ChCse's blog: Toy Review: Transformers TA-38 Animated Wingblade Optimus Prime

Review: #43
Name: Wingblade Optimus Prime
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Animated (Japanese only)
Year of Release: 2010
Size Class: Voyager plus parts
Variations: the base mold is the Animated Voyager Optimus Prime that has been repainted a lot

PACKAGING:

The packaging for this Japanese only release is really nice (well, it looked better when the toy was still inside), much better than what the Western releases have been getting.

The back of the packaging is where it really stands out, with an action shot and pictures showcasing the gimmicks, it is really nice.

VEHICLE MODE:

Starting with the 'base' vehicle, without any sort of trailer, it is the same mold as the normal Voyager classed figure. There's one twist though, it's mostly made of translucent plastic, which is awesome.

Without anything on the back Optimus does look a bit weird, and the back is very obviously his feet. It's a stylised truck, and for some reason, the front reminds of Cybertron Optimus.

Attaching the regular trailer, he looks a whole lot more wholesome, although still not that great. The parts where it is non-translucent would be the roof, but it is painted a metallic red, and the blue part of the gun. Curiously, they are both still translucent in the promo pictures.

Optimus is supposed to be a fire truck, but he doesn't really look like it, the gun on his back doesn't look like a hose, and it can't point forward with it looking awkward.

Speaking of the gun, you can put water in it and pressing the barrel will squeeze the water out, yes, it is a working water squirter. Not that I would be using it though. This gimmick ruins the look of the gun, making a bit round thingie that doesn't look that great.

Since the 'trailer' is basically three pieces of plastic, there are a lot of gaps from other angles, most noticeable is from the back, a bit disappointing, as you don't get the feeling that it is very solid.

It's the same from the side, the trailer just 'wraps' on top of the legs. Overall, the truck mode could do with some improvements, the cab itself is solid, but the trailer is lacking, I do like the look of all that clear plastic though.

VEHICLE MODE (WINGBLADE):

Then, to the point of this set, is the Wingblade armour, which you can plug together to form a sort of winged trailer for the vehicle mode. Granted, it's a bit weak and lazy, but the two missile launchers overhead do look imposing.

One thing to note is that the armour pieces are NOT made from clear plastic, rather, they are coloured like the majority of Japanese Animated toys, in shiny metallic paint. I guess they did this coz one, it looks better, and two, you're probably wanting to put this onto the regular release Optimus Prime instead.

One improvement is that the trailer looks a whole lot more solid and substantial than the regular one ever did. Sure, a lot of elements are obvious (such as the hammer at the back) but it's a winged truck, that looks like it should be able to fly.

There's gap in the middle which you can see from the top. Also, the wings just jut out, you can't retract them into the body or anything, which would have been nice if it was able to, as they are in the way sometimes.

The angular nature of Optimus' cab really works in his favour as the overall look is streamlined. No awkward bulk, and I'm glad they painted the piece that is casted in solid plastic with metallic red paint, coz it blends in better with the transparent plastic.

The winged trailer contains four thrusters, two on the tip of the wings and two on the body, and I like how they are unobstructed, so they're 'usable'. For a configuration that was designed as an afterthought, it's as good as you can hope it for, just a storage mode. One bad thing is that either way, you're going to have something spare left over, whether its the normal trailer or this armour, for that, some points are deducted...

WINGBLADE ARMOUR:

This is the armour in it's 'trailer' configuration, you can see it's just bits plugged onto each other, that vaguely look like some sort of attachment. The two missiles launchers do fire, and are quite powerful.

Due to the friction pegs it relies on, you're likely to scrap paint off after multiple transformations. Good news is that the paint seems fairly scratch resistant. It attaches to Optimus via one attachment peg, which connects to the back of the cab. As such, it's not as stable as the original piece, susceptible to wriggling from side to side.

The trailer broken up and all the armour pieces laid out, it seems like a lot, but most of the pieces are hollow and feels a bit cheap (nothing compared to the awesomeness of RiD Prime). Not much transforming is needed, just a few twists for the wings, unfolding the handle of the hammer, and flipping out the winglets and hands on the gauntlets.

TRANSFORMATION:

You can start by pulling whatever you've plugged in as the trailer and then transforming the base figure. I feel that there isn't really a good toy of Animated Optimus, this Voyager classed figure isn't that bad, but there are some elements you know they could have improved on. The feet for example, you're supposed to plug in the front bumpers at the front as well as pegs into the waist, but this causes them to be too low on the toy, causing a big empty gap in front, bad design. He transforms very typically of Optimus Prime, not much surprises or innovation here. The one thing that is annoying is the weird gravity-spin/automorph torso transformation, it doesn't work properly (supposed to release a latch and it automatically spins into position) and it causes the waist to be extremely loose. At least Optimus pegs together very well, the shoulder joints could do with some improvement as to some sort of tightening or clicking-into-position joint, and the whole front becomes his chest with no modifications (at least it's not as bad Energon Prime). It is an easy transformation, no doubt, and I guess that makes him quite and easy to transform.

ROBOT MODE:

In certain angles, Optimus Prime has a great heroic stature, in other angles, he just looks plain weird and disproportionate. I don't know about you, but the huge lower legs makes his arms look small (although this won't be a problem once the armour is on), however, the large feet makes him super stable.

He basically has no kibble anywhere, and I really like the clear effect here, much better than the flat matte plastic on the Hasbro version (although I do like the shiny TakaraTomy version). I don't know if he has mold degradation already, but on mine at least, his arms fall off easily.

Optimus can hold his 'axe', I put that in quotation marks coz it really doesn't look like it, it has a huge hole in the middle of it for goodness sake! His gun isn't much better as it's too big and rounded to look like much of a threat. One awesome feature is that his faceplate is retractable, you can either have the classic mouthplate or show his mouth like most of the time in the show.

Poseabilty is okay, I tend to him he's a bit limited in the legs due to the joints there, otherwise I think he's fairly decent to pose and has a large range of motion. He can just barely hold his axe double handed however.

Overall, a bit of a bland figure, if this was it, I wouldn't really recommend him as he's fairly mediocre and boring. I like the 'crystal' theme but the waist transformation gimmick causes an unstable waist joint, the weapons suck, and has a tendency to look like he's leaning forward, so much that it's unnatural (due to the way he is designed). I don't like the little black panels outside of his hands, they feel like they can break easily.

ROBOT MODE (WINGBLADE):

Finally, we get to the meat of the review, and the whole reason why most people would grab this figure. Donning on his armour (which is screen accurate by the way) he appears a whole lot more powerful and impressive, and how Optimus should be.

Pretty much all the improvements are in the upper area with an added jet pack, gauntlets, shoulder launchers and the Magnus Hammer (which is a scaled down version). Not everything is perfect, the hands and gaunlets are proportionally large. This leads me to wonder if putting the armour onto the Deluxe toy (which was the original intention, although this release's armour doesn't fit too well with the Deluxe) was such a great idea, as it would look outrageously huge on it.

I actually like the contrasting clear elements with the metallic paint. All the armour simple clips on, and are very secure, however, pulling off the wingpack can be a bit of a daunting experience since it clips very securely over the strobe lights. The oversized shoulder missile launchers look good, impractical since it blocks his side vision, but awesome nonetheless.

The hammer pegs into the fists (which are spring loaded, so they are always 'closed'), or, there are a few notches that can let it peg onto the back of the wing pack for storage if you don't want Optimus to be holding it.

So, what to do with the leftover weapons? The spring loaded hands won't let Optimus hold them in his other hand. I find that PCC Smolder looks okay wielding them.

The headsculpt is okay, but not brilliant, it does capture the unique proportions of Animated and of course there's the big chin.

With the faceplate down, Optimus looks so angry, which seems atypical especially from what we saw in the cartoon.

Anyway, an awesome figure in general and looks great with his final upgrade, although I'm always a sucker for power up Optimus Primes. I tend to find that the proportions are a whole lot better with the armour on.

OVERALL:

A great toy, but being a Japanese exclusive, it can be somewhat expensive, especially compared to the RRP of Hasbro voyager toys, so it really depends if you want 'another' Optimus in your collection. I think he is worth it, as the extra armour adds a lot to his appeal and look, and I love that they used transparent plastic for the base figure, to differentiate him and give you a bigger reason to purchase the figure.

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Seibertron.com's gallery of this figure can be accessed here.

Credits: as per usual, I've linked other pages from other sites, such as from TFwiki.net.

If you feel such inclined, have a look at this page to see some other reviews.

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Here are some extra photos that I haven't put into the main body (but not enough to warrant another post):