Toy Review - PotP Leader Optimus Prime

[doublespy]

Series – Power of the Primes
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New Mold
Wave - 1

First impression of the figure when I got it in the mail was it’s surprisingly light for a Leader class. I’m at my folks’ place atm so have no other figure to compare it with, but it feels lighter than TR PM Optimus.

Truck Mode:
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As a whole the truck mode is okay. The front of the cab is quite G1 Primesque and the trailer is boxy and has all the foil stickers in the right places for that G1 feel. The back of the cab, yeah, it’s a bit of a mess and I’ll talk more about it later. The ion blaster can be stored in between the arms on the trailer, otherwise there would be a gap. The trailer has a few Titan Master/Prime Master pegs on top of it. It gives me more of a power master Prime vibe than G1 though, because of it being transformable with some exposed robot bits.





The cab itself transforms into a stand alone Orion Pax and I absolutely love this idea. The back section suffers the most from the need to transform into Orion's curved arms. I suspect it might’ve been a conscious design decision to make compromises here and give Orion’s robot mode priority. Yes it’s very unfortunate but given all what this figure does I’m willing to look pass it. And I believe had there been more room in the budget the arms could’ve been handled better.



There are actually slots on the fists that look like they should tab on the chest piece but I can’t get them tabbed in without untabbing the window panels. There just not enough clearance. Hasbro mistranform stuff all the time but even the recent Japanese magazine scan shows the forearms just curling 180 degrees without locking in place, so not sure what’s up with the slots..


Transformation:
Surprisingly straight forward for what it accomplishes. There are a few clever touches. I really like how the designer utilizes the mass from the side of the cab to create the chest windows for Optimus.


'Bot mode (Orion Pax):





I loved Orion Pax's Cybertrionian look when I was a kid and from most angles, this robot mode nails that look. The compromises in alt mode make this robot unapologetically retro-futuristic and I love it. The head sculpt is imo the one thing that 3rd party companies will never have a chance against HasTak and Orion's nogging is spot on with beautifully painted baby blue eyes. There're even faux wheels on the side of his legs. The backpack is not nearly as big in person and you can barely see it from the front.



Articulation is standard deluxe fare. The ball joint at the neck has a decent amount of up and down range which is a big plus for me.


'Bot mode (Optimus):





If I'm not mistaken this is the first CHUG-whatever-it's-called-now G1-inspired Optimus in this size class. Just like Orion Pax, this robot mode is pretty much as G1 as you can get for mass market toy. All the Optimus details are here done with faux parts including the fog lights, smoke stacks and fuel tanks on the side of his legs. He's beefy and awesome.



Again the head sculpt is almost too good for a retail toy. Compare it to MP10, this head sculpt just has enough subtle newness to it to feel like it's an updated look, yet is still very faithful to the classic Optimus. I bought mine loose and the right eye has some paint scuff but it's an easy fix. I don't have any Prime Masters yet but the Matrix looks good by itself.



Articulation is decent. The ankle rocker joint should be a standard for all leader class figures as the heavier the figure the trickier to balance. The head is on a ball joint but has very limited up and down. Wrist swivel and waist could've easily been included but guess they ran out of part count. All the joint tolerances on mine are very good but I'm surprised the knee joints are just big a$$ mushroom pegs. But they're easier to fix if they become loose in the future. The front to back ankle joints are unfortunately not ratcheted and he is kind of back-heavy. But beware of where the center of gravity is and he's still very easy to balance and a treat to pose.


Overall:
A very ambitious concept realized better than Rodimus imo. Two wonderfully executed robot modes make me more forgiving on the truck mode. Ultimately it's a very fun toy and makes me look forward to Primal and the rest of the "evolving" leaders.

[GoktimusPrime]

Having seen and handled this toy at the Hasbro event, I can say that I was thoroughly impressed by this toy. And I admit that I was a real skeptic about this toy until I saw and handled it IRL. Photos just don't do it justice.

Yeah, the truck mode does have some compromise which we can all see, but this is a Jack of All Trades Optimus Prime. It's Orion Pax who transforms into a "Poor Man's MP10," and I actually mean that as a compliment. This is a Leader Class toy. It's maximum RRP is 2.5 times cheaper than MP10's minimum RRP. The fact that we can even compare it with MP10 is already a compliment to this toy.

The Orion Pax robot itself is just amazing. Way better than the Generations Deluxe figure and while the Optimus Prime robot doesn't personally interest me, part of me wants this toy just for Orion Pax alone! I'd be tempted if I found this toy discounted to close to a Voyager price point (I doubt it'd happen, but hey). I personally can't justify paying for a Leader Class toy just for Orion Pax though, but if the Optimus Prime toy itself does appeal to you then I think it's well worth the purchase.

As soon as doublespy adds a poll to this thread I'm gonna vote, "Yes" -- this toy is definitely worth buying. Although funnily enough I should also vote for, "Not even interested," because personally I'm not. But objectively speaking I must say that this toy is definitely worth the price of admission, so I'm willing to overlook my personal feelings and just vote Yes on this bugger! The main reason why I'm not buying it is because I already have too many CHUG Optimus Primes in my collection, and I already own both MP1 and MP10... as brilliant as this toy is, it's personally surplus to my needs. I do fully intend on buying Rodimus Prime, but having seen/handled both toys I must admit that I find Optimus Prime to be the superior toy between the two Leaders. I totally agree with doublespy's conclusion -- the awesomeness of the two robot modes makes the lameness in the truck mode forgivable. It's honestly the best they could do given what the toy is meant to achieve plus the allocated budget/price point.

[griffin]

Official images for reference, or for members to use on this site...

[Omega Metro]

That truck mode though.

[GoktimusPrime]

Better than Rodimus Prime's truck mode

[Jellico]

As I said in 1986. "That's not a truck..."

When I think about it I said the same in 1987. "Real" prime movers have 3 axles.

[Omega Metro]

Better than Rodimus Prime's truck mode

Disagree. I like Rodimus Primes truck mode.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm not criticising Rodimus Prime's Space Winnebago mode, I'm talking about Power of the Primes Rodimus Prime's alt mode being worse than POTP Optimus Prime's.
i.e. I'm just looking at the toys from a technical POV.

You look at POTP OP's truck mode and the mostly rubbish looking part is the space behind the cab to the front of the trailer. But from most other angles the truck looks okay, it's just that one spot that looks terrible. POTP Rodimus Prime on the other hand just looks bad from every angle. From the front and sides we can see the two spoilers that don't line up quite right (they look stepped). From the front of the vehicle mode we can see Rodimus Prime's fists really clearly, and from the back of the vehicle we can see Rodimus' feet just hanging there. They don't tuck in flush like Optimus Prime's feet that become the trailer doors.

At the end of the day, both of these POTP Leader Class toys are Jacks of All Trades Masters of None. There are multiple gimmicks crammed into these toys and they have to conform to a Leader Class price point. All things considered, I think that Optimus Prime has been executed really well. Rodimus Prime is okay but not done nearly as well as OP. IMHO if you found POTP OP to be disappointing then steer clear of Rodimus Prime.

...having said all that, I'm skipping Optimus Prime and looking forward to getting Rodimus Prime so... I'm not even taking my own advice here.

[UltraMarginal]

I spent a little time with this at the Hasbro event, I don't mind the deluxe toy, I have trouble dealing with the back of orion pax being entirely the front of the cab. call me picky.

The combined Optimus prime bot mode looks a lot better in person than in pictures I feel. My biggest surprise handling it in person is the head sculpt for Prime, it is utterly gorgeous.

Like Gok, I'm' not sure if I'll pick this up or not, having only bought leader prime and the ginrai add on set a few months ago.

[GoktimusPrime]

I had another play with this toy at Jim_Jim's Café Neon today. It was nice to have a more relaxed play where I could take my time with it whereas at the Hasbro event I didn't want to hog my time too much with any one toy. I never got to transform Optimus Prime at the event because everyone else was having their turns with it. Having now transformed it myself and having a better and closer look at the toy I'm even more impressed with it than I was at the event. Given what this toy is, they've really done a top notch job with this toy, and Jim_Jim was saying (and I agree) that the flaw in the truck mode really is forgivable.