Optimus Prime (Bumper Battler) [Animated]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark blue, black, red, and some sky blue, yellow, silver, light pale blue, and bright orange
Rating: 3.9

    Optimus Prime here is in a bit of "squat" form of his truck vehicle mode to make even more kid-friendly. Based on the details, like the gun on the back, it's based on his Voyager class toy and not the other Animated Optimus toys that have a flat truck bed. The front wheels are a bit further back than they should be as a side effect of the whole "push bumper to convert" gimmick, but other than that the proportions seem fair enough on the toy for a kiddie-fied Animated toy. If there's one thing that Bumper Battlers are good at, it's having a good amount of paint detailing, and Prime here is no exception-- there's no spot of red or blue on him in this mode that's too large and unbroken by paint. His name is printed in a stylized manner between his tires on each side of his tires, and other nice touches-- such as the painted dynamic stripes on the sides, the light blue sirens, the silver gun, and the painted headlights and tail-lights, really make this color scheme more visually interesting than it otherwise would have been. The only paint app I would have added is to the chunk of red plastic under his silver gun-- painting the windows black would've helped, as there's some pretty noticeable mold detailing there without any paint (and it's painted on the Voyager class toy, as well). Also like all Bumper Battlers, pressing down on the Autobot symbol on his truck hood-- or, in robot mode, the unpainted blue Autobot symbol near the front of the vehicle mode-- will activate anywhere from 1-4 sequential sound effects which are played out in a semi-randomized manner. There's a ton of different ordered sound effects you can get out of the toy, and they're never played in a manner that doesn't make any sense-- and yes, the show voice actor does Optimus Prime's voice on the toy. Pressing in on the front bumper of his vehicle mode will automatically transform him to robot mode and also play some of these random sound effects. Here's a list of all the different sound effects I got out of Bumper Battler Optimus Prime after a couple dozen button presses (though again, with the vast number of different random ordering of sound effects he has, I may have missed a few):
-"Transforming" noise
-"Tires screeching" noise
-"Exertion/grunting" noise
-"Axe swiping/clanging" noises
-"Axe throw" noise
-"Fire truck honk" noise
-"Engine revving up" noises
-"Crashing" noise
-"They'll never see us coming!"
-"Battle mode!"
-"Bring it on, Decepticons!"
-"My name is Optimus Prime."
-"Transform and roll out!"
-"Vehicle mode!"
-"Go, go, go!"
-"Autobots" (followed by some appropriate command listed above)
    As with any Bumper Battler, the top half of the vehicle mode springs up to become Optimus Prime's "robot mode". Weak, yes, until you realize how young the target audience is. As with most Bumper Battlers, the exposed part of the vehicle mode below the robot "knees" is ignored, so it's a large unpainted bit of blue plastic, but Optimus' robot parts squeezed inside the upper part of the truck mode have plenty of paint-- heck, he's more painted than some of his mainline toys! No part of his robot mode is lacking paint where there should be any. He can also move his neck right-to-left, and his wrists can rotate around. Granted, it's not much movement, but it's more than any other Bumper Battler in robot mode. His robot mode does look a little more "smushed up" in the upper part of the vehicle mode because of its odd shape, however, when compared to most of the other Bumper Battlers.
    Bumper Battler Optimus Prime is a great toy for kiddies who are too young yet to transform "real" Transformers, and the myriad sound effects on a $10 toy are cool. Even by Bumper Battler standards, however, his proportions are a little squeezed in robot mode and he's got a big unsightly hollow chunk of his vehicle mode sitting below his knees in robot mode-- larger than most other Bumper Battlers, which is why he's honestly one of my least favorites of the subline.



Bumper Battler Optimus Prime Character Bio:
AUTOBOT LEADER
Optimus Prime is a powerful fighter and a natural leader. Under his command, the Autobots are an unstoppable team, sworn to protect Earth at all costs!

Review by Beastbot

Back to Transformers Animated Index