Okay, so with movie time upon us, we have so many people voicing so many opinions. As a fandom, that's our right and we should all be encouraged to be vocal.
That brings me to the current The Last Knight repaints for Grimlock and Slash. I immediately point these out because they are the ones available in wave one and currently hitting shelves.
Honestly? I enjoy the movies, as grossly imperfect as they at e because they still fill me with a sense of wonder I had in childhood hoping to see these huge bots in "real life", so to speak. As such, I was at the very least interested to see the new figures, dare I say excited. Then we get the reveals. Now, I have posted an overview of the line where I share many of my shoughts, as well as my looks at both Barricade and Berserker. But...
That brings us to the Dinobot repaints.
So, Slash. I already looked at him before. This new version is the EXACT SAME THING again, and, trust me, he was nothing to get excited about to begin with. The overuse of soft plastic (and possible breakage due to that), the articulation limits and the conversion is the exact same thoughts I had before. The ONLY change is that he is now in a box and coloured differently. Ironically, I custom painted my Slash into a G1 aesthetic and were I to get the new one I would do the same. the irony is that where I put silver, they have pretty much put blue and where I put gold, they have largely put silver (of course, the new paint is more metallic-ish, but the parts molded in blue and grey plastic don't quite match. He was, and is, a hodge podge. About the only grade I would change for him is the paint. He was a 3 or 4 and might be a 5 or 6 now. So, that being the case, Is he worth the price of admission? Especially with the hike most places have? More on that later. In the meantime, for a greater coverage of my thoughts, he was a my look at the AOE one ages ago compared to my custom version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-oq-rWqzoI
And now, Grimlock. This mold HAS to be suffering from degredation as it has been used oh so many times now. We have the AoE version, then the one in the SDCC set, then the G1 inspired 5 pack, then movie the best and now the Last Knight. If you dislike the mold and styling, none of these paint changes are going to change your opinion. IF you like it, then which one is the best to have? Again, that depends. I have the FOC Grimmy as my Dinobot team leader, so I am way out to lunch. I find the AoE one does pop and looks nice. I enjoy looking at the G1 inspired versions but worry about the chrome wear. I don't know if the movie the best's green is screen accurate, but I'm not a green fan. I DO like the Last Knight one, and would likely score his paint as an 8. Every other thought, would again, be exactly the same as before. So, we go back to the question, is he worth the price of admission? Again, also, he was my original tohughts on him too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13OehAn98_k
My final verdict goes like this. Neither figure is particularly good or bad. Of course, Slash is weaker and Grimmy is, well, a good toy, just very, very stylized. They both do suffer from gorilla arms though. IF there is a price hike in your area as many report, then no, as a fan and a reviewer I cannot in good conscience recommend these to anyone anywhere. BUT, you might say hey, these have shown up at some US retailers for, I think, 15.88, are they worth that? Well, Grimmy at a regular voyager price, whatever that was for the last movie, yes, certainly, but Slash still isn't. he just isn't good. In sum, here is the question I would ask myself always - If I didn't want him before, do I really want him now?*
This brings me to my question to you guys, what do you think? Are these two terrific? Am I being overly critical?
