For Grimlock, the superdeformed look manifests itself in his beast mode as well, though not quite to the same extent as on most other Tiny Turbo Changers' robot modes-- the head is definitely a bit big, but not as outrageously as you'd expect. The biggest issue about the alt mode is that the tail for Grimlock is pretty obviously just his robot mode head-- it's far too short and skinny, and in just that exact same position as his robot head crest. There's also some extra bits below his chin, which become his feet in robot mode. Oddly, the sculpt as a whole seems to be taken from the AoE "pre-movie model" toys, as opposed the CGI model, even though the toy was MADE for the TLK movie line. The "horns" on the dino mode are more inline with their smaller look on the AoE toys, and of course his major color is a light muddy brown, more inline with his inaccurate AoE toy colors compared to the gray/green on the movie model. (In fact, in beast mode the light muddy brown is his ONLY color, beyond the blue eyes.) As with most TTTs, the sculpting is surprisingly detailed when needed-- he's got the bony vertebrae sticking out his back, the oversized maw and teeth (though being superdeformed, his are in a smile), his large claws on the feet, and some odd tendon-like details on his hips. For articulation in t-rex mode, Grimlock can move back-and-forth at the hips.
    The transformation for Grimlock could hardly be simpler-- just separate his dino head into his two legs, stand him up, and angle the legs down to become his arms. The end result is largely good for a superdeformed toy (especially considering the price point), but the dino arms just kinda hang off the sides of his waist unceremoniously, not even with an attempt made at passing them off as something else. This mode is definitely meant to be looked at from the front-- from a side view, you basically just see the t-rex mode details. The mold details for the robot mode are, again, pretty good, with the headsculpt for his superdeformed head accurate-- to his AoE toy, at least. Again, the toy oddly ignores the updates made to the movie model. He does have the long crest on top of his helmet, and he's got a multifaceted faceplate with scowling blue eyes. There's the faux dino teeth on his chest-- along with an Autobot symbol-- and his shoulders have smaller, faux dino head-halves on the tops. His hands are sculpted on the back of his dino feet, and can hold TTT-sized weapons. His waist and legs aren't as well-detailed as the rest of him-- probably because you can more easily see them on the underside of the t-rex mode-- and are just some plated/armored details with his pointed "knight" feet at the bottom. The chest, long headcrest, and faceplate are painted silver, while his eyes are still blue-- otherwise he's still completely that light muddy brown from beast mode. For movement in this mode, Grimlock can move back-and-forth at the shoulders and slightly side-to-side at the hips due to the transformation.
    I'm kinda surprised that, despite how incredibly simple Grimlock is, he still manages to look as close to the general design of the large toys as he does in both modes. Oh, there's compromises, to be sure-- the "tail" in beast mode, the arms hanging off the chest in robot mode-- but he doesn't just have "shell pieces" hanging off them. One of the better Tiny Turbo Changer designs.
 

Review by Beastbot

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