Series – Power of the Primes
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New Mold
Wave - 1
First impression of the figure when I got it in the mail was it’s surprisingly light for a Leader class. I’m at my folks’ place atm so have no other figure to compare it with, but it feels lighter than TR PM Optimus.
Truck Mode:
As a whole the truck mode is okay. The front of the cab is quite G1 Primesque and the trailer is boxy and has all the foil stickers in the right places for that G1 feel. The back of the cab, yeah, it’s a bit of a mess and I’ll talk more about it later. The ion blaster can be stored in between the arms on the trailer, otherwise there would be a gap. The trailer has a few Titan Master/Prime Master pegs on top of it. It gives me more of a power master Prime vibe than G1 though, because of it being transformable with some exposed robot bits.
The cab itself transforms into a stand alone Orion Pax and I absolutely love this idea. The back section suffers the most from the need to transform into Orion's curved arms. I suspect it might’ve been a conscious design decision to make compromises here and give Orion’s robot mode priority. Yes it’s very unfortunate but given all what this figure does I’m willing to look pass it. And I believe had there been more room in the budget the arms could’ve been handled better.
There are actually slots on the fists that look like they should tab on the chest piece but I can’t get them tabbed in without untabbing the window panels. There just not enough clearance. Hasbro mistranform stuff all the time but even the recent Japanese magazine scan shows the forearms just curling 180 degrees without locking in place, so not sure what’s up with the slots..
Transformation:
Surprisingly straight forward for what it accomplishes. There are a few clever touches. I really like how the designer utilizes the mass from the side of the cab to create the chest windows for Optimus.
'Bot mode (Orion Pax):
I loved Orion Pax's Cybertrionian look when I was a kid and from most angles, this robot mode nails that look. The compromises in alt mode make this robot unapologetically retro-futuristic and I love it. The head sculpt is imo the one thing that 3rd party companies will never have a chance against HasTak and Orion's nogging is spot on with beautifully painted baby blue eyes. There're even faux wheels on the side of his legs. The backpack is not nearly as big in person and you can barely see it from the front.
Articulation is standard deluxe fare. The ball joint at the neck has a decent amount of up and down range which is a big plus for me.
'Bot mode (Optimus):
If I'm not mistaken this is the first CHUG-whatever-it's-called-now G1-inspired Optimus in this size class. Just like Orion Pax, this robot mode is pretty much as G1 as you can get for mass market toy. All the Optimus details are here done with faux parts including the fog lights, smoke stacks and fuel tanks on the side of his legs. He's beefy and awesome.
Again the head sculpt is almost too good for a retail toy. Compare it to MP10, this head sculpt just has enough subtle newness to it to feel like it's an updated look, yet is still very faithful to the classic Optimus. I bought mine loose and the right eye has some paint scuff but it's an easy fix. I don't have any Prime Masters yet but the Matrix looks good by itself.
Articulation is decent. The ankle rocker joint should be a standard for all leader class figures as the heavier the figure the trickier to balance. The head is on a ball joint but has very limited up and down. Wrist swivel and waist could've easily been included but guess they ran out of part count. All the joint tolerances on mine are very good but I'm surprised the knee joints are just big a$$ mushroom pegs. But they're easier to fix if they become loose in the future. The front to back ankle joints are unfortunately not ratcheted and he is kind of back-heavy. But beware of where the center of gravity is and he's still very easy to balance and a treat to pose.
Overall:
A very ambitious concept realized better than Rodimus imo. Two wonderfully executed robot modes make me more forgiving on the truck mode. Ultimately it's a very fun toy and makes me look forward to Primal and the rest of the "evolving" leaders.