Optimus Prime is technically a new mold, though unlike his wavemate Predaking, he's a scaled-up version of an existing mold, with a few minor changes made for the larger size. In particular this is a blown-up version of the Cyberverse version of the same design, so see my review of that for a more in-depth review of the mold's pluses and minuses itself. Regarding this toy itself, the weapons are new, though the basic idea and design of them is taken from Beast Blade Optimus Prime's accessories; he's got a very similar (though sadly unpainted) sword, a large spiky shield with a modified Autobot symbol in the middle of it, and a push missile launcher. Given the increased size, the latter has the biggest mold changes, with an extra slider added to help pop out that missile with a decent amount of force. The shield has also been changed a bit-- sorry, but no longer do wings split open from under the shield, it's just one large piece now. There are a few other, more minor, changes. The robot head details have been refined a bit more-- a big plus, given how mushy the head details on the original version of this design's were. There's also weapon mounting points on the side of the right arm and on Optimus Prime's butt, in addition to the ones already there on the commander class Beast Hunters Prime toy. The shoulder joints have been remolded to be friction joints and not ball joints, and in addition to swiveling at the sides the elbows also have strong ratcheting joints. Additionally, the hips are no longer ball joints, but instead friction joints and a ratchet joint; the knee joint is also a ratcheting joint, as well, so this is a pretty sturdy, solid toy. It's also HUGE for a voyager, just like his wavemate Predaking; Hasbro could just barely fit this guy in a Voyager box! Despite being the same price as the original voyager Beast Hunters Optimus Prime toy, he's about halfway between the size of that and the Ultimate version of the design, making him a rather incredible value. Despite being a "blown up" figure, the mold largely works pretty well at this scale, with all of the necessary mold detailing still being there; he doesn't look too overly simple like some other 2014 Beast Hunters figures. All this said, a few things that were more minor on a commander-class toy are eyesores on a toy this large. For one, having the smokestacks and parts of the windows on his shoulders-- which also have, inaccurately, wheels on them-- is a minor eyesore. The large hollow section in the back half of his vehicle mode and the obvious fists are now a major eyesore at this scale, too.
    As far as color scheme goes, this version of Optimus Prime-- for the most part-- doesn't deviate from the normal, with red, dark blue, and gray being his main three colors. The gray is thankfully of a rather nice, semi-metallic shade, making it look a little more interesting than your average gray plastic. The bronze headlights and sky blue windows also contrast against the red on the truck front/upper robot very well, and I'm glad that the hubs of his wheels are now painted silver, along with some nice detailing on his face and eyes, as well. The dark gunmetal gray paint on Prime's fists is a nice choice, being a rather "metallic black" that helps them fit in with his wheels. Optimus' legs could've really used some more paint detailing in robot mode, but other than that he's got a pretty good diversity of color. The only issues here are the regular and translucent pale green plastic, used for his weapons, front spiky grill, and a few minor connector parts that make themselves known in robot mode. Particularly the solid version of the color is just a rather ugly shade, and clashes a bit with the red, being as light as it is. I appreciate that they tried to differentiate the color scheme a bit for this version of Optimus, but honestly with this differentiation I would've preferred the old gray in place of this ugly of a shade of green.
    The 2014 "simplfied" version of Beast Hunters Optimus Prime makes the upsize from commander class surprisingly well, though he's still certainly not without his faults, such as the very ugly shade of green he has, the obvious robot extras in vehicle mode, and the inaccurate shoulders. The mold changes made to his joints make him very sturdy indeed, and the huge size for a voyager is another bonus. Recommended for kids who want a larger, simpler Beast Hunters Optimus (way more than I'd recommend the Ultimate version); that said, for most collectors I think the 2013 voyager Beast Hunters Prime is a bit better in terms of the mold.

Review by Beastbot

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