Originally written June 2020.
As I said back in my review of Earthrise Hoist, you really can’t have him without Grapple. The two construction-themed Autobots were paired up frequently in the G1 cartoon, which is still also Grapple’s most prominent fictional appearance (unlike Hoist, IDW didn’t really use him). As per his classic characterization, Grapple is an architect and artist, a rarity among Transformers in general. He’s fussy and enthusiastic, but also frequently morose over his creations being compromised because of wartime needs, and how they tend to get wrecked when they do get built. He’s a really interesting character, and the pairing of him with Hoist is a favorite one of mine, the flighty artist and his down-to-earth yet supportive partner.
Grapple’s had a few toys here and there over the years (I had the old Reveal the Shield Voyager for awhile) including a big, expensive Masterpiece. Naturally, him and Hoist are in the same wave of Earthrise, and his Earthrise figure apparently takes a lot of inspiration from the Masterpiece (or so I’ve heard, it was too rich for my blood). Now that I’ve gotten around to ordering figures online (a necessity on these times), I’ve finally gotten the other half of the pair. Let’s see how he holds up. Note that there’s an important PSA about a design flaw to be said, but I’ll get into it during his transformation.
Robot Mode
The funny thing about Grapple is that he’s a bit shorter than Siege Optimus, but gives the impression of bulk. Something I like about the vibe he gives off, design wise, is another thing he shares with Hoist. These are not robotic warriors, or at least they don’t read as them. They feel like normal, non-combatant robot people, who exist outside of a battle context, and would rather be helping raise buildings. It really makes them interesting characters, and the figure communicate the vibe well. He feels like just a guy who happens to be a robot.
In terms of his sculpt, he’s very Sunbow-accurate, like the Masterpiece. Personally, I think he looks a little bit streamlined and a little less round and dumpy compared to his show model, but he wears the proportions well, and they suit the character. If anything, I wish he was a bit taller, just to contrast him with his partner.
He has the classic look of a truck-front-chest, and there’s a bit of kibble in the form of his crane hanging down his back, and the “hood” around his head, but both are deliberate, being present on his show design. He’s topped with kind of a standard-looking robot headscupt, a face in a helmet. At least he looks a little unhappy, perfect for a morose artist.
For his colors, he’s cheddar-cheese orange, in a construction-toy way. But unlike Cyberverse Hot Rod, his main color doesn’t overwhelm too much, with there being just enough of a color mixture to break it up, thanks to his black parts, his nice silver paint, and the little bits of clear blue here and there. Plus, it’s a nice shade that shows off plenty of sculpted detail.
By the way, while his face is painted silver with blue eyes, his helmet is orange. On the show, it was sometimes orange, but also sometimes black, going back and forth from episode to episode. I personally prefer the black helmet for color contrast, but admit the orange one appeared more often (like the screenshot uptop), so is likely “more” canon.
At this point, the War for Cybertron trilogy knows how to articulate a robot, and Grapple is no exception. He’s just pleasantly bendy, with all the good Siege joints, including ankle tilts (no wrists, though) and is also nice and stable, even with the crane hanging off his back. For a noncombatant, he’s got a lot of range to him. I particularly like that his head is still plenty poseable and easy to move, even in the middle of his hood. Plus, thanks to his transformation, it’s possible to unhinge his foot in such a way that it ca rock both forwards and backwards, perfect for a running pose.
For accessories, he firstly has an obligatory, standard black laser gun.
Next, he has a silver pylon that’s normally stashed on his backpack. You can rotate either one of his hands around and plug it into the wrist.
On the original G1 figure, this was a missile, but the TV show interpreted it as a laser, and like Hoist, it makes me think more of a tool or blowtorch.
Finally, he has a big, four-pronged grabby claw that can also mount on either arm, based on a vehicle mode detail.
It has a special kind of connector in it, called an AIR lock, but it’s more for vehicle mode use. More on that later.
You can stash either the gun or claw on the lump of crane behind his head, and his blowtorch dealie has a specific snub spot on the back of his crane. He’s also got a whole bunch of mounting points on his body, including his shoulders, forearms, and lower legs, but like Hoist, these look better tricked out with tools than weapons. .
Transformation
Grapple’s pretty straightforward to transform, enough that I could figure it out on my own after the first try. There’s a clever, unfolding bit involving the head and the crane arm. But there’s one big problem, and that’s this pair of pegs and holes, pictured here:
You can immediately tell when you’re transforming him that they’re too big for these holes, so it’s an issue you won’t miss. It’s a problem because there’s reports of them breaking off and remaining in those holes when you transform him back, thanks to their tightness. In order to fix them, you need to take some sandpaper (or a nail file) to each of the sides (you can see I already did it by their sandy look), and sand them down until they come in and out of the holes with no problem (they don’t have to be loose, they just need to be able to fit). It’s not hard to do, but it’s disappointing that it needs doing.
Vehicle Mode
Grapple’s crane mode is pleasantly construction-vehicle-esque, looking like the kind of non-transforming toy you’d roll around in the sandbox.
Like Hoist, it’s just a very normal construction crane, and makes great sense for a Robot in Disguise to assume.
It’s helped by the fact that most of his robot bits hide themselves pretty well, with only his arms being sort of noticeable.
For features, he roles really well, though, weirdly, the tires of his wheel rotate, but the rims and axes do not (though they’re painted!).
But more importantly for a construction vehicle, his crane arm can lift, rotate, and extend and retract, for that hot construction action.
You can still mount his accessories on him in this mode, with his torch going on the crane arm, and his gun and claw going on the sides of the crane arm’s base, if you must decide to arm your construction vehicle.
His big, compatible-with-the-rest-of-Earthrise feature occurs when you fold away the hook on the end of his crane arm, and mount his claw there (which resembles something he did in a cartoon episode.) The idea is that several Earthrise figures can either deploy or turn into ramps, and the connector in the middle of this claw, called an AIR lock, can specifically connect with them. I don’t know that I’ll be buying into that system, but what I do know is that the claw can connect to the back of Hoist’s vehicle mode, thanks to him having the same kind of connector there, which is a neat bit of compatibility.
Hoist is too heavy for Grapple to lift him, but Hoist can tow Grapple using this connection. This is just a fun bit of cross-play, and its adorable, characterful inclusion puts a smile on my face.
Overall
I’m a big fan of these characters as a pair, and these versions of them look good together. They really did Grapple right here, mostly. He’s characterful, fun, and evocative of a kind of non-violent construction robot design. It’s “mostly,” because I’d like to say he’s well-built, but there’s just the matter of those pegs, and the fact that they need to be sanded down. Like it or not, it’s a fatal, break-causing design flaw if not treated. Luckily it’s an easy fix, and if you were in the Transformers sphere when he came out, you definitely knew about it. But if you just bought him off the shelf without reading about it, or if you got him late, like me, and didn’t happen to remember, you might break yours. So it’s sort of a conditional highly recommended, if that makes sense, presuming that a) you care about this character the same way I do, and b) you’re willing and able to make the quick fix that it needs.
(2021 update: Hoist was retooled into Inferno in Kingdom (no, not the Beast Wars one, the G1 Autobot, and everyone and their mother made that joke). Importantly, they fixed the peg problem in the process of retooling him, so that toy, and his Generations Selects repaint as Artfire, don’t need any modification out of the box. I still like Grapple better than either of them, though.)
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