Optimus Prime's pre-Earth mode is something that heavily resembles a futuristic truck, only... more futuristic, and with treads in the back instead of normal wheels. (Speaking of which, that's a rather interesting combination, having wheels in the front and treads in the back...) Unlike many other "futuristic" vehicle modes, however, which often just mean the vehicle mode doesn't have to look like anything but the robot mode twisted into an odd position, this mode actually looks like an plausible alternate mode. With the exception of the obvious robot feet sticking out the back end-- which is a problem a lot of Optimus Prime toys share-- and the obvious axe, there's no real robot extras in this mode. A few touches, like the horizontal "smokestacks" on the sides of the car and the "windshield", really help to add to its plausibility. The color scheme is classic Prime-- red, gray/silver, and blue, with a bit of yellow, so no differences here. Optimus Prime also has a fair number of paint apps, though like the Animated style, they're simply applied and easy to pick out. Everything also pegs together pretty solidly, so no worries there.
    Optimus Prime's robot mode is simply a product of quite amazing engineering. Everything folds away and into his general humanoid form amazing well-- it looks like it's just your typical "pop up the head and bring down the legs" Prime transformation, but it's got a couple of unique twists, particularly when it comes to the chest. Oh, and enclosing the wheels within the shoulders? Genius. He has pretty much perfect proportions (accounting for the slightly exaggerated Animated proportions, of course), and his articulation is phenomenal-- he can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), waist, hips, knees (at two points), and ankles. And, given that he has no real vehicle kibble to speak of, you can get him into a TON of cool poses. The smokestack pieces on the sides of his lower arms can also rotate in place to become impromptu "guns" if you so wish. Prime's face sculpt is spot-on when comapred to the show, though he doesn't have a faceplate that can be slid up at this scale. Optimus Prime's weapons are fairly cool, though they're not the best out of all the Animated Prime toys-- his axe is pretty wimpy compared to how large it is in the actual show, though the top of the vehicle mode makes for a fair-looking shield. What IS cool about the axe, however, is that it essentially has three different modes-- the first is a single-bladed axe, the second is a double-bladed axe (which involves simply folding out one of the blade pieces to the other side), and the third is a "super" double-bladed axe, which involves extending and sliding the shield over the axe blades. This last mode looks rather odd, though, given that the axe blades don't even LOOK sharp.
    Cybertron Mode Prime is probably my favorite version of Animated Prime overall, with a superb robot mode and a pretty good (and plausible) futuristic vehicle mode, as well. His weapons are the only thing about him that falls a little flat. Highly recommended.

Review by Beastbot

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