Toybox REVIEW: Transformers Studio Series 86 Grimlock & Autobot Wheelie

Release Date: January 2021

RRP: $49.99/£49.99

The Studio Series range has been providing Transformers fans with fantastic representations of live-action movie characters for a good few years now, but there’s always been one film from the franchise that’s been off its radar. With 2021 marking the 35th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie, there’s no better time for Hasbro to unleash Studio Series 86 on the world. As a longtime fan of Transformers first big screen outing, a toy line truly dedicated to its cast is something both I and many other Transformers fans have dreamed of for some time. Sure there have been plenty of G1 figures and reimaginings over the years, but having them all in one place in an anniversary toy line is a very exciting prospect. Among this first wave of characters is Studio Series 86 Grimlock & Autobot Wheelie, the first Leader class figure to be released. The powerful but not so bright leader of the Dinobots is a prominent character in the film, making friends with the lost Autobot Wheelie and bringing him along on their mission to destroy Unicron.

Grimlock and Wheelie come in the standard black and red packaging Hasbro have been using for the Studio Series for some years now, but as part of the new ‘86 range it’s naturally had a nice Transformers:The Movie  revamp in certain areas. The figure is packaged in robot mode and on display via the nice big front window, with the front of the box also featuring some brilliant new artwork of Wheelie atop Grimlock’s shoulders in dinosaur mode. This artwork is repeated on both spines of the box, with one also denoting this as the sixth figure in the Studio Series 86 range. On the back of the box you’ll find some renders of the figure in both modes, as well a few graphics and tag lines showing off what the line has to offer and how many steps the transformation is. Open it up and you’ll find the figure(s) and accessories laid out neatly on a moulded plastic tray, with a few elastic ties to keep it in place.

One of the particularly cool things about the Studio Series 86 range is that the inner tray also doubles as a nifty little display diorama, featuring a Transformers: The Movie-branded display base and a background based on a key scene from the film. Grimlock’s packaging features the tag line “mockery of justice”, referring back to the Autobots crash landing on the Quintessons’ planet. Here they partake in their mock court system, battle against the Sharkticons and Wheelie joins their crew. The background on the display is presumably that of the Sharkticon pit but just looks like all of the generic mechanical structures on Transformers planets, so is pretty multi-purpose for displays and photography.

In robot mode Grimlock has a great likeness to his original G1 design, albeit with a lot mech sculpted “tech” detailing all across the body. Not only does it make a little more visually exciting than the cartoon model without making the design too busy, but it allows the figure to blend in seamlessly with the recent War for Cybertron figures as well as the rest of the Studio Series figures. This means that he towers over the latest Optimus Prime figure, just as he should. Interestingly though, while it naturally takes most of its design cues from the cartoon version, the figure blends in elements of the toy colour scheme as well. The big giveaway is the translucent black piece on the chest (which hides a fully sculpted/painted Autobot insignia underneath), as this is a toy only feature - the cartoon model has this a solid yellow. Speaking of yellow, it looks as though this toy went through a number of colour changes in the design process. The renders on the box show parts being a cartoon-accurate toy yellow, but the figure itself has these parts in a more toy-inspired gold. Regardless this is G1 Grimlock through and through though, and no one would mistake it for being anything else. Being a Leader class figure Grimlock is appropriately tall and chunky, but is surprisingly lightweight given the size. This is of course due to the more hollowed-out parts Transformers figures have these days, but other than a few areas it’s not all that obvious here. Basically if you missed out on the Masterpiece figure and/or it’s a bit too pricey for you on the aftermarket, this is the Grimlock for you.

Grimlock might be a blocky brute in terms of design but as far as articulation goes the days of him being a brick are long gone, with this new figure having plenty of poseability on offer. Altogether Grimlock features;

- Ball jointed head

- Ratchet joint shoulders and hips with forward and sideward motion

- Waist, bicep, thigh and wrist swivels

- Hinged elbows and knees

- Ankle tilts

On top of all that, the claws on the wrists are articulated but that feels a bit more redundant in robot mode. There's just so much to love about this figure, and really helps convey Grimlock's loveable bruiser personality. The hinged elbows are a particularly strange construction, as they see the lower half of the arm effectively untab from the upper half and simply be held together by the hinge towards the front. It creates a weird gap in the arm when viewed from the side, but doesn't break the silhouette up too much overall. Best of all though are those ankle tilts - an absolute godsend that ensure balancing is just as straightforward as posing.

Grimlock comes with a double-barrelled rocket launcher, which can be pegged into either of his hands. While Grimlock has had plenty of guns over the years, it does feel like an odd weapon of choice here. Not just because a sword definitely fits him better, but because Grimlock doesn’t even use a gun in the movie. But then again, he only spends about 30 seconds in robot mode in the entire film as well. With so many other Autobots coming with guns it would have been nice to get a sword just to have a bit of variety, but it is what it is. It’s a very basic moulded black plastic weapon, but it’s suitably big enough for a bruiser like Grimlock.

Grimlock has a 24-step transformation, which is clearly and concisely laid out on the included instruction pamphlet. Its a nice straightforward transformation with no real fiddly bits, but it’s interesting enough that it isn’t boring. Seeing Grimlock’s arms become his legs is cool enough, but the the robot mode legs fold up to become the tail and the whole torso shifts downward. The dinosaur parts hanging on the back give the illusion of a shellformer, but that’s only really the final steps in the process.

Grimlock’s dinosaur mode is again a great likeness of the G1 version with added mechanical detailing all over the body. You could see it on the robot mode but it’s even more pronounced here with all that grey plastic on show, and makes for a slightly more interesting figure than the smooth panels a toon-accurate one would have. Overall the sculpting is excellent, but there are two areas that slightly let it down. The first is the lack of front teeth, which leaves Grimlock looking a little incomplete when viewed from the front. The second is when the figure is viewed from the its right hand side. On this side the headsculpt has a number of screw holes holding it together, which is perhaps unavoidable but has ended up looking pretty unsightly. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but it’s not as attractive as it could be either. These minor quibbles aside, it’s a great looking dinosaur mode which was essential for a Transformers: The Movie figure since he’s in this form for almost the entire runtime.

Surprisingly Grimlock does have weapon storage in alt mode, as the gun can clip onto his back and be worn as some sort of deadly fashion accessory. In all honesty though, it looks absolutely rubbish and not having the gun at all is far more visually appealing. The fact Hasbro have gone to the effort to find a way to connect the gun onto the T-Rex body should be commended for sure, but it just sits there so awkwardly and doesn’t even look like it would serve a purpose like this in-fiction. If you’re someone who likes to keep all your Transformer parts in one place then this is great, but it definitely feels like it could have been implemented better than the way Hasbro are suggesting.

In T-Rex mode Grimlock isn’t quite as articulated as his robot mode, but it’s still fairly impressive regardless. With the arms now becoming the legs all of that articulation remains intact, so the shoulders become the hips and the elbows become the knees. The T-Rex arms are ball jointed at the connection with the body, and then have an additional hinged elbow joint to give them plenty of movement. Finally the neck can swivel a full 360 degrees, the head can lift up and the jaw is hinged. So this Grimlock is perfectly capable of bashing brains, munching metal and anything else required to prove that Grimlock is king. The knees joints can feel a little wobbly since the hinge part is just on front part of the leg, but they’re still able to hold poses thanks the balance provided from the feet. In those basic rampage poses Grimlock has a more anatomically correct Tyrannosaurus posture, but he looks just as good as an upright 80s dinosaur as well. 

Finally Wheelie is also included as part of this set, although given how he turned out no one would blame you for forgetting. This is a non-transformable version of the orange Autobot with five points of articulation (head, shoulders and hips), however with legs bent at the knees he’s stuck in a sitting pose which translates into an awkward squatting pose when stood up or displayed on his own. Wheelie also includes his slingshot which can be displayed in the outstretched right arm. 

Arguably Hasbro COULD have included a transformable version of Wheelie in this release. Given all the Legends class figures they release on a regular basis as well as the whole line of Headmaster figures not that long ago (which on Takara’s side of things also featured Targetmasters with some releases), there’s nothing that should have stopped them from doing it. However assuming that for whatever reason they couldn’t budget a transforming Wheelie here, they could have at the very least done a properly poseable figure. The fixed pose limbs immediately kill any individual play and display value the figure has outside of sitting atop Grimlock. In robot mode Wheelie can peg on top of Grimlock’s shoulder, and then in alt mode he sits on his back/neck. While technically Wheelie does peg into place here, it’s a little fiddly and not especially secure. As a final note, all the hollow limbs on this figure make it look pretty cheap - on bigger figures it’s not so bad as there’s extra detailing to take your eyes away from it, but on something this small it’s just really obvious. It’s frustrating because there’s every possibility that this means Hasbro will just call it a day on a Studio Series 86 Wheelie. I hope that isn’t the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

There’s no denying that Hasbro completely botched Wheelie and really should have done better, but Studio Series 86 Grimlock is a fantastic figure that deserves every bit of praise he gets. There are a few minor nitpicks that were worth mentioning, but the sculpt, articulation and overall quality of the figure definitely live up to the hype that this line has already created amongst Transformers fans. It’s funny because if it was just Grimlock alone it would probably be a near-perfect release, but because Hasbro slapped Wheelie’s name on the box as if he were a feature it rightly deserves criticism. He’s a glorified accessory, but Grimlock is the whole package.