Originally written December 2019.
One of the things I keep banging on about on this blog is how much I liked the Bumblebee movie, how I consider it to be the strongest of the live-action movies, and how I’m looking to scoop up its entire cast in mainline Studio Series form. This version of Optimus Prime’s based on his appearance at the end of the Bumblebee movie, after he’d assumed an Earth mode, though he didn’t look terribly different from those Cybertron war scenes that everybody, including the hardcore fans, really loved, so this is a good stand-in for that version, too.
To be honest, while the Studio Series is an amazing idea (a movie fan’s wishlist of figures designed to plug holes in their collection, create new, better version of older figures, and realize concepts movie fans have wanted for years), I’ve not been too fond of the execution of most of its figures in-hand. It feels a lot like the Bayverse designs are a bit too complicated to pull off on the line’s budget, and a lot of them end up fiddly, or underdetailed, or fragile. There’s been a few hits, and generally, the Bumblebee movie toys have been pretty strong, but still, this figure’s got a lot to prove, on top of being hard to find.
Speaking of that, this version of Optimus is being reviewed so late because it was barely released here in Canada. Weirdly, we saw plenty of the Studio Series waves before and after it, but this one seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I heard about a few sightings of it months ago, but never saw it, and then the wave of Studio Series figures that came after it (Long Haul and the KSI Boss) were suddenly everywhere instead. I had to pick this guy up at Ontario Collector’s Con, at a little bit of a markup. He’s also on Amazon, if you want to order online. So, after all of that hullabaloo, let’s figure out if this guy stands above the kind-of-middling Studio Series, and is worth the extra effort to track down.
Robot Mode
If there’s one thing this figure does right, it’s screen-accuracy to his film appearance, which is a big reason why I got him to begin with. It helps that the Bumblebee movie’s general design aesthetic is a lot simpler and straightforward than the previous Bayverse look. For example, the Studio Series figure for 2007 Optimus could only loosely approximate the complicated screen design, but this guy’s pretty dead on, save for a few details.
Still, he’s not totally G1, he’s got a fair amount of Bayverse-esque detailing on his body, all faithfully replicated here. I particularly like his headsculpt, which takes time to replicate all of the little lines and edges of his screen design.
He’s kind of a bulky, lumbering Optimus, one who’s not as sleek as the Siege Voyager, but his bulk suits this war-battered, tired dad of a character.
The only bit of the design that doesn’t work for me is some arm panels he’s got that are awkwardly hanging off of the backs of his forearms, and look a bit ugly. The rest of the design is pretty clean, though.
Optimus has got the expected lovely, lush red, blue and silver colorscheme. I’d particularly like to single out the shiny, silvery-grey plastic his thighs, hips and stomache are made with. Even when it’s unpainted, it looks like solid, weathery metal. More figures should use this kind of plastic!
This version of Optimus has got the exact same poseability as Siege Voyager Prime, complete with ankle tilts, wrist swivels, the full suite. He has some stability issues, though. Firstly, his feet don’t have heel spurs, so he runs the risk of falling over moreso than a lot of figures. His backpack also doesn’t really lock in as well as it should, and can come loose through manipulation. The little red folded panels on his shoulders, which need to unfurl for his transformation tend to bump into him when he’s being posed, and move into odd positions. Also, my copy had weirdly loose hips right out of the package, but I noticed that they were screwed in, so I was able to fix it with a small screwdriver. Your mileage may vary on that last one. On the upside, he’s stable enough to assume a one-kneed kneeling pose, which is surprisingly hard to do on a lot of figures.
Prime’s one accessory is a gun based on the one he used during the Cybertronian battle scenes, one that’s also very reminiscent of the original G1 toy’s gun. In addition to popping into his hand, he’s got a pair of holes on his backpack you can stash it into, though it does run the risk of popping that loose backpack off.
Still, he poses well with it, and it’s nifty that it has a storage place on him that works as an in-universe thing.
Transformation
Well, he’s more complicated than the Siege Voyager Optimus, but definitely not as complex as some of the crazier Studio Series stuff, including the 2007/Revenge of the Fallen/Dark of the Moon Optimus figures. Importantly, while it’s something of a long and complicated transformation, everything fits, and everything works. Something I do like about this transformation is that he doesn’t have any fake parts, i.e. everything in his robot mode that looks like part of the truck actually forms the same part of the truck, something Siege and Studio Series Optimuses of the past haven’t managed.
Vehicle Mode
According to screenshots, this realistic-looking truck is actually a slightly different alternate mode than what was onscreen, though it’s only obvious if you compare them. It’s still a flat-nosed Earth truck, of the kind G1 Optimus changed into. It has no trailer, though, but there is a hitch in the back, so I suspect it’s compatible with something (and I’ve heard it might be compatible with the Dark of the Moon Optimus figure’s trailer). There’s a lot of seams in this mode thanks to the transformation, but something I like is that it all forms a pretty solid cube.
He’s very nicely painted in this mode, with lots of silver detailing all over his truck body, and even painted wheel rims. He’s also got a lot of nice sculpting along his body (between the transformation seams), including bolts and little handholds. He has kind of an odd, bulky back half, though that resembles folded up robot more than anything else, and I’m not sure what they were trying to do with the big blue and grey part behind his smokestacks.
His rolling ability is odd: While he rolls without problems, it’s also rare to see all of his wheels touch the ground at once, which is a bit disappointing, though at least nothing scrapes on the ground, like 2007 Optimus.
In terms of other gimmicks, he can stash his weapon on the back of his truck mode, in the trailer hitch that otherwise goes unused.
Overall
Reading this back, I sure do complain about a lot of minor issues with this guy, don’t I? That being said, as a package, he feels like more than the sum of his parts, and none of these problems distract from what, at its core, is just a really good toy, faithfully replicating a really good design from a really good Transformers movie. Part of it, again, speaks to the simple strength of the film’s design, that it’s possible to replicate faithfully at this scale.
He’s in an odd place, though. I feel like I like Siege Prime a little better, and a really good Earth Mode Optimus is coming in Earthrise, so for some people, this figure might not have a place in their collection, unless they’re specifically collecting the Bumblebee movie cast.
That being said, he’s an excellent figure of the Optimus that appeared in the Bee movie, and well worth picking up if you’re a fan of the film, like I am, or just want a good movieverse Optimus, since I can confidently say he’s the best Studio Series Optimus mold, too.
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