TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Brawl569's review: Reissue Optimus Prime

Name: Optimus prime
Function: Autobot commander
Motto: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"


Alternate Mode

Optimus prime transforms into a lorry/truck/tractor trailer. Well, we all know what he looks like. His alternate mode is wonderful and looks perfect with all the right details. You can store the fists in his cab section or you can put a figure like the ones that came with the Star Wars Transformers in there. His colours are blue, red, silver, chrome and white with a bit of black. He has got rubber tires and not plastic ones which are a plus. He also has metal in his feet and part of his chest. Overall his truck mode is amazing all-round.


Roller: Roller is a blue little as I can only describe a Halo warthog. His colours are blue for everything except for the wheels, which are black. The rest are stickers. I put one of the the extra autobot symbols on him as well as his head lights. He can be launched from inside the trailer as well as when its unfolded, He can also carry Optimus' gun as well as the fuel pump. You can put some Star Wars Transformers mini figures in him as well.

Combat deck: Optimus' trailer transforms into an awesome combat trailer. It has some places where you can put again the Star Wars Transformers mini figures--two at either side of teletran and one in the teletran robot. Speaking of this, it has lots of posibility in the arms and in the neck. It has a rotating radar dish and a posibile arm for repairs. You can store the cannon in a hole and the gas pump by the lunching station. There is a little tab at the back and when you push it down it launches roller down the ramp. There are lots of stickers to apply. You can put them anywhere you want along the sides of it, to make look like there computers and stuff like that. I put a left over autobot symbol on teletran, and the teletran robot can launch two black missiles. You can also stand it up right to make it into a repair bay but it isn't much. Overall it is a really good combat deck and is one of the coolest looking I've ever seen it has allot of play value.


Robot mode

Now on to Optimus himself he is the coolest looking Autobot in my collection and the best. He has his amazing trademark ion cannon to complete his look, but his stickers on his knees are not so good at staying on but that's the only complaint. His posibility is amazing for g1. His look his so accurate to the cartoon as well as his transformation. He also looks stunning in the way the chrome shows him off. I don't know what else to say other than he is amazing.

[b][b]Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation-10 Really easy but never gets old.
Durability-10 He is a really strong figure which won't break easy.
Fun-10 Prime never gets old and I always play with him
Price-10 Got this at the entertainer for £20 plus deliver so £23.75
Overall-10 He is a figure which deserves to be in your collection no matter the cost.

kupimus aka(clocker)'s review

Name: Optimus Prime
Function: Cultural icon
Sub-group: G1 series

"You know what it is"

In 1984, THE TRANSFORMERS robots stormed into televisions, comic shops, and toy aisles worldwide, and changed forever how we thought about action figures. It created a craze that has lasted for a quarter of a century, through dozens of permutations. Our world was expanded beyond the mundane fantasies of action heroes and fashion idols to include an endless universe populated by unstoppable metal giants, vicious alien tyrants, and monstrous planet-eaters from the beginning of time. From then on, we lived in a world that was MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

For millions of years, the only constant in the lives of the citizens of CYBERTRON has been change. Millions of years of war have left much of the once beautiful machine world a jumbled chaos of shattered metal and melted slag. Throughout it all, only one robot stands like a bulwark against which the chaos breaks, and washes back. OPTIMUS PRIME is the greatest commander of the AUTOBOTS and symbol of the best they have to offer - honor, compassion, justice. He is the ultimate warrior against the evil of MEGATRON, and the best hope CYBERTRON has of ever achieving peace.

He emerged like a savior from the darkest time of the war; an unknown, chosen to lead, and granted the power and wisdom of every leader that had come before. Though before the war he had been a simple archivist, the power of the AUTOBOT Matrix of Leadership transfigured him. He became a warrior powerful enough to oppose even the unstoppable MEGATRON, motivated by the love of peace and honor he had learned in his study of the history of his world. If there is a victory to be won, it is OPTIMUS PRIME who will lead the AUTOBOTS to it.

I'll avoid the typical opening of saying I don't need to introduce Optimus Prime... um by saying I don't need to? d'oh. Anyway, first let me explain how this particular 'piece' came into my possession. My birthday was fast approaching and months beforehand I had spotted him in my local comic shop for the whopping price of £89.99. Against all reason, advice and sanity I decided to use my birthday money (£140) to purchase him, but shock-horror I arrived and some crazy person had already bought him (maybe even one of you). So I wandered town purchasing ROTF TFs left, right and center. I had £50 left as i approached the last store I was to check...The Entertainer. I made my way to the frankly massive transformer section and was greeted by the 25th anniversary Optimus for £49.99. Time stood still. My wife asked the immortal question "Are you going to see if they have got the ice cream truck one?" Ignoring this I quickly grabbed the box with least damage and rushed to the till where I was greeted by Elvis...but that's another story. Now for the review:

Alternate mode: This is the mode he comes packaged in. I'll let you guess what it is...okay it's a tractor trailer. The cab (Optimus) is red and blue and looks exactly like a lorry! He has rubber tires and to save the environment they have made him part plastic and part metal instead of one way or the other...see how Hasbro give you the best of both worlds. He is extremely well detailed with the ladder on the cab mode no where near the cab door, no license plate(but then he is an illegal), loads of plastic dots everywhere for texture and window wipers that don't move, but I guess there's no rain on Cybertron. Ah yes he does have one of those rub symbols too.

He pulls a big gray trailer behind him that has an Autobot symbol of considerable size on both sides (well if you ever see a plastic lorry [with some metal parts] coming down the highway I think the disguise game is already up anyway). The tailgate does indeed open allowing Roller and my new wheelie toy to exit and go to battle. The trailer also has a small square hole in the top, perhaps to combine with an upcoming bot from Universe 3.0. I have since been informed the hole is for the mechanic/artillery robot to poke through (yes I am an idiot). There are 10 wheels in total (including the cab) and the trailer has a blue and silver strip across it. All in all a nice vehicle mode that I've had fun moving backwards and forwards on my table and practicing my parking skills with as wheelie loads fists and guns and missiles into the back of the trailer.

Robot mode: To transform Optimus: step one - consult the instruction manual which is very nicely laid out. If you get stuck there is actually text under the step by step pictures to help you farther. Once Optimus puts his fist on (with his feet perhaps?) you are ready to go. Optimus looks quite nice in his robot mode and has 6 points of articulation (both of his legs move back and as the manual says 'arms swivel at shoulders and elbows'). Sorry, I just discovered that he does bend at the knees too. The head sculpt is actually pretty cool, but even though I think this mode looks really cool that may just be nostalgia talking. Lastly, his laser blaster does go into the holes in his fist, but you can't push it all the way down so you just have to balance it there unless you turn it to the side.

Once you've opened the trailer up you get a decent mobile command base which especially works if you have got any minibots. It's got some nice multi-colored stickers on the floor and two useless pieces of blue plastic either side of the mechanic/artillery robot. Which brings us... to the m/a robot. It has a radar dish and a robotic claw that can't pick anything up. It also has a cockpit just in case you still have any micromen. You also get 4 rockets for it, but only two can be used at the same time.

Stickers: This optimus comes with stickers. I decided not to put them on, then after I had put them on they looked quite decent if slightly wonky. They haven't started to peel yet and it's almost been 24 hours. Bonus. However the stickers on Optimus' shoulders have been rendered redundant by the fact that they have now just painted the symbols on, but this means you get two Autobot stickers, one for your toaster and one for your mobile cell.

Roller scout car: Opening the trailer also reveals Roller who is a nice looking blue .. car? To assemble roller break out his 6 wheels from their plastic encasement and attach them to the sides of him. Lucky for me though some nice person at Hasbro has already done it for me, but it mentions how to do it in the instructions just in case. Roller has moving wheel action and comes equipped with a gas pump, hose and nozzle which he can use to refuel other Autobot cars... well he can't but he can if you use your imagination. The trailer also can be used to launch roller which is pretty cool and it also works on my wheelie.

Autobot shield: Or voice box. In memory of the G2 one perhaps. The phrases are interspersed with transforming noises and sound like the voice of Peter Cullen... it might even be his. the phrases are:

I am Optimus prime. Autobots transform and roll out. Megatron must be stopped no matter the cost. And a short segment of the season one theme tune. The sound quality is actually rather good, but the paint job has to be seen to be believed. It looks like someone with paint on there fingertips has just been holding it.

Packaging: Optimus comes nicely enough boxed with #1 of the marvel comic which reads extremely well as a toy advertisement. It also contains an advertisement for movie (2007) jazz and ratchet which you can buy if you want.. I did. It is supposed to come with a DVD of more than meets the eye, but I guess that was just with the £89.99 version (DVDs are expensive). There is also a nice new picture of Optimus drawn by someone.

Also, the picture of the toy is a picture of the tall smoke stack version of ol' OP which this one isn't. Under the box also contains an advertisement for Universe (2.0 that is) Sunstreaker, Galvatron and Prowl, but unfortunately for Hasbro this was a wasted advertising opportunity as I already have them. The instructions also include this message: Can you find the black square label on your transformer figure? Rub the label- watch the robot face appear! It is your evidence that this robot is a true transformer!

As shown by TFU the differences between this Optimus Prime and the original is that this is a repaint of the reissue (small smoke stack version) Optimus. Um, the red and blue is slightly brighter.

Reason for getting it: I got it for pure nostalgia and the fact I wanted a untouched version of it.

Transformation:7/10. This is a transformer that is fun to transform unencumbered by unnecessary complications.
Durability:9/10. I would like to say some sort of joke about him being in perfect condition after 25 years, I won't, but seriously you won't have to worry about him breaking unless you try and the shorter smoke stacks prevent that from being a weak area as well. Obviously he's not indestructible though.
Fun:8/10. Lots of fun. Quick to transform. Missiles. A Roller that launches and a trailer that opens into a playset that may not be a great playset, but is fun with smaller transformers and imagination.
Price:3/10. No, not worth it. £49.99 is the retail price and according to my comic shop £89.99 is the import price and no transformer has ever been worth that much. So it would be a 1, but I've bumped it up for the £49.99 price because after all It is a original Optimus Prime in perfect condition.
Overall:7/10. Whatever the price issues (Do Not buy it for £89.99), this is still a fun toy made for kids. It is a famous toy that should be a mainstay in any TF collection and nostalgia raises it's appeal to anyone who is like me 25 and to everyone older. It still is worth it for anyone younger. However, you could really get a complete and decent condition version off eBay and this would only have been worth it if you don't already have one and the price was £30 or less.