Reveal The Shield Optimus Prime
Reveal The Shield Optimus Prime has been described as "Generation 2 Optimus Prime" but in reality he's a mixture of that toy and the Movie Optimus Prime. Both are broadly similar long nosed trucks, and both have a flame detail. G2 Op has the shorter cab design but Movie Op has a blue cab like this one. So a bit of a hybrid here. The top of his exhaust pipes look like 3mm bars and while they will accommodate a C-Clip weapon they will stretch the clip somewhat. The side windows of the cab look a little odd, opaque orange plastic, when compared to the clear front windows.
Transformation: Fold the grey fuel cylinders up to the sides, then forward and then fold together behind the cab. Pull the flatbed apart and extract what will become his sword. Fold the rear of the flatbed down to become heelspurs then fold the feet back. Fold the lower half of the doors down and unpeg the arms. Separate the front of the vehicle in two down the middle and pull to the sides & back. Lift the roof of the cab, fold the head up and replace the cab roof. Fold the side windows of the cab in behind the front windows. Fold the cab forward and slide down over the robot's shoulders. Look at the back of the robot's legs. Open each panel up folding round over the inside of each leg to cover the connection points for the sword. Starting at the bottom of each leg rotate each wheel back on the peg it's mounted on as far as it will go the rotate the wheel on it's axle till the wheel can recess into the matching hole in the legs. Fold the sword's handle into place, then slide the truck's U shaped connector along the sword till the points pass the hinge for the grip, then fold over the grip to become the crossguard.
First reaction: Small. He's not much bigger than RTS/Classics Bumblebee, smaller than RTS Perceptor and dwarfed by Generations Kup. THIS IS NOT RIGHT! The robot mode however does seem to settle his lineage giving him the huge shoulders of Generation 2 Optimus Prime while making the chest from the actual front windows of the toy. We get a lighter blue used here, not really seen on the vehicle mode, for the head, hands and feet which is again reminiscent of the G2 version. Yet the Movie influence shows through here, especially in the head design with transparent forehead panels and the sword which is more reminiscent of the blades mounted on Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime than the one used by Generation 2 Optimus Prime. Articulation: wrists bend up & down at the hand and are ball jointed at the forearm, the elbows bend, there's a bicep swivel, the arms bend out to the sides under the shoulders, and the shoulders turn at the body. The head is ball jointed as are the hips, there's a thigh swivel, the knees & top ankle joint bend while the bottom ankle joint is another ball joint. Turning the you round we see that the fuel cylinders from the side of the vehicle have combined to form a backpack that looks like a jetpack and serves as a sheath for the sword. If you're wise that's where you'll be keeping it because there's a moulding fault on the hand which makes it difficult to get the sword hilt into the hand and when you do causes the hands to show stress marks. Not good at all. Other areas of criticism include the lower door panels, which just hang off the lower arms in robot mode, the lack of a gun, I used Fansproject Sidearm, but that stressed the hand more than the sword, and the peg on the right shoulder which makes it impossible for the right shoulder panel to point straight up. Fortunately this last one is easily cured using a sharp knife, though try not to cut yourself like I did!
Yeah there's some faults here. But I like the toy, I can see what they're trying to do here with creating a toy that would draw the Movie only crowd towards the older Transformer remakes. I might be looking at this toy more favourably than many Transformers fans because I don't see Generation 2 Optimus Prime as God's gift to Transformers Toys like many fans do (Read the review).
Optimus Prime was released in Reveal The Shield Deluxe wave 2 in January 2011 in the USA. At the time of writing he's expected in the UK but hasn't been seen outside of comic shops and import dealers. He's due to be released in Japan in March as Transformers United toy UN-22.
Repaints
I think RTS Optimus Prime is another "we'd better get used to it toy". The instructions show a different head for a repaint which at the moment nobody know what it's for! Ultra Magnus and Scourge/Nemesis Prime repaints are inevitable but following the example set by Movie Voyager Optimus Prime when he became First Strike Optimus Prime I'd like to see a proper 1984 Optimus Prime set of colours on this. And I suppose they could swap the blue for black on the truck to give us a more authentic Generation 2 Laser Rod Optimus Prime
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