Bot Reviews: Transformers: Prime First Edition Voyager Optimus Prime

The upcoming Studio Series Gamer Edition figures have made me think back to the heady early days of the Aligned continuity, an experiment begun in 2010 or so to create a single unified “ultimate” Transformers continuity, with mixed results. One of the important cornerstones of this whole experiment was the Transformers: Prime TV show, the big-budget CGI-Animated Transformers adventure that began in 2011, and wound up being such an expensive boondoggle, that we didn’t see any Transformers television shows with big budgets until Earthspark started last year.

People have always been kind of mixed about the Transformers Prime TV show, but it’s one I’m fond of. It was a bit messy in the “long-term plotting” and “pacing” departments, but it was visually gorgeous, well-performed by its cast, and did a lot of interesting stuff. Plus, in hindsight, it was probably the swan-song for traditional “Prime versus Megatron on Earth with a G1-style setup” Transformers stories on television, to say nothing about the last time we might see Cullen and Welker playing the faction leaders.

The merchandise side of Prime was a big mess, though, partially thanks to the flop and subsequent cancellation of the Dark of the Moon toyline, and the ripples that caused. Transformers Prime had an initial First Edition toyline, based around the first few episodes of the show, pitched more towards collectors, with figures aimed for screen-accuracy, compared to the later Robots in Disguise and Beast Hunters imprints, which traded accuracy for simplicity, gimmicks, and eventually, non-show characters and designs. But before all that, because of all that unsold Dark of the Moon stuff, and the reduced retailer demand for Transformers figures that came from it, that First Edition toyline wound up being partially canceled, skipped over in favor of Robots in Disguise, before, later on, getting picked up again as a limited-run Toys R Us Exclusive. This Voyager-sized Optimus Prime, in particular, was in huge demand at the time (partially due to the Robots in Disguise version looking noticeably inferior), and was extremely scarce due to the one-two punch of demand, and lack of distribution. I got really lucky at the time, though, and drove about 40 minutes away to a distant town where I heard a single one was still on shelves, and wound up with this copy. And I really did get lucky, because even back then, aftermarket prices on this guy were nuts. So, let’s have a look at this Optimus Prime, and see if he was worth the hype.

Robot Mode

One definitive mission statement of First Edition was animation-accuracy, and Optimus really fulfills that assignment, looking pretty much ripped from his television show’s CGI model, including tons of little details, like all the tech junk around his neck.

But let’s put that aside for a moment and just look at him outside of the media he starred in, because really, he’s a good-looking take on Optimus.

One of the ideas behind the Aligned universe was that it was a sort of melting pot of all previous Transformers stories, and this is one design that embodied that, looking sort of like a Bay Movie/G1/Animated chimera, or more accurately, a Bayverse Optimus with his rough, complicated edges smoothed out.

The Animated stylization comes from his heroic proportions, with his upside-down-triangle torso leading into buff, broad shoulders, and the G1 side of it comes from the traditional chest windows (which are fake on this version, for toon-accuracy), leg-wheels, and his fairly standard Prime colors.

Personally, I’m fond of how the sculpting on his upper and lower torsos seem to include a lot of diagonal lines to them, making him look like an inverted pair of V’s, or an hourglass, surrounded by arms that seem to make gentle curves. It’s a nice set of shapes. It’s helped by the fact that he’s from the era of Big Voyagers, too. For a comparison to today’s Transformers, he’s a tiny bit shorter than Kingdom Cyclonus (it’s the ears), and a hair taller than Studio Series 86 Wreck Gar.

Uptop, he’s got a pretty standard Prime noggin, with the antenna, vent, and mouthplate, but it’s a tiny bit exaggerated, and includes some very Bay-prime details, like the little vents on either side of his mouthplate.

Speaking of that, it was a smart move for them to sculpt his face with the mouthplate down. One bit of funky stylization the Prime art style had was giving everybody noseless faces, and by going with the head configuration that covered Prime’s face up, it makes the design feel a bit more evergreen.

In fact, that’s something I like about how the entire design came out: It doesn’t really read to me as super-tied to the Prime aesthetic. This Optimus kind of feels like he could fit on almost any shelf, or at least alongside the current Legacy Prime updates. He’s good-looking in a non-universe-specific way.

His colors are a riff on the traditional Optimus ones of a red torso, and blue legs. They’re a bit more muted in tone than some Optimuses, fitting the vibe of the show he came from. Those two colors supplemented by both a light and dark shade of gray plastic, some silver paint apps, a bit of black and yellow, and clear blue faux-windows and eyes. It’s worth noting that this deco isn’t as show-accurate as it could be, he had a lot more silver/light gray on the show, and he’s only got one Autobrand on his right shoulder, instead of one on each side. But on his own merits, it’s a good, ornate mix of stuff, and it doesn’t feel like anything’s missing.

In terms of his construction, his 2010-era budget means he gets to be a bit meatier and weightier than modern voyagers, to say nothing about how solid he mostly feels. His only trouble spot is the smokestacks behind his head.

They’re made of ultra-soft plastic for obvious safety reasons, which is fine, but they like to come un-pegged from their resting places at the lightest touch, to say nothing of the slight yellowing they seem to have picked up over the years.

That, and I remember that out of the box, his head needed a light repair. It wasn’t on his neck joint properly, you had to pop it off, unscrew it, and re-set it, unlocking more neck articulation in the process.

Speaking of articulation, he’s got a ton of it. This was a full 9 years before Siege would make ankles and wrists into standard joints, and he has both of them, to say nothing of the rest of his army of swivels, making him fully poseable.

The only weird bit of articulation is his waist, it doesn’t look right when you bend it. Still, it’s really easy to make him look good and heroic, combining the joints with that sculpt.

For accessories, Optimus has got two weapons: A gun and a sword.

Compared to the show, they leave me a little bit wanting, though. For one thing, in the series, he prominently had two of each, instead of one, though I suppose they had budget limits even in 2010.

The gun’s cast in a kind of sparkly black plastic, and has the same “one long barrel and one short barrel” design of his 2007 movie counterpart. It even fits over his hand in a way that makes it look like his arm morphed into it, like his Movie design. Again, it’s a bit disappointing in the accuracy department, since the gun was gray, with blue highlights on the show, something the smaller First Edition Deluxe managed to get right. Still, again, it looks good on its own merits.

I can’t say that as much about the sword, though. Again, it sort of resembles the curved movieverse blade, and fits over his hand in a way that suggests his arm morphed into it. And it’s actually colored well, cast in light gray with some blue paint. The problem is that, like the smokestacks, it had to be cast in super-soft gray plastic, and unlike the smokestacks, it actually looks soft and malleable, and feels like it never wants to sit straight. Basically, it looks like Optimus is going to beat his enemies with a stylish rubber pool noodle.

A pool noodle that, like the smokestacks, has managed to yellow a bit in the intervening years. The instructions even mention combining the gun and sword into a bayonet mode, but the softness of the sword means it outright doesn’t work.

On the plus side, his excellent headsculpt also features excellent, subtle lightpiping.

Transformation

Whoof, this guy transforms. I needed to go back and find the instructions to figure it out. At least this was from an era where those instructions were super useful, though they do tell you to rotate his wrists, when the Transformers Wiki says it works better if you leave them be. To transform him, basically build an entire truck front out of his arms and shoulders, by mashing them up into a big pile of parts and panels. By mid-transformation, I felt doubt about how it was all going to fit together, it was just a mess of stuff.

But, ultimately, it all plugged in and held together, after a waist rotation to make some room.

After that  you fold the legs back, and open part of them to cover the truck top, and you’re done. It’s a lot, but it’s not impossible, and it all actually works. Shout out to the instructions for showing you how to go both ways, too, though getting him back to robot is the easy bit.

Vehicle Mode

It’s impressive how much he shrinks down during his transformation, this truck mode feels half a size-class smaller than his robot mode. So, Optimus changes into a longnosed truck in the Movie tradition, complete with Autobrand on the grill, but an oddly skinny, tall truck. I feel like he was more proportionate on the show.

The sculpt is very accurate, at least, when the proportions aren’t concerned. The whole thing also holds together really well, with the exception that it feels like his roof, and some panels on his side don’t quite want to sit flush.

Still, it’s a nice-looking sculpt, and I appreciate the sculpted rivets across the truck front, it’s a detail that evokes the G1 Prime figure.

And on the sliding scale of Optimus Prime truck modes, it comes out remarkably clean-looking around the back. You can clearly see his robot thighs, and there’s a bunch of hollow beneath-the-feet details behind the driver’s compartment, but it all sits really flush, there’s no parts hanging off.

Those rubbery smokestacks still feel way too loose and malleable, though.

For colors, this mode makes you really see why the movie version of Optimus had flames on his truck mode. This guy’s vast stretches of unbroken red just aren’t as interesting.

There’s a lot of effort in his deco, though, including a bit of blue on the cab, blue legs, and a lot of silver and gray highlights. He’s also got clear blue windows and headlights, a painted Autobrand, and yellow running lights above windows. They tried really hard to make this interesting, despite forgetting to paint the rims on his wheels (oddly disappointing for this otherwise full-featured figure).

For features, he rolls really nicely. Almost too nicely, he almost went rolling right off my desk when I looked away.

Meanwhile, he’s got a trailer hitch at the back, and it turns out he can pull Earthrise Optimus Prime’s trailer (and I’ll bet there was a Dark of the Moon trailer or two back in the day he could also pull).

He’s also got weapon storage back there, using either the hitch, or pegs on either side of it, with the instructions recommending a specific configuration that hides the sword in the Driver’s compartment.

Overall

Yeah, to be honest, this guy absolutely lived up to the hype, and still does. It wasn’t just that he was super show accurate, though he is very well-sculpted and well-painted in a way that makes me wonder if Studio Series ever gets envious. Beyond that, it’s just a good-looking Optimus, full stop, a Prime for any shelf.

And beyond his looks, he’s a really meaty, solid, well-engineered Voyager, with good poseability, and a complicated, but well-thought-out transformation, a remnant from an era where budgets hadn’t hit the walls they had today. Basically, his issues are limited to his rubbery, yellowing sword and smokestacks, and a vehicle mode that’s a little bit sauceless. This is definitely one of those  “if you get one thing from this line, get this” types of figures.

A shame about the aftermarket prices, though, because they’re a bit nuts. On average, I’m seeing $150 Canadian loose, upon last checking? I don’t know about him being worth that. I will say this: He’s worth more than standard Modern Retail Voyager prices, this is an old Voyager, with a lot more budget behind him. I’d even say he’s worth modern Leader-class prices. So I’ll say this: If you get a deal, go for it. If you see a price you’re willing to pay, go for it. Me, I don’t think I’m ever letting this one go, I had to work too hard to get it in 2011, though it does make me curious what Legacy would do, if they ever came around to doing a Prime Universe Prime, outside of “making one people can actually buy.”

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