Phil's
Armada & Universe Grindor
and
Micron Legend Bank
Review

Grindor

Original Street Action Team Review from 2002: "Can't think of much to say about these, have a look at the photos and that's pretty much what you get. Getting a combing robot out of them is pretty clever though !"

Grindor is a Skateboard - like the rest of his team this is the first time this alternate mode has been used for a TF. He's blue dark blue, with some light blue/grey visible and is thinker than many a skateboard. The front has some yellow paint on it, while the rear has some tubular sculpting that look like jet engines. Grindor forms the body & arms of Perceptor.

He has a minicon port underneath in the exact centre of the skateboard underneath it *and* a minicon peg on the top side of the Skateboard. Controversial statement time: Grindor is one of the best minicons for attaching to a larger toy ! The tubes at the back look like gun barrels so it's easy to attach him as a cannon to a vehicle mode or a shoulder or wrist in robot mode. The minicon peg - the same width as a standard weapon peg - enables Grindor to be held so he can be used as a gun. If mine didn't spend so long in Perceptor mode one of the other TFs would be toting him as we speak. Oh to get several of this toy individually !

TF: Split the back of the board in two and fold to the sides before the grey pieces. Fold the just the dark blue bits of the back out then fold all of the back back in to form the now extended legs. Pull the front of the board to the sides to form the robot's wings, and fold the arms down from there. Turn over. Fold down the flaps at the top of the chest to reveal the head.

Grindor's robot mode is a little limited with knees that fold in at the sides and hips that fold out. The arms fold to the sides at the shoulders. The arms and the upper legs are made of the same grey plastic mentioned above. The face & chest have some yellow paint highlighting them.

OK Skateboard. Poorly articulated if good looking robot. Fantastic add on weapon though !

In Japan Grindor was known as Bank and came in Micron Legend pack MM-01. There is no giftset featuring the original Street Action Team.

Dimension-X Bank

The Dimension-X version of the Street Action team wasn't sold by itself or at the time the original came out. Instead it emerged several months later at the end of the line as a pack in with the Japanese version of Final Battle Optimus Prime and a clear red Overload which was an exclusive to TRU Japan. On all three toys in this team black becomes red and grey becomes black.

Bank's blue is changed to blue/green colour in this mode, and this dull colour only serves to bring the red parts to the fore.

CD Bank

Original Review: "By ear Dream Again is the intro to the Micron Legend TV series

Dream Again is packed with the Street Action team which form Perceptor

These are the first real CD singles I've ever owned - they're the smaller size ones.

CDJapan also threw in 2 posters advertising the CDs - cool !

The Perceptor looks a little washed out (Zombie Airazor all over again)"

CD Bank uses a paler blue to before, reduced the amount of yellow on the head to just the faceplate and adds a black patch with white eyes.

Change Micron Bank

From the original Review of the Kabaya Change Microns: "Parts 1-3 - Street Action team. Effectively the UK release but missing a few yellow paint Ops on Grindor and Sureshock. Nothing special"

Change Micron Blank is virtually identical to Grindor merely loosing the paint from the front of the skateboard.

Transformers Universe Grindor

In 2004 all three of the Street Action Team got their first and only western repaint when they were paired with a yellow & white version of Armada Thrust as a Wal Mart exclusive in the middle of the Sunstorm craze.

Universe Grindor swaps this blue for green If the army had a Skateboard it would look like this !

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