I don't have this toy and I don't care enough to buy it, but I have handled Tha_Phantom's. Like the other POTP Evolution Leader Class figures this toy is another Jack of All Master of None figure, but ultimately as someone who already has the original BW Optimal Optimus and Optimus Primal toys I'm just not feeling it. The more modern level of articulation is nice, and I love how the chest guns can be removed to become hand guns. The fact that this toy won't shoot you in the eyes like the original OpOp is pretty nice.And the dark metallic blue looks good and it's cool that you'll never need to worry about chrome flaking. I also like how it's all 5mm port compatible - always cool. I also like how they did away with the "exploding armour" gimmick, so now the armour plates are single pieces which are really easy to put on!
Drawbacks include:
* The small Optimus Primal figure has no alt mode (other than being Optimal Optimus' hoverboard)
* Optimus Primal's colours clash badly with Optimal Optimus, especially as his rather superfluous backpack. But I understand that for this price point that there was no other way around it, but the end result is still rather unfortunate.
* Why are his Maximal logos so tiny?And why does Optimal Optimus have red eyes instead of green?
* No terrestrial vehicle mode. Sadly his off-road vehicle mode has been sacrificed on this toy.
All of the POTP Leaders are Jack of All Master of None toys, but I think Optimal Optimus suffers from being the most ambitious one so far. It's trying to be 2 toys at once which, okay, Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime do too; but Optimus Primal's design and colours are at odds with Optimal Optimus. Furthermore Optimus Primal doesn't have his own alt mode, whereas Orion Pax and Hot Rod do. He also rides on Optimus Primal's back rather than sitting inside the "Mega Pretender Shell" like Orion and Roddy, and the mismatching colours to boot make him an eyesore. The hoverboard mode feels superfluous since that was a feature from Transmetal Mega Optimus Primal, which neither of these figures represent so... weird. And you can actually form Optimal Optimus' beast mode without Optimus Primal, which shows how useless he is in that mode. Sure, the back is hollow but it's not essential like Orion Pax is to Optimus Prime's truck mode or Hot Rod for Rodimus Prime's Space Winnebago mode. In this regard he kinda reminds me of G1 Gunrunner where the core robot transforms into baggage. :/ In beast mode only. He's still essential for the robot mode as he's the chest and head... and that's kinda annoying too because you can't remove the eyesore backpack component. It'd be nice if it were at least partially removable.
Overall
On the whole it's really not much better or worse than the other POTP Leaders. Many of its drawbacks come from the fact that this is a very ambitious toy that's trying to do a lot, so they're justifiable flaws from an engineering POV. And the less justifiable flaws are mostly cosmetic. So for what this toy is trying to achieve, it is a reasonably well made figure. Just not my thing. I think that this toy has a pretty niche appeal, and if it tickles your fancy then by all means feel free to grab this toy.
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I would of liked to have seen this attempted to be hidden a bit better inside the Optimal Body
