My foray into converting G1 Optimus Prime into a black Optimus Prime

[Mr Ed]

About 1.5 years ago Hasbro released a 25th Anniversary remake of the original G1 Optimus Prime. For $100, what you got was Optimus, the very first comic book and Optimus talking through an Autobot shaped insignia. He had a few sayings.

Well, recently on my adventures to Kmart, to my horror I noticed that they were selling it for $39!!!

I recall trawling through EBAY that Hasbro / Takara did release some ‘black’ Optimus Primes. They were around $120 plus postage from US/Hong Kong.

[attachment=0]tf_bop1.jpg[/attachment]

So I thought – I am going to do a black Optimus Prime.

Here is a picture of a black Optimus Prime from Hasbro/Takara

In readiness I bought 1 can of Tamiya semi gloss paint and got some Tamiya tape to mask out the edges. In the end I ran out of paint and had to buy another can of semi gloss paint.

So here is the first of many pics:

Original Optimus Prime



Here is it after I have disassembled it. After watching Street Customs (West Coast Customs), I ensured that I knew where each part and bolt went!



Masking the trailer look ages. Considering there was a big decal on both sides and inside too. I only had small Tamiya masking tape…. Nevertheless it took ages and I quite enjoyed doing this.



Here are the bits after I painted it black. Since today was nice and hot, I left it in the sun and it baked. Although I looked out for the storm. If you notice, I decided to keep Optimus’ head the same colour. I cut his head off and super glued it back on after painting. Underneath his head, was the Autobots heat sensitive insignia. I didn’t want to take the sticker off and reapply it as it would have left the yucky lifted sticker look.



Here is the trailer after painting and after taking off the masking tape. I was quite proud that I didn’t stuff this up. I had to mask Optimus silver bits on the truck, his chrome legs and that was fiddly and time consuming etc.



Here is the insides of the trailer. Again the masking went well.



I had to reattach the chrome bits for Optimus’s arms



The truck. I am not too concerned about the red as it is not visible. As for the red bits on the truck, they have been subsequently touched up.




Optimus with his head in truck mode.



The finished product!



I've applied the decals on Optimus’s arms, legs and some for his trailer and Roller.

All I up I was quite happy with the outcome of Optimus. I have never undertaken such a thing before as I was quite a clutz and clumsy. Whilst I don’t have accurate time records, this did take me a while to do.


Since Optimus is still so cheap, I am contemplating doing another one. I was thinking of doing a McGrath Foundation ‘pink’ version.

All up this costed me $75, which is cheaper than one from EBAY.

[5FDP]

Excellent work there Mr Ed. A definite improvement over Pinkimus Prime

[gamblor916]

Nice work! I like the step by step images.

[Mr Ed]

Nice work! I like the step by step images.

thanks

its always good to take photos in case someone needs to do the same thing

[Lint]

wonderful use of a pinkimus! I must say you did a great job with the masking tape.

Still shame on you for buying one
Hasbro shouldn't be rewarded for such drivel.

[Mr Ed]

wonderful use of a pinkimus! I must say you did a great job with the masking tape.

Still shame on you for buying one
Hasbro shouldn't be rewarded for such drivel.

what do you mean by pinkimus??

[Lint]

what do you mean by pinkimus??

Pinkimus Prime is the unofficial name of this particular 25th anniverasary reissue of G1 Optimus Prime. It got this name because of the washed-out/pale red plastic used compared to the original prime which made it look really cheap and unappealing. Some people, such as myself, resolved not to purchase pinkimus to send Hasbro a message that customers do not approve of bad quality products. This resolve will probably come to nothing



Don't take offense, its just the opinion of some bitter old collectors

[Mr Ed]

Oh I see.

When I got the Re-issue, I did notice that it didnt seem as red as the original Optimus. I remember playing with a real G1 back in the 1980/1990 and noticed that he reissue didnt seem right and now I know.

BTW - how are the re-issues for Ultra Magnus and the Optimus Pepsi.

[Kyle]

Ultra Magnus - Only been reissued twice. First time in Japan by Takara, pretty faithful to the original Japanese release in terms of both toys and packaging. Hasbro then reissued their own version with shortened smoke stacks and longer missiles, in a new packaging that borrowed elements of design from the Japanese reissue packaging.

Pepsi Optimus Prime - Original toy was just the Optimus Prime toy with added Pepsi stickers. This was never reissued. However, a few years ago Takara released a new modern version of the Pepsi Prime toy, with Pepsi colours and logos actually printed on the figure, and the trailer replaced by a new design that can either hold a Pepsi bottle, Pepsi cans, or a set of Transformers bottle caps. Hasbro later also released their own version as conventions and website exclusive, with slightly different Pepsi logos and again shortened smoke stacks.

[Mr Ed]

thanks - After seeing the boxes, I bought the Takara from some asian seller on EBAY