Due to another teamup between Hasbro and the Chinese electronics company Xiaomi, this version of Optimus Prime transforms into a power bank. In alt mode, it's not much to look at-- just a curved, long cylinder-like structure that's painted a metallic shade of silver on the sides, with a paler shade of gray on the top and bottom. There's also an Autobot symbol in that paler shade on the front, while on the back, there's a clear section (which becomes his sword) through which you can see a few robot mode parts. Other than some circuitry lines on the sword, there's no mold detailing in this mode. Optimus comes with a fairly short USB cord (not pictured) which you can use to either charge him up or, in turn, have him charge other battery-powered USB-compatible devices up. He can hold up to 6500 mAh of battery power, and I totally don't feel like figuring out exactly how much that is, but it's a decent amount-- he charged up a few of my Playstation controllers completely before he needed a recharge. By pressing on the small circular button on the top, there are four lights that will blip on, and it will run through them one at a time until it gets to the current "charge" level-- if all four lights are currently on, that means he's fully charged, but if only one of the four lights are blinking, he's getting low and needs a recharge. While he's charging (or charging something else), these lights will flash every couple of seconds, letting you know how much charge he has left/is gaining. It's pretty cool that it actually works, though of course in terms of play value there's not much you can do with this mode.
    To transform Optimus into his robot mode, first you take off the sword and shield accessories from the back. Then you elongate and separate the bottom sections to become his legs, fold out the side sections to become his arms, fold together the halves of the head , and then fold up his body at the hips while compressing the chest a little, and you've got the robot mode. To be sure, in this mode Optimus has a fair bit of kibble-- there's a large gray section behind his head that contains the ports and buttons used by the power bank, and a long bulky gray section coming down behind his main body as well. Of course, this contains all the actual mass needed for him to be a working power bank, so I can't be as persnickety about this as I would about most kibble, but it doesn't look all that great, particularly behind his head. He still DOES have all the power bank features in this mode, however, and when the 1-4 lights blink on top of his charger mode, his robot eye lights blink blue briefly as well, which is a pretty cool feature. Optimus' robot mode proportions are bit... interesting. He has wide shoulder pads-- which I actually don't mind as they help make his silhouette a bit more unique-- but man, he has SKINNY upper arms, and his lower arms have some gray kibble hanging off of them. His hands are also very oddly shaped, and although he can hold his clear sword fairly well in one, he has a really hard time holding his shield steady. And speaking of which, it's a WEIRD shield, as it's got a big hole in the middle of it! Not a very good look for a shield... you CAN open up the front sides of it to form an oversized claw-like weapon, but given how loosely Prime can hold it, it's not like you'll actually be able to clamp down on anything what that claw while he's still holding it. Meh. A really neat feature with the sword is that if you plug the USB cord into both it and the port on the top of the charger, it'll glow blue-- VERY cool. Optimus' legs look okay, with fairly small upper legs coming down to large, clunky lower legs with the sides of the power bank mode forming the front of said lower legs. He's got large flat feet to help keep him stable. However, the weight of the upper body with all the power bank stuff on it causes him to slide down on the sliders on his lower legs somewhat easily-- those joints aren't made to hold up the weight for a long period of time or under any real force, which is a shame. For the main body, Optimus looks weird. Like, they've got the basic "Optimus chest" details of window-like bits on the top and grill-like bars, but it's clearly three flat pieces of plastic angled back-and-forth across the front of the power bank section, and it doesn't look like a solid body at all-- and indeed, from the side you can see right through this section easily. It was an incredibly odd design decision, here. that said, I do love all the sleek teched-out angular details here, from the many "levels" on his "chest windows" to the faux grill and headlight-like details on his abs, to the armored look on his lower abs and pelvis. His robot parts are where you see the color on this toy, with the main body and most of the arms being a fairly dark, milky shade of red, while his head, hands, and much of his feet are a dark milky blue to give him his normal colors. There's also a couple of shades of gray-- a flatter one and a milkier one-- used here and there, and plenty of silver paint on the chest and head. There's also just a titch of yellow paint on the sides of his waist, to mimic his headlight details. Optimus' headsculpt is definitely very Optimus-y, though he has rather large sections on his forehead that look like eyebrows, and his side antennae, side vents, and faceplate are a bit smaller than normal. Overall, a cool, stylized look for Prime that matches the angular aesthetic of the rest of the toy. For articulation, in this mode Optimus can move at the shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two points), wrist rotation, and movement at the hips (at three points), and at the knees and side-to-side at the ankles. Because of his weight, his movement in the legs is a little limited, but his arm articulation is okay. I wish he could move his head, but then that might have messed up his light-up eyes gimmick, and I'd rather have that, so... yeah.
    Power Bank Optimus Prime is kind of a neat idea simply because you have a Transformer that's also a working power bank, but if you don't care about the power bank aspect this is an easy pass, since as a toy it's a bit lackluster-- this doesn't nearly get up to the par set by Xiaomi Pad Soundwave (though Soundwave didn't have to work). One mode doesn't really have playability, while his robot mode has a really odd main body, some other proportional maladies in his arms, legs that can't easily support his weight, and a shield accessory he can't hold all that well. That said, I do like the stylized mold detailing on his robot mode, and the light-up gimmicks in his eyes and sword are a nice touch, but still... get it as a power bank first, a figure second.
 

Review by Beastbot

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