Grapple.  Perhaps while not the most unpopular, perhaps the least loved (does that mean the same thing?) of the 84/85 Autobot Car characters.  It’s surprising since the Constructicons were so popular and Grapple was the only Autobot equivalent, but not many people really digged our resident Autobot Architect.  Nevertheless, the 85’ toy was pretty cool and gave some variety to the Autobot lineup and we now see that replicated now 22 years later in the Masterpiece toyline with the newest figure Masterpiece Grapple.

Robot Mode

I really enjoy the different features offered here.  You get three different faces, two different chests and even different coloured arm blasters to replace his hands!  The proportions are very good and you can either have an orange helmet to match his cartoon appearance or a grey one to match his toy one.  The articulation is excellent with nearly every joint being swiveable which provides one with a multitude of posing capabilities.

Vehicle Mode

This is where we get down a little.  It’s a great crane truck, don’t get me wrong, its just that like MP Inferno the cartoon version had less detail than the toy and since the MP line tries to replicate the cartoon we lose out on some of that detail here.  It’s a very nice Crane Truck though, and it comes with optional extras such as the hook being replaced with a grabbing claw or bucket (as was demonstrated in two of the G1 cartoon episodes).  The colour is nice, the proportions are nice – just could have stood to have more detail.

Transformation

Surprisingly actually harder than MP Inferno.  You’d think Grapple would be easier considering we have dealt with this figure before but there are a bunch of new little tweaks which can be damn annoying.  Whilst not the hardest MP transformation by far, it can offer moments of frustration.

Overall

Grapple, as previously stated, is not the most popular character.  But to anyone who is a big G1 lover or is a Masterpiece completionist then this is very much a necessary character.  And trust me, you will enjoy him more than you think!

Also, check out the very first of my Transformer Multiverse Galleries, starting with the various versions of Grapple!