Toy Review - Earthrise Leader Optimus Prime

[Tha_Phantom]

Don't worry Dimi194, trust the feedback thread rather than feedback from someone who hasn't used that company in a while and likes to bad mouth them any chance he gets.

The feedback thread isn't much better.

[Paulbot]

The feedback thread is consistently saying there's no problems with in stock items, which is Dimi194 scenario. Impatience over preorders is so rampant for some collectors for all stores there's even a thread for people complaing about having to wait for a toy.

[GoktimusPrime]

I know, but it was listed in stock, and shipped the day after I bought it.

Great, good to hear!

Haven't used them for a loonggggg time but the reports of them being okay with in stock items seem to be true.

Yeah, I've personally have never had an issue with any in-stock item for them but I have had issues with pre-orders. I have heard stories about other people not receiving in-stock orders though, but I'm glad to hear that yours has shipped. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this toy.

[Dimi194]

Okay so while I certainly don't regret buying this toy, I think it's actually not a clear winner over the Siege version.

Better than Sige:
-Hip artculation
-No backpack (having them side by side, it really makes the Siege backpack, which initially didn't bug me at all, really damn ugly)
-Weapon storage/integration
-Shoulders (smokestacks don't need to be on those flaps)
-Forearms (so much cleaner without the truck lights on it!)
-Hands-love what they've done with the paint + being able to open, but without being crap at actually holding stuff
-Paint-the silver and blue being metallic is really nice
-Head articulation

Worse than Siege:
-The elbows-personally I think it looks weird that he has no upper arm, it all kinda merges with his shoulder
-Head-without the silver paint around the eyes he looks a bit 'dead' in the face, though had they stuck to the original yellow eyes (which I liked) then this would not have been an issue
-Legs-the moved hip joint makes his legs longer and it means the proportions are a bit strange + I liked the transformation tricks of the Siege version (though I understand there's no real need for them here)
-Chest-the price of hiding all the truck kibble inside the chest means his 'pecs' jut out a lot from the grill; I think it looks a bit strange, especially because the angle is so sharp
-Backpack-while it's nice not having the huge panel there, I actually really liked how the wheels collapsed into the sides of his torso, and the way they hang out on the butt is a bit strange (however again they were really going for clean vibes so understand why they tried to hide them around the back)
-Gun-it looks cleaner (+ clever transformation) but mine is too big for effects parts! Also the gross grey peg (side note: the shield battle masters this year suck compared to the blast effects + battle masters we got last year, there's just so much less you can do with them)
-Shield-it's fine but the one last year was obviously nicer (however I do like that this one sits closer to the arm in shield mode)

Random thoughts:
-I think it's meant to be the same head mold, but I swear the crest/'ears' are slightly differently shaped??
-The little pieces that fold into the back of the lower body to complete the shaping around the side/back is a nice touch
-I think the size of the trailer is okay, and I like the shield + jetpack, but once you open it up it's just an empty box. Definitely needed something else inside to make it worth displaying in robot mode
-Matrix is a nice touch, but for all the effort that went into it, I don't think it adds much-although he can actually hold it, which is a nice change

So overall, while I'm definitely happy to get him in my collection (given the Megs this year is a really ordinary remold, I think I'm going to match him up against the awesome looking Netflix redeco of Megs), I don't think he's the perfect OP either, and the Siege one is still awesome.
I paid $90 (including shipping) for mine, which doesn't bother me too much bc I'm an OP fan, but getting it for $72 (which would have been the Myer price if they weren't all closed/had not sent me 2 Astros lol) is I think the price it's worth.
Aka if you get it at RRP ($90) it's hard to recommend if you already have Siege, but if you pay less than $80 I think it's worth getting.

EDIT: This must be the longest forum post I've made to date hahahaha!

[GoktimusPrime]

I skipped Siege OP, so I'm pretty stoked with ER OP. I probably would've jumped on Siege Optimus Prime if his alt mode was based on his Cybertronian mode as seen in G1 instead of a made-up Cybertronian mode (which, to me, just looks like an Earth truck with guns ). It seems that only the Seekers had G1-accurate Cybertronian modes; not even Soundwave was given his street lamp mode. And if Siege OP had had a G1-accurate Cybertronian mode, then the toy could've been repainted as Fusion. I would absolutely get a toy of Fusion! (hey, if Siege can give us lesser known characters like Impactor, Rung and the Powerdashers, why not Fusion?)



The blue eyes still bug me, but alas I don't own any yellow paint. Reprolabels has made a set for ER OP but no yellow eye stickers!

[Tha_Phantom]

not even Soundwave was given his street lamp mode.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. He most certainly does have the street lamp mode, it was an easter egg shown on the box and also shown off by Hasbro at NYCC. Surely you don't expect them to try and seriously market that as the "main" mode of the toy? Neither kids or retailers would be too impressed.

[GoktimusPrime]

Gonna have to disagree with you there. He most certainly does have the street lamp mode, it was an easter egg shown on the box and also shown off by Hasbro at NYCC. Surely you don't expect them to try and seriously market that as the "main" mode of the toy? Neither kids or retailers would be too impressed.

Continued here

[klystron]

I wanted to post some review comments, but procrastinated too long. Then photobucket stopped hosting images. Now there's not really much to add that hasn't been said here or various other places on the interwebs.
Instead I'll share some photos regarding the contentious trailer accessory. This is something I wanted to know more about before I bought the fig.

I will say that I am totally stoked with this figure. Is it worth the RRP of $99? No. Do I care? No. Am I glad I bought it? Hell yes.
The main reason for my love of this fig is because it fills a hole (so to speak). It fills a gap. The non-movie Optimus position in my collection was filled (for years) by the Classics fig. Which (while I do love it) has aged. I have 2 movie Primes that I am satisfied with (hell, I love MB01 evasion Prime!), but no modern G1-inspired one. No Siege version. No Masterpieces. (Probably could have lived with PotP OP, but it wouldn't scale well with the rest of my figs). So this ER fig fills a massive gap in my collection.
Now, if you have every iteration of OP ever released, you may not be as happy with this as I am. You may have other figs (Siege?) that fill the position. ER Prime may be 'more of the same' or lacking to you. And thats fair enough - everyone's mileage will vary. Its the delta between what I had (Classics) and this ER Prime, that makes it a win for me. Just like I was blown away in 2006 when I went from G2 Prime to Classics Prime.
So I don't really have anything bad to say about the Prime figure itself. Looks good. Well articulated. Displays awesomely. Good-ish transformation (body is cool; legs are boring). Great accessories.

But enough of that - lets talk trailer.
Gosh, hasn't there been some whinging about this. Does the trailer justify the extra price of what is basically a voyager class fig? No. I think we can all agree on that. Still... refer to the previous as to why I find myself not really caring. Am I glad they included a trailer? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Is it too small? Yes. But did I mention its fun? A G1 Optimus with a trailer!? Wow, how can you not love that. (Yeah, this really fills a hole in my collection).

Photos:

OK, so I think we can see what the problem is here...
Obviously the G2 Prime trailer is too large.




In case you're interested, here's some stuff that fits inside:









I'm having fun with it. (Well, I would be if I played with toys...). Roller (as played by Breacher) plus some missile launchers to fill out the underside, and Roller's arial drone (aka minicon Eclipse).






And because its a thing you can do...

[dirge]

And because its a thing you can do...

Breacher is one of the few Movieverse toys I kept... one of the lines' highlights for me... and now you've convinced me that he's Earthrise Roller!

[Jellico]

Well, I finally got him out of the box. Bot is superb. I don't mind the trailer but it badly needs some colour. Simply molding the turret in blue would have helped a lot.

The set has three different wheels which is off putting. Grey painted steering wheels. Black driving wheels. And the grey trailer wheels. One thing SS Mixmaster did well was nice chunky wheels. CHUG wheels rival coins. Rimmel Rita Ora 820 Zinc Me Nail Polish matches the silver Hasbro has been using lately so has been a great little $3 buy for me. Add in a some black nail polish and my Prime (and a few other bots) now has silver rims and black tires on all his wheels.

The 5mm stud in the center of the trailer is interestingly placed. Doesn't work for much. Maybe Prime's back 5mm hold? Could be a portent for Roller. Speaking of rolling the 5mm stud on the tail gate doesn't help with rolling stuff out of the trailer.

Something that hasn't shown up in many reviews is that the turret base can be detached, then put back in reverse, then deployed outside the folded up trailer like the original. If some one could put up photos...

I love Prime's new hip articulation. We have seen it a few times on other bots and it is a marked improvement over the hip flaps. Likewise it is nice to have a Prime without kibble hanging off his arms. That has annoyed me for years.

I am liking the blue eyes. Light piping could have made them pop more. In hand I am not sure yellow would have worked. It is pretty dark under the visor. Maybe they should have stuck with grey hands. With little auto brands on them.

Anyway. I am having more fun with this figure than I should be. I guess I will be selling a Siege Prime really soon...