Optimus Prime's truck mode, is, quite simply, a mess. Only the front really looks like a truck-- the rest just looks like his robot mode folded backwards (which is what it is, of course). The feet stick out very blatantly from the back end, the hands don't connect to the front end very well and also stick out, and the midsection consists of a bunch of plastic bits just folded over each other, but with no solidarity to make it look like it's a solid vehicle mode under there. You can also fairly easily see his upper robot legs and the sides of his arms in all that mess of jumbled parts. On the plus side, Optimus Prime's color scheme is pretty show-accurate, as is his paint job, so no problems there. And at least with the wheels folded out on his sides he can roll pretty well. Pressing down on the gray tab a bit behind his sirens will transform him most of the way to robot mode, but there's an usually large number of minor steps involved afterwards for an Activator-- you have to straighten out his arms, fold out his hands, fold down his feet, seperate his legs, and then fold the wheels around his legs before he's fully transformed. Again, not a huge deal, but given the whole "spring-loaded transformation" gimmick of the Activators, it seems a bit much.
    Like nearly all Animated Prime toys, the robot mode is what really shines on this Activator. The proportions are nearly perfect, which is particularly impressive for a spring-activated toy that's this small. His chest is slightly bigger than it is in the cartoon, and the wheels on the sides of his legs are a bit beefier due to the size of the toy, but that's about it. The mold and paint detailing is also very well-done where it's needed, such as the chest, feet, and particuarly the face, which has some crisp detailing and lots of different colors of paint all on a pretty small area. Like most of his toys, Optimus Prime's face is molded with his faceplate up on this Activator. The bits of yellow in particular really contrast well against the blue, silver, and red. As for articulation, Prime's got that in spades too, for an Activator-- he can move at the neck, shoulders, elbows (at two points), hips, and knees, and most of those are on ball joints, so you can get quite a few poses out of him to boot.
    Activator Optimus Prime's robot mode is great for a toy of such size, but his vehicle mode truly is pathetic-- it's just a truck front and wheels with a bunch of obvious robot parts and folded up in a haphazard manner. Unless you're a Prime completist, do yourself a favor, save up a few extra bucks, and pick up one of the deluxe versions of Animated Optimus Prime instead.

Review by Beastbot

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