Post by kayevcee on Feb 13, 2013 15:03:32 GMT
PACKAGING
Grind Rod is packaged in car mode in a box that looks quite similar to the old Alternator packaging, and the box is almost big enough to hold one. There’s a lot of wasted space which is a shame, and I suspect the bigger box is to help purchasers feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. Given that almost all of these figures are being sold online, often on the strength of out-of-box pictures, this seems like a waste of cardboard and transport fuel. I’d much rather see future releases in smaller boxes to save weight and resources, not to mention costs. Mind you, I’d rather do away with boxes altogether and have them shipped in ziplock bags, so maybe I’m an outlier in that regard.
He comes with a single instruction sheet that is black and white and fairly easy to follow. Also included is a profile card with tech spec ratings- the most blatant aspect of the figure that marks it out as an off-brand Transformer rather than a member of any other car robot series or a unique character. I mean, some Energon figures were very similar to Macross vehicles but they were still in Transformers packaging with Transformers bios. The spec headers are in Chinese so I can only assume they’re in the same order as usual.
While theoriginal Rollbar had decidedly mediocre stats with occasional peaks:
STR:5 INT:7 SPD:4 END:7 RNK:6 CRG:10 FRP:1 SKI:9
Grind Rod has experienced some power creep over the last 26 years:
STR:7 INT:7 SPD:8 END:10 RNK:6 CRG:7 FRP:6 SKI:9
It seems Rollbar’s new body and name has made him a bit tougher, a bit stronger, a lot faster and rather more afraid (possibly of getting sued by Hasbro or Chrysler). He’s also picked up a reasonably effective gun that the original didn’t have.
CAR MODE
Grind Rod is a Jeep Wrangler. No question. It’s just missing the logo off the front. He’s styled a bit more modern than the original as one would expect, although disappointingly his windows are plain black as opposed to the original’s reflected sprawling desert vista. I always liked Rollbar’s distinctive window stickers. They told a story that lined up well with the bio on the cardback. Maybe Reprolabels will make a set for this guy.
There are two small indentations on the bonnet to let the feet clip into place, but other than that the vehicle mode is pretty smooth. Most of the seams for transformation line up with seams on the car, apart from the inevitable split down the middle of the bonnet. There are no parts sticking out underneath so he has plenty of ground clearance (as a good Jeep should) and all four wheels touch the ground evenly, giving him a leg up on some of the Classics/Universe toys from Hasbro and Takara.
TRANSFORMATION
A bit nerve-wracking the first time, since nearly every panel on the car is held in place by multiple tabs on multiple sides and it’s quite the puzzle figuring out what to move first. The best way to begin is to pull the legs forward until the clips on the rear of the doors clear the back end of the car, then ease the legs out to the sides then down to unhook the doors from the roof piece and free the legs. After that things can move a bit more freely. The back wheel segments rotate 180* and, once the boot and roof have been folded up, close neatly over it and clip together. It’s beautiful bit of precision engineering that tidies up what would otherwise be a mess of car panels. The spare wheel comes off and converts to a handgun, since the hole it pegs into on the back is obscured by the rear wheels.
ROBOT MODE
Grind Rod has Rollbar’s face. It’s practically identical to the Hasbro toy and animation model, right down to his crazy sculpted Fun Manchu moustache. Only a small raised circle on his forehead crest differentiates Grind Rod, in a manner possibly suggested by Toyworld’s lawyer. He stands about as tall as a Classics jet like Starscream.
Grind Rod is a bit more colourful and has more surface details than the animation model he is based on. Rather than shoot for the exact duplicate Toyworld have gone to a lot of effort to make him visually interesting and distinctive. With a different head (and possibly a different colour) Grind Rod could easily be a viable unique character. The more I look at it the more I notice the amount of care and attention that has gone into sculpting and painted details.
Five different colours of paint have been applied to Grind Rod- black for the windows, dark grey (a close match for the hands and thighs in robot mode and car mode wheels) for the bumper, running boards, door handles and wing mirrors, silver for the wheels, headlights, arm details and front suspension (not visible in either mode unless you’re examining his calves), orange for the indicators and brake lights, and yellow for the face. Grind Rod’s head has translucent blue light piping, but with the roof/boot behind his head it’s only visible when you turn his head to the side. His hips and thighs are the same dark grey as his hands and head, and some of his junctions (shoulders, upper arms, neck, knees, roof connector) are a lighter grey- possibly selected for resilience rather than aesthetics. The rest of his body is green. I’ll talk about the price in detail later, but it’s clear that no expense has been spared in making the figure look as good as possible.
The moulding is excellent- the face and robot and car mode details are crisp and clear, and every part fits together neatly and moves smoothly. There are only two ball & socket joints that I can find- the rest are hinges or rods. I’ve lost track of the number of rods in this guy- I think there are about 21. The hips are a combination of hinge and rod allowing for movement in all directions. Grind Rod’s articulation is excellent- double jointed knees and shoulders, bicep, waist, neck and wrist rotation, elbows… the lot. His head folds down for car mode but can move a bit past horizontal so he can look up slightly. Theoretically I prefer a ball & socket neck but then heads have a tendency to pop off during transformation.
I haven’t mentioned his gun so far- the spare wheel sprouts two barrels from underneath (another rod- 22!) and can be held in either hand or pegged in at the back of the door panels just behind his elbows for Macross-style storage. This is the one design misstep for me- the door panel on either forearm fit into the grooves left by deploying the barrels, but not perfectly. Grind Rod can only hold his gun at a slight angle- less than 10* from straight, but it’s still noticeable. If they’d made the grooves a bit wider (and the gun even more Dan-Reed-ian than it already is) I think it would have been perfect. This won’t be a problem with the rest of the line as Grind Rod is the only lad with a spare wheel weapon- the upcoming Aurora (Searchlight) has what looks like an Alternator-style engine/rifle. Rumour has it that their Wideload analogue will be a pickup truck instead of a dump truck and may end up with a wheel-gun as well.
VALUE FOR MONEY
The best price I could find this guy at was $59.99 on Robot Kingdom, plus $10.65 postage. I could only use my UK-based Paypal account if I wanted it sent here so that added another $1 equivalent in currency conversion. $71.64 all told,which at the time was just over £45- about twice the price of an imported deluxe figure from Takara. Do I think he’s twice as good?
Yeah, just about. Grind Rod has far more moving parts and paint applications than any deluxe-scale figure I’ve seen for as long as the size class has existed. Everything is assembled with care with no flash or sloppy paint on the plastic. This figure is more comparable to Takara’s Alternity line, which is similarly priced thanks to the overvalued yen and deflating pound. Mercifully though, he’s a lot easier to transform.
That said…
This is a bootleg. The character isn’t licensed from Hasbro and the vehicle isn’t licensed from Chrysler despite the strong resemblances. Toyworld didn’t have to produce comics or cartoons or viral videos or TV spots to promote this figure. If Grind Rod wasn’t associated with the Transformers character Rollbar it would not have sold as well as it has. I certainly wouldn’t have bought it. I feel like I *just* got my money’s worth on the figure but perhaps only because I compare it to marketed, licensed figures from Hasbro and Takara. I don’t doubt the money saved on not worrying about little things like IP law went into producing a higher quality product. Toyworld are a small company with big overheads, but I still wonder how big a margin they are making on each of these figures- not to mention how much an identical figure produced by Hasbro or Takara would cost by comparison. I only hope some of that margin makes it down to the people that cast, assemble and paint the figures.
OVERALL
High points
Excellent design and articulation
Neat and plentiful paint applications
Nice presentation
Very convincing as Rollbar
Doesn’t look out of place among Classics & Universe
Low points
It’s a bootleg
Can’t hold wheel/gun exactly straight.
How much!?
Conclusion
Get one if you like the look of it, can accept the price and are unfazed by IP breaches.
-Nick
