G2 Grimlock

Series: Generation 2
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Dinobot
Year: 1993

Among the winners, there is no room for the weak.
Grimlock is the most fearsome and powerful Dinobot. Although dedicated to the Autobot cause, he resents authority. He is a valiant warrior, but is also cold and merciless with contempt for the weak, including all humans. He has great strength and his jaws can break almost anything in two. He carries an energy sword and galaxial rocket launcher in Dinobot Mode. Other than arrogance and lack of speed, he has no real weaknesses.

Robot Mode: Considering the character’s history, Grimlock’s robot mode is probably the lesser-known mode of this figure, seeing as he spent the larger part of his TV appearances in dinosaur mode. Still, he does have a very nice robot mode, too.

Like many G1 figures from the early years (or G2 repaints of same) the robot is secondary to the alternate mode and, as such, hasn’t got much in the way of posability. Grimlock can swing his arms at the shoulders, bend his knees, and do the split. He can move his legs at the hips, too, but only very slightly.

Look-wise, Grimlock offers very few grounds for complaint. He’s a bit disproportioned, with a very large chest and lower legs, added to a rather small head and short arms. The head also sits very far back. The dinosaur head and ‘wings’ on his back make him a bit prone to toppling over backwards, but it’s not a big thing. In terms of weapons Grimlock carries a double-barreled gun and his signature sword. The original G1 Grimlock had a missile launcher for use in alternate mode, but that was left out for the G2 version.

All said, Grimlock’s robot mode is certainly not the best of the flock in certain areas, but it remains a classic and the blue looks good on him, too.

Alternate Mode: This is, of course, the mode most will recognize Grimlock in: He becomes a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The body design is somewhat anachronistic, as we’ve learned more about how the T-Rex actually looked and walked in the years since this figure was created, but we’re not going for realism here. He’s a robotic T-Rex and he looks damn good.

The T-Rex is actually more posable than the robot. The legs can move at the hip and knees, he can swivel his small arms and open his jaw. Not a contortionist, but nice. The T-Rex also features a left-over gimmick from the figures pre-Transformers days, a cockpit on his back where a small driver figure can fit. So all in all a great-looking beast mode and the blue color looks nice, too.

Missing Parts: Apart from his gun, Grimlock usually carries a red sword, which I’m sadly missing.

Remarks: The first year of Generation 2 consisted mostly of repainted figures from the early years of Generation 1, so it’s not much of a surprise that one of the most popular Transformers characters of them all, Grimlock, should return as well. No one knows why he was repainted blue (seeing as he appeared in his standard grey in the G2 comic series), but probing the deeper meaning of the color choices in G2 is probably a moot point anyway (one assumes that hallucinogenic drugs were involved). Fact is he’s blue and he looks good in blue.

Grimlock here was one of the first figures I acquired after I got back into Transformers collecting and I’ve reviewed him before, but it was a very short one with rather bad pictures. Seeing as I recently acquired the original G1 Grimlock at a flea market (he still needs some work, so the review will take some time), I thought it prudent to grace my G2 Grimlock here with a new series of pics and an updated review. The verdict remains the same, though: Everyone should own a Grimlock. And whether it’s grey G1 or blue G2 is a matter of taste and availability.

Rating: B+