On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 6:10:12 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> It looks like the original plan might have been to give him a yellow chest, not a gold one, and a translucent clear panel instead of the darker, smokey tinted one he ended up with. He doesn't look bad, certainly, but it's not the cartoonriffic screen accuracy that Studio Series is supposedly all about. I think the dark chest panel is the single thing I dislike about the toy.

So I finally ordered the Nonnef Productions upgrade set for Grimlock. It's been available since April, I think, but I was having a crisis and felt like I was spending way too much money on plastic robots. Then we refinanced the condo so I wasn't buying anything until our finances were properly in order, and I missed it. So now I'm back to it again.

The Grimlock set comes with a great, big sword that's sculpted like the G1 energon sword, only it's four and a half inches long. Grimlock didn't carry a sword in the cartoon (except for one scene in "Madman's Paradise") so while the Studio Series release is not inaccurate, the toy feels more complete with a big, red sword in his hand. He's also got a clear chest panel to replace the dark, semi-opaque one. You can actually see his Autobot symbol? It's supposed to just snap in place, but I drilled screw holes into the pegs on mine so the screws can hold it on.

He's also got a crown, which fits kind of loosely on his head, and is a tribute to the one Grimlock wore when he was the Autobot leader in the Marvel Comics run. There are also forearm covers that screw in place and are meant to eliminate the unsightly gaps when his fists are exposed. Gaps don't bothers me like they do some people (I will never buy those upgrade sets on eBay that are just all gap fillers), and the panels tend to loosen on their own, so I probably won't be leaving these parts on.

He also comes with a set of dinosaur dentures! Front teeth for his upper and lower jaw, which you either have to super-glue in place or use the enclosed glue dots to stick them on. I hadn't realized how much the lack of front teeth bothered me until my Grimlock toy actually had a full set of choppers. Nonnef said they couldn't exactly match the swirly grey colors on Grimlock, so they randomly send you parts that are either slightly too light or slightly too dark. I got the dark ones and they seem fine. There are also screw-hole fillers for his dinosaur head and neck, which is cool.

So the Grimlock set was $14.99 plus shipping, which seems like a lot (especially when I consider that now I have to buy four more of these for my other Studio Series Dinobots when they come out), but there are a lot of parts here, including a really big sword, so it seems reasonable.

While I was ordering, I also got some of the van upgrade sets for the various Siege/Earthrise toys. I got replacement wheels for Siege Crosshairs (black with red hubcaps), Earthrise Ironhide (black with grey hubcaps), and Earthrise Ratchet (black with grey hubcaps). There was an option for silver painted hubcaps, but they were more expensive, and they didn't really fit the Earthrise toys in my opinion. I didn't buy wheel replacements for Siege Ratchet or Siege Ironhide, because they're supposed to be cybertronic in nature.

I also bought two of the red Ratchet sets. These are separate sets that come with two red fists, a couple of red crosses you can stick to his shoulders with sticky glue tabs, and a replacement piece for the front half of the pelvis. You have to cut through the stock pelvis with an X-Acto knife to remove it, and you need to super glue the replacement pelvis in place. However, it really dramatically improves the look of the toy. I'm not super excited about the red crosses (I would prefer stickers) but I do appreciate the effort made. The shade of red is meant to match the Earthrise toy, but I got a set for the Siege toy anyway, since Ratchet really needed his red fists. I badgered them a bit about doing some red Ratchet fists, so I like to pretend they made this set with me, specifically, in mind.

All of these individual sets were $4.99 a pop. Nonnef Productions is doing additional sets for the vans, like foot replacements (I think?) and battle sleds of some kind, but they haven't been released yet.

Zob (now I need to find a Zip-Loc bag for all these extra wheels and wrong-colored Ratchet fists)

On Monday, June 28, 2021 at 9:05:17 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 6:10:12 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
>
> > It looks like the original plan might have been to give him a yellow chest, not a gold one, and a translucent clear panel instead of the darker, smokey tinted one he ended up with. He doesn't look bad, certainly, but it's not the cartoonriffic screen accuracy that Studio Series is supposedly all about. I think the dark chest panel is the single thing I dislike about the toy.
>
> So I finally ordered the Nonnef Productions upgrade set for Grimlock. It's been available since April, I think, but I was having a crisis and felt like I was spending way too much money on plastic robots. Then we refinanced the condo so I wasn't buying anything until our finances were properly in order, and I missed it. So now I'm back to it again.
>
> The Grimlock set comes with a great, big sword that's sculpted like the G1 energon sword, only it's four and a half inches long. Grimlock didn't carry a sword in the cartoon (except for one scene in "Madman's Paradise") so while the Studio Series release is not inaccurate, the toy feels more complete with a big, red sword in his hand. He's also got a clear chest panel to replace the dark, semi-opaque one. You can actually see his Autobot symbol? It's supposed to just snap in place, but I drilled screw holes into the pegs on mine so the screws can hold it on.
>
> He's also got a crown, which fits kind of loosely on his head, and is a tribute to the one Grimlock wore when he was the Autobot leader in the Marvel Comics run. There are also forearm covers that screw in place and are meant to eliminate the unsightly gaps when his fists are exposed. Gaps don't bothers me like they do some people (I will never buy those upgrade sets on eBay that are just all gap fillers), and the panels tend to loosen on their own, so I probably won't be leaving these parts on.
>
> He also comes with a set of dinosaur dentures! Front teeth for his upper and lower jaw, which you either have to super-glue in place or use the enclosed glue dots to stick them on. I hadn't realized how much the lack of front teeth bothered me until my Grimlock toy actually had a full set of choppers. Nonnef said they couldn't exactly match the swirly grey colors on Grimlock, so they randomly send you parts that are either slightly too light or slightly too dark. I got the dark ones and they seem fine. There are also screw-hole fillers for his dinosaur head and neck, which is cool.
>
> So the Grimlock set was $14.99 plus shipping, which seems like a lot (especially when I consider that now I have to buy four more of these for my other Studio Series Dinobots when they come out), but there are a lot of parts here, including a really big sword, so it seems reasonable.
>
> While I was ordering, I also got some of the van upgrade sets for the various Siege/Earthrise toys. I got replacement wheels for Siege Crosshairs (black with red hubcaps), Earthrise Ironhide (black with grey hubcaps), and Earthrise Ratchet (black with grey hubcaps). There was an option for silver painted hubcaps, but they were more expensive, and they didn't really fit the Earthrise toys in my opinion. I didn't buy wheel replacements for Siege Ratchet or Siege Ironhide, because they're supposed to be cybertronic in nature.
>
> I also bought two of the red Ratchet sets. These are separate sets that come with two red fists, a couple of red crosses you can stick to his shoulders with sticky glue tabs, and a replacement piece for the front half of the pelvis. You have to cut through the stock pelvis with an X-Acto knife to remove it, and you need to super glue the replacement pelvis in place. However, it really dramatically improves the look of the toy. I'm not super excited about the red crosses (I would prefer stickers) but I do appreciate the effort made. The shade of red is meant to match the Earthrise toy, but I got a set for the Siege toy anyway, since Ratchet really needed his red fists. I badgered them a bit about doing some red Ratchet fists, so I like to pretend they made this set with me, specifically, in mind.
>
> All of these individual sets were $4.99 a pop. Nonnef Productions is doing additional sets for the vans, like foot replacements (I think?) and battle sleds of some kind, but they haven't been released yet.
>
>
> Zob (now I need to find a Zip-Loc bag for all these extra wheels and wrong-colored Ratchet fists)

So many great upgrade sets for Grimlock out there.

The missing teeth really bothered me; got JRC's upgrades for that as well as the forearms and feet.

Funnily enough, I was not initially a big fan of SS86 Grimlock, but after the gap fillers and with the passing of time, he's really grown on me to the point of being one of my favorite purchases from the past year.

I generally don't go for gap fillers on their own - much better if they come as part of a set with other goodies, like Sentinel Prime's gun/shield/blades. As a matter of principle, I find it hard to justify spending as much or more on upgrades as I did for the actual figure...I keep thinking that for that price, I could just get a whole new figure...