Toy Review - Age of Extinction Leader Class Optimus Prime

[doublespy]

I found that theres something about the AOE toys that make them look significantly better in person than photos. Had a look at this figure in the store. Lots of sculpted details make it look real good, but the engineering doesn't justify the price tag. Cost reduction really hit recent designs badly. It's like the designer had something planned for the backpack but was dropped for budget reason at last minute so he just plain gave up and left it as one chunk of truck on the back.
The new Optimus design has grown on me and I'd really like to see a leader figure that can be as definitive a toy version as we can say of the ROTF leader Prime mold. Maybe we'll have to wait until the 2nd movie of the new trilogy..

[ChlorHex]

Gok, thanks for the review.
I was getting quite confused with these AOE toys and assumed that this was similar to the FE Prime I saw at Big W... seeing that it was classed in the Leader category.
I couldn't comprehend why I felt that this mould looked so much better than the FE and assumed that it was due to the new head sculpt that included the mouth shield (always preferred Prime with that).
How interesting to now find out that these are 2 totally different toys.
I quite like this one.
Leader class Grimlock was surprisingly good as well.
Paint and chrome all in the right places.

[Magnus]

So I managed to get the Takara version of leader Optimus recently, and thought I'd post some pictures. I don't have a Hasbro version on hand to compare it to, but hopefully these pictures will show current Hasbro owners and prospective owners the differences between the two.

The robot mode has silver paint covering a lot of the grey plastic on the upper arms, thighs, feet, and torso. The head is also silver - in fact, silver is the dominant colour, with a few blue paint applications.

The Takara version actually has less chrome than the Hasbro version - the chest plate is painted silver instead of chrome, with red and blue paint on top. Note the different patterns of red and blue on the chest, and the flame deco absent from the Hasbro version.





The vehicle mode is pretty much the same, except for silver paint applications on the hitch and wheels. As the torso is painted silver, the sleeper cab guard is also silver.





On the mould itself: I find it's not instantly attractive, rather, it grows on you. I appreciate the effort to replicate the CGI model's slimmer, sleeker frame, the transformation isn't too hard, and the robot has a great range of movement. It's just a shame that the hitch couldn't be collapsed further or more integrated into the robot.

[GoktimusPrime]

Looking at the pics of the toy transforming posted by you and others, and fiddling with my FE Optimus, I have to say I think it might be the case that the truck mode emerges from the movie model's back in a similar way to the toy, but with some liberties taken to make it more streamlined. It may well have been a compromise, and one that Hasbro were actually willing to go with to have a streamlined Prime to accompany their "streamlined" new take on the TF line.

Interesting points about the design. Based on the theatrical trailer, it seems to me that there's a lot of folding on the CGI model that simply can't be replicated on a toy of this size, especially without making it chunky. Then again, it's possible that this is a result of the designers not having access to the final CGI models and having to work from concept art.

Have a look at this video showing Optimus Prime transforming in Age of Extinction; a good portion of the rear section of the truck cab essentially gets swallowed up into his back!

This is obviously just impossible for HasTak to translate as a toy. Overall I think that HasTak have done a commendable job with Generations Leader Optimus Prime; the roof panels divide and form the shoulder pads as they do in the film, and they've managed to get a lot of the front part of the truck cab to fit inside the legs. Okay, the rear of the legs don't look screen accurate (aww, no Astroboy leg jets ), but it's easily forgivable considering that these parts have to go somewhere on the robot! The unsightly backpack kibble appears to be an inevitable by product of this screen model which defies toy design. But these parts have ended up being carried on the back, rather than inside the back. I really hope that the TF designs for the next film end up being more toy friendly. The designs from the TF1, ROTF and DOTM were a lot more toy friendlier than AoE, as we can see from the previous Optimus Prime design and resultant Leader Class toys.

I found that theres something about the AOE toys that make them look significantly better in person than photos. Had a look at this figure in the store. Lots of sculpted details make it look real good, but the engineering doesn't justify the price tag. Cost reduction really hit recent designs badly. It's like the designer had something planned for the backpack but was dropped for budget reason at last minute so he just plain gave up and left it as one chunk of truck on the back.

Yep, definitely not worth paying full price. We can see that the Generations Leader toy does do a better job of that than the First Edition Leader, but ultimately I think having some form of backpack kibble seems to be unavoidable due to non-toy-friendly nature of the screen designs.

[Dimi194]

https://plus.google.com/u/0/10532746...ts/S1bmLmJrb1E

Just wanted to revive this say I just got the Armour Knight version, which is awesome! Would not have purchased the original, but this guy's new weapons, paint apps, joints (shoulders and wrists) and changing faceplate negate the HUGE backpack (as long as you look at it from the front)

[G1Optimal]

https://plus.google.com/u/0/10532746...ts/S1bmLmJrb1E

Just wanted to revive this say I just got the Armour Knight version, which is awesome! Would not have purchased the original, but this guy's new weapons, paint apps, joints (shoulders and wrists) and changing faceplate negate the HUGE backpack (as long as you look at it from the front)

I agree i have the takara tomy armour knight optimus to and it what they should of sold ( if they could of done it that is ) in the first place now i want to get rid of my hasbro platnium 2pk prime and hasbro aoe prime

[Zommael]

Obviously, the way to go if they really wanted to create as screen accurate as possible a version of the new Prime would be to have the backpack removable. But that would lead to cries of "partsforming" and for the same reason that Headmasters are a rarely-used concept these days Hasbro would probably be reluctant to go that route.