South Claw [Gobots/Monster Gobots]

Usually when I talk about a Transformers Combiner, I make a point to talk about the concessions made for the combiner mode. With Gobots... that's not really the case. South Claw forms the left arm of Monsterous, but aside from the connector peg, you'd probably never know. South Claw is also known as Weird Wing in Machine Men and Death Claw/Number Three in Machine Robo. It's also worth noting that Monsterous is also known as Puzzler Fiends in Machine Men and Devil Satan 6 in Machine Robo. Also worth noting, I love the names in Gobots/Machine Men/Machine Robo. He's pretty much the same toy in each line, I think the only notable change is the wings are a lighter grey in Gobots.

South Claw is a Monster Gobot member of the Renegades who turns into a pretty gnarly flying kaiju monster. One fun thing about Monster Gobots is just how far out their designs are. South Claw is this weird cycloptic freak who looks like something Samus Aran would battle. Like most Gobots, he's reasonably articulated for a toy of his time... actually, maybe a little bit more. His forearms have a nice swivel and his wings can be posed in robot mode to give him an extra devilish look. Transformation is pretty easy as he mostly folds in half with parts re-arranged. I really like the purple/pink he's cast in.

I got this South Claw (it's a play on south paw) at ToyLanta 2024 from a hipster couple who regularly run a pretty decent booth. They sold him for a really low price because, as you can probably tell, he's got a chewed up foot/claw. Either someone's dog or feral cousin got a hold of it. Outside of that, the toy is in decent shape. A little paint wear and dings here and there. It's to be expected when paying a few bucks for an almost 40 year old toy. Maybe I'll find a junker to swap out parts with... or just have a South Claw with a fucked up foot. Sometimes these little dings give older toys extra charm. South Claw is a pretty good Gobot on his own and part of a pretty cool combiner team. His weird looks give him extra character and those colors make him look out of this world.