Toy Review - OPTIMUS PRIME (Studio Series, Rise of the Beasts)

[GoktimusPrime]

OPTIMUS PRIME
Series - Buzzworthy Bumblebee
Sub-line - Studio Series
Hypo-line - Rise of the Beasts
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New (except for wheels)
Wave - N/A (102BB)
Released here - July, 2023
Approximate Retail Prize - $55
Approximate Size - 18cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Freightliner FLT truck
Main Features/Gimmicks - Gun can replace either fist; sword can be hand held or plugged into wrist. Weapons store in truck mode.
Main Colours - red, blue, greys, cadmium yellow, silver
Main accessories - gun, sword, Peruvian street festival backdrop

Robot Mode
This toy is almost an entirely new mould. The only reused parts from Bumblebee Studio Series Optimus Prime[/url] are the wheels. Everything else is new.


Weapons stored on back.


Either fist can fold away, exposing a peg which you can attach the gun onto. This is a nice feature that's preferrable to removing the hand entirely. The sword can be hand held or inserted into a small hole on the wrist.


Action pose. Double-hinged elbows allow Optimus Prime to lift his hands up pretty close to his shoulders, enabling poses like a boxer's guard etc.


Super-hero landing! Honestly though, the mainline Voyager figure does this better.


A well balanced figure, allowing for me to put him in a mid running pose.


Peruvian street festival backdrop


Heady goodness


Comparison with Studio Series Bumblebee Optimus Prime. SS-102 has a far leaner robot form; less bulky and less hindered by alt mode kibble. I'm not going to compare the colour schemes between these two toys, as the Bumblebee Studio Series OP that I've photographed here is the more expensive Premium Finish version. I do like how all the colours on SS-102 are pretty faithful to the screen model; unlike the original SS-38 that had black fists, for some inexplicable reason.


Comparison with mainline Voyager ROTB Optimus Prime. Studio Series is a far superior looking robot, although I still find the mainline Voyager toy to be more fun to play with. SS-102 has a comparatively more limited range of shoulder articulation, and cannot do an ab-crunch quite as tightly as the mainline figure can. The chunkier lower legs and larger feet on the mainline figure also makes Optimus Prime look more like a traditional Transformer, although the thinner legs and smaller feet in the Studio Series toy is more screen-accurate; which is the point of Studio Series, so I'm not going to hold that against SS-102. And as mentioned before, it certainly hasn't impeded balance.


Truck mode. Note that I took this photo last after realising that I hadn't tabbed in the hip panels all the way in. They are correctly tabbed here, but untabbed in other photos of the truck mode below.


I do like how there's a silhouette for an Autobot insignia on the small upper grill. Would've been nice if they'd applied a tiny tampograph there.


The back of the truck is a mess, and the most disappointing part of this toy. According to tfwiki they ran out of budget to fix this up. I guess that's the price for having a less kibbley robot mode and a more straightforward transformation.


Comparison with mainline Voyager Optimus Prime. SS-102 is definitely the better looking of the pair, especially as a licensed Freightliner FLT. Mainline OP is an unlicensed approximation; which still looks good considering, but obviously cannot match the looks of a licensed vehicle mode.


I can't decide which looks better or worse here... pick your poison.


Comparison with Studio Series Bumblebee Optimus Prime. Bumblebee SS OP looks better, hands down. No big unsightly hinges on the side, for one.


SS Bumblebee Optimus Prime's truck mode looks gorgeous from behind, complete with trailer hitch and sleeping cabin.
Winner: SS-38.

SS-102 does have a relatively simpler and more straightforward transformation compared to SS-38 though. It's not as fiddly and doesn't require as much panel massaging. Both toys still suffer from the fuel tanks not locking out (same with Siege, Earthrise and Legacy Optimus Primes... why don't they improve on this?). The right shoulder joint on my SS-102 is extremely tight, making it impossible to lift up when transforming back to robot mode. Thankfully the shoulder assembly is easily removable. I filed down the joint and lubricated it with WD-40, which has made lifting the shoulder possible, but it's still really stiff. Hopefully this problem is isolated to my copy.

Overall, I can't say that this toy is a substantial improvement over SS-38, or even the mainline ROTB Voyager Optimus Prime. It's main appeal is its visual screen-accuracy in both robot and vehicle modes. So if you're after the most screen-accurate toy available right now, then yeah, this toy is worth getting. But if you're perfectly happy with either your SS-38 and/or mainline ROTB Voyager Optimus Prime and aren't fussed about this level of screen-likeness; then it's an easy pass. Also, that itty-bitty gun is so going to get lost by a lot of kids (and maybe some adults ).

[GoktimusPrime]

For reasons unknown to me, the board won't let me add any links to my original post on this thread. So for reference, here are the links to the Studio Series Bumblebee and mainline ROTB Optimus Prime Voyager Class toy review threads:

Studio Series 38 review thread:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showth...mblebee-movie)

Mainline Rise of the Beasts Voyager Optimus Prime review thread:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showth...(ROTB-Voyager)

[SharkyMcShark]

I'm really eager to get this after seeing all of the reviews that are popping up. Where did you find yours Gok?

Size/class - Leader

I suggest that this might be in error.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm really eager to get this after seeing all of the reviews that are popping up. Where did you find yours Gok?

Bigkidscollectibles. Also available for preorder from JB Hi Fi.

I suggest that this might be in error.

Cheers, fixed.

[SharkyMcShark]

I've had this for a day now, and perhaps this is recency bias but I genuinely think this is in for a shout of best voyager class figure ever.

Robot mode is stable, posable and from most angles doesn't even look like it transforms.

The transformation itself is a fun process that is both involved and intuitive.

Vehicle mode is the weakest part of this package, in the usual 'Optimus Prime's back half is just his legs' way, but the figure actually does shit some mass around in new ways for a different twist on that paradigm.

I actually sat down with TFWiki and quickly looked through a list of each of the voyager class figures released (bearing in mind that the size class came in during Cybertron, so it's not that old). To me, the top tier of all of those are:

• Classics 2006 Optimus Prime,
• Revenge of the Fallen Mindwipe,
• Transformers 2010 Highbrow (the ww2 fighter),
• Thrilling 30 Springer,
• The Last Knight Megatron,
• Studio Series 06 Starscream (F-22 Raptor),
• Earthrise Optimus Prime (this got a Voyager release without the trailer in the Netflix line)

This stands above those.

[Dimi194]

A great figure, though the hand gun is comically small! It's okay once you get used to the shoulders, but agree with people that these are a bit limiting. Same as the legs.

The kibble on the truck is unfortunate, but I'd take a good robot mode over vehicle mode every day of the week.

Once the DNA Kit is added on this will be the best voyager SS figure - but appreciate that's almost doubling the price of the toy!

[Sutton]

The quote "much good work is lost for the lack of a little more" sums this guy up for me. It's lazy. In fact, you can apply that to most of ROTB Studio Series line...the back of Scourge's truck, the overall messiness of Battletrap in both modes, the fact that Cheetor turns in to a bear...pretty bizarre considering they had an extra year to work on these.

There's a lot of good stuff here especially in robot mode, but that truck mode is just......yikes. While I appreciate that for some the altmode comes secondary, we've seen that Hasbro can do both when it wants to. I partly blame the real life truck design itself - there's very little material to work with at the rear to make the legs work, so you'd have to go to MP level engineering to do better. Hilariously, the truck mode almost looks better with his legs not transformed at and just sticking out the back. On the plus side, transformation is quite smooth and easy compared to the Bumblebee Prime so...there's that.

I also find the mini handcannon a little bizarre - if it was small because it flipped inside the arm I could understand, but it's just an accessory so....make it bigger? One of the iconic poses from the trailers for the film was him pointing the big cannon at the camera all mad and 'STAND DOWN' etc. But this looks like a little Milo tin.

[Deano85]

I also find the mini handcannon a little bizarre - if it was small because it flipped inside the arm I could understand, but it's just an accessory so....make it bigger? One of the iconic poses from the trailers for the film was him pointing the big cannon at the camera all mad and 'STAND DOWN' etc. But this looks like a little Milo tin.

Now I will have to paint the mini cannon green hahahaha. Already pre-ordered the DNA upgrade kit.

[GoktimusPrime]

The quote "much good work is lost for the lack of a little more" sums this guy up for me. It's lazy. In fact, you can apply that to most of ROTB Studio Series line...the back of Scourge's truck, the overall messiness of Battletrap in both modes, the fact that Cheetor turns in to a bear...pretty bizarre considering they had an extra year to work on these.

My understanding is that these toys are based on earlier screen models. Bear in mind that while toy designs must be finalised at least half a year in advanced (often longer), screen models can be tweaked only weeks before a film's release.

I partly blame the real life truck design itself - there's very little material to work with at the rear to make the legs work, so you'd have to go to MP level engineering to do better. Hilariously, the truck mode almost looks better with his legs not transformed at and just sticking out the back. On the plus side, transformation is quite smooth and easy compared to the Bumblebee Prime so...there's that.

Agree 100%
On the plus side, the RotB Optimus Prime screen model is incredibly toyetic. Never before have I seen an Optimus Prime transform on the big screen where it really feels like watching an action figure transform! This got me really excited about getting the toy when I saw it in trailers. Watch this video from the 3:11 to 3:16 minute mark. It feels like a "reverse Masterpiece" moment; whereas MPs are usually makes you feel like the screen models jumped out and became toys, this moment feels like your action figure jumped into the movie and became a screen model! I don't remember seeing anything quite this toy-like since Beast Wars. Okay, BW is still better, but that's because the toys were made first and the animators 3D scanned the figures.

I also find the mini handcannon a little bizarre - if it was small because it flipped inside the arm I could understand, but it's just an accessory so....make it bigger? One of the iconic poses from the trailers for the film was him pointing the big cannon at the camera all mad and 'STAND DOWN' etc. But this looks like a little Milo tin.

The cannon isn't proportionately large, being only marginally bigger than Optimus Prime's hand.

Granted it is still proportionately bigger than the toy's gun, but only slightly. The design of the shoulders disappoints me more than anything else, as it affects the functional playability of the toy. A slightly smaller gun really doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[klystron]

For me, this robot mode is... ugly. I hate its look and design. There is something off about it; something that is preventing me from liking it.
I'm not saying its a bad figure. Sure, it might be the best Voyager Optimus of all time.
But personally, based purely on aesthetics, I do not like it.