TFA Battle Damaged Grimlock

This project was a no-brainer, and I started working on it almost before I really knew what I was doing. Grimlock was my first foray into the Animated line of figures, and I liked him so much I thought it would be fun to give him a more realistic paintjob, vs the cartoony colors he came with stock. Then I thought it might be even more fun to give him massive amounts of damage and scarring too, to really complete the million year old robot dinosaur look.

So I broke out the soldering iron, heated knives and razors, and even used the dremel in a few places, and really went to town on Grimlock here. I have to admit too, it was kind of fun to cut and burn up a toy like that, maybe a little too much fun if you catch my drift - yikes!

Fixing up the big gaping chest cavity in his T-rex mode was an imperative too, which for some reason Hasbro thought was a good idea to leave. So using a KO Star Saber set for the hinges, and cutting various widths and lengths of styrene, it was actually really easy to do. And as you can see, the gap is now filled AND it doesn’t interfere with his transformation at all.

I also thought it would be fun to see him with a G1-esque gun too, so I cobbled one together using some old engine/gun blaster from some 80’s toy, epoxy, sheet styrene and glue, which I think came together well and really gives the impression of an updated Grimlock. I was a little worried that his animated aesthetic wouldn’t vibe well with a more realistic paintjob, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that he took to it very well!

Grimlock was painted using a combination of custom mixed enamel and acrylic paints, and sealed with Testors Dull Coat. He can withstand a bit of abuse and play, but with all custom paint jobs care should be taken when using for fear of scratches and chips.

He still has his flame sword, and it’s gone through the same treatment as the rest here, but I was just too lazy to get any pics of it, mostly because I’m not that fond of the sword anyways - it seems a little goofy.

Topped off with some reprolabel on-white Autobot symbols and Grimlock is good to go… to do whatever it is dinosaur robots do…

UPDATE - Since so many people asked, I’ve got a pic of Grimmy’s sword you can see HERE. The sword matches the colors used on Grimlock, reds and silvers etc, as well as adding some extra business and dry-brushing to give the flame sword effect more *POP*. Like I said though, the sword is still kinda boring… meh.