Toyworld TW-D02 Muddy - Pictorial Review

Time for another Dinobot, this time the second figure from Toyworld lineup, Muddy (Not-Sludge). TW-D01 Muddy is one of four Not-Sludge released for CHRUG line (the other 3 are Fansproject's Columpio, Planet X's Neptune and the most recent, GCreation Thunderous, which I will be reviewing afterwards).

As of now I only had the chance to review Fansproject's version and can be found here.

Review of previous Toyworld Dinobot, Roar (Not-Snarl) can be found here.

In Package

Muddy comes in a black box with the nice artwork of the character on the front, just like TW-D01 Roar.

However, the colors used are more vibrance compared to Roar's.

Muddy comes packed in styrofoam, a rather large one compared to the size of the contents.

Instruction Sheet

Tech Spec

Sticker

Muddy comes with an instruction sheet, a tech spec card and a sticker, just like Roar (that I didn't update in).

Muddy comes with a blaster and a sword, homaging G1 Sludge's weapons. However, the quality of the sword is really disappointing considering how thin and small it is compared to Roar's sword.

Alt Mode

Muddy transform into a Brontosaurus just like G1 Sludge. Again, compared to Roar, I'm a bit disappointed with his size. Muddy is mostly in dark grey, gold and silver with some red and black parts.

The proportion of Muddy's alt mode is quite good and the simple approach in terms of design is a nice throwback to G1 Sludge. The alt mode is solid and sturdy without any loose parts.

Aside from the gold and silver chrome parts, there are green, red and blue stripes at the back part of the dino mode. The finishing is mostly clean but as you can see, the colors are a bit patchy at some places.

Just like Roar, Muddy's sword can be hidden inside his alt mode (in this case, inside the dino's long neck) which is why the sword was designed thin and foldable.

Unlike Fansproject Columpio, Muddy's neck doesn't have any articulation at all. The head is on a ball joint and the lower jaw is on a hinge. There's a light piping on top of the dino's head.

Just a bit better than Columpio, the end part of Muddy's tail is on a ball joint that has minimal range of movement.

Both front and hind legs have almost the same range of articulation with the shoulders are on double-hinges, swivels under them and the feet are on ball joints. The knee of the front legs are on hinges while the knee of the hind legs are on ratchet joints.

Comparison with TW-D01 Roar

I don't think anyone should expect Roar and Muddy to follow the scale of real dinosaurs but it seems that Muddy is a bit smaller than compared to Roar (which again, homage to G1 Sludge and Snarl's size).

Robot Mode

Transformation from dino mode to robot mode is quite simple but not at all straightforward as Columpio, especially on the back part of the dino.

Side View

Back View

Muddy is kibble free aside form the dino head and the wings as they are meant to homage G1 Sludge. Unlike G1 Sludge (and other Not-Sludges), the front dino legs are neatly stored inside the robot's legs, which I preferred more.

The head sculpt is nicely detailed and taking a cleaner approach in terms of the design rather than direct homage to G1 Sludge.

Ready for his insignia

Muddy is not too over-detailed from what I can see but not at all simple and I personally like the way his legs fold on the wings.

Comparison with TW-D01 Roar

Roar and Muddy have different approach in terms of design which if I had to choose, I prefer Roar's brute persona more.

Just like Roar, Muddy's articulation is not at all disappointing.

Muddy comes with a ball jointed head, ratcheting double joints on the shoulders, ratchet joint on the elbows, waist (soft ratchet), hips and knees, and ankle tilts. He doesn't have wrist swivels but the four-fingers are on hinges.

While ratchet joints are good, using them on the hips make it a bit hard to have him stand up straight properly.

The sword, in general is a disappointing weapon. Would've preferred him to have a solid and bigger sword.

That's better!

 *quality-wise, Muddy is what you could expect from any Toyworld releases with significant improvement compared to Roar. However, I would've preferred the dino mode to be a bit bigger which I know is not an option since both Roar and Muddy had to be roughly the same size.

Since Muddy (and Roar) doesn't come with any combiner parts, I'm skipping the combiner mode review first.