Toy Review - Age of Extinction voyager Evasion mode Optimus Prime

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, I've noticed that too -- although the movie colours may prove to be more like the toys in the final cut of the film. After all, Sentinel Prime was yellow in the DotM trailer, but red in the actual film like the toy. <shrugs> Either way, I prefer the look of the toys... trailer colours look "custom faded."

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, here's my actual review after having played with this toy more extensively now. My previous post was just an initial impression -- consider this a retcon.

Evasion Mode Optimus Prime
Series - Age of Extinction
Sub-line - Generations
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here - May 17 2014
Approximate Retail Price - $50
Approximate Size - 18cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Marmon 97 semi truck
Main Features/Gimmicks - Light piped eyes
Main Colours - red and blue
Main Accessory - Missile launching rifle

IMAGES









Appearance
If Movieverse (Peterbilt 379) Optimus Prime and the original G1 Optimus Prime had a love child, this would be it.

Pros
+ 16 points of articulation
+ The mould is exquisitely detailed. He's essentially the same robot form as Optimus Prime from the previous films, only with a different truck mode. They key visual difference to the robot mode is the grill-abs, which incidentally gives him more of a G1 flavour. There's even detail sculpted on the back of the figure, unlike Grimlock.
+ Colours are a strong homage to G1 Optimus Prime. Also there's no "Hasblo" grey! All the grey parts are a more respectable gunmetal grey.
+ Also a much more solid figure than Grimlock. There's no significant "hollowness" to this toy like with some of the other Wave 1 AoE toys.
+ The upper body transformation is quite interesting. There are several tricky steps involved in making a boxy truck cab into a relatively lean looking robot.

Cons
- A lot of great details in the mould desperately need to be highlighted with more paint apps. Hubcaps are unpainted.
- While the front cab section of the truck mode is decent, the rear is a let down. The back of the cab has an unsightly gap and the legs are clearly visible as legs, particularly the thighs. It's no where near as bad as First Edition Leader Class Optimus Prime, meaning that this toy does certainly have a better executed alt mode relative to its size and price.

Overall
It's one of the better Voyager Optimus Prime figures that have come out lately -- certainly better than any of the Transformers Prime or Animated Voyager Optimus Primes, and he's not as much of a shellformer as previous Movieverse Voyager Primes. The intricate transformation of the upper body allows a lot of the vehicle mode panels to be absorbed into the robot. It'd be easy to say that this toy isn't as good as some other Voyager Optimus Primes, like say Classics Optimus Prime... but that toy isn't an adaptation of a complex CGI movie model like this toy is. So all things considered, they've done a reasonably decent job, although I do wish they could've better concealed the gap in the back of the cab and done something to conceal the thighs more in truck mode (e.g. have the upper legs slide into the lower legs (although that would make the lower legs chunkier)). And the sculpt is just begging for a few more paint apps. Optimus Prime isn't quite the "oversized Deluxe" that Grimlock is.

I've decided to upgrade my rating of this toy to...

[MayzaPrime]

I am a fan, not as good as classic Prime or 1st Ed Prime (TFP) but overall a solid figure

[GoktimusPrime]

Oh yeah, Classics Optimus Prime completely outclasses this toy and then some. However I do find Evasion OP to be better than TFPFE Voyager OP in certain regards, including:
+ FEOP's robot chest windows are a complete cheat, whereas it's only semi-cheated on Evasion OP's chest.
+ Evasion OP's alt mode is a licensed vehicle, whereas FEOP's is fictitious. This makes Evasion OP a cooler robot in disguise IMO.
+ No mis-assembly on Evasion OP.
+ Evasion OP's robot mode is more solid than FEOP's. The shoulders aren't prone to popping out and there aren't panels which are prone to flopping out either.

But there are some aspects of First Edition Optimus Prime that I still find better than AoE Evasion Prime, such as:
+ Better paint apps, especially on the TakaraTOMY version.
+ Better articulation.
Overall, I personally find Evasion Optimus Prime to be a better toy than First Edition Voyager Optimus Prime though.

Anyway, here are some more pics:

Front of the truck mode


Robot mode comparison w/ ROTF Leader Class Optimus Prime


Vehicle mode comparison w/ G1 & Movie Optimus Prime


Transformation

[kurdt_the_goat]

Does he work with any of the movie prime trailers that have been released?
I don't have any of them, but it'd be a nice gesture if it did!

[GoktimusPrime]

I was thinking about that earlier today, but it doesn't appear to be compatible with any Prime trailers that I'm aware of, although I don't have the DotM Voyager Prime w/ trailer.

[jaina85]

two things were super bugging me about this (aside from the paint XD ) - the bit with the fake smoke stacks in robot mode that makes the bottom of the grill in truck mode is always sitting at an angle and not flat, and the windows didn't quite line up, so i did a little mod!



cutting that little stopper type piece back a little bit where i drew the black square fixes it, so now it folds up super flat and YAY, BONUS, the other grill piece can go in a little further now and the windows line up perfectly with no other mods!



its so square and aligned and perfect now

[SMHFConvoy]

Nice, I might try it :-)

[GoktimusPrime]

I've just been having so much fun with this toy for the past 3 days! More piccies.

[KingGrimlock]

I got mine yesterday, really good. Only problem is mine has a really loose right arm elbow joint. The joints been designed so well I have no idea how to take it apart to tighten it :/
Edit: Problem fixed, I used some thin red sewing string of the same color and wound it into the joint, tied a knot and bam tighter joint and you cant even see the string and didnt have to take the arm apart. Might be a useful tip if anyone else has the same problem.