"Groundbuster" is a copyright-friendly name for Groundpounder, which I guess they decided the name for on the show before the registered a toy trademark. (Which I suppose makes sense, as he debuted on the show a fairly long time before he got thie toy.) In alt mode, Groundpounder (I'm going to use that name, it just sounds better. Alliteration and all.) is an excavator. Unfortunately, the stuff your eye goes right to-- the red parts-- are the main issues with this mode. I mean, Groundpounder's robot fist is RIGHT there behind the cockpit area. There's no attempt to hide it-- in fact, because it's painted red, it's actually HIGHLIGHTED and thus incredibly hard to ingore. The excavator arm also suffers a bit from the general simplicity of the design because of the size, as it's clearly just Groundpounder's claw-arm in robot mode and not a regular excavator arm for this mode. The "thumb" of the three-pronged claw is definitely a regular excavator bucket, but you've got two very obvious fingers above it that don't move out of the way. The claw-arm also doesn't come up enough above the cockpit to hang down like it should on an excavator, so it looks a bit off in that respect as well. The rest of the mode is pretty solid, especially for a Legion-class toy. If you want to get picky you get see the top of Groundpounder's robot head on the bottom rear end of this mode, but it's covered up pretty well by the pieces above it. As far as the color scheme, it's a fairly light blue, a REALLY light milky gray to the point where it's nearly white, and the aforementioned bit of red on the obvious robot fists and claw. There's also some metallic black paint on the windows. Ideally I wish the treads had been painted black, but on a Legion-class figure I suppose that's a bit unrealistic, especially with his other paint bits. The type of plastic used for the light milky gray also I think isn't the right kind of plastic to "hold" paint on, anyways. The blue and red certainly contast against each other nicely enough, but that very light milky gray is too bland, I think. Used as a minor accent color it might've helped to give a "neutral" color for the blue and red to work against, but having his entire tread pieces be this color just doesn't look good. As far as the mold detailing, his treads are very intricately detailed, especially for a RID2015 toy. The rest of the toy has some basic stylistic detailing with some angles here and there, but is fairly standard for the line-- that said, given the small size, he still certainly has "enough". (There IS one cool long tiny piston detail inside the hollow part of his lower claw-arm, though.)
    To transform Groundpounder, the treads go on the back, you unfold the arms out and down, and then fold out the legs from underneath the vehicle mode. Ta-da! Groundpounder's robot mode is definitely the mode that has the priority, and he looks like a gorilla; he's got very long arms, a fairly long body, and short legs. His head is also very gorilla-like, being fairly round with a large forehead, big chin, and a relatively small silver face with light blue eyes. I do love his overall look, as he's one of the animalistic Decepticon designs, which are always my favorites. The different proportions certainly make him unique, and him having a "regular" long arm and the claw-arm from vehicle mode as his other arm makes him even more unique. The treads are obviously extras, but they frame his shoulders in such a way that I don't mind them at all; they actually enhance the mode's silhouette, if you ask me. His short gray legs have some basic toe and kneecap details, but otherwise aren't that noteworthy (mostly because they're so small). The chest has some basic "divot" details, along with some metallic red paint. Oddly, this is NOT the same red paint that's used on the hands, but rather a darker, more shiny shade of the color. There's some black on the upper left arm and lower right arm, but otherwise beyond that and the silver on the face there's no paint specifically for this mode. The legs could've used some paint, but otherwise given that this is such a small toy, his colors are still broken up enough. For articulation in this mode, Groundpounder can move at the shoulders, elbow on the right arm, and at the hips, with most of these on ball joints, so he's roughly average in this respect for a Legion class toy.
    Groundbuster/Groundpounder's robot mode is incredibly unique and fantastic, with some great proportions, a cool "gorilla" look, and with even the kibble on the back framing his shoulders well. His excavator mode is a bit less impressive-- mostly because of the obvious fist and claw-- but still decent. If there was a larger version with a better alt mode I'd definitely recommend that one over this Legion toy because Groundpounder's kind of a big guy, but unfortunately this was the only toy of the character released, which is definitely a shame (though still certainly better than nothing). If you like unique Decepticon designs, this is an easy recommendation.
 

Review by Beastbot

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