt is extremely well-done, with the transparent piping for his visor working very well and a bunch of awesome little mechanical details around his neck. He also has a modified Autobot symbol on his chest with a "dino mouth", the symbol for the Lightning Strike Coalition that he commanded before becoming a Dinobot-- a nice touch, there. For articulation in this mode, Grimlock can move at the neck, shoulders (at four points), elbows, wrist rotation, and he can also move at the hips (at three points), and knees (at two points). Unfortunately, two of his major articulation points are "wonky" and can be a bit of a pain to pose-- namely, his shoulders and knees. His shoulders have the same issues that his hips did in dino mode, being an odd assembly of gears and friction joints that make you almost think you're going to break them when rotating the shoulders outward-- though I have yet to have this happen to mine, it just FEELS weak and gives a bit too much. At the knees, due to the way his legs transform he's got an extra "knee" slightly below his "real" one, and neither locks into place well, so it can be a bit tricky to move those tight joints without moving his lower leg forward into an unsightly position. Surprisingly enough, Grimlock's electronic gimmick also works in this mode-- pull back on the same tab behind his dino head as before (which is now located on his back, behind his chest) and the light from Grimlock's dino maw lights up the translucent parts of his chest, including his chest details along the line at the front, the two bits near the shoulders, his allegiance symbol, and translucent design elements on his stomach. It looks quite cool, though you've got light spread out rather unevenly due to the relatively narrow area it projects into in this mode, so the light actually bleeds through some of the solid plastic in the middle of his chest-- though it's still a cool gimmick, regardless.
    FoC Grimlock has an excellent robot mode (two-dimensional legs aside), but his dino mode proportions have some definite issues-- particularly with the tail and the hollow-ness of his chest and stomach area. His color scheme is also a bit unnecessarily dull (more silver and gold paint would have improved it immensely.) His gimmick is quite cool, though, as are his weapons, though his dino hip/robot shoulder articulation points are quite wonky, as well as his robot knees. If you're a fan of Grimlock and the FoC aesthetic, I'd recommend this toy (mostly for the robot mode)-- temper your expectations, though, as his dino mode can be a bit disappointing when you first lay eyes upon it.

*Grimlock was also released in an exclusive "Platinum Edition" set-- exclusive to several online retailers-- with the members of FoC Bruticus. This Platinum Edition of Grimlock is nearly identical to his mass release, the main and most obvious change being that most of his tan parts were replaced with a chrome goldish yellow. (His abdomen had also been painted silver.) Generally I think the chrome yellow is a bit too much on the gaudy side, but it DOES give Grimlock considerably more visual interest, so I think the Platinum Edition of this toy is slightly better than the mass release.

Review by Beastbot

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