Dave's TF Energon Rant:

     Optimus Prime

     There's three distinct mold variations on this toy that I'm aware of.
The original has a mouth and has smooth panels on the insides of the
windows.  The second puts grille lines on the insides of the window pieces
but retains the mouth.  The third has the grille lines and has smoothed over
the face to a classic Prime faceplate.  I have the third version, which seems
to be shipping with Wave 1.5 stuff, and lists the assortment as "80306/80300"
in the upper left corner of the front of the box.  The P/N number ends in
0000, so this is considered a new product rather than a tweak (tweaks usually
get 0100, 0200, etc).  The second version might have a 0100-ending P/N.

CAPSULE

     Optimus Prime: This is clearly built around the combined form, which is
pretty good, if garish.  The cab alone looks bad in both modes, the trailer
doesn't look too good as a trailer (although it makes a good launchbay).
Simplistic transformations.  Nice sound gimmick.  Mildly recommended.  $39.67
at Wal-Mart.


RANT

     Packaging: Same sort of box design as the Megas and Ultras, with
cab-only robot mode for the box art.  This one is the black-cog Powerlinx
symbol.  The box is 16" (41cm) wide, 10" (25cm) tall and 4.5" (12cm) deep.
The back shows various modes of the toy prototype, although the color balance
seems to be off a bit (i.e. I don't think OP1 was red in the prototype, it
just looks more red than orange in the saturated-color pic).  The truck mode
is actually a mirror-flipped picture (Autobot symbol on the wrong side, door
numbers mirror-flipped) and shows significant differences between the
original trailer and the final version.  The original has more paint apps,
lighter plastic on the sides, and it lacks hardpoints.  The box says that the
skill level is 4 (maximum) for this one, but I'd put it closer to 2.
     Each piece (cab, limb vehicles, gun) is held in by two twist-ties.  The
cab has an extra plastic shield over the rear wheels, and a few rubberbands.
A couple of the limb vehicles also have a rubber band.  The cab is not quite
packaged in correct mode, it has the super mode helmet flat against the roof
instead of up in radio/radar dish configuration.


AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME
Altmode: Tractor-trailer
Subgroup: Powerlinx Combiners (Black)
Function: Autobot Commander

All stats are 10.

     The card art shows the super mode helmet bits positioned in a way that's
not actually possible without some kitbashing.

     I'll be covering the OP vehicles separately below.

     Vehicle Mode - Cab: 6.5" (16cm) long, it's a fairly standard cabover
style of tractor.  But with arms sticking out the back.  They didn't even TRY
to hide the robot arms in this mode, although at least they put blocks on the
rear for the forearms to push up against to give some illusion of
continuity.  I suppose there might be some weird heavy hauler design in
reality with this sort of bracing, but it just looks stupid, and depends on
the trailer to cover things up.
     The bottom hald is mostly a very dark blue with black wheels and silver
gas tanks and hubcaps.  The top is red with white and black paint, and dark
metallic blue windows.  The front is a bit weird, white with blue windows,
gunmetal bits on the grille and bumper and some lighter metallic blue
foglights.  I think the point of the design is to say "ignore the dark blue
bits, only the white and silver parts are really in the robot mode".  It
works about as well as dressing me in black makes me look thin.  i.e. not at
all.  The super mode helmet forms a sort of weird radar/radio antenna, so I
guess Optimus has wireless internet and satellite radio for those long
trips.  
     There's a rack for his rifle just ahead of the trailer hitch peg.  The
right side has the Autobot symbol in red on a white panel, while the black
Powerlinx cog symbol is on the roof right next to the partially hidden robot
mode head.  The left side has the spark crystal in the middle of another
white panel.  About an inch below each of the white panels is a dead
hardpoint.  In the black part of the driver's side door is a button meant to
be activated when transforming to super mode, it makes some sort of weird
clashing/bursting sound that I guess is the link-up sound.
     While I got cute with working out scale for Scorponok, I'm not going to
bother to for this toy.  The cab is not the same scale as the OP limb-
vehicles, and they're not all the same scale as each other.  Sloppy design,
in my opinion.

     Vehicle Mode - Trailer: This is a weird parallelogram shape 11" (28cm)
long and 5" (12cm) tall, with a slant angle of 45 degrees.  The length of the
horizontal (long) sides is 8" (20cm).  The sides, front and back are medium
gray with a few bits of bronze paint near the tops on the sides.  The trailer
hitch is a darker gray, and it can fold away for transformation.  The back
has a large (4.5cm tall) Autobot symbol painted on it, and another antenna
array thing.  I suppose the idea is that when the two components are
separated, the two antenna are used for communication between them.  There is
a peghole in the antenna, so you can mount weapons on it.
     On the sides, there's a hardpoint along the top of each side near the
front, and legs at the rear bottom corner that can be folded down for when
the trailer is sitting on its own.  There are two wheels on each side,
identical to the rear wheels on the cab (the front cab wheels being a couple
millimeters larger).  Also, the left side has a black panel covering half the
side, see below.
     The combined tractor-trailer is 15" (38cm) long.  The hitch peg is 5mm
in diameter, the standard peg size for Armada, but the hitch itself is short
enough that I doubt too many other TF tractors could tow it.

     Trailer - Base Mode: Transformation is simple.  Stow the hitch, tilt the
trailer so the front becomes the bottom, fold down a black plastic support
from what was the bottom of the trailer, reposition the radio array.  Maybe
put a weapon in its peg hole.
     The front (former top) is now a 2x2 array of doors.  OP1 is the upper
left, OP2 (which doesn't open in front) is upper right, OP3 is lower left,
OP4 is lower right.  OP2 is just a label, because the vehicle in that bay
uses the side panel mentioned above, which folds down into a helipad.  It
cannot fold down unless the little legs on the side of the trailer are folded
down, however.  OP1, OP3 and OP4 have slider bars on the sides, pushing them
forward supposedly launches the vehicle inside the bay.  In practice, getting
through the door takes enough energy that the vehicle usually doesn't
actually leave the bay (oiling the hinges might help).  There is no automatic
deployer for OP2, so you have to fish around inside for it.  Oh, and OP1 gets
to ride down the ramp formed by OP3's door.  All the doors click into place
and hold shut against casual handling.
     The trailer does not combine with anything.  However, Super Prime can
stand on the roof of the base.  The overall look of the base mode is VERY
"Power Rangers," what with chunky combiner vehicles coming out of numbered
bay doors.

     Cab Transformation To Robot: Swing arms forward, pop out fists, fold
head up, swing legs down, flip out toe and heel panels, collapse most of the
vehicle into a fannypack.  Pretty simple.

     Robot Mode: 7.5" (19cm) tall at the head.  If you look straight on and
have no depth perception, it's not too bad.  The boots are a little thin,
because they have to fit inside the OP vehicles.  But as soon as you look at
the side, or stop letting yourself ignore the dark blue parts around the gut,
he really earns the nickname Fatimus Prime.  He has a huge gut that cannot be
removed, and a lot of junk in the trunk.  His thick thighs (again, intended
to look correct in the combined mode) only enhance the Fatimus-ness.
     The color balance is roughly "right" for an Optimus Prime, with dark
blue-gray head, fists and boots that look like my first failed attempt to
create G1 Prime's blue by mixing paints.
     Poseability is good, though.  The head turns.  The shoulders and hips
are double ratchets to form universal joints.  The elbows and knees are
ratchet hinges.  There are no upper arm or upper leg swivels, however.  The
toes ratchet, so they really only have three positions.  One nice touch is
that the wheels at the hips are on hinges that let them move out of the way
so the legs and spread farther.  The ratchets on the hips of mine aren't
exactly lined up, so the legs don't want to stay at the same angle.
     Prime's rifle is solid white with a medium gray missile.  I'd have
preferred a black rifle, since it tends to blend in with OP2 (one of the two
units that can hold the rifle in arm mode).
     
     Sound Effects: Powered by 2 AAA batteries (not included), the controls
for the main FX section are covered up in vehicle mode.  On the fanny pack
are labels for 1-4, with a four-position switch above them.  There's a column
of trapezoids above the switch, molded in blue-gray plastic.  The middle of
these is the sound effect trigger.  Each numbered switch position corresponds
to one of the limb vehicles.
     1: Truck airhorn, pretty loud.
     2: A weird sound that is supposed to be helicopter rotors making a
whupwhupwhup'ing.
     3: Sounds like an engine running, but I think it's supposed to be a
drilling effect.
     4: A very recognizable sonar ping.
     And, as mentioned above, there's a button on the driver's side door that
makes a transformation sound effect.  It also lights up an LED in the center
of the super mode's chest.

     OP Vehicles - General Comments: Each vehicle can be an arm or a boot,
and each is primarily one color with some paint accents.  They can all roll
along on little wheels, although in most cases the wheels are hidden.  Each
has a pair of tiny radio arrays about 4cm from the back of each vehicle
(measuring from the "undeployed" rear in the case of OP2).  All look kinda
knockoffy and could use some more paint.  Each has their designation (small
OP over a large number, all black) in an irregular hexagon with two
horizontal black stripes coming in at the upper left and out the lower right,
giving a zig-zag impression.  This design is on both sides of the "shoulder"
part.  There is a roughly square hole in the back of each vehicle, 1.8mm high
and 1.9mm wide, to fit over the core robot's skinny limbs.
     As boots, there's no real poseability, although some individual gimmicks
might still function, like OP3's drill bit or OP1's mini-turret.  As arms,
they all have elbows that can bend both ways in a ratcheting way, plus a
swivel just below the elbow.  The transformation joint lets the arms rise to
the sides, compensating for the fact that the super mode's own shoulders are
just swivels.  
     No vehicle has hardpoints or deliberate pegholes, although some have
screwholes that work for holding weapons.  OP1 and OP2 have fist pegholes in
arm mode.
     According to the storyline, OP1-4 are driven by humans (the main three
kids from Armada all grown up, plus a new young adult).  Thunderbirds are GO!
(Later note: this is apparently wrong, as every single person who's seen
pirated copies of the Japanese cartoon has emailed or posted.  Sigh.  They
were piloted according to early info, but apparently drones now.
Thunderbirds are not go.)

     OP1: An orange firetruck 4" (10cm) long, with gray extendable ladder,
white paint on the sides and gray windshields.  There's a small turret atop
the cab that can go about 45 degrees either way from forward, and it has two
barrels that I'm guessing spray foam.  The ladder has a maximum length of
3.75" (9.5cm) and can swing a full 180 degrees.  It terminates in a pair of
spray nozzles like RiD Prime's.  The ladder must be reeled in before boot
mode can be made.
     For boot mode, just bend the front half upward.  Arm mode is a bit more
complicated and has the cab split into three parts which all fold away (the
instructions don't show the front third stowing, but it's clearly intended,
since there's an extra joint at the wrist that lets you get the fist out of
the way).  This is one of two that has a fist, and the thumb is centered so
this can be either the right arm or the left arm.  The fist can bend inward,
but it's not what I'd call a meaningful joint.

     OP2: A helicopter, that has to transform a bit after coming out of its
bay.  Separate the rotor blades and fold out the tail to finish it.  When
finished, this white helicopter with black and very dark gray paint measures
6.25" (16cm) long with a rotor circle of 4.75" (12cm).  The gray rotors don't
spin too well, as the lower one keeps hitting the rear of the vehicle.  The
helicopter almost looks like it's mated with a bullet train, and is clearly a
transport, despite the gunship-like unit under the nose.  Cargo crates are
molded along the sides under the passenger compartment, and there's landing
skids at the rear (but not the front, oddly).
     Boot mode requires transforming back to storage mode first, and then is
just like OP1's.  Arm mode doesn't hide the cockpit panels as well as on OP1
(and leave the nose sort of hanging out there with molded detail that
suggests a wrist weapon).  The helicopter blades should be opened up in this
mode, but the tail of the helicopter must be stowed.  The blades are blocked
by the shoulder unless the arm is straight and pointed down, though (well,
other positions will work, but they're harder to describe).  Arm mode also
has dark blue panels where the cockpit bits are folded aside.

     OP3: "Turner's Yellow" drilltank 4.5" (11.5cm) long.  There's a gear
wheel on the underside so that the charcoal-airbrushed drill spins when the
toy rolls along.  The tank treads molded on the sides are yellow, but the
wheels inside the tracks are charcoal painted.  The cockpit is painted a
metalic orange.
     For boot mode, flip up the cockpit and then fold the drill 90 degrees
up.  The drill spinning wheel still works in this mode, but this makes it a
somewhat less stable foot.  The arm mode is similarly simple, since the drill
bit becomes the hand with no panel-folding needed (flip the cockpit piece
down along the shoulder).  This arm cannot hold anything

     OP4: Blue submarine 4.5" (12cm) long with white paint details at the
front and some silver paint as well.  There's a sort of minisub launch bay at
the bottom, with opening doors.  If everything in this set was the same
scale, OP4 would be the biggest of the toys by far, at roughly 1mm=2m scale.  
     Simplest possible transformations to (das) boot and arm modes.  The arm
has a claw hand that cannot hold Prime's rifle, but if you use it as a left
arm the screw holes can hold the rifle.

     Transformation to Super Mode: Fold the radar array down to become a
bigger helmet, reminiscent of Powermaster Prime's helmet.  Pop in the fists
and raise the arms to be in line with the shoulderpads.  Flip up the toe and
heel spurs.  Now attach the limbs in any order desired.  Open the chest
panels to activate the transformation sound effect and finish the super mode.
Very simple.   OP1 and OP2 make the most stable feet, but they're also the
only ones with fists that can hold weapons, so it's a somewhat difficult
choice what configuration to display in.  I've decided on the following: OP1
- right leg, OP2 - right arm, OP3 - left arm, OP4 - left leg.  It pretty much
stands on the right leg.

     Super Powerlinx Optimus Prime: Because the entire lower leg of the
smaller bot fits inside the boot, this mode doesn't gain a whole lot of
height.  The combiner mode is 9.5" (24cm) tall, shorter than Powerlinx
Ironhide or Jetfire, but with a respectable shoulder span of 8.5" (22cm).
The opened chest panels cover up the Autobot symbols on the shoulders, and
having symbols on the insides of the panels would have been nice.  The
exposed chest is intended to be some sort of matrix holder, and has a red LED
at the center that lights up when you press the left chest panel back into
the earlier-mentioned button.
     Pretty much all of the poseability of the inner robot is retained or
replaced.  Even the super helmet has a joint so that the head can turn a
little bit.  Standing stability depends on which units are the boots, as
mentioned above.  Using OP1 as the right leg, I was able to balance Prime in
a side-kicking position supported by only the right leg.  With OP3 and OP4 as
the boots, the figure wobbles a lot and tends to lean forward.  The hip
joints aren't quite strong enough to compensate for the top-heaviness of the
figure, so it will sometimes slump over.
     Looks good (if a bit garish) from the front, but the fanny pack still
looks awkward from the back or side.  Flipping the rear wheel section of the
cab up looks a little better, although it does block the sound effect
buttons.  
     Display suggestion: Combined mode with backpack flipped up, standing
atop the base mode of the trailer.

     Dave Van Domelen, now only has Smokescreen left from the weekend's
haul....