Review: #863
Name: Optimus Prime
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - Studio Series
Year of Release: 2025
Size Class: Leader (Wave 18)
Mold Status: new
VEHICLE MODE:
With this figure based on the version from The Last Knight movie, Optimus transforms into a Western Star 5700EX truck.
It's a good vehicle mode, both from the front and back. There are limited gappy parts, and the back even has properly molded lights rather than just the robot feet sticking out.
Despite being part of the Leader size class, he is compact and not too much bigger than a Voyager, although he's definitely heftier.
The various robot weapons peg onto the hitch at the back.
The only play value here is rolling him on a flat surface.
A great looking vehicle mode. He loses the chrome of the original toy, but feels more substantial and less gaudy.
TRANSFORMATION:
This is where the figure justifies the Leader class pricing, as it is involved, but also there are some neat tricks. While the basics are the same, such as the back forming the legs, the arms coming from the sides, and a lot of the cab ending up as a backpack, there are some clever aspects to fold the kibble away. In particular, his legs are much more involved than expected to get the sides of the vehicle and the rear section all folded up like that.
ROBOT MODE:
The biggest let down of robot mode is the unpainted grey plastic used, it just looks cheap and nasty, making the figure seem much more bland than it should.
He carries a lot of kibble, which is expected considering the design barely has any recognizable vehicle elements (a flaw of the movie designs which got worse with each subsequent movie). Optimus manages to compact it as much as possible.
The head sculpt is good, but again the unpainted grey plastic ruins it and makes it look extremely cheap. It's not helped by the nicer blue highlights around the face.
In robot mode, he's around the height of a Voyager, but again, he's heftier, and he feels sturdier and higher quality too as a result.
For articulation, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
There are a lot of great sculpted detailing, particularly around his chest and legs.
He comes with a few accessories, his sword, shield, and a shorter sword.
The shorter sword can be held in his hand, but cannot be plugged into his forearm like the ones in the Revenge of the Fallen movie.
Similarly, the longer sword can be held in either hand, and the shield can peg onto the outside of his forearm.
There is a little additional square-shaped piece, that pegs onto his back so that you can store the shield and sword onto it.
Although not shown in the photos, the forearm shield can also split to reveal a three-barrelled blaster.
One thing to note is that the blue plastic used has a nice metallic sheen to it, which makes the grey plastic look even worse.
He is a tad bit too short though to look even more impressive on your shelf, but this is still a nice robot mode.
OVERALL:
Optimus Prime is a solid update to the original Leader class figure. He is much more accurate in detail, with better proportions, better articulation and better weapons. Sadly, the choice of grey plastic used it disappointing and makes the figure feel cheap and tacky. It's still a good figure, just one that could have benefited from better plastic color choices.
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