MakeToys: Wrestle

 MakeToys has slowly but steadily become a real Coffin favorite company, thanks to fantastic figures like Contact Shot, Quantron, Despotron and others, and as a result have earned a place on the permanent shopping list around these parts. TFCon 2018 offered a chance at Wrestle, a Masterpiece Grapple-alike, and thus it was added to the collection. 

 

Wrestle is a good, large figure, larger than the Masterpiece v. 2 Autobot cars, yet smaller than a Seeker. Right around the same size as the MP-10 Optimus Prime figure, really, something of an interesting size choice, but being unfamiliar with the official Masterpiece Grapple, it can’t be said if Wrestle is the same size as that, meaning he’d scale with MP-10 well, or at all. All parts of the figure are large and hefty, giving Wrestle a big, chunky profile that fits the character exceptionally well. The color palate seems a little bit lighter than that of the official figure, a change not uncommon amongst Third Party figures. It even transforms in a fashion pretty close to the way the G1 toy did, which is always a welcome and positive quality, at least personally.

In robot mode, Wrestle is generally posable, having the mostly standard array of joints for a figure like this. The overall quality and build is good, as can be expected from MakeToys. There are some problems present though, and they do result in Wrestle being mostly an on-the-shelf toy, as opposed to a posing, dynamic one. First, the robot head is situated inside the base of the crane assembly, a Grapple characteristic, with the crane swinging over the top and hanging behind the back. The crane nearly reaches the ground behind the figure, but stops short: this is unfortunate, because were the crane an inch longer, it would act as a third leg or support to help the figure stand. The base of the crane contacts the top of the vehicle cab and in theory stays in place thanks to a clip that slides beneath the roof of the cab. In theory. In reality, the crane base kind of just sits atop the cab, and hopefully no breeze stiff enough or bump severe enough occurs, causing the base to begin sliding back towards the rear of the figure, resulting in the distinctive head case detaching from the robot body. A slightly longer crane would have been able to brace the base part from moving, and then this wouldn’t have been an issue. Also troublesome are the ankles, which are ball jointed, but loose. This is not much of a surprise, as this loosening of ball joints always happens, but normally over time, and Wrestle had issues here right out of the box. There are no issues with standing, and the figure is real stable so long as it maintains a wide stance, but as frightening as loose ankle joints sounds, Wrestle is not prone to tipping over or sliding or anything, only needing an extra second to ensure he’s standing firm in a solid pose.

True to Grapple form, Wrestle is basically a truck cab with arms on top of a pair of legs. There isn’t much in terms of a body here, despite being a complete and pretty well articulated robot body, as the character is very much a truck that stood up and had limbs pop out of it. This once more is an issue of this character, not a matter specific to just this toy or anything like that. It could evoke that image of a cartoon character who, suddenly and completely devoid of their clothing, finds an empty wooden barrel and wears it with the help of shoulder straps in an attempt to make their nudity less obvious. By wearing a barrel. 

lol

Wrestle comes with a bevy of parts, but is light on accessories. Again true to MakeToys form, there are a few interchangeable faces, and Wrestle comes with a number of faces for Gundog (I think. They look like Hound heads, but I don’t own Gundog, so I guess I can’t really be sure. –mr), the Masterpiece-esque Hound from that same company. As for his specific accessories, Wrestle comes with a blaster and a hand replacing rocket/nozzle, just as he did in G1. The nozzle part pegs on to a peg located on the opposite side of the wrist, so the hand folds up into the forearm, leaving the peg sticking out, and then the silver part plugs on there. This works with either hand, and of course, Wrestle can have two plain hands. The blaster is really simple yet simultaneously pretty nice, as it’s just a large piece of black plastic that does look like the G1 blaster than Grapple and moldmate Inferno were packing. Both weapons can be stored on the vehicle mode, the blaster attaching to the top, beneath the crane, and the hand rocket splitting into two pieces and plugging in between the robot legs as they form the body of the vehicle. This is great, this on-board storage, and is something that all figures should incorporate if possible. What's not that great is that Wrestle can't securely hold his blaster, as there is no tab to peg into the palm of the hand or anything, so it slightly flops around in his grip.

Vehicle mode is cool, with moveable and extendable crane. The truck does a good job of looking like a real world crane truck, again a quality shared with the original toy. It’s a nice truck, but it’s a crane truck, right, so how much gushing can really take place here? For laughs, Wrestle’s head can be turned around so that it faces outward through the windshield, an upside down automatic pilot. The rear section pegs together on some really little tabs, and if the robot body is even slightly misaligned, they will come loose, compromising the back part of the truck. There are not any additional features or hidden things on the truck mode, it’s just a crane truck, but again, a pretty nice one.The crane extends and raises and lowers and everything, but the base of the crane does not turn.

An Inferno version of Wrestle, named Hellfire, does exist, and since Wrestle is such a good figure, it is safe to say that his moldmate could eventually end up in the Coffin as well. Wrestle was obtained for an excellent price, well below the usually observed prices online, while Hellfire usually is more expensive than desired. But for a representation of a character that isn’t particularly popular around here, and as a really faithful Third Party version of a pretty cool G1 toy, Wrestle is an absolute win, despite not being flashy or anything. If it doesn’t cost you too much, this is a really nice piece to add to your 3P collection. Now, if there was a Constructicon green repaint released, that would go to the top of the shopping list.