Dave's Transformers Rant 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime Last Updated: 5/30/07, URL fix on the image below. I have completed what I'll call the "rough draft" of this review, huzzah! From here on, little corrections and additions will appear every so often. Picture of Robot Mode standing in front of Unicron for scale: http://www.dvandom.com/images/20prime.JPG CAPSULE 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime: Terrific robot mode, complex but not impossible transformation, okay vehicle mode. Might actually have been a little better with plastic instead of die-cast metal in the chest and boots. Strongly recommended, if your pocketbook can take the strain. $63.62 at Wal-Mart. RANT This is the most expensive single Transformer (TM) I've ever bought (Gradion still holds the title of most expensive transforming toy), although I was pleasantly surprised to find the final retail cost in the $60-$70 range, not the $90+ expected when the toy was first announced. I was also surprised to see the local Wal-Mart, which is preparing to move to a new location, still committed to THREE CASES of these, at least (they come two to a case). All but one had sold out in two days, and that one had been craftily hidden behind a Unicron by someone apparently hoping to come back later with mom's checkbook. Note: this is showing in Wal-Mart computers as a "don't restock" item. Once the initial shipment is gone, it's gone. Packaging (unopened): This is a big, heavy box with a slightly irregular shape and a "bay window" clear plastic front. It weighs 3 lbs 9.4 oz, a mass of 1.624 kg. It's a bit awkward to carry unless you have hands that can palm a basketball, and it barely fits in a handbasket. By contrast, Masterpiece Prime (the Japanese version) is in a regular rectangular box 13" tall, 8" wide and 4" deep, a bit more cramped and more able to stack on shelves. The total height is 15" (38cm), total width is 8.5" (22cm), total depth is 5.5" (14cm). The top slopes down, so from the side the box is almost a trapezoid, with the shorter front leg being only 14" (35cm) tall. It seems like it should be even less than that, but the top only drops one inch from back to front. From above, the shape is a rectangle with the two front corners cut off at 45 degrees. The front length of this irregular hexagon is 5.5" (14cm), and the short sides flanking the front are each 2.25" (6cm) long on the sloped top panel, 3" (8cm) at the flat bottom. For those counting at home, yes, this is not quite right. In fact, the front panel slopes back away from the front: the depth of the box drops to only 4.5" (11cm) at the top, losing an entire inch of depth as you go from bottom to top. The clear window is also irregular in shape, wrapping around the front three sides of the box (the "true" front and the cut-off flanking bits). It's about 10" (25cm) high most of the way around, although the 20th Anniversary logo reduces it to 9" (22cm) high in the middle. There is also a clear patch on the top of the box, more on that in a little bit. Visible inside: Prime is in robot mode, more or less just standing there holding his rifle, bound in by a lot of twist-ties and a few rubber bands. His eyes catch any light and reflect it strongly, being foil-covered. All panels and the like are closed. The energon axe is on the plastic tray next to his right upper leg, and the Megatron gun mode is up over his left shoulder, with stock bent down. The Matrix is on the tray over his right shoulder. Behind all the twist-ties and plastic trays and stuff is visible the repair bay pattern of the carboard tray. General color scheme: Dark brown with red grid on front and top, some red and orange "bleeding" onto the sides and in areas on the back. The back has the grid as well, but a big glowy Autobot symbol, as well as orange and yellow blocks around the pictures. Front details (including flanking mini-sides): At the top is the G1 Transformers logo (1984 style) in metallic foil. To the left is the number 80500, to the right is a "Age: 5+" warning. At the bottom center is a big gold-foil-enhanced Matrix with "1984-2004", huge "20th" and small "Anniversary" in the middle. Below this is a red and orange box with white border and "OPTIMUS PRIME" in white with black drop shadow and a foil- enhanced Autobot symbol on the left. To the left of this is the advisory, "Batteries included. Replace with 2 x 1.5V "A76" or LR44 size alkaline batteries. Phillips/cross head screwdriver (not included) needed to replace batteries." To the right is the usual choking hazard warning. Left side: A stack of four pictures with captions. Each photo has a glowing yellow aura and a background of jumbled orange/yellow boxes. From top to bottom: Autobot Matrix of Leadership (shown opened), bust shot of Prime removing the Matrix from his chest, upper body shot of Prime with chest open with Matrix lit up, over the right shoulder shot of Prime talking on his wrist communicator to what appears to be Starscream (will know more once I actually open the toy). Right side: Same sort of deal as the left. Top to bottom show: Prime holding Megatron in gun mode, Prime holding his Ion Blaster, Prime with right hand replaced with Energon Axe, closeup of rear wheels pointing out the spring suspension. Top: Upper left has a non-foil G1 logo. Upper right has the Transformers.com logo. Lower right has the Hasbro logo. And in the middle is a window in the shape of an Autobot symbol, with a painted clear plastic Autobot symbol 2.75" (7cm) high. Placing this under strong light lets the light stream in as if through a stained glass window, although the effect is somewhat muted by all the plastic trayness inside. Bottom: The usual indicia and legalese, such as "Product colors may vary". The P/N is 6294330000, and I got the black gun variant. The P/N normally ends in 0100 if it's an official variant, so it looks like the gun color doesn't make the cut for that. (Aside: I'm told that the P/N is more likely to refer to packaging variants than toy variants, which strikes me as odd, but there you are.) However, it's easy to tell which gun you have without opening the package, so the P/N isn't as vital to figuring uot variants. Oh, and because some people care about these things because it lets them look the toy up in the store computer system, the UPC code number is 0 76930 80500 8. Back: Topped by the G1 Transformers logo and the 20th Anniversary logo, but there's no foil anywhere on the back. Below this, with a big "F", is a chunk of text I'll quote momentarily. Then there's photos of Masterpiece Prime with the 20th Prime battle scorchings added (yes, it's definitely Masterpiece Prime, it has the long smokestacks of the Japanese version). Robot mode (in a pose showing off how well articulated the toy is) above, cab mode below. Below the pictures are some more legalese and a stamped number. Mine was 33541, I think...hard to read. I've been told this is a datestamp, meaning 200*3*, the 354th day (Dec 19) and then 1 for the time of day or shift. Text: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings..." That quote is what makes OPTIMUS PRIME the most fearless and revered of all AUTOBOT leaders throughout time. As keeper of the awesome Autobot Matrix of Leadership, he is an eternal symbol of hope in the battle for peace in the Universe. OPTIMUS PRIME is the protector of all life and the embodiment of wisdom, courage, and the unquenchable spark of true heroism. Even in the face of the harshest odds, his AUTOBOT comrades draw strength and inspiration from his selfless acts of valor as he leads them on the path to victory against the evil DECEPTICON forces. OPTIMUS PRIME leaps into the battle with his arch enemy, MEGATRON, equipped with the massively powerful Ion Blaster, highly advanced communication, interception and defense technologies, and the ability to retract his hand and replace it with a deadly Energon Axe. Packaging (opened): Opening The Box: Remember a few screens up, where I pointed out that the box narrows towards the top? I clearly didn't, since when I went to open the box, I opened the top and pulled the tray out through the opening at the top. D'oh. You'll have far better luck opening frmo the bottom, especially if you have any plans to store the toy in the box for transport (how well that would work I'll cover later). Top and bottom are equally easy to open, just slit a few pieces of tape, pull out a tab and open the lid. Instructions: The instructions are in a bag just inserted down the back of the box, not taped onto the tray or anything annoying like that. They're double-sided in black and white with pink highlighting and red arrows, 11" (28cm) wide and 16" (40cm) high. The front top half is mostly a showcase for the various accessories: Ion Blaster (just shown posing with it), DataCom Interfaces (another pose, but with inset one-step instructions), Matrix of Leadership (two panels of instructions, one pose, one inset showing the Matrix opening), Megatron Pistol (pose, plus inset of assembly) and Energon Axe (pose, plus six-step inset showing how to transform the arm to accept the Axe). The bottom half of the front starts with transforming the arms (a larger version of the inset for the Axe), then the legs, feet and torso twist. In other words, the easy stuff, in 11 steps. The back has 15 more steps, almost all of them for transforming the torso. Major origami operation to let Prime have both show-accurate robot and vehicle modes. The bottom quarter shows how to replace the batteries, which come in a convenient removable battery pack. Overall, the instructions seem clear, although I may revise that assessment later. Twist-Tie-Ness: Four twist-ties and six plastic flaps (taped down) secure the plastic bubble tray to the cardboard inner box. There's a rather lot of tape, criss-crossing to make it difficult to just slit open. As frequently happens with boxed toys, the twist-ties are covered with tape to make it easier to slide the inner tray into the box. The four twist ties connect directly around: upper chest, right and left shoulder joints, Ion Cannon. Removing the Ion Cannon one is possible without cutting or undoing others first, it's kinda like unbraiding hair. There are plastic bindings over the head (and Matrix) as well as over the pelvis. The top one is just taped down, the bottom is taped AND twist- tied together. (Side note: the left foot on my Prime keeps falling off. Might be that the twist-tie around the ankle is keeping it from staying on well...time will tell.) A total of 11 twist-ties are devoted to keeping Prime and his rifle in the tray, although it seems like more. }-> Four more hold the Megatron Gun in place, and one for the Energon Axe. The Matrix is just snapped into place. 22 twist-ties for the entire product. One rubber-band is wrapped around Prime's chest to keep it closed. Tray: Where the Japanese Masterpiece Optimus Prime's inner tray refolds into a trailer, this toy's inner tray is the base mode of Prime's trailer, with details showing various bits inside the trailer and the repair arm thing. It's kinda fuzzy, as if it was painted (on computer) at about half the size and blown up. This may be intentional, though, to give the impression of being out of focus behind Prime. Most of the artwork is on the inside, but the sides fold around to have details on the outside as well. The top, bottom and back lack graphics. And with that, I'm done reviewing the packaging. Whew. Accessories: There are four separate pieces that I'm considering accessories: Energon Axe, Ion Cannon, Matrix of Leadership and Megatron Gun. Energon Axe: Only used in the dam battle of More Than Meets The Eye, this is still considered something of an iconic weapon for Prime, especially now that it's appeared on the PVC variant. It's made of a pale orange clear flexible plastic with a wash of deeper red-orange on the blade edges and a few other places. Rather than being molded smooth like the PVC version, it has plenty of surface details to give more of an impression of seething energy. The axe is actually two pieces. The square connector that fits over Prime's wrist is connected to the rest of the weapon by a rivet, allowing the axe to be turned for better poses. Special panels on the forearms, reminiscent of those used to lock Armada Scavenger's legs, fold out to become tabs for pulling the fists in. The panels then fold over the other way to fill in the gap. Plugging in the axe requires a little more force than I'm comfortable with, especially since the forearms are plastic and not metal. Oh, the axe is 3.5" (9cm) long in total, with a main blade a little over 2" (5.5cm) long and a total front-to-back blade depth of 1.5" (4cm). Ion Cannon: A simple, single piece rifle that accurately depicts Prime's main hand weapon. It's 5" (13cm) long. Mine is black plastic with blue paint on the rear vents and on the underslung laser sight (or whatever that fiddly bit is), and silver on the rear top just ahead of the vents. Looking down the barrel reveals a clear green hemisphere of plastic. The lines are nice and clean, and only marred by a single screw on the right side above the grip. Prime's hands are poseable enough to wrap around the grip, but don't hold it firmly. It would have been nice to have a small peg or something like on Smokescreen to make sure that you didn't have to depend on stiff knuckle joints. The Matrix: This is made from three pieces. Two outer casing pieces are silver and gold chrome, and the inner piece is clear ice blue plastic. Closed, the Matrix is 1.4" (3.6cm) wide, 0.75" (2.0cm) tall and at most 0.5" (1.2cm) thick in the center. Opened, it becomes 1.75" (4.3cm) wide. The clear central ball is 0.25" (7mm) in diameter. The grips are only big enough to allow two of Prime's fingers to fit inside, one of the few departures from "show accurate" in the toy. It has a definite, if not clear, front. The clear plastic piece has little tabs sticking out to either side of the central core, and you want these to be facing forward, as they are intended to make it easier to remove the Matrix. If you put it in backwards, you'll need tools to get it out without partially transforming the toy (or so I'm told...don't really feel like trapping it right now to test). Even forward, you'll need strong nails to get it out in robot mode. Or a prying tool. But it will come out. The Matrix fits very snugly in Prime's chest, and there's a white (and painfully bright) LED behind it to allow it to light up. More on that when I cover gimmicks. Megatron Gun: This is likely to be the only G1 Megatron gun-mode toy we're gonna get here, but it's pretty nifty. It may seem to be an odd accessory for Prime, but he's actually fired Megatron in gun more more times than he's used the Energon Axe (once when firing Dr. Archeville's Exponential Generator into orbit in "Countdown To Extinction", once when zapping the Insecticons with an antidote in "The Insecticon Syndrome"). It comes in four pieces: gun, silencer/barrel extension, sight, stock. The colors are pretty close to correct for G1 Megatron, although a duller metal powder silver rather than chrome. The tiny Decepticon symbols on either side are fully detailed, despite being a mere 2mm high. The stock has a hinge to let it fold down while attached, and it attaches in the way the G1 version's does, albeit on a smaller scale. The sight just pegs on to the top, and while there's holes at either end, the hole does not go all the way through. The silencer fits onto the barrel using a slot at the top to get past the iron sights of the pistol, just as in G1. Without accessories, the gun is a little over 2" (5.2cm) long. With everything attached, this grows to 6.25" (16cm) long. And while Prime's trigger finger can't fit into the trigger guard, there's one really nifty trick to the gun's grip. In proper proportions, the grip is too short and too thick to fit into Prime's hands. So there's a diagonal slide that lengthens and thins the grip so it fits perfectly. It looks a little weird slid out like this, but the weird parts are concealed in Prime's fist. Because there's pieces both above and below the fist, it stays put just fine, unlike the Ion Cannon. Robot Mode: The Basics: 11.9" (30.2cm) tall, in generally show-accurate colors, although it has chrome in several places rather than white. I'll cover the colors of individual pieces more fully when I discuss the piece. The weight without any accessories is 2 lbs 8.5 oz, or 1.148 kg. The toy is mostly presumed to be 1:24 scale (like the Alternators), so Prime is nearly 24 feet tall (7.2m tall) in scale. Not too meaningful to talk about scale weight, although if you assumed the density remained the same, the scale weight would be 16 tons, roughly. A note on scale, by the way. The actual scale is probably 1:28, for reasons I'll discuss in the truck mode section. This makes Prime more like 28 feet tall in robot mode. The Head: Blue helmet with silver faceplate and light gray face underneath, silver paint on the forehead "tablet". The eyes are blue chromed and reflect light very strongly, to the point that you can be fooled into thinking they have an internal LED. Mounted on a ball joint and fairly easy to remove, it's very expressive in terms of posing. Helmet is 1.2" (3.0cm) wide, equally tall (not counting antennae) and 1.25" (3.2cm) deep. The antennae on the helmet can be moved (mostly for transformation) and are linked together so they never end up askew. Pressing a button on the back of the head makes the faceplate move down, so you can make the toy "talk". In fact, the faceplate is theoretically removable (I haven't applied enough force to do it with mine, but I've seen pictures), and underneath is a more skeletal face similar to what's been seen in the G2 comic when Prime's faceplate was damaged. I've been informed that removability was a prototype feature NOT implemented in the final toy, so don't try removing the plate. But you can just barely see the teeth.... The Chest: This is one of the die-cast metal pieces of the toy. Or rather, it's several of the pieces connected. The main bulk of the chest and the window panels are die-cast metal, mostly painted a deep red, but with some gunmetal accents (vents on either side of the head, metal details on the window frames) and metallic orange-yellow lights above the windows. It's 3.3" (8.5cm) wide, and the metal part is about 2" (5cm) deep and 1.5" (4cm) high. There is a rectangular blue switch 3mm wide, 5mm deep and 3mm tall to the left (Prime's left) of the head near the back of the top of the chest piece. It's set into a plastic section, however. The windows on the chest are slightly frosted and faintly ice blue clear plastic, 3cm wide and 1.8cm tall each with slightly truncated corners and molded windshield wipers at the bottom. Rivets form lines across the bottom of the chest and also appear a few other places. The chest panels swing open by 90 degrees, revealing a gray panel that can fold upward 90 degrees. Opening this shows the place for inserting the Matrix of Leadership. Pressing the blue button atop the chest piece causes a white LED to blind you if you're looking right at it (ow). Spectrographic analysis confirms that it is the more common sort of white LED, made frmo a high frequency (violet or ultraviolet) LED with a layer of phosphorescent material that re-emits the light in a full spectrum mode. (The less common sort has three LED elements: red, blue and green. This sort is more expensive and more fragile, so is not really used in toys.) The LED is strong enough to be used as a small flashlight, and is only barely dampened by placing the Matrix over it. As confirmed by the fact I just blinded myself slightly again. When the chest is closed, there's only a faint blue glow in Prime's guts. Despite the rubber band used to keep the chest shut in the packaging, the chest panels do not flop open, but stay closed pretty well. Abdomen: This is all plastic, and has a few airbrushed scorch marks on it. The central part (the washboard abs) is Prime's rigid grille structure, done in chrome. The rest is red plastic. Probably the weakest part of the robot mode in terms of looks, the sides have numerous gaps and such. Waist: The waist joint is necessary for transformation, and is a ratcheting joint with a 16 point turn. Pelvis: Mostly light gray with yellow paint accents on the front, gunmetal in the same positions on the back where the front is yellow, and a blue strip that looks kinda like it might be a skidplate. If you know what I mean. }-> At first glance, the 2.75" (7cm) wide pelvis piece looks solid, but it actually has six movable "Gundam skirt" pieces (two on front, two on back, one on each side) that let the legs move around. The side panels need to be lifted before you can move the legs sideways, though. Hips: The hip joints are universal ratchets. Three clicks to get 90 degrees forward, three clicks to go 90 degrees back, three clicks to go 90 degrees out to the side. There's also a longitudinal ratchet to let the leg rotate on its long axis (replacing the common mid-thigh swivel), 16 clicks to go around all the way. Thighs: Light gray with some scorch mark airbrushing. 2" (5cm) high, a little over 1" (1.3cm) wide and 1" (1.2cm) deep. Some molded detail. Knees: Double joints, ratcheting both inside the thigh and inside the boot. Pistons flank the joint, concealed when the leg is straight but exposed and changing in length as the knees are bent. Two pistons on either side. The knees can bend a maximum of about 155 degrees. Really cool looking. The core knee joints are gunmetal gray. Unless otherwise noted, all pistons on this toy have gunmetal gray outer sleeves and chromed inner shafts. Boots: Darkish blue plastic for the most part, 4.25" (11cm) tall, 2" (5cm) wide at the widest, 1.5" (4cm) deep not counting the feet or wheels (I'll discuss the wheels when I go over vehicle mode). The boots are the other main parts made from metal, kinda necessary to avoid automatic falling over of the toy (as it is, my Prime tends to have an unhealthy lean forward because of the chest weight). Right below the knee is a square hole 0.75" (2cm) on a side, showing a gray part of the thigh piece. To the outside of each boot is a chromed fuel tank that acts as a rocker switch to control transformation (more on that later). The rear wheels of the truck are below the tanks, with silver paint on the fenders around the wheels. Near the bottom of the boots, just above the feet, is a 2cm wide, 3cm high gunmetal gray panel divided into four horizontal slats. When you push down on the legs or up on the feet, these slats open like blinds to become heat sink vents. They are linked together, so pushing one closed pushes them all closed in unison. DO NOT PUSH ON THIS TOO FIRMLY. The feet on mine tend to pop off when the feet are pushed in too hard for this gimmick. To the outside of the vents are silver-painted bits. On the inside of Prime's right boot is a gunmetal gray piece with a hole in it. This folds out during transformation to become the trailer hitch. On the backs of the boots at the top are molded some tech details including curving conduits. Below this are pairs of long pistons connected up to the heels. When the feet fall off, the inner rods slide out, and need to be reinserted before trying to reattach the feet. Feet: Aside from the annoying tendency to pop off, the feet are pretty cool too. They're on restricted ball joints, mostly moving forward and back with a little bit of sideways rocking. The toe is jointed to bend about 65 degrees up, and the entire foot can swing down about 45 degrees. It can also move up a few degrees before popping off. The feet are made of several pieces that fold around for transformation in a very clever manner. The feet are mostly blue, with some dark gray in near the ankle. The fronts of the toes are painted metallic colors (red, yellow and blue) and then topped by taillight-contoured clear plastic rectangles. Shoulders: Universal joints made from black plastic (and some clear plastic, it appears). The swivel part is non-ratcheting, the bit that lets the arms lift to the sides is ratcheting (12 point, but only three positions work due to stuff in the way). The shoulder pieces can move straight out about a centimeter to give more play to the ratchet joints. Each shoulder block is a cube 1" (2.5cm) on a side, give or take a millimeter. Each is red plastic with some scorch marks. The left shoulder has a molded Autobot symbol 1.9cm tall, nice and clean in bright red with white borders. There is a smokestack on each shoulder. For safety reasons, the stacks were shortened dramatically, to a total length of 1.3" (3.4cm), almost none of that being the smooth top bit. The hinge implemented for Masterpiece Prime (with its even less pleasing ultra-long smokestacks) to let the longer stacks get out of the way of the elbows (the long stacks are not only longer, they come down lower) is still present, and the smokestacks can be tilted about 25 degrees from true. The smokestacks are chromed, and have small holes in the tops. Yes...they can be used as Mini-Con hardpoints. Mind you, overusing this trick will probably wear off the chrome or strain the Mini-Cons. And it only works on Mini-Cons made from reasonably flexible plastic...I tried it with Strongarm's gun, and that was too rigid to fit over the smokestack. Upper Arms: "Powder metal" silver paint over red plastic. The upper arm swivels where it connects to the shoulder block. Elbows: The elbows bend 90 degrees exactly. There's one piston on the inside of the joint and three on the outside. Two of the outside pistons have the dark gray parts connect to the upper arm, the third (in the middle) has the dark outer part connect to the forearm. Forearms: Red plastic with yellow || |> shapes on them on the top, and silver stripes on the outsides. These stripes are not quite show-accurate, but are necessary to make the vehicle mode G1-toy-accurate. There's some scorch mark painting on these as well. Forearms are 2.5" (6cm) long, a little over an inch (2.7cm) wide, and a tiny bit more than an inch (2.6cm) thick. Panels (2cm wide and 1.5cm high) on both forearms (on the sides with the silver stripes) open up to reveal the DataComm units. Each has a small screen sticker (1.7cm wide, 1cm tall) for a screen, a gunmetal control panel inside with a white keypad (9mm wide, 6mm high). The left arm screen shows Bumblebee's face. The right arm screen has a Seeker jet, and unless there was a coloring error, it's Sunstorm (as seen in the new G1 ongoing comic from Dreamwave), the orange one. There is an additional panel on the underside of each forearm, used to retract or deploy the fists for transformation, or use of the Energon Axe. If you open it with the fist deployed, there's a blue accordion-fold plastic sheet underneath, which I suspect curls into the forearm like a garage door when you retract the fists. Hands: Blue plastic. The wrists can spin around and wiggle back and forth, with some dark gray piston shafts visible on the back of the wrists (but not a full two-piece piston). The fingers and thumbs are single pieces, just base knuckle joints, no other joints. The fingers are permanently curled, so the hands cannot flatten out. The base joint of the thumb is a ball joint, giving a fair amount of flexibility. However, a convincing fist is not really possible, better to have him holding stuff or using the Energon Axe. Pose Ability: Lots and lots of joints with plenty of motion. However, the weight of the chest combined with the weakness of the feet means that most poses of interest will have to be externally supported. There's a 5mm screw hole on the "skidplate", maybe the Lukis Brothers will mold a stand that plugs into Prime's butt and lets you display him in more dynamic poses. A sitting pose is possible, but due to the way the thighs are shaped and the fact that the boots are metal means he'll slide off any edge you sit him on, he needs a footrest. Overall Appearance: Excellent. Aside from the sides of the abdomen, it looks great from all angles. Robot Mode Overall: I may be a heretic here, but I'd have preferred an all-plastic toy, given how much the metal chest hurts display possibilities and makes it more dicey to play with in terms of breakage if dropped. Still, this is a small complaint for a great toy, it's almost worth the price without being able to transform at all! Transformation: Normally, I just start transforming and refer to the instructions only if stuck, or at the very end to make sure I didn't miss a filip somewhere. But after hearing about how complicated the torso transformation is, I've decided to follow the instructions for the first attempt. This way, I can also review the clarity and usefulness of the instructions themselves. 1-3: This involves making the fists into blocks so they can retract. If you know sign language, the hands essentially make the letter E. Pretty clear, although it can be tricky to get the thumb out of this position for reverse transformation (unless you have good fingernails). 4-6: Pull out the panels on the undersides of the forearms, use them as handles to slide the fists in, then fold the panels down the other way to cover up the hole. Again, clear instructions. Getting the panels out without good fingernails is tricky and may require a pry tool. 7: Not so much a step as "Here's how it should look now". A tad redundant, since it's just a drawing of Prime without hands. 8: Fold out the little gunmetal piece on the inside of the right boot, snap the boots together, turn the torso around 180 degrees. Simple step, although getting the boots back apart takes a LOT of force. Don't worry about snapping the boot parts, though, since they're metal. 9-11: This is transformation of the feet, a nifty little folding and twisting bit that's much cooler than the simple "point the toes" that most Primes have. I would actually recommend doing this BEFORE step 8, since the feet can get in each other's way. 12: This is a misleading step. The placement of the red arrows implies that you should press in at the center of the fuel tanks. In fact, they're rocker switches, with the tops being where the latches are. Press in at the bottoms (the parts closer to the feet) to unlatch them and let you collapse the upper legs into the boots. They relatch at the top to keep the legs from lengthening unintentionally. 13: Open the panels at the small of the back. Okay. The insides of them have the headlights on 'em. 14: Open the chest panels. 15: Unclear, the first step of this should have been included in 14. You pull down the abdomen grille to unlock the torso, then bend the abdomen back to put the legs in proper position. 16: Again, not terribly clear, but figure-out-able. The silver "ribcage" sections fold outward 90 degrees, carrying the front wheels out of the body cavity with them. 17: The arrows in the instructions seem to suggest you should take the pieces you folded out in 16 and rotate them in a "rolling forward" direction. Actually, you have to rotate them 180 degrees in the "rolling backwards" direction. This brings the wheels down and the headlights to the front. 18: Fold down the headlight flaps, presumably to get them out of the way for some other steps. 19: Pull out the Matrix chamber and it becomes the grille for the vehicle mode. At this point you can also remove the battery pack if necessary. The LED trigger button disconnects at this point, so you can't make the truck light up. 20: Twist the Matrix chamber around so that it's got its long axis pointing front to back rather than sideways. This leaves the entire cab area really messed up, so of course the instructions take a break to deal with the head. Heh. 21: Rotating the head to the inside of the cab. It's kinda tricky to do this without making the plastic "hump" behind his head just pop off. 22: Folding the arms back in as the sides of the cab. This step is pretty similar to classic G1 Prime's, actually. And the instructions do clearly show the long-stacks Masterpiece Prime here. :) 23: The piece that's the inner cover for the Matrix Chamber in robot mode is spun around 180 degrees to form the chromed bumper. Also, little flaps covering the front wheels are folded back to cover some of the robot pelvis. 24: This can really be done any time after step 18, flip up the robot abdomen grille to cover some of the gap between the wheels. 25: Three substeps. One, flip up the headlight pieces again (this is labeled substep 2, but really needs to be done before substep 1). Two, fold the bumper/grille assembly down over this and lock weakly in place. Three, flip up the driver's seat above the Matrix Chamber, so that Prime's antennae become sort of headrests. Or speakers for a kicking stereo surround system. 26: Close the front windows, hopefully locking the front into place better. Unofficial final step: massage all the front bits until they lock more properly into place. This step must be repeated a lot whenever you flex the cab even a tiny bit. Vehicle Mode: There's some dispute about exactly what model of truck Optimus Prime is based on, due to a desire on Takara's part during Diaclone to not have to deal with licensing fees. Add to that the various changes made to accomodate robot modes, and it's hard to make a certain designation. Not to mention, I'm not really into trucks personally, so I'm going on the opinions of people who are. Likely candidates include the Kenworth K-Series cabover from 1979, or maybe the Freightliner FL86. Dimensions: The proportions are a bit off for a semitractor, given the beefy boots. The robot mode was definitely given priority over the vehicle mode in this case (unlike the Alternators, where vehicle mode accuracy is vital). The cab is 3" (7.5cm) long, 3.3" (8.4cm) wide and just over 4" (10.3cm) tall from the floor, not counting the short stacks. The entire vehicle length is about 9" (23.5cm) from front to back. The rear deck rises about 2" (5cm) from the floor, add a millimeter or so for the trailer hitch. The hitch itself has a diameter of 5.5mm and a depth of 3mm. Too wide for the standard Energon pegs or Armada hardpoints, too shallow for such pegs to at least rest in well. An odd choice, given that there's no trailer for it, and they could easily have made sure that the hole in the hitch was 5mm instead. The wheels are 1.25" (3.1cm) in diameter. Oh, at 1:24 scale, the semitractor is 18 feet long, and about 8 feet high and 7 feet wide. Measurements of real trucks suggest a scale of 1:29 or 1:31 depending on whether Prime's a standard 8 foot wide truck or a slightly bigger 8.5 foot wide truck. Given that the cabover is generally used for regular-sized trucks, I'm going to go with an 8 foot width, or 1:29. That's close enough to the frequently used 1:28 scale for models that I'm going to call it that scale. At 1:28 scale, the vehicle is 21 feet long, 8 feet wide, 9 feet 4 inches tall. The wheels would be 35 inches in diameter. Cab: The cab is mostly red, with silver, chrome and gunmetal accents, plus chrome grille and bumper. The headlights are a clear plastic, two small disks 6mm in diameter with small "lips" over them. The Matrix light button is not only disconnected from anything, it's also held firmly in one position, so it doesn't rattle around. The smokestacks are at the rear on either side, good positions for mounting Mini-Cons that have connectors on their underside. The wheel wells have molded struts and shocks painted dull silver, and there's springs inside where the wheels connect, so the wheels can spring up and down a little. Not too much, though, which is actually good...more than a millimeter of play would go against the illusion of being a scale model. The wheels themselves have silver hubs and black rubber tires with "FORMULA" and "DESERT DOG" imprinted in them (this was the pattern on the G1 Prime's tires too, unknown if it's a real brand). The tires are easily removable, revealing a sort of paddlewheel arrangement for supporting the hollow tire shells, eight tabs giving more of a feel of solidity to the tires. One place where the transformation joints leave a gap in the cab is in the shoulder joints. These are cleverly decorated to look like recessed windows, down to making them out of smoky clear plastic. Oh, and amusingly, the DataComm panels are right below these and can still be opened. Opening up the front windows reveals a surprisingly empty driver's compartment. Well, the upper part of one. There's a chairback (as mentioned above), but there's nothing below the level of the opening, it's all filled in. If you wanted to put in a driver figure, you'd have to cut it off at about the ribcage level. Overall, the cab looks decent, but has serious problems with staying put together. Waist: Well, the robot waist and pelvis are still visible in truck mode, with no real attempt to conceal the pelvis. There's also some flex left to the joints, making the vehicle sag weirdly if you don't pick it up with both hands. However, the joints will not actually turn or bend, there's enough stuff in the way to lock that down. Rear: Mostly blue with the same silver, gunmetal and chrome accents. There's two wheels on either side of the same size and qualities as the front wheels, but with more play in their shocks, nearly two millimeters. The vents on the boots can't be opened in vehicle mode (well, you can pry them open with a knife, I suppose), but contrariwise the feet don't tend to fall off in this mode either. If you want to get a 1:24 scale trailer to use with this toy, here's the requirements for connection: 1) A post for the connection, that can rest 2" above the tabletop, and with a diameter of 5.5mm or less. You can reshape an existing post if it's too thick or too long. 2) A trailer bottom that is parallel to the table when 2.125 to 2.5 inches up. Don't want it to have to lean up or down to connect. 3) Clear space behind the connector peg out to 3" or more (i.e. no underside kibble like support legs). 4) Wheels equal in size to Prime's are preferred, but not totally necessary. There's already a few conversions out there, from scratchbuilds to a slightly modified trailer where they mainly just fixed the peg connector and moved some kibble back. Weapon Possibilities: Not many. None of his own accessories really fits firmly on any part of the vehicle mode, and the Energon weapons' connectors are a little too small to fit over the smokestacks. Emergency Team Mini-Cons can fit onto the smokestacks pretty well, though. If you don't worry too much about strain marks, you can also have some of the Energon figures use the smokestacks as grips to ride on back. Overall: The vehicle mode is pretty nice-looking despite the proportion issues, but stability issues for the can really hurt it overall. Reverse Transformation: Okay, gonna try going back to robot mode without the instructions. Gimme a few minutes.... Wow, almost trivial. Took me maybe a minute, and the hardest part was deploying the fists (since I don't really have fingernails to speak of and had to hunt up a thin metal piece to pry up the tabs). Trailer Notes: 1/28 scale model trucks are out there, and trailers exist at that scale for those who want to give Prime a trailer. The main challenge involves altering the connection point to work with Prime. Justin Anderson recommends the "Reefer Trailer" from Testors, available at most Wal-Marts for $20. It's solid black, so will need repainting to be G1-accurate, but modifying the hitch is not too difficult. The refrigeration unit piece in the front should also be replaced with flat plastic (such as from a spare jewel case) to be G1-accurate. Leaving in the refrigerator and leaving it black would be reasonably close to G2, though. Justin is going to see if he can get www.reprolabels.com to do a set of G1 labels in the right size for this trailer, which is several inches longer than the cardboard trailer that came with the Japanese version. Overall: I have only three real criticisms of this toy: the metal's heaviness causes problems, the vehicle mode's cab is unstable, and it costs a lot. }-> Other than that, it's a great toy, a worthy 20th Anniversary effort. I'd like to say that this is my 10th Anniversary of reviewing Transformers toys, but I'm pretty sure I started in 1993 (and I was reviewing the comics in 1992 or 1993). On the other hand, the oldest one I could find on Google was my Laser Rods review, which happened some time between January 30 and February 9 of 1994. The actual post is not available, but I posted on 1/30 that I'd seen them in the store and was considering buying 'em, and the oldest available comment on the actual review was on 2/9. What the heck, close enough. I'm officially declaring this my 10th Anniversary Transformers Review! Huzzah! And I think this review is probably ten times as long as that Laser Rods review.... Dave Van Domelen, will no doubt be making corrections to this file several times over the next few days.