Move over, Megatron, there's a new Decepticon leader in town-- and this isn't one of Blaster's minions. Steeljaw's vehicle mode is a rather unique "wolf-SUV", which is a pretty cool new kind of vehicle for Transformers to tackle. Steeljaw's got a pretty angular vehicle mode, with a rather unique grill that's molded to look a bit like a wolf snout, with the black windows being the "eyes". The rest of this mode has pretty minimal mold detailing and is rather smooth, particularly for an SUV (though the tires are pretty well-sculpted). The proportions are largely show-accurate, though the front hood pops up a little in front of the window, which is slightly off but not a big deal. As far as robot mode kibble, the wolf tail comes out of the back end a little and may bother some people, but I actually like it as it gives the vehicle mode a little more of an "animalistic" feel. He doesn't have much of a back end beyond the tail, though-- no taillights, or anything, which is a bit of bummer. As far as the color scheme, like most RID2015 toys, it's pretty basic-- in this mode, he's almost entirely a pale milky blue with black, which isn't particularly exciting but isn't awful, either. I think a more "pure" blue would have looked a bit better. There is some light red below the doors and light orange on the headlights, which looks nice but I wish was used more.
    For a transformation, the front section unfolds into the legs, the bottom and sides become the arms, and the center unfolds into the chest and head. The back end, unfortunately, doesn't transform at all, so Steeljaw just has a vehicle back end-- spoiler and wheels and the like-- hanging behind his back, which does make his main body look a bit more bulky than it should have. The roof flap that hides his head just stays right behind said head in this mode and not out-of-the-way, either. There's a couple of other pieces of kibble in this mode, too-- although having the car doors on his arms is show-accurate, they're too large proportionally in this mode and fold onto his lower arms in a really odd manner, and don't peg into anything to stay in place either, which is annoying. The lower legs are also weak, and just have the foot claws molded into them. The feet also aren't wide/long enough, so Steeljaw has a VERY hard time standing without having his tail down behind him essentially acting as a third leg. Yet another downside is that the upper arms are too skinny, and the way the lower arms slide out involves a very tight and skinny slider, to the point where it feels like the elbows are going to crack (although they have yet to). These parts definitely should have been bulked up a fair bit. As far as colors, in addition to the pale blue and black, there's some light milky gray on the shoulders, upper arms, and upper legs, which is unfortunately that blah shade of the color but at least isn't used too much. Ther's a few black paint apps on the knees and chest and silver on the stomach, but oddly black paint is only used on the MIDDLE claw of each foot, which looks really weird. The mold detailing, again, is fairly minimal, but there's some nice angular details particularly on the shoulders, and the wolf head is very well-sculpted and looks awesome with the silver face and yellow eyes (though I wish his nose and eyebrows had been painted black). I also quite enjoy his articulated tail, which can move at four separate points. For a weapon, Steeljaw has a "Wolverine-esque" claw weapon, which can technically be held in either hand, but is molded so it only covers his hand if it's held in his left hand. (This weapon can be stored on the roof of the vehicle mode.) For articulation, beyond the tail Steeljaw can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (again, they're tight-- be careful), and at the hips (at two points), knees, and halfway down his lower legs to simulate his backwards-bending "wolf legs". Thus he's definitely more articulated than most RID2015 toys, but not quite as articulated as your average Warrior-class toy.
    Steeljaw is a fantastic character in RID, so it's a shame that his main "collector-oriented" toy is rather mediocre. His vehicle mode is pretty nice overall (though some more mold detailing and paint apps would've been appreciated), but his robot mode has some definite issues, such as a untransformed vehicle-rear backpack, scary-tight/thin elbows, and an inability to stand up without his tail acting as a third leg. Recommended if you're a fan of the character or love the beast-Decepticons from RID, but if you don't you're not missing much as far as engineering goes.
 

Review by Beastbot

NOTE: Steeljaw also was packed in a Toys "R" Us-exclusive "Decepticon Island Showdown" set with warrior Bumblebee, along with some Decepticon Hunter weapons and a stasis pod that they can fit into. The toys themselves are unchanged from the mass releases, though.

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