Odd that a toy based on the Animated version of Optimus Prime comes out in Universe 2.0, given that both toy lines were running at the same time. Well anyways, this Prime's truck mode really isn't the best one you can find when it comes to Animated Prime's vehicle mode, as there are some pretty noticeable robot mode extras in it. The biggest is the VERY easily seen feet which make up the back end of the truck mode. I mean, I they could not have made them more obvious if they tried-- the legs don't fit in with the overall shape of the surrounding parts at all, and due the Animated aesthetic on this small of a toy are pretty big. The knees and upper legs are also fairly obvious near the middle of this mode, and the arms are fairly obvious coming out of the sides of the cab as well. The fists are folded in on the front so that they're not apparent, but it frankly makes little difference-- the arms stick out so much compared to the rest of the cab they're still obviously the arms. At least the top half of the cab looks pretty decent, though, and he has  Prime's classic blue/red/silver paint scheme. There's a bit of brownish-gray thrown in, however, and though it's not a major color in this mode so it's not a huge detail, I don't know why they did it-- Animated Prime never had that color on him. Prime is also lacking some paint detailing on some vital parts-- the sides of his bumper are painted silver, but not the top or the headlights-- he REALLY needs those headlights painted. It appears that most of the paint apps went to painting the top half of his cab mode light red (it's not colored plastic), which is an odd choice-- why mold the plastic in a completely different color than you want it to be? This is the first time the mold sprue has been used, so it's not like they shouldn't have planned for the plastic colors to be laid out as they are. This also makes it a rather odd, abrupt transition between the top half of the cab (red) and the bottom half of the cab (blue) since there isn't much of the silver stripe along the side of the cab to help with that transition.
    Prime's robot mode looks some weird kind of amalgam between his G1 and Animated forms-- the aesthetic is clearly there in the legs and chest, but due to the small scale and the tabs & whatnot needed the rest of his body looks relatively normal and blocky in its proportions. It's odd seeing Animated Prime with an almost G1-ish head. The brownish gray is more obvious in this mode, what with his entire stomach being that color, with no paint apps, which not only is not show-accurate but just looks really odd and ugly. Another odd design decision is that Prime's feet are molded at an angle to his feet, so has to adopt a rather wide stance to stand properly in this mode. There are also some pretty blantant wheels hanging off his arms (along with some oddly large tabs, though the rest of his body looks alright. He can move at the hips, ankles, elbows (at two points), and shoulders, and he can also swivel mid-chest due to his transformation. No knee articulation though, even though there's certainly nothing design-wise that would prevent him from having any. The posability in his arms is also more limited than it sounds due to the arms' bulkiness.
    Animated...Universe... whatever Optimus Prime's Legends class toy has a few nice points, like the nice detailing, generally good color scheme and nicely sculpted legs in robot mode, but he suffers from way too many minor problems (such as kibble in both modes and lack of paint detailing in important areas) that all add up and make it hard for me to recommend him to any but the most die-hard Legends or Animated fans. Get pretty much any other version of Animated Prime instead, even if you have to pay more-- it's worth it.

Review by Beastbot

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