Optimus Prime's Titan Changer version has a truck mode that has a pretty solid front, but his "trailer" is quite obviously his legs compressed. His trailer is way too short vertically, and there isn't really any mold detailing on it that makes it look like anything but the robot mode's lower legs, with the exception of the back end which has a (unpainted) license plate molded into it. That whole blue back end does close up nicely, though, and does fit the same GENERAL shape of a trailer, so with both that and the "Titan Changer" rules in mind it's not as huge a deal to me as it otherwise would be. (FYI, the "Titan Changer rules" are basically to make a transformable toy as big as possible for as cheap a price as possible. Pretty much no other rules apply.) The front end, as mentioned before, is pretty solid, with mold details on the grill, the headlights, the smokestacks, and the windows, along with side doors in the usual RID2015 stylized design. Compared to most other RID2015 Optimus toys, the front end is a TAD wide, but that's a minor downside at best. Behind the front section is a rather obvious top section of Optimus Prime's robot chest-- I kinda wish there was at least some attempt to hide it, like with a flap or something. It's a little distracting. The main colors of Optimus are, of course, dark blue, red, and light gray. The good thing, though, is that all three of these main colors have a fair amount of glitter in them, so all three shades look semi-metallic. I guess it's a consolation prize for the almost complete lack of paint apps-- the front windows are painted charcoal black, and the chest "window" on the back for robot mode is also painted charcoal black too, but that's it for this mode. No other paint at all. (The tires, of course, are charcoal black as well, but they're plastic. A "pure" black would've looked better, but that's a small quibble.)
    To transform Optimus, you just unfold those lower legs out and down, and then split the front section in half, fold it out to the sides, and fold down the arms. That's it. In robot mode, like many Titan Changers, Optimus Prime's proportions are quite "stretched" upwards so that he fits the requisite 12" size for such a small price. (Gotta hit that bullet point on the press release!) It's honestly a bit of a shame, as there's no reason transformation-wise why he'd need to be so stretched, especially in the body. It makes him look like his torso's made of bubble gum or something-- all the mold details are there, but they're just too long. Same with the legs, and RID2015 Optimus already has long legs! The truck cab halves form totally inaccurate shoulder halves, but it's a Titan Changer, you gotta make some compromises somewhere. What I find less appetizing are the two wheels on the front of each of his lower arms-- you're telling me those arms couldn't have rotated a bit so the tires were facing in another direction?! Sigh. On the plus side Optimus' head sculpt is quite show-accurate, with a silver face and nice metallic aquamarine eyes. He's also got some more charcoal black paint visible on his waist, but otherwise again, not much paint, which is a side effect of the Titan Changer rules. He's also rather 2-D; looking at him from the side he is WAAAAYYY too skinny, maybe about an inch wide on average (another side effect of Titan Changer rules). For articulation, he can move back-and-forth at the shoulders, and side-to-side slightly at the... elbow-shoulders? The actual elbows should be farther down. Oh well.
    Titan Changer Optimus Prime may be pretty limited compared to most toys, but Titan Changers are aimed at giving big toys to young kids at small prices. Keeping that huge caveat in mind, I actually don't think he's half-bad given all those restrictions. Minimal kibble, okay truck mode, the robot mode WOULD look great if it weren't so streeeetttccchhhed (since it is it merely looks okay as well), plastic colors are nice. Yes, he's rather 2-D, yes his articulation is very limited, yes he has almost no paint, but that's the case with every Titan Changer. If you're pinching pennies and in the market for one of these, I'd consider this the best one of the RID2015 lot.
 

Review by Beastbot

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