Armor
Up Optimus Prime (Activator)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Activator Optimus Prime. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Activator Optimus Prime here.)
Armor Up Optimus Prime
here is a repaint homage to Star Convoy, a Japanese Prime whose trademark
paint app was a yellow "T"-like shape on his upper chest-- just like Armor
Up Optimus Prime sports. Beyond that and the now-silver (and rather cool-looking)
paint job the head has gotten, though, it's hard to tell what exactly has
changed between this version and the original Activator Prime. Indeed,
he is a "barely-repaint", but there's a few more changes than it would
at first appear:
- The black used on the windows is shinier
and now pastel like on the original release.
- The entire vehicle headlights are now
yellow, as oppposd to just the round bits in the center.
- He has a silver Autobot symbol on his
left shoulder.
- Both of his sirens are light metallic
bluish silver, as opposed to the orignal Activator Prime's sirens, where
one was light red and the other was light blue.
- This Prime's upper legs are the same
blue as his lower legs, as opposed to being gray.
- The entire lower chest and hip area are
painted gunmetal gray, minus the headlight yellow paint apps.
- Armor Up Optimus Prime's red is a SLIGHTLY
lighter shade than the original Activator Prime's.
- The dark blue plastic on this version
is the same shade, but has glittery bits in it as opposed to being a flat
shade.
- Most of the connector pieces (primarily
seen on the back of the robot mode) are blue, not gray.
Still, almost all of these changes are
minor and make Armor Up Optimus Prime more of a variant than a bonafied
actual repaint. I understand Hasbro not wanting to have Prime stray too
far from his iconic colors, but this is still waaaay too similar to the
original.
No mold changes have
been made to Armor Up Optimus Prime.
Armor Up Optimus Prime
looks SLIGHTLY better than the original overall, I think, but that doesn't
change the fact that he's a "barely-repaint" who really could have used
some more variance in his colors. The mold is pretty bad in vehicle mode
as well, making this a hard recommendation unless you're THAT big of a
Star Convoy obsessionist.
Review by Beastbot