The Brothers Grim(lock)

A trip to the not-so-nearby haunted Toys R US (more on that later) led me to find the new TRU exclusive Transformers Titanium Series War Within Grimlock! Here he is with...well...himself, from a couple different "universes."

This newest (oldest?) version of Grimlock represents his appearance from the IDW publishing comic book storyline "The War Within," which told a Transformers story set on Cybertron long before the Ark shot towards Earth.


Basically, this is Grimlock in his "original" Cybertronian form. I like this idea better than "we built him on Earth" as seen in both G1 and the current Animated series. Another aspect of the character I think is groovy is that he has a damaged vocal processor, which is why he speaks poorly. His iconic line "Me Grimlock" is phrased as such because of the vocal damage, not because he's an idiot.


Here's a close-up of the currently available Transformers Animated Grimlock.


And here's his original G1 self.

Titanium Grimlock comes with a sword as well as a laser rifle. A single glance at this guy screams "Grimlock." What a sweet design!

Now here he is in alt. mode. Of course, before coming to Earth, there were no dinosaurs to reference, so Grimlock was envisioned in the War Within comic as a Cybertronian tank.

He still has the design cues that reflect his later dinosaur mode, like the exhaust that will become arms...

and the length that is reflective of his Tyrannosaurus tail.

His gun also attaches to the back of his cab, and his sword is held on the side of his rear treads.

A brilliant Cybertronian design, I can certainly imagine Grimlock as a mean, heavily armed "take no prisoners" warrior from day one.

Everything Old Is New Again...

I have seen a few episodes of the new Transformers Animated series. It's pretty good. As good, if not better, than the original. Which in all seriousness, isn't saying much (hey, I love it too, but it ain't high art.)






The best part about the new cartoon is the re-imaginings and re-introductions of all the G1 characters. The show features pretty much all the characters we've grown to love, true to their original incarnations, with a modern twist. They've done very good to continue to introduce fan favorite characters throughout the series, like Ultra Magnus, Wreck-Gar, Blitzwing, and three of the Dinobots.



The only character I don't like is Prowl, as he is too far removed in his robot/vehicle mode from the G1 Prowl to even be recognizable as Prowl.

But back to the topic at hand. The toys!


"The Eighties were not good to you."


The toys are way too cool! For Father's day I received the Cybertronian Megatron from my oldest daughter. I like this one a lot, for a couple reasons. First, it's his Cybertronian version, so he pretty much can transform into anything and I'm okay with that, because we all know there are no Walther P-38s on Cybertron.

Second, he looks so much like his G1 version (but with Cybertronian attributes) that I can accept in my cartoon addled mind that this is the definitive version of a pre-Earth Megatron.



There is an Earth Megatron coming soon, and his robot version is even more in step with that of the G1 Megatron. He converts into a Helicopter, which is acceptable, and I will probably buy him.


"Touche."


Next up is Grimlock. I only found out that this guy was available in toy form recently, when folks at other toy blogs started finding him. I usually know about upcoming toys years in advance, and as Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part.

So I was glad to only hunt for this guy for about a week or two before finding him. I waited longer for a G1 Grimlock, which I first acquired only a couple years ago.


"Me Grimlock coolest Autobot EVER!"


Let me just say this new Grimlock is un-freaking-believable. He is everything the original version is and more. He's the perfect melding of old and new. He's cool in both modes, and a solid figure in each version too (as opposed to the G1 which is kind of cumbersome in robot mode.)


"Me Grimlock STILL coolest Autobot EVER! Me should be king of Autobots!"

He transforms in almost the exact same fashion as his G1 counterpart too. Groovy.

There are a bunch of new figures out now, and tons more in the works. And coming soon is another Dinobot, the Triceratops Slag (now known as Snarl for some reason or another.)

Cue Tom Petty.

Lightning strikes, version 2.0

If you saw the Masters of the Universe haul I made a couple weeks back, you're not going to believe this. Even if you didn't see the haul I made a couple weeks back you're not going to believe this. I still have trouble believing it, and it happened to me last Saturday.

I got up early to go to a local church parking lot swap meet last Saturday. I walk up and about two vendors into it I see a tupperware box of Transformers. I start digging. When I come up for air, this is what I have in my sweaty palms:




A near complete Trypticon, Grimlock, G2 Bumblebee, G2 Hubcap(?), a couple non-transforming Transformers (including Bumblebee) and a truck (more on them later,) a G2 Sideswipe...


Oh yeah...and that little known, barely seen, poorly acted and easily forgotten background character named Megatron.



Holee Shiznickles! A G1 Megatron! No way!

WAY!

I was shaking when I pulled this guy out of the box. I actually first found a baggie with his add on parts in it, and thought that was all I'd find. I dug to the bottom and there he was in his chrome and black goodness. I'm still in shock.

While digging, I asked "how much" and was told the little guys were a dollar and the big guys were two dollars. Yeah, I was having a hard time playing it cool as you can imagine.




I only had eight dollars on me, and asked if I could have all this for eight bucks. She first said "ten," then said "sure, eight bucks is fine."




I am not sure, but the lady selling these may have been the same lady who sold the MOTU stuff. I wasn't exactly focused on her either time. Aliens could have landed...on Bigfoot...and I wouldn't have noticed. But you can count on me hitting all the local swap meets I can from now on.



And does anyone know what these guys are? They don't transform, but are "Transformers" - that's Bumblebee, and the other guy has a Decepticon symbol, and looks like his alt mode should be a pistol, but isn't anyone I'm familiar with. You can see a truck that is certainly part of the series behind them (it has the Autobot symbol on it.) It folds out on the back and sides to turn into a jet...it reminds me a little of M.A.S.K. and I know I've seen these in magazines or online somewhere (they may be a foreign only release) but I can't recall anything about them at the moment. I'll update when I find out more.

UPDATE: The figures are from the short-lived Action Masters series from 1990. Treadshot is the badguy's name. The truck behind them is part of the Micromasters series (also from 1990) and it appears I am missing the rear half of it.