Toy Review - Generations WFC Optimus

[griffin]

Toy Review - Cybertronian Optimus Prime

Series - Generations
Sub-line - (War For Cybertron)
Size - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here - June 2010
Approximate Retail Price - $25-30
Approximate Size -
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Cybertonian Truck
Main Features/Gimmicks -
Main Colours - Red, blue, grey.
Main Accessories - Gun.

[SharkyMcShark]

Pocked this up today from my Local Toyworld. It comes packaged in robot mode so we'll start there.

It's very complex looking, and that is something that I quite like. I've not been paying enough attention to the whole WFC thing to know if hes screen accurate, but from an objective standpoint he looks really nice. Posability is alright - he's got a codpiece that limits his legs a bit, and his shoulders tend to droop on their transformation joint, but overall quite nice. The head is very anime styled - long antennae etc.

Transformation is insane. NUTS. the legs essentially fold up neatly but the rest of it is insane. The transformation is very movie styled in that all the random bits of armour hanging off the robot mode clip together to form the front end of the vehicle mode. There is a LOT of swivel and twisting things. It's a bit finicky the first few times but once you get the hang of the specific order to do things in it's quite intuitive.

Vehicle mode is very nice. It's essentially an armoured Cybertronian hot rod. It looks appropriately bulky. The front end does have a tendency to come unclipped, but it's not really a major issue.

Overall I didn't know what to expect from this figure. I'm not really a big Optimus Prime fan so I picked it up with some hesitancy, but was pleasantly suprised. It takes all the best bits of the movie advances in engineering and applies them to a very War Within esque design. 9/10.

So yeah, War Within with a dab of movie styling and a helping of insnae movie style transformation.

[Deceptic_Optic]

[GoktimusPrime]

Does anyone else think the alt mode looks like the Batmobile?

[Deceptic_Optic]

Does anyone else think the alt mode looks like the Batmobile?

more lika a lawn mower to me

[5FDP]

Interesting how the rear wheels don't seem to touch the ground. Is there any explaination for this e.g. a design flaw or so he can pop a wheelie

[Deceptic_Optic]

Interesting how the rear wheels don't seem to touch the ground. Is there any explaination for this e.g. a design flaw or so he can pop a wheelie

lol yeah i was just looking at that maybe its just me or my figure, have to play around with it more

[Stompy]

As a fan of complex conversions. This figure is an absolute winner. Like Sharky, I didn't really know what to expect from these WfC figures.

Examining the bot mode showed a duller opaque-ish red than I would have liked. I wanted a more solid red. The amount of grey is also a little dissapointing. The legs look to "retro" compared to the "futuristic" look of the top half of the bot and it kinda feels like the top torso of Animated Prime was put on top of Classics deluxe Prime. The feet also needed some sort of heel-spurs because they give you a lot of great articulations with the joints for the legs (and arms) but since his feet is a bittoo forward anything but a completely straight standing pose will tip him backwards. Also the curved shoulders soften his look too much for my liking. Prime have always had angular shoulders. But that's just a personal nitpick. The weapon is nice how it folds up and has a spring loaded conversion back to rifle mode. Can also be stored ont he rear of the bot.

The winner here is the conversion though. I thought it may be a simple one but this is close to RotF Leader Prime complexity, especially given its small size. Some bizarre twists and folds and rotation everywhere with double and triple sandwich joints to boot. There are pegs for every part of the "shell" to peg onto to secure its place and not collapse, which is an absolute plus. Giving the conversion nice little signposts of where parts go and help keep everything in place. Giving you a very solid...

Alt mode. Very different. Its Cybertronian design is evident with very "tron-like" curves. The lack of evident windshields is jarring but it is there just a tiny bit just above the grills. The seams are not intrusive and feels natural giving it a very solid feel. The vehicle is obviously meant to be bigger in scale compared to the WfC Bumblebee by at least double the size. The wheels roll and the gun can be mounted on the rear. That's as far as playabitlity goes.

As for the wheels not touching the ground, you just have to adjust the positioning of the legs to have them both touch and match witht he front wheels. It's possible but requires too much work for my liking. Not a big deal.

Another great figure with some posing let downs for bot mode. I'd personally would have liked this figure to be a Voyager personally. As its Alt mode is too small in the deluxe scale. Especially since WfC Bumblebee is way out of scale with this. For those of you who don't like complex conversions, you have been warned.

[STL]

In love with this. Excellent transformation. I spent close to half an hour getting it right and when I did it was more of "why did I know see that" than the why the hell do I have to fiddle around with these panels so they fit (aka. WFC BB). A great example was trying to figure out why the whole chest panel rotates. The panels all belong somewhere, all make sense, and all clip. You really can't ask for much more.

The colours are not too bad to be honest. I like them a lot more than I thought I would. The gray is quite strong rather than the dullish grays that we've seen in the past. Of course, I'd love a chromed up version of this but I'm not about to complain. The only complaint I really have on the colours are the two red dots/holes on Primes shoulders. Yes, while they match his front bumper and his legs splotches, they just seem very off with the red plastic.

Alt mode is okay. I do like it though. It is futuristic and different. So close to a WW Prime too. You can actually see the front windows if but unfortunately because his chest is gray, they don't stand out enough. The wheels I didn't have a problem with at all tbh. They sit very nicely.

The gun I don't mind but I don't like it's asymmetry. I prefer it on the right arm as opposed to the left so that hte flap doesn't sit on the inside of the robot mode.

Balance as Stomps points out can be an issue. I cheat a bit and lower the pipes on his leg to the ground to get support. Holds him well for any pose then.

Robot mode is beautiful. Very powerful and very elegant. I always felt from the pics he was a bit too bulky but there's a certain poise to the figure. He is more angular and precise as opposed to being a bit of a cumbersome blob. The blue here is so rich and lovely. In the morning bath of sunlight in my room, it just looks so alive. I also like the front wheels which sit behind him. I angle them to about 30 degrees and it gives him "wings". Adds an extra dimension to his visual aesthetic.

My only other quibble is scale. This toy, would've been amazing as a Voyager and you could've really appreciated hte nuance more. Comparing to WFC BB, it'd be nice if he were taller too. I think with more scale, others who don't like the high level of complexity would like this as I can see navigating through the deluxe version can at times be frustrating. But trust me, it can flow together very nicely

[PascTF]

Looooooooove that toy. The badass alt mode, the plastic quality, the colors, the cool transformation, the equally badass robot mode, the transformable weapon, everything. I've been asking for a real cybertronian line of Transformers for a long time and that's exactly how it should be done.