Bot Reviews: Transformers: Premium Finish Optimus Prime (Bumblebee Version)

I don’t know if getting this guy is more or less indulgent than when I got Premium Finish Bumblebee (reviewed here), since at least in this case, the original figure is generally better-liked. To recap, Premium Finish is a new, Takara-exclusive Transformers line that’s dedicated to taking both Studio Series and War for Cybertron Trilogy figures, and giving them elaborate, better-than-mainline paint jobs, in the name of making them as screen-accurate as possible.

Optimus Prime’s redesign for the Bumblebee movie was a look that a lot of people loved (it’s me, I’m people), but who’s Studio Series figure was hard to find, thanks to a bout of lousy distribution. I’m glad I tracked the original down, because he’s one of those figures I’ve actually grown more fond of over time, and unlike Studio Bee, doesn’t have a bad rap. With this Premium Finish release, it’s a definite case of “so nice I bought it twice,” to go along with the Premium Finish release of Bee himself. Here’s my original review, this’ll mainly be focusing on what’s different, but also what’s changed in the intervening time.

Robot Mode

Okay, first of all, this still slaps. The same way Bumblebee Movie Blitzwing (reviewed here) was an upgraded G1 Seeker design, this is just G1 Optimus filtered through more of a Real Robot aesthetic. Now, I agree with the sentiment that Transformers really, really needs to evolve beyond the 80s, beyond G1, and homage other eras. I also agree that the dislike of the Bayformer redesigns of classic characters is something we need to get over, since it’s been 15 years. But, keeping both those things in mind, damned if this design doesn’t work for me as a faithful updating of the 80s look through a movie lens.

It helps that this particular figure has aged better than a lot of the first burst of Bee Movie Studio Series figures, due to being decently accurate already. When it comes to fidelity to the film’s design, it’s mainly the lower legs that are different.

This figure also has slightly chunkier proportions, and kibble on his forearms and backpack, but it’s all minor stuff, and probably a necessity for it to work as a transforming Voyager. Importantly, he’s still really heftily built, fun to pick up and pose.

He’s a tad bit more fiddly, than say, Siege or Earthrise Optimus, though, mainly thanks to a backpack that doesn’t snap in as well as I’d like, and panels on his legs that like to come out of place when posed, plus foldable bits on the tops of his shoulders that like to get in the way, but can be moved aside. Still, it’s all minor stuff, and by Studio Series standards, he’s impressively solid. This version even came with legs that were nice and tight out of the box, instead of me needing to tighten the screws on them, like I did on my original release.

Okay, let’s talk deco, the big point of this re-release. In short, the Premium Finish paint helps push this a bit further towards the finish line when it comes to movie accuracy. That being said, it’s the kind of redeco where it isn’t obvious what’s been done at a glance. The most clear changes would be adding Autobot symbols to his shoulders, and making his hands blue, instead of black, but beyond that, it’s a lot more subtle.

A lot of plastic shades are different, for one thing. The red is brighter, the blue is a bit more purply. Outside of that, we’re looking at a ton of tiny little paint apps making him more detailed and accurate.

A non-exhaustive list of deco changes that I appreciate: He’s got a bit of silver on his toes, bits of red to break up the silver on his abdomen, a bunch of silver and yellow details on his forearms, black windshield wipers instead of silver, white stripes on his shoulders instead of silver, dark metallic highlights on his backpack, a gun that’s painted dark metallic instead of flat black, and dark grey highlights around his eyes to help bring them out.

He’s missing some bits of deco from the original, in the form of his upper-shoulder panels being solid red instead of red with black, and the “lights” on his knees being silver instead of colored in, but this actually makes him more accurate, unlike Bumblebee’s missing deco bits.

In fact, comparing him directly to his character model (or, rather, the ThreeZero figure of it, which is a really good reference), they got this version really close, the only odd bit of inaccuracy being the yellow stripes on his hips, which aren’t colored on the movie model.

Another interesting bit of deco on him is a small amount of weathering and battle damage. His knees, thighs, hips, forearms, shoulders, and even his face now have mild amounts of weathering, in either silver, or black. This is a long way from how Siege handled it, in that it’s a lot more subtle, and looks like worn metal or burns, instead of spackled-on grime. Makes me wish Bumblebee had it, too.

This is a lot to say about deco, but that’s the main thing to talk about here, since the figure’s identically good.

Transformation

Well, nothing’s changed, but I’ve grown to enjoy this transformation a bit more. A downside of it is that it’s definitely way more complicated and intricate than Siege or Earthrise Optimus, in that it involves a lot of small panels coming together to make a cube. But it’s not so difficult that I can’t memorize it, and it’s kind of satisfying to turn most of him into a simple geometrical shape, especially when it all snaps together. I’d say it’s on the upper end of the level of complexity that I can handle on a mainline figure.

Truck Mode

As I mentioned back in my original review, this is a different model of truck than was actually used in the film, but it’s still a nice-looking, square, Optimus-like alternate mode.

A shame about the back of the truck having so many layers of leg parts on it, combined with a big gap beneath the legs.

In this form, there’s a lot less in the way of deco changes, though, outside of the changed plastic colors.

Basically, the original’s silver stripe has been replaced with a white stripe, a couple black bits on his sides are now silver, and….that’s it. Granted, it was already a pretty well-painted alternate mode, and, short of retooling it entirely, there wasn’t much left to do to make it movie-accurate. Could’ve used some deco on the headlights, or taillights, though.

That being said, something that I’ve discovered since owning the original is that he’s compatible with Earthrise Optimus Prime’s trailer, which fits right into that hitch of his, meaning you can create a more film-accurate alternate mode in a different way, which I love.

Overall

Here’s the thing, going back to Premium Finish Bumblebee, yet again. Aside from the questions of whether or not Bumblebee’s tooling was good to begin with, it was a figure that was pretty widely available in other forms (and is still on shelves some places right now), so that version was kind of hard to recommend. When it comes to this figure, though, this version of Optimus wound up being pretty rare in my neck of the woods, and didn’t really get re-released in any easily available format, so, the aftermarket being what it is, this might actually be as good of a way as any to get your own first version of a figure I personally really enjoy. But, if you already have one, while the deco’s a definite upgrade, it’s not really a huge one, so it’s hard to recommend in that context.

But I will say, it’s still a great tooling that’s worth owning, and one that I’ve only become more fond of as time has gone by.

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