Toy Review: “Transformers: Age of Extinction” Leader Optimus Prime

NAME: Optimus Prime
ALLEGIANCE: Autobot
ALTERNATE MODE: Western Star truck cab
CLASS: Leader
SERIES: M4: #001
CO-SELLS: Grimlock
COMES WITH: Sword of Judgment, Vector Shield

OPTIMUS PRIME has long believed that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. He has never wavered from his belief, no matter what has befallen him in battle. Once again ready to defend the people of his adopted planet, the unyielding AUTOBOT Commander prepares for the battle that will allow the AUTOBOTS to reclaim their role as Earth’s honored protectors.

It wouldn’t be a Transformers movie without Optimus Prime leading the Autobots. Optimus gets another makeover in this movie; his Western Star cab mode is bigger and more massive than his previous longnose cabs. The familiar blue and red flame deco, though, is still there. If you don’t like that, well, go get the Voyager Evasion Mode toy.

Let’s dive in and take a look at this updated Optimus.

Optimus in Package Gallery:

VEHICLE MODE

Although Optimus is packaged in robot mode, I’m going to start with the vehicle mode for reasons which will become clear later.

It’s nice to have a new Optimus Prime design. The extended cab, the large chrome fuel tanks, the different smokestacks — these all make Optimus feel reinvented for the new movie, even if it’s not as big a deviation from his previous for as the longnose cab was from his Generation 1 form. The added cab area gives Optimus a feeling of more mass. The entire figure is about 9.75″ (24.675 cm) long, and the cab area takes up 5.75″ (15.605 cm) alone.

This Optimus suffers from panelforming though. If you get everything lined up, the seams mostly disappear. But it took me a lot of massaging to get things to fit juuuust right. You can store his Sword of Judgment underneath, and his Vector Shield plugs into the trailer hitch hole. Unlike Grimlock or Slug, the weapon storage here doesn’t look too silly. (Well, okay, having a shield on your trailer hitch isn’t exactly normal.)

As for the general feel of the toy, it feels solid, like pieces won’t fall off if you drop it. But it also feels somewhat unsatisfying to me, almost a sense of “Okay, so this is what it is.” I’ve got a hunch as to why I feel that way, which we’ll get to later.

Optimus in Vehicle Mode Gallery

TRANSFORMATION

Flip up the cab top, and flip down the cab sides. Then rotate the rear portion including the wheels up so it’s flush with the back of the cab. Slide the wheel base down to shrink the length of that piece. Flip his forearms out then rotate both shoulders out. Split the cab top into two parts to cover the shoulders. This allows his chest and torso to be rotated back, which then allows his cab to begin the leg and feet transformation. His grill separates and rotates up over the hood, which then separates further into his feet. His legs rotate 180 degrees at the waist and his toes flip out to form his legs. Rotate his tire panels around, flip more side panels into place, then flip his crotch piece down. Finally, when you flip down his chest cover, his head automatically pops up (which is one reason why I wanted to talk about his robot mode second).

ROBOT MODE

Okay, first off, that head popping up is a great idea. It reminds me of toys in the past, where the pieces moved by themselves as part of them being “alive”. It’s a nice touch, and I’m glad the designers put in in there. It doesn’t even come at the sacrifice of head movement; you can rotate Prime’s head on his neck in pretty much any direction. I’m glad to see that’s there.

The chrome looks surprisingly good in robot mode. The chest piece has red, silver and blue chrome, and it doesn’t seem out of place, and it complements the chrome smokestacks and fuel tanks which you can see behind him.

As for articulation, this 9.125″ (11.665 cm) toy has head, shoulder, elbow, hip and knee articulation, with limited ankle movement as part of the transformation. His elbow and knee joints are ratchet joints, allowing for stability in poses.

The 5.5″ (13.95 cm) Vector Shield pegs onto his left forearm, but not the right. He can hold the 7.5″ (19.05 cm) Sword of Judgment in either hand. While it’s a bit of a disappointment that the shield is only for his left arm, he does look impressive with his sword in one hand and shield on the other arm.

However, Prime has a big backpack. His rear wheel assembly just hangs off his back, and you can’t avoid it. This is one of the sacrifices the designers had to make so it’s 1) easier for kids to transform and 2) less expensive. By reducing the complexity, that reduced the number of moving parts that could fold out of the way, so he’s left with a good portion of his truck still there. Having the wheels slide down to compress it helps, but it’s still there, and you can’t not see it.

Still, he’s got good height for a Leader toy.  My 2007 Movie Optimus is packed away at the moment, otherwise I’d do a size comparison.  I’m betting this new toy is smaller, but without reference, he doesn’t look smaller.  Kids who don’t have a previous toy won’t notice, I’m sure.

Optimus in Robot Mode Gallery:

FINAL THOUGHTS

At first, the lack of complexity, the backpack, and the feeling of “Okay, so this is all there is to it” made me not like Optimus all that much. Over the past few days, my feelings have softened a bit. This isn’t going to be as movie-accurate as other Optimus Prime toys, and you know what? That’s okay. This isn’t exactly a toy made for collectors. This is more for the older children who want a big Optimus Prime but don’t want frustration. And as such, this Optimus fits the bill. And if he were more complex, that bill at checkout time would be a lot bigger. When writing this review, I had to remind myself that plastic prices aren’t what they were for the first movie or even the last movie. So I have to temper my feelings with the harsh reality of rising prices.

So, if I were to view this toy in a vacuum where previous movie toys did not exist, I’d have to say that this is a solid toy, one that may not be extremely complex, but one that provides a feeling for the movie design without a huge price tag. He’s got some nifty chrome and that awesome head reveal feature, and he’ll still look good on your toy shelf next to Galvatron.