I doubt you'd be surprised
that Optimus' alt mode for this release continues to be a red-and-dark-blue
truck cab. Compared to the show model, the front part of this alt mode
is largely on-model, albeit slightly more "square" than it looks in the
show. My main issues with this mode are two fold-- first, the truck bed
in the back is a bit too short, proportionally. Second, due to the transformation
there are some VERY noticeable gaps in the sides of this mode made by the
upper arms which pretty much eliminate the side windows in this mode and
are a bit of a eyesore. On a lesser note, the back of Prime's head is pretty
obviously noticeable if you're looking at the truck mode from the back.
The truck mode's mold detailing is pretty on-model, however, and with the
exception of the silver needed on the sides and back bumper, Optimus has
all the paint detailing you could reasonably expect on a Commander-class
figure; his front grill and bumper are painted, as are his smokestacks
and the trimmings around his transparent blue windows. As for the colors,
they're Optimus Prime's colors, with slightly less gray than normal and
transparent blue taking up his guns and windows. I'd imagine you largely
know how much you like/dislike Prime's colors by now, and this toy by and
large isn't going to change that. That said, I do like the lesser amount
of gray (which I've never been overall fond of as a color), and the transparent
blue windows and weapons could stand to be a bit darker, but otherwise
contrast with the red and silver quite well. Speaking of his weapons, this
version of Optimus comes with two cannons which can be plugged into either
the sides of his truck nose or on top of his roof in this mode-- neither
looks all that great, but they're oversized weapons on a small figure,
whaddaya want?
For a robot of this
size, Optimus' kibble issues here are surprisingly minimal; he's got small
chunks of the sides of his truck on his lower arms, and slightly bigger
chunks next to his feet, but overall he looks quite good here. (A bit of
his truck mode sits on his back, but it sticks out so little I hardly consider
this "kibble"-- and it stays out of the way of movement as well.) I particularly
like the "small touches", like how his smokestacks pivot to position behind
his back in this mode, just like on the show, and how well his roof halves
pivot over to become his shoulders. Because of his fairly large feet (the
only thing about his proportions that's noticeably off about this mode),
he's quite stable and well-balanced, so no issues there. His robot mode
bits are primarily painted silver and black-- no regular boring gray plastic
here!-- which looks quite well against his other colors and breaks up his
robot mode palette-wise a bit more. The mold detailing here is also quite
well-done, particularly on all the little bits on his waist/stomach and
headsculpt, which are both spot-on to the show model. Optimus also has
a pretty good amount of articulation-- he can move at the neck, shoulders
(at two points), chest, elbows, hips, knees, and slightly at the ankles.
Most of these are ball joints, so although a bit more knee movement would've
been appreciated, you can get a good number of nice poses out of this figure.
This said, the ball joint under his chest that allows his lower stomach/waist
to rotate "caves in" too easily in a backwards direction due to his transformation,
and is a tad annoying when you're playing with or posing him. Optimus'
guns can fit in his hands snugly in this mode, and the guns themselves
have three pegs sized for other Cyberverse-scaled ports and a hole in each
for other Cyberverse weapons to fit into, so you can "beef them up" and
customize them quite heavily (though if you add enough weight, the arms
will sag since the elbows are on ball joints). As with all 2012 Prime Commander-class
toys, Optimus's main body is made of transparent plastic with a plug in
the back for some of the electronic playsets which will "light up" the
toy's main body; however, as with most toys in the line with this gimmick,
it doesn't work well-- the light from the Cyberverse playsets just isn't
strong enough to adequately light up Optimus' chest (and lighting up his
chest without his eyes lighting up as well seems weird, anyways).
Prime Cyberverse Optimus
is a great toy of the character at a small, bite-sized scale, and one of
my favorite Cyberverse toys from the 2012 portion of the Prime line. His
weapons are great, his articulation is great, he's got very little kibble
in either modes. He's not perfect-- his upper arms are entirely too obvious
in vehicle mode, and he's got a few minor proportional issues in both modes--
but I'd still highly recommend this toy to someone who wants a small (or
cheap, or easy-to-transform) version of "Prime Prime". You get a lot of
playability for your money with this one.
Review by Beastbot