Dave's Toy Rant: Laser Optimus Prime (aka Optimus Prime Octane)

CAPSULE:

     Found At: Toys R Us
     A good toy, definitely worth $30 and probably worth the $40 is actually
costs.  Sturdy, *heavy* and very poseable in robot form.  Trailer/battle
station has some troubles with transformation and storing parts, but is
otherwise pretty cool.  Color scheme, while not perfect, is not an
abomination either.  And the thing shoots a total of 17 projectiles....
     Recommended.

RANT:

Cab/Optimus Prime Himself -

     Primarily red and black with blue and grey accents.  Vehicle form is 8"
long and 3" high, a very substantial toy.  Wheels are plastic, sadly.  Laser
Sword fits into tailpipe area like the other Laser Rods had (despite the fact
that a longnose cab doesn't have a tailpipe).  Quite realistic looking in
vehicle form, headlights light up yellow.  Unlike the Laser Rods, the button
to activate the lights does not stand out like a sore thumb (in fact, it took
me a few seconds to find).
     Transformation is pretty simplistic.  Legs and feet transform in a way
reminiscent of the original Prime, although they also extend (and have
poseability).  The one neat aspect is the way his head is hidden in his
abdomen and can flip up.  Robot mode is 8" tall at the shoulders (which are
BIG), a little over 7" tall at the head, and slightly over 5" wide at the
shoulders.  Primary color in robot mode is grey with black, blue and red
accents.  Still has his name on his chest.
     Illustration on the box notwithstanding, his LED is in his right fist.
The wires leading to this LED are internal and somewhat hinder poseability of
his arms...and the left arm has "dummy" wires to equal out the posing.
Abdomen compartment can hold a Matrix if you have one...in fact, it may even
hold a Headmaster Nebulan.
     Gimmicks: Standard 'glowing eyes' thing, light-up headlights, laser
sword (which doesn't light up very convincingly, being too large for the LED)
and laser cannon (which is strictly speaking part of the trailer, but can be
carried separately).
     Poseability: Very good.  His oversized feet allow him to actually stand
in a large number of poses, and all of his leg/hip joints ratchet instead of
sliding, so he won't sag.  In fact, the ratcheting bits enhance his overall
look, being sorta Yaniger-ish.
     Interesting Bits Discovered While Playing With Him: the smaller missiles
from the battle base can fit into the decorative sockets on his shoulders
(heck, this may be almost intentional).
     Stickers: Yes, there's a whole sticker sheet for this guy!  However,
only six stickers go on the robot itself.  The rest are on the battle base.

     Overall Rating: Very good.  Easily worth $20 on his own without all the
other stuff.

Trailer/Battle Base -

     A somewhat overwrought oil tanker in vehicle mode.  Kinda difficult to
get totally into form, a few parts have to be wrestled with.  About a foot
long and 6" tall in trailer mode.
     Autotransforms with the push of a switch, after you've pulled off the
end cap.  And yes, the springs are strong enough to carry this out from a
"normal" position...you don't have to upend it.  However, if there's any
disks in the disk-shooter they'll go flying when you do this...I've taped
mine over for transport.  However, this is only the first step in
transformation.  You still have to manually deploy the weapons.  The pneum
gun will autodeploy if you didn't leave a missile on it (see below).  The
disk-shooter must be swung into position and the missile rack has to be
pulled off one peg and placed on another (the directions incorrectly show it
swinging into place).
     Now, keep in mind, this isn't a wimpy little battle station like the
original Prime had.  This thing takes up about two square feet of table space
when fully deployed.  It's roughly 18" long and 20" wide in a sort of cross
shape.  I had to do some serious redecorating to make room for this monster.
     There's several places where other Transformers can stand and man the
guns.  I'm thinking of putting my wimpy little Go-Bot Prime up on the
platform with the laser cannon, it's just his size.
     Gimmicks: Autotransform.  Disk-shooter, which holds 5 disks and can
shoot them a few feet.  Pneumatic missile like those the Combat Heroes have
(blue with a yellow tip...it's the University of Michigan Missile!  Hey, the
CH Prime's missiles are red and white...Ohio State?) with good range.
"Ripple-fire" missile launcher, holds five missiles and fires them with
springs (more on this below).  Laser Cannon which can be mounted two ways,
one of which allows it to be stored inside the trailer and the other allows
Prime to use it while attached.
     Note on Ripple-fire Missiles: This thing detaches and can be carried
around with you.  It looks kinda like a pager (although it won't clip to your
pocket).  The instructions don't mention it, but there's a peg on it so Prime
can carry it as a hand-weapon (very cool).  Unfortunately, it doesn't fire as
fast as advertised, usually leaving a missile or two in the launcher after
the first "ripple," and at least on mine the #3 launcher doesn't like to hold
onto its load.  Typical range is about six feet.  Looks like it can use
Dreadwing's missiles as well, but I haven't checked to see if DW can use
these slightly shorter missiles.
     Extra Ammo: Comes with two pneum-missiles and 10 spring missiles, twice
as many as can be held by the launchers.  Below each launcher's position is
storage space for the extras.  However, there's a slight problem with this,
in that you have to leave the weapons loaded to store everything in the
trailer mode.  And this isn't a great thing.  Springs wear down if you leave
the ripple launcher loaded all the time, and the pneum-launcher plus missile
is a little too long to fold into storage, requiring the missile be mooshed.
Storage for all ammo would be nice, as would a cover for the disk-shooter's
ammo box, so that they don't go flying everywhere when you transform it.
     Other Storage Problems: The hose on the pneum-launcher gets all kinked
up when loaded into storage, and the laser cannon can't be stored in the same
configuration as Prime uses it in.
     Stickers: Lots on this part, and none of them are in impossible-to-reach
spots.  Nice paper stickers instead of the "make a mistake and it's
permanent" foil stickers.

     Overall: Cool battle platform, but it doesn't quite transform as well as
I'd like, especially considering the storage problem.

Tech Specs -

     Ah, they finally implemented that neat new plan they mentioned at BotCon
last year...the pop-up card stats!  Instead of being something on the outside
of the box, you get a card with box art on the back, techspecs inside and
which can fold into a pop-up display of the box art.
     The idea is neat, but the execution somewhat lacking.  The punch-out
lines on the pop-up part are too strong, less likely to rip along the proper
lines than right across the body (hadda use a knife to re-cut the outline).
Fully assembled, you get Prime standing a few inches in front of the "green
tech whirlpool" image they've been using on the packaging this year.  They
*do* include instructions on transforming the card with the rest of the
instructions, thank goodness.  The stats used as an example are Electro's,
but the art doesn't look like him.  Odd.

AUTOBOT
OPTIMUS PRIME
Function: Leader
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings!"

     Showdown with Megatron in sector 17 of the Mirtonian constellation left
Optimus severely damaged.  Entire structural integrity and logistical
circuitry processors were programmed into a sleeker, stronger, combat-ready
configuration!  Now this ultimate super hero has an arsenal of weaponry ready
to repel an attack and immobilize Megatron once and for all!  With Optimus'
[sic] giant, laser-targeting rocket launcher, ripple-fire missile blaster and
armor-piercing discs, Megatron had better think twice before firing his next
shot...or it could be his last!

STR 10  INT 10  SPD 9  END 10  RANK 10  COUR 10  FRP 10  SKL 10  Avg 9.875

     That'll learn him to go after Tank-mode Megatron while wearing a wimpy
little Go-Bot body. }-> And I think they meant "logical circuitry" as opposed
to "logisitical" unless he moonlights as the Autobot Quartermaster.  Note
that they couldn't even fit all his weapons into the techspecs!  Wonder if
Megatron ATB's techspec will have him get trashed by Laser Prime in a rematch
and have to rebuild too.

     Dave Van Domelen, yeah, he's got high stats...but for $40 ya kinda
expect a big guy....