Phil's Transformer Reviews: Generations Power of the Primes Alpha Trion with Landmine and Alchemist Prime with Submarauder

Prime Masters

The Prime Master size is the successor to Titans Returns Titanmaster. Both sizes use identical figures, down to footpeg holes, ankle spur, articulation, size and transformation. Gone is the Head on their back, replaced by one of the symbols of the twelve Primes, which leads us to believe there will be twelve Prime Masters. The Prime Masters bear the names of the Prime whose symbol is on their backs. The Prime Masters have replaced the chest screw with a pin which makes customising them much harder: several were intending to replace the Prime symbols with the faces of the Pretender robots that their Decoy Suit represented.

The Transforming accessory is now replaced by a Decoy Suit, about 5cm high x 3.5cm wide x 1.5cm deep, based on the shell of a 1988/1989 Pretenders Character. This opens up, via a hinge on the feet, to accommodate a Prime Master inside. Since Prime Masters & Titan Masters are the same size your old Titan Masters can also fit inside the Pretender Shell. The shell has holes in it's feet the same size as the Titanmaster footpeg holes, but the spacing varies from toy to toy. The shell's arms are articulated at the shoulders allowing them to raise. The hands are a 3mm peg hole which it can use to hold it's weapon. The weapon can also be attached to the Pretender's back via studs on the side of the weapon which fit dimples either side of a gap on the back. The gap size varies between the different shells so a shell can only store it's own weapon like this. The Pretender shell itself can transform into a weapon: the weapon on the back folds up so it's pointing out from the head and a 5mm handle folds out between the shell's feet enabling it to be held with the plainer back of the Pretender shell facing up. The transformed Prime Master can attach to the top of the weapon via two footpegs, forming a cube that powers the weapon, or the Prime Master can sit in it and act as a gunner. The weapons are perhaps a little large for a deluxe, suiting the Voyager and Leaders toys better.

The shell & Prime Master are seemingly constructed with just two frames of plastic: One contains the back of the shell, the weapons mode handle and the chest & lower legs of the Prime Master. The other contains the weapon, the arms of the shell and the arms, upper legs, head & backpack of the Prime Master.

There is something of a discontinuity having a different character inside the shell instead of who the shell originally belongs to!

Alpha Trion with Landmine

Landmine was missed out from the retail range in Japan, with Metalhawk taking his place in the Wave 1 Pretenders. So it's kind of funny that Alpha Trion with Landmine is a repaint of Vector Prime with Metalhawk. Blue becomes off white, Dark Grey becomes yellow and the chest of the Pretender is a new piece moulded in grey plastic, then painted yellow, resembling Landmine's original shell. The gun is unpainted here and does a better job than on Metalhawk, resembling Landmine's original gun

The inner robot is a little way off for Landmine: they've got the grey arms & head, with it's yellow painted face, right but everything else is all over the place. As for being Alpha Trion, well yellow & grey are not Alpha Trion's colours!

Landmine's release, opposite Skullgrin, completes the ground based Pretenders from the 1988 Wave 1.

Alchemist Prime with Submarauder

Submarauder was the seagoing Decepticon in 1988's Wave 1. He has a pale blue Decoy Suit, with white arms and a front moulded in the same colour but heavily painted to match the back of the Decoy Suit: for both Landmine and Submarauder you wonder if Hasbro might have been better breaking the "front moulded in the same colour as the arms" pattern! Suiting his nautical status he's armed with a trident which sadly he can only hold in front of him and not upright! However if you're a Diaclone Reboot fan you might have DA-12 Gyroseptor or DA-13 Dartloader both of which contain a piece for turning a 3mm peg through 90°

The Alchemist Prime Primemaster is white, with blue chest & lower legs and looks nothing like Submarauder's inner robot!

I'm borderline on the weapons mode: the stabbing trident works much better than Skullgrin's claw, but it still has a big blocky base. However it can be held upright. If there was a Power of the Primes version of a certain seagoing Combiner, he'd make a good weapon for it.