The Energon Pub

Just picked up this figure from Smyths Toys here in the UK, so this is a brief write-up/initial thoughts on Optimus Prime's newest figure from the upcoming Combiner Wars line.



First off, as you'd have guessed from the official images released so far, he's a chunky lad: all boxes and right angles! And as you can see from the image above, he's pretty tall too compared to some other Voyager-class Primes (also, just noticed I left his butt-flap down in this photo... nevermind). This boxiness was what put me off the figure to begin with (that and his fake chest windows and Powermaster Optimus Prime-style folding shoulders...) but obviously I caved in regardless.

And actually, he's surprisingly poseable. Those shoulders rotate rather smoothly upwards, with ratcheting outward movement too. Bicep swivel is present, and though the double-elbow joint is a little odd it still works. There's smooth waist twisting action, with two-way ratcheting joints at his hips, and back to smooth thigh pivot and knee bending action. Finally, his head is stiffly ball-jointed allowing for full-360 degree rotation and condescending head tilts!

Unfortunately, his extremities (hands and feet) have no real articulation (okay, the toes bend down as part of his transformation) but it's not the worst thing in the world.

GUNS!


Prime comes with two guns: one an homage to his traditional/G1 rifle and another, smaller pistol. Both have ports on top where you could presumably combine additional weapons from the Deluxe-class 'bots in the Combiner Wars line. But wait, there's more...



Double-gun action! Yes, the guns combine end-to-end forming a long, potentially two-handed rifle, which is almost certainly designed to be wielded in his Ultra combined form. Nice!

Transform and roll out?


Transforming this Prime is very straightforward (if not entirely obvious from the outset), with some variation on the usual bend-legs-back-behind-truck-cab-done! In addition to its simplicity, everything clips in solidly to ensure a rather tidy alt-mode.





That said, that butt-flap does look rather awkward when you have his guns pegged into the back, but you can fold it down so its less obvious and you don't want to have him riding along with guns that only fire backwards...



(Seriously, it looks like they're designed to be two halves of an engine, maybe? So those are... more exhaust pipes?)

Other than that, there's a few minor quibbles: he's sorely missing some paint apps (the grey parts off his truck cab and grey feet most notably) which I'll have to get around to fixing. And then there's the matter of his head. See, as I said, he's quite a bulky looking fellow and his head... it's rather small by comparison. Like when you see bodybuilders that have gone a bit too far.

His slightly disproportionate noggin is down to space restrictions where the head folds away, so there isn't much that can be done. Of course, there is a sort-of quick fix for this...



... Too far?

Thanks for reading if you got this far, I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have, post extra photos, etc.!

I have questions concerning the combination:

1) Have you played with the torso mode yet? If so, does everything peg in securely?
2) How does the peg system work anyway? From what I've seen, rather than insert them like regular pegs, the limbs' posts slide in from the opened side.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I have questions concerning the combination:

1) Have you played with the torso mode yet? If so, does everything peg in securely?
2) How does the peg system work anyway? From what I've seen, rather than insert them like regular pegs, the limbs' posts slide in from the opened side.

1) Everything seems to peg in securely, though it's hard to tell without the weight of Deluxe-class limbs hanging off him! Awkwardly, you can still see his hands sticking up from his shoulders...



2) You're correct: the pegs do slide in from the open side (quick scan from the instructions):



The grey tabs you can see have springs behind them which push against the pegs, locking the limbs in place. To release, you'd push the pegs towards the tabs and then slide out.



I'll know more once I get the first limb through (hopefully Drag Strip)!