Originally written August 2019.
I’m not much of a model kit person, despite it being one of the oldest collector hobbies, and Gundam model kits being a longstanding institution. Naturally, it took Transformers to get me into it. High-end model and figure company Flame Toys has been making action figure model kits of Transformers characters for a little while now. They don’t transform, but they’re fully poseable once built and stickered. They’ve mostly been original designs, new takes on the classic cast which, to be honest, didn’t really appeal to me, but this Optimus Prime is the first one of their releases to be based on something pre-existing. Specifically, it replicates how he appeared in the back half of IDW’s Transformers comics, before they rebooted in 2019. This is the design he had in John Barber’s excellent Robots in Disguise and Optimus Prime comics, and save for a small Legends-class minifigure in 2014, it’s a design no proper figure’s been made of yet. It’s a wonderful comic, and having that specific version of Optimus really appealed to me. On those grounds, I decided to take the plunge into model kits.
Building the Model
I can’t just review the finished product when it comes to this particular Optimus. Building it is half the point of models, after all. To prepare for this release, I did build a Gundam, specifically Wing Zero from Gundam Wing.
He’s pretty cool, and I found the process pretty fun. Before building that kit, I did purchase one specific tool I recommend getting, shown below: Gundam clippers.
These little snippers are specifically made for taking the parts off of the plastic sprues model parts come with. If you’re a collector, they’re super useful for removing figures from packaging, snipping twist-ties, removing excess plastic, and a whole host of other things, so I recommend getting them regardless.
As for this kit, it’s definitely not the kind of thing you can do in one sitting, unless you have a day-long marathon. It took me about four nights to complete, of a few hours each time, but I was taking my time, and would watch YouTube videos or listen to podcasts while I snipped pieces, snapped them together, and applied stickers. It was a pretty fun process, honestly, helped by the fact that the instructions are really clear, and even offer tips. Beyond the instructions, It’s just intuitive to build. If you’re not sure what to do, each piece has a custom set of grooves that make it really obvious where each part needs to go.
One word of warning, when I was snipping the transparent window pieces shown below, I almost cut the pointy lower bits off because I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be there or not. I noticed in time, but it was close.
Applying this kit’s stickers took awhile to get on straight, but they’re solidly-made foil stickers, and can withstand being removed and re-applied if you didn’t quite get it right.
The instructions specifically recommend gluing bits of him in a few places, while also saying it’s optional. I didn’t bother, mostly because I don’t know the first thing about what glue I’d need, and how to glue it. He still holds together alright, but more on that later.
There’s something satisfying about watching the whole thing come together, honestly, and when you’re done, you get a full-sized, poseable action figure.
The finished figure
Admittedly, the finished Optimus Prime is a bit smaller than I’d like, being shorter than a typical Voyager, but larger than a Deluxe. It’s a good-looking sculpt, and captures his IDW look, with all of its odd, diagonal, askew angles.
Despite only being a few plastic colors, he looks really colorful. He’s a bright, vibrant red, noticeably brighter than other modern Primes. He’s also a light blue and grey, with some clear blue bits (his eyes and windows). It’s all finished up with shiny foil stickers, that add a few colors, mostly silver. It’s a really characterful sculpt, and communicates a dynamic mood. When he’s neutrally posed, I feel like his legs are a bit too long, and he’s a bit skinny, but he’s begging to be posed, really.
The plastic he’s made out of is solid, however, being a snap-together kit means he’s got parts to him that like to come off. His antenna, the wings on his back, his splayed-open hands, and one of his elbows have all popped off or started to come apart while I’ve handled him, though not all the time. However, once again, there’s an assumption that I could just glue them, so I’m not sure if it’s an actual problem. That’s kind of the thing with model kits: As long as they have all the parts in the box, quality control really comes down to you. So yeah, one of his elbow joints sometimes comes apart on me, but I probably need to take it apart and shave down some plastic, or add a bit of glue, or something. Similarly, don’t like the stickered look? Paint it up yourself!
His poseability’s on par with a modern Siege figure. He’s got ankle tilts, an ab crunch, really poseable shoulders, elbow swivels, the works. Between the sculpt and the poseability, it’s really easy to make him appear dynamic. While he has no problem standing up thanks to his big feet, his ankle tilts are just loose enough that he can’t stand on one leg, though that’s not something I expect from most figures. The bottom line is he’s nice and bendy.
Gimmick-wise, he’s got six swappable hands: Closed fists for neutral poses, splayed-open hands for a more startled look, and two pairs of gun-holding hands. Speaking of that, he’s got a typical large black rifle for his weapon. On one hand, you have to break his gun-holding hands in half and fit them around the handle to have him hold it, which means it’s definitely not going to fall out, but on the other hand, it’s a loose enough connection that the gun rattles around. At least it stays in place.
Overall
I had a lot of fun building this kit, which surprised me, and the finished product is pretty slick, too. It’s a bit small, but it fits in with the IDW-based portion of my collection really well, which is good, as this is the best representation of this particular design around.
And, technically, it’s within my ability to fix any stability or assembly issues he has. If you’re a Transformers collector like me, a kit like this represents a change of pace, but a fun one. If you want an interesting little project that ends with a good Optimus action figure from an excellent comic, then you’ll have fun with this.
(2021 note: Since writing this, there was this whole deal with Flame Toys previewing an extremely questionably-designed Windblade kit, and multiple layers of backlash, with the company itself making some questionable social media responses about it, as well as fans who complained about it getting harassed. The whole affair’s understandably soured a lot of people on Flame Toys as a company, and if you haven’t already heard about it, I’d recommend getting informed before deciding where you stand on making any purchasing decisions.)
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