(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to PotP Vector Prime/Metalhawk. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of PotP Vector Prime/Metalhawk here.)

    Quintus Prime is another remold of PotP Vector Prime and the Bludgeon shell a remold of Metalhawk, but it's even more of a remold than Alpha Trion/Landmine-- only some of the "core" parts are shared on each. For Quintus Prime, the legs and body share the same details as that of Vector Prime, but the rest have been changed. The arms now have lines molded all across them, presumably to homage Bludgeon's inner tank mode by looking like they're the bottom of treads-- an unnecessary, but cool, change. The headsculpt has also been changed-- it's still square, of course, given the Prime Master gimmick, but there's now a substantial forehead on the toy, with a single visor and a faceplate molded into the face-- again, this is to make the toy look more like Bludgeon's inner robot mode from the G1 toy, and it looks pretty good, even though it desperately needs some paint to bring out the details from that orangish "cheesy" yellow plastic, which takes up the head, arms, upper legs, and core emblem pieces. Meanwhile, the lower legs and body are a fuchsia plastic, again mimicing Bludgeon's Pretender shell colors. It's a decent color combo, though I wish the amounts of orange-yellow and fuchsia had been switched, roughly. Not to mention that, as little as the other Prime Master sets homage the actual Prime Masters, this one really doesn't do it at all beyond the Prime Core mode-- like I mentioned, even the inner robot mode directly homages Bludgeon's inner robot mode. As for the Core Mode emblem, it's pretty darned cool and unique. The central Quintus Prime emblem look is a circle surrounded by small tentacles on the sides and two quite long curly antennae on top-- likely homaging the organic look of the Quintessons, which Quintus Prime created in many continuities. There's also several sharp squiggly lines surrounding the emblem, again homaging the Quintessons' tentacles. The actual emblem itself is painted a moderate shade of orange, however, which doesn't stick out enough against the yellow-orange plastic around it.
    As for the Pretender shell, the ONLY part it shares with Metalhawk is the large back section and weapon mode handle. Granted, this IS the biggest piece on the toy, but it's also just full of generic robotic details, and thus can be easily reused. Everything that gives the shell character has been changed for Bludgeon. The front piece-- which of course opens to allow the Prime Master to fit inside-- has a lot of Bludgeon's characteristic "samurai skeleton" details on it. The pronged fuchsia helmet, bone-white grinning skull (with hollow eyes for the Prime Master to peak its head out of), and orange-yellow/gray armored chest plate are all here. The samurai "skirt" detail has been painted a nice bronze, with orange-yellow mechanical detailing used for the middle of the legs and some more gray paint used on the sides of the skirt piece to "fill up" that front section of the toy. The feet are fuchsia plastic, as is the whole back section (which is, again, shared with Metalhawk). The arms have been changed too, and are bulkier than on Metalhawk & Landmine, with broad shoulder armor and coily fuchsia lower arms, ending in rather normal robotic fists. Finally, the weapon has been changed, and it has a dual usage-- in the "official" Pretender weapon mode it's used as a gun with some samurai weapon-esque detailing on the sides, with the long lines and bumps making it almost look like it's made of wood despite the orange-yellow coloration. In Bludgeon's robot mode, it can also be used as a gun-- OR it can be held on the nub on one end and be used as a bonking stick (the official term, apparently, is a kanabo). The hinge on one end partially ruins the kanabo look, though.
    Quintus Prime/Bludgeon is roughly average for a Prime Master set. He has the usual negatives and positive for this size class, since the core design for all of the Prime Masters is the same, but I do like the extra re-molding done for the toy to make it more like Bludgeon in Pretender mode, as well as the awesome amount of mold detailing and dual-use weapon. However, I'm not a fan of the orange-yellow compared to most other colors (accurate or not), and I wish something else beyond the core mode homaged Quintus Prime-- Bludgeon's already been done multiple times by now, and better. I wish they had done a Pretender toy that hadn't been re-done already instead.
 

Review by Beastbot

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