Optimus Prime's more "traditional" toy for the RID2015 line has a truck & trailer mode that looks... honestly, a bit weaker than most of his toys do in this mode. Basically, the proportions are solid, if you're looking at the very general ideas; no real issues there. In fact, the front cab portion looks DARNED good, with a bit of his lower arms poking out behind the front wheels, but otherwise it's pretty show-accurate. The trailer, though... it's pretty weak and pretty obviously mostly Optimus Prime's legs. You can even see the light gray upper legs on the top very easily, along with the obvious kneecaps and VERY obvious feet at the end-- honestly, just one little hinge to flip those feet down would've helped the silhouette of this mode immensely, in my opinion. When looking at the toy from a top-down or rear view, though, you can also see the obvious gap in between the legs too, so it's just not a solid trailer at all unless looked at from a straight-on side view. Other than (unpainted) taillights not much effort was put into giving the toy an actual back end, either. Optimus' usual colors of dark blue, red, black, and some gray/silver are used here-- there's no real difference from the usual Optimus colors on this initial version. The mold detailing-- as is the norm for a RID2015 toy-- is a bit sparse, but there are some intricate details here and there, such as the details on the wheels (all 10 of which can indeed roll) and the front cab. I love all the little divots on the front hood, the headlights, the front grill and angular windows, the stylized doors on the sides-- I wish that much detailing had been done on most of the rest of the toy. The same thing applies to the paint detailing-- there's a large angular red paint app on each side of the trailer to help break up all the dark blue on the legs, and some black on the feet, but once again the cab has the lion's share of paint. The front windows, front bumper, and grill are all black, along with some nice light metallic blue on the headlights-- it's such a nice shade, I really wish it was used more on the toy. There's also a bit of silver on the smokestack details, to help bring those out. For a weapon, Optimus Prime's axe-- which has a rather short handle and large blade proportionally-- can be slotted into the top in between the legs on the trailer. It's rather obvious, but obvious storage is better than no storage, in my opinion.
    Even among RID "Warrior" toys, Optimus Prime's transformation is rather simple-- you fold the sides down to form his full legs, rotate the waist around, and then rotate out and fold down the cab sections to become his shoulders and arms, while the robot head and body are made entirely from "fake detailing" on the underside of the truck. As far as kibble in this mode, by far the biggest offender are the sections of the front grill and hood hanging unceremoniously off the front of his fists. The instructions say these can rotate back a bit, but... they can't. At all. Having pieces merely "molded into" shell bits on a Warrior class mold is not something that impresses me. There's also a bit of the trailer on his upper back that pokes out from the sides of his main body, but it really doesn't get in the way of articulation and doesn't look all that egregious, so I consider it a pretty minor downside. The sections of the truck cab that form his shoulders really look nice and give him some bulk and a more unique silhouette, so I don't at all consider those extras. Given that the entirety of the trailer forms Optimus' legs, he's a bit "leggy" proportionally, but this is show-accurate. What I don't like is the lack of paint detailing on the lower legs-- there's some mold details there that are just begging for some light blue (along with some bits on his arms and abs), and it's not there. There is oddly some gray paint on the hips, though, which is noticeably lighter and a little metallic-looking when compared with his other bland light gray plastic. The mold detailing on the chest is a bit more intricate than you'd expect from a RID2015 toy, with it all looking fairly convincingly like crushed-up truck parts with a faux window for the chest-- or at least it would if the faux headlights were painted... still, a pretty good main body. His head is typical Prime, with a silver faceplate, forehead vent, and blue eyes. As you'd expect, Optimus can hold his axe in either hand, though it can also slot in on his lower back as it could in vehicle mode; it looks odd like this, though, dangling behind his legs. For articulation, Optimus can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows, waist rotation, and movement at the hips (at three points) and knees.
    RID2015 Warrior class Optimus Prime by far has the best robot mode out of all of his toys in the line, with the only major issue there being the big grill pieces in front of his fists. In vehicle mode though he's rather weak, with several issues all related to his legs very blatantly making up his trailer. He's definitely one of the weaker Warrior class toys, but that's an important qualifier-- he's one of the weaker Warrior class toys, so if you want an articulated version of this design this mold is pretty much your only (domestic) shot.
 

Review by Beastbot

Back to Robots in Disguise (2015) Index