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.
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