Review: #324
Name: Optimus Prime
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Block Wars (Kabaya Model Kit)
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Kabaya Model Kit
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
For those not familiar with Kabaya model kits, there are relatively inexpensive model kits that you build on your own, usually based on existing toys and simplifying them.
Each model kit will come with a piece of gum. To be fair, the gum is not the reason you buy the thing, it's not awful tasting but it loses its flavour very quickly.
The pieces come still attached to their sprues and they are tightly stacked on top of each other when you first take it out of packaging. It also comes with a sticker sheet as the plastics are cast in solid colours and any intricate detailing will come from stickers. Part of the fun is putting Optimus together yourself and it is a lot of fun. You really feel like you're putting in a lot of your own effort into making the toy and slowly seeing it take shape. Optimus is not hard to put together, will take roughly 30 mins, and most of that time is taking putting the stickers on carefully.
VEHICLE MODE:
One of the most surprising things about this wave of Kabaya Tranformers is that all the figures are based off their Cyber Series Battalion toy. Optimus, as per usual, transforms into a long-nosed read and blue truck.
Optimus has one of the weaker vehicle modes, particularly the front of the truck where there are a few gaps. Surprisingly, his robot feet folds down and is one of the better Optimus toys which doesn't make the robot feet obviously stick out from the back.
You can attach the robot weapon to the side but it is an awkward fit.
He is approximately the size of a Legion figure, and is quite a bit smaller than Legends figures.
One of the gimmicks of this wave is that you can use parts from other characters to bulk up the vehicle and robot modes. In Optimus' case, you can attach Megatron's turret on top for an armoured truck mode.
Overall, while not a bad truck mode, it isn't the most stable. Also note that the wheels are molded, he does not actually roll.
TRANSFORMATION:
Optimus is a partsformer although he isn't too bad since you only pull the robot arms off the back of the truck and attach them to the sides. The rest you just manipulate like any other Transformer. It's done well and understandable considering these are only cheap model kits.
ROBOT MODE:
The robot mode is a decent looking thing, evocative of the Autobot leader, unfortunately, he does have a lot of pegs sticking out all over the place.
You can see that he is fairly hollow but that's okay, forgivable given his price point. The truck grill and hood does sit awkwardly behind his back though.
The face is a sticker, as is the crest. Unfortunately, putting the small sticker for the face is annoying as it is but the crest is even worse. Plus, if you move the head you'll more than likely wear out the crest sticker. The chin is also too long which makes his head unable to face perfectly forward unless you pull the head slightly up off the balljoint.
He's a bit taller in this mode but is still shorter than Legends figures.
In terms of articulation, he has swinging arms, balljointed head and hips, and ankle swivels.
Since he lacks knees and elbows, there's really only so much you can do with him.
His weapon is a type of axe.
He can hold the weapon in either hand. Also note that anything apart from the red and blue are detailing provided by stickers. He does have intricate sculpting underneath those stickers which mimic the details, this makes the stickers harder to keep on to be honest... you'd rather they be flat surfaces.
So by taking Starscream's wings and nullrays as a backpack, and Megatron's gun as a weapon, you get the powered-up Optimus, which looks quite neat (and kind of like his other incarnations with flight capability.
This is not a bad robot mode at all, while the torso looks a bit messy, he is still a solid figure.
COMBINED MODE:
However, that's not all, yes, there is an additional feature for this set that the original Cyber Series Battalion toys never had, and that is the fact that they can combine! Before we go into detail with this mode, a quick look at the whole set in vehicle mode. You can see that the whole wave shares the same four base plastic colours (yellow, red, grey and blue).
Now in robot mode and they actually look great as a set.
For Optimus, he forms the torso, including the thighs and head.
As you can tell, this combined mode has bits of all the figures everywhere, but he holds together surprisingly well and is quite stable.
As you can tell, this combined mode has bits of all the figures everywhere, but he holds together surprisingly well and is quite stable.
The head is basically Optimus with his axe blade forming a sort of crown, it makes the combined mode look fairly majestic though.
In terms of size, being comprised of four roughly Legions sized figures means he towers over Legends Shockwave, and even Deluxes such as Nightbird.
The combined mode has a claw for a right hand and a gun for the left hand, they don't look too bad. The poseability is very limited especially when you consider his stability. He has elbows, wrists and shoulder articulation but as they are fairly short combined to the rest of the body, they aren't that useful. The hips are on balljoints but as the chestplate attaches to each thigh, it means his legs are fixed. He also has knees but since the hips are fixed, knees doesn't mean much.
In terms of weapons, you can combine bits of Optimus and Bumblebee's weapons together to form a spear-bladed weapon, and use Bumblebee's car roof as a shield.
Unfortunately, the head is also fixed into place. This combine mode is really only for looking good standing on your shelf and not meant to be played at all since parts will undoubtedly shift when you try to move him around. Furthermore, for some reason, Starscream as a leg doesn't seem to attach that well and likes to keep popping off.
Nonetheless, this is a very novel mode. While Megatron and Starscream will never join forces and combine with Optimus and Bumblebee, let alone having Optimus be the controller, it works surprisingly well and looks powerful.
OVERALL:
When fiddling around with Optimus, you have to take into consideration the fact that he is a cheap model kit that you build yourself, so the end result is never going to stand up to a normal Transformer. With that said, he is designed really well and it is a lot of fun assembling your own figure. Unfortunately, the fact that Optimus uses stickers for detailing means that he is not suited for play as the stickers are worn easily. Nonetheless, if you can find him at a good price then Optimus is well worth adding to your collection, if only for the novelty of the combiner.
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