Titan Changer Optimus Prime's vehicle mode is surprisingly good and proportional... well, at least the front two-thirds or so. There aren't any extras whatsoever on that portion of the vehicle, and it's pretty accurate to the Western Star truck it's based off of. The back end, though... ennnnhh. It's very obviously Optimus Prime's legs, as evidenced by the feet on the back ends, plus the angular armored robotic bits molded into said pieces. There are, to be fair, some nice fuel tank and tire cover details molded onto the outside of this back portion, along with a circular trailer hitch bit near the middle, but the two halves don't even connect anywhere back there. C'mon, man. From a back end, you can see some taillight and rear bumper bits molded onto the bottom of his feet, as well as a minor extra-- the back of Optimus' head-- near the bottom of the body of the truck. The front section of the truck also has pretty much all of the mold detailing you'd expect-- the windows, grill lines, treads on the tires, side tanks, steps, smokestacks-- it's all there and quite accurate. Of course, the purpose of a Titan Changer is to make as large of a toy as possible with as small a budget as possible, so Optimus has barely any paint. Just some truncated dull dark red flames on the front and sides of his front section, as well as a silver front grill. Beyond the black tires, the entire rest of the toy is a moderately dark blue, which obviously can wash out quite a lot of the molded-in details. Still, at least it's a decent main plastic color-- it's a bit milky, but there's some glitter in the mix, making the blue look semi-metallic.
    Transforming Optimus to his robot mode is simple, but original. Push forward on the front section of the truck, and the top 80% of it or so will shift forward. Lift up and forward that whole section until it locks in place, then fold out the arms to the sides and fold the head up. The end result has some streeeetttcchhhed out proportions, as is common for Titan Changers, just so they can look so big for the price. Here you can see all the additional robot mode mold detailing, and it's quite impressive-- the "skirt" and smooth metal on the upper legs; the curved shoulder bits and arms, along with fists; a chest with two smooth "pecs" and a more intricate, mechanical-looking ab section; and his headsculpt is fairly accurate, though the faceplate looks a little undersized. The proportions of this mode are what really hurt, though. Yes, he's stretched, but his chest isn't any wider than his waist, his head is definitely too small proportionally overall, and then there's the fact his arms are molded entirely on the underside of large pieces that each make up half of the front of the truck mode. These pieces in particular are just incredibly awkward-looking, with the grill halves of the truck mode just jutting forward from the fists. And even though it looks like he has elbows, they're just molded-in details-- Prime can only move at the shoulders in this mode, though at least they're on ball joints. You definitely don't want to look at this mode from the side, as beyond the arm oddities, he's also way too flat/skinny, with the wheels sticking out unsightly from the sides of his abdomen as well. The chest itself is also just molded far too small proportionally when compared to the ab details. Optimus still remains mostly blue in this mode, but he still has a bit of paint; he has silver on his faceplate and abs, some dull red on his pecs, and a dot of light blue on each of his eyes (so little I sometimes question whether I'm seeing things there). There's also a bit of black in the middle of his stomach for a connector part for the transformation, and some black on his shoulder ball joints. He still definitely needed a lot more paint to do justice to all these extra mold details.
    Titan Changers always definitely make some substantial sacrifices for the price, and thus seems to even more be the case for the complex movie designs. The front two-thirds of Optimus Prime's vehicle mode is great, as is the mold detailing in both modes, but that's about where the good on this toy ends. The back end of the vehicle mode is way too obviously the legs, his robot mode proportions are original but very odd, and don't even get me started on the lack of paint. I wouldn't even consider him particularly sturdy-- get another simplified "Turbo Changer" toy if you're looking for a simple version of this design for kids. Only the biggest completists need bother with this.
 

Review by Beastbot

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