In Optimus' vehicle mode, the front half or so looks pretty good on this one-step changer. The proportions aren't perfect-- he seems just a TAD too narrow from a front-on view-- but they're pretty close. The necessary details are all here, such as the grill, wheels, "bolts" above the windshield, smokestacks, and side doors all molded in. The paint detailing is also pretty well-done on the vehicle parts, with the grill, smokestacks, and area above the windshield all painted a nice silver. The red "flame" patterns on the front are decent enough, though they end rather abruptly rather than fading via "flames" back into the blue. The sky blue used for the windshield is quite striking and complements as well as contrasts against the dark blue pretty nicely. The color scheme as a whole is your classic movieverse Prime; nothing huge differs for this version compared to Optimus' other movieverse toys, though the usual light milky gray has a bit of a brownish shade on this 1-step changer, a change I consider negative given how "dirty" it looks, and not in a good "weathered" kind of way, either. Any small quibbles I have about colors pale in comparison to the elephant in the room when it comes this mode, though, and that's that-- with the exception of the wheels-- the back third or so of this mode is ENTIRELY just Optimus' robot parts folded in on each other in an incredibly obvious manner. You've got the lower arms very obviously sticking out of the section of the truck behind the smokestacks; below that a flipped-over chest plate and lower chest; and below that, the truck bed with very obvious robot feet and lower legs detailed on it. The robot shoulders are half-disgused as tanks on the sides of the vehicle mode, but they're far too high and make that area look "off", as well. It's all very unsightly and honestly pretty much ruins the alt mode.
    To transform Optimus to robot mode, you press down slightly on a button above his windshield, and all his parts fold into place. To transform him back to vehicle mode, you simply lift up on the front of the truck (now situated on his back, out-of-the-way) until the parts re-fold into their vehicle mode positions. It's one of the cooler one-step transformations. In robot mode, Optimus thankfully looks MUCH better than in his vehicle mode, and honestly pretty good for a 1-step changer. His chest is too wide and his arms a tad too skinny, but proportionally he's otherwise alright. There's almost no vehicle mode kibble, with little panels behind the shoulders and the aforementioned "hidden" truck front on his back-- other than that everything looks pretty nice, with the two wheels on each leg hearkening back to the original movieverse Prime even if they aren't accurate to THIS movie design. The mold detailing is quite impressive, particularly on the chest where many movie-accurate details such as the "skirt" chest armor plates and the like are all molded in. His arms have a LOT of intricate detailing, as well. Optimus' facesculpt is spot-on with a silver faceplate and light blue eyes, and his legs look perfectly with the silver used on the lower legs and toes. The flame pattern on his painted chest is a bit inaccurate, but still looks decent, as do the flame paint apps on Optimus' shoulders. All this said, his lower chest really could've used some silver to bring out some more of the details against all that ugly brownish gray (which is unfortunately much more prevalent in this mode), and his arms could've used a little silver as well. For articulation, Optimus can rotate at the neck, and his arms can move back-and-forth at the shoulders. That's it, so he's pretty restricted-- but then again, fully articulated toys aren't the point of this subline, easy transformations are.
    The 1-step changer version of Age of Extinction Optimus Prime has a surprisingly good robot mode, with pretty decent proportions, little kibble, and some excellent detailing. That said, although the front of his vehicle mode looks nice, the back half of his alt mode is just a bunch of his robot parts unceremoniously stacked on top of each other, and looks horrid. Because of this huge downside, I'd recommend getting the Smash 'n Change version of Optimus Prime over this release if you're looking for a simpler-to-transform version fo AoE Optimus Prime.
 

Review by Beastbot

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