Transformers Prime: Optimus Prime

Well, there won’t be Transformers without Optimus Prime. Almost in every episode of Transformers you will get to see him reincarnate in different design and different mold. Being all the differences, one still see the common head piece and the same color schemes being used to distinguish conspicuously this Autobot leader. Without much surprises, you will be seeing him in the reincarnation of a truck with a similar head piece in Transformer Prime movie again. Guess the truck and Optimus Prime has formed a bond which they can’t be easily separated.

Despite not much new idea being breathe into the new Optimus Prime, it does feature a new mold/design and some smaller gimmicks to keep the enthusiasm of collecting him. Read on to find out more about this new breed of Optimus Prime!

(A) What’s in the Package?
Well, there are actually 2 classes of Optimus Prime being introduced so far for this Transformers:Prime line, one is being the deluxe class and the other being the voyager. What i am going to review today is the bigger version which is the Voyager class.

Much to the standard of what Hasbro has been offering to all Transformers:Prime toys, the package comes with a stand (which is the same as the Bulkhead) and his weapon: the gun and the very “flexible & elastic” sword which you can hardly poke it into your enemy.

I am not being dramatic about citing the point of the sword being “flexible and elastic”. Due to the fact of strict child safety in producing toys, the pointy sword is being made of soft rubber which you can easily bend and deform it with less effort. Well, definitely not my type of preference. Oh well, i just have to play along.

(B) Alternate Mode
Okay, here’s the alt mode. Nothing much fancy. Just pretty much a redesign of the familiar truck we have. But this time we will have a mold quite closely resemblance of the one we seen in the Transformers Trilogy movie. And of course, as close as to what we are seeing in the new Transformer Prime series. Nothing as impressed me (thanks to too many bayformers Optimus Prime in my collection). But i guess that is more to personal preference.

Anyhow, color and QC is on the moderate good side. But i do face the problem of tightening up the upper portion of the alt mode. Most of the grey color remain in their raw plastic color without the luxury of silver metallic touch up on them. The rest of the colors remain as their own plastic raw color as well. Speaking of cost effectiveness (or cost saving?).

I particularly like the Autobot insignia being imprinted on the front of the grill. In addition, the usage of blue translucent plastic for the headlights and windscreen does play the role well. You will get to see finer details such as smaller lights painted in yellow at the upper portion of the truck.

Speaking of which, the exhausts of the vehicle are made of short rubber as well. Much like the material used for making the sword, you can easily bend them and twist them around to torture them a bit.

A bit disappointment side here is that there is no silver metallic painting to any of the rims. The only silver painting here are the side steps (or the side tanks) located near the front wheel.

The design of the back part of the truck is quite unpleasant imho. There is no proper closure to cover them nicely. You can notice “openings” on the rear part. Moreover, there are no special treatments done to highlight the rear lights of the truck. They just decided to leave it blue and not even any red paint being done.

From top view, you will notice even clearly the top portion of the truck can’t be close properly. Maybe this only happened to my unit?

You can see the trailer connection point here at the rear part of the truck along with 2 other ports. Will touch more on this on the gimmick section later.

There’s another point which i like to point out is: during transformation to the robot (or vice versa), you will get to notice the driver’s dashboard while doing so. You will see the steering, a bit of dashboard control panel in blue plastic.

Unfortunately, the driver dashboard can’t be accessed by just simply flipping the truck door, you can only see it when you are flipping over the parts while transforming it.

If you have an 1 inch Gundam human figure (those little grey plastic dude that comes with the Gundam model kits), there’s a space allowance inside for you to slide it in. And yes, you can only slide in the 1 inch or smaller figure as the space is not big enough for your normal 2/3 inches Human Alliance figure.

(C) Robot Mode
1st impression of the new Optimus Prime, it does give me the impression of a red and blue samurai knight of armour. Being the 2 exhaust pipes are the katana blades that hung on the back of the robot. And he does have this bulky samurai suit like shoulder pad covering him too. The overall shape of him is like an inverted triangle with broader upper torso and smaller waist and leg.

Here, you finally get to find the parts being painted in silver metallic which are the ankle pads. The rest of it is nothing new except those darker bronze plastic being used for most limbs and abdomen section.

They have do away the heavy backpack design for this Optimus Prime as well which gives him a better foothold. Overall articulation is standard.

Here, you can notice the big, silver painted Autobot insignia on only one of the shoulder pad.

The back part which shows the 2 exhaust pipes. You can actually remove both of them easily, but there is no point of doing so as you can’t attach the detached pipes to any part of the body.

A closed up shot on him. Head piece and sculpture are very nicely done with silver metallic painting to bring out the details. Moreover, there’s light piping at the top of the head. However, due to the smaller eye openings of him, you can’t really see much of a bright “eye” here.

Almost forgot to mention that the head piece actually has limited movement. You can only turn the head left and right (in 360 degree as well) but not up and down movement. Well, say goodbye to the nodding head movement if you are going to play with this guy.

(D) Transformations
Transformation isn’t that hard as compared to Bulkhead and certain parts are quite straightforward. For Transformers veteran, i guess this will not be a challenge to you. But as for newcomers, you might have some joy over the moderately simply transformation.

(E) Gimmicks

(F) Gallery of Goodies
Feast your eye for what is coming to you! Let’s start with the truck! Honk! Honk!

My favorite shot of the truck.

A shot of the truck with the cannon stored at the back. Not very obvious though.

Well, i did try to hook him up with the Ultimate Optimus Prime trailer. It looks ok on him, but the connection between them is quite loose. Not a good choice imho. Moreover, the size of the trailer is a bit big for him.

Another shot of him with the trailer.

My favorite truck + trailer shot.

Now, let’s move on with the Samurai Optimus Prime.

Look out for the sword or careful with playing the sword, is too elastic that you might bend it like plastic band!

A shot from the back.

More focus on the Autobot insignia on the shoulder of him.

My favorite shot of him in robot mode. Looking very heroic and majestic.

Get ready to rumble!

First time shooting Transformers with half face and half body. What do you think?

One leg kicking pose by Optimus Prime. This proves he has quite nice body stability.

Another one of my favorite shot! I give this shot a 5 stars rating!

Now the final shot of him with the voyager Bulkhead.

(G) Conclusion
Well, this new piece of Optimus Prime does give me a familiar look for both robot mode and alt mode and it isn’t much a surprise imho.

My PCR (Personal Collection Rating) for him: 7/10
What I like – The small driver dashboard design (thought not easily accessible by flipping the door); a nice and detailed head piece.

What I dislike?– A bit limited on the head movement (you can’t nod his head like what you can do for other Primes toys); no silver painting on the rims; upper portion of the truck can’t be connected well;  the very very rubbery sword provided.

Until then, enjoy hunting and hauling! Be sure to like my post and page ya :p