The Energon Pub

Okay, being a child of the 80's, I love Optimus Prime as much as the next child of the 80's.

However, why is it that not a single tractor trailer version of Prime, since the original 1984 toy, actually looks like a flat front "cab over" style tractor. Sure, there are several that try (MP's, Robot Replicas, Classics) but they all fall short. Just how hard is it to make a truck with a flat front where everything is flush and looks like a truck? I know other models were made to look like other things over the years...I'm just pondering the figures that were made to be like the original figure.

I'm quite happy with the robot mode of my 20th Anniversary Prime (even with the gray vs. chrome), but the truck is lacking to me (just a little).

On a related note, anyone know just what kind of tractor Prime was? He looks most like an early 80's Peterbilt to me.

Forgive me if this has been discussed before. I looked back several pages and didn't see anything. If there's an appropriate existing thread, post the link and I'll go ponder there.

EDIT: changed the thread title to stop giving people heart attacks...no, Peter Cullen isn't dead.

he was a Freightliner COE 1980 (dual-axle tractor trailer)

The PowerMaster version's alt mode was real close. Outside of the guns ans some arm kibble, the cab was actualy the same size as an origional.

Still, I understand what you're saying, G1's alt mode brought to scale would be dead on to real life!

The G2 Laser Prime, outside of the stickers(why have an alt mode for disguise with a pic of yourself firing lasers with your name on it ) I've seen alot of tankers that look like that truck.

Please don't write a topic title like that. For a second there, I thought Peter Cullen was dead.

B J R wrote:why is it that not a single tractor trailer version of Prime, since the original 1984 toy, actually looks like a flat front "cab over" style tractor.

........

Sure, there are several that try (MP's, Robot Replicas, Classics)

I think you just answered your own question there, mate.

I'm not too crazy about the truck mode of MP Prime either.

Wheels are tiny, and it just doesn't look much like an actual truck to me.

With that said, it's freakin PRIME! It rules!!!

AlienQuiksilver wrote:I'm not too crazy about the truck mode of MP Prime either.

Wheels are tiny, and it just doesn't look much like an actual truck to me.

With that said, it's freakin PRIME! It rules!!!

That would be why the big man, in all his robot badness, looms large over my desk. In all reality, who wants a silly truck when you can have one of the most inspiring intergalactic leaders of the 80's standing watch over your workspace.

Yup. All the different versions of Prime's cab-over-engine truck just isn't right. I was wondering too, why they can't produce one single correct truck for Prime.

I'm glad the Movie Prime finally changed into a realistic truck.

If MP Convoy/20th Anniversery/DvD Prime isn't good enough for you, well, then nothing is and this whole dicussion is pointless.

Counterpunch wrote:If MP Convoy/20th Anniversery/DvD Prime isn't good enough for you, well, then nothing is and this whole dicussion is pointless.

MP Prime is spectacular in robot mode. Way awesome!

But really crappy in truck mode. Grossly out of proportion. The design was obviously geared towards perfecting the robot. Hence, a lot of the truck proportions were sacrificed.

If you want to pose him permanently in robot mode, MP Prime is a clear winner.

If you want to transform him back and forth regularly. He's still a good buy. Pretty complicated transformation. Lots of fun factor on that.

If you want to pose him more often as truck mode, then better not get him. Just blow your stash of cash to the Binaltech line up. Half a Binaltech car mode, is worth more than 10 MP Prime truck mode!

Well, considering it was the eighties, it is outdated.
The Cab-over-engine isn't used much anymore, and I find longnosed Prime's much smoother looking than a brick on wheels. And I have to agree with CP. If you can't love Mp Prime, you can't love anything.

I like the Classic Prime, despite it's lack of resesmblence to the cartoon (Then again they, all have their own fiction to go in after Marvel's G1 comic, so it's all good).

Auto Bot wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:If MP Convoy/20th Anniversery/DvD Prime isn't good enough for you, well, then nothing is and this whole dicussion is pointless.

MP Prime is spectacular in robot mode. Way awesome!

But really crappy in truck mode. Grossly out of proportion. The design was obviously geared towards perfecting the robot. Hence, a lot of the truck proportions were sacrificed.

If you want to pose him permanently in robot mode, MP Prime is a clear winner.

If you want to transform him back and forth regularly. He's still a good buy. Pretty complicated transformation. Lots of fun factor on that.

If you want to pose him more often as truck mode, then better not get him. Just blow your stash of cash to the Binaltech line up. Half a Binaltech car mode, is worth more than 10 MP Prime truck mode!

But if you wanted a Prime style truck for display, why not just buy a model?

Sherade wrote:Well, considering it was the eighties, it is outdated.
The Cab-over-engine isn't used much anymore, and I find longnosed Prime's much smoother looking than a brick on wheels.

Flat nosed trucks are the norm pretty much everywhere else. You won't see many long-nosed trucks outside the U.S.

B J R wrote:EDIT: changed the thread title to stop giving people heart attacks...no, Peter Cullen isn't dead.

Just curious, what was the previous thread title?

I first got the DVD edition Prime with the gray parts and short smokestack, I was pretty dissapointed with the alt mode. I then upgraded to the 20th Anniversary edition and added the longer stacks, which I thought was a pretty good improvement to the overall look in alt mode. I've since gotten a trailer to go along with him and it really makes the alt mode more convincing. Mainly because it helps cover up the out of proportion rear part of the tractor where the trailer attaches. If there was just some way they could have made the lower legs slide forward a little more so they went all way up to the cab and found a way to now have the feet sticking straight out it would be pretty acurate.

Rushie wrote:

B J R wrote:EDIT: changed the thread title to stop giving people heart attacks...no, Peter Cullen isn't dead.

Just curious, what was the previous thread title?

"The Late, Great Optimus Prime"

I was alluding to the fact that the Prime character depicted by the 20th Anniversary figure bit the dust in the movie.

The Master Blaster wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:If MP Convoy/20th Anniversery/DvD Prime isn't good enough for you, well, then nothing is and this whole dicussion is pointless.

MP Prime is spectacular in robot mode. Way awesome!

But really crappy in truck mode. Grossly out of proportion. The design was obviously geared towards perfecting the robot. Hence, a lot of the truck proportions were sacrificed.

If you want to pose him permanently in robot mode, MP Prime is a clear winner.

If you want to transform him back and forth regularly. He's still a good buy. Pretty complicated transformation. Lots of fun factor on that.

If you want to pose him more often as truck mode, then better not get him. Just blow your stash of cash to the Binaltech line up. Half a Binaltech car mode, is worth more than 10 MP Prime truck mode!

But if you wanted a Prime style truck for display, why not just buy a model?

Sometimes, we want our cakes, and eat it too!

A truck model wouldn't be Prime. It wouldn't be a transformers. I never collect model cars, unless it can transform.

Don't get me wrong, MP Prime is just insanely awesome. The truck mode just has noticable flaws. Bot mode, not 1 flaw to be found IMO.

I agree with Autobot when he said that the figure was designed with perfecting the bot mode in mind. It just had to be, it can't look any better.

Also, the transformation is even cartoon accurate. With all of that accuracy going on ... something has to suffer.

The wheels suck, but the suspension is freakishly awesome. The red flap on each side of the truck (lower/rear portion of the cab) is obviously there just to complete the box shape.

The lone chair in the center of the cab, what's that all about? If you saw that in real life ... wouldn't you be like "WTF? Something is strange here!"

Since the truck was an actual production model, they should've designed it to look exactly like it. (nod to MP Starscreams F-15 mode) If they did that, Freightliner has blueprints that Hasbro/Takara could've worked with ... instead of making it kinda look like the model. This idea is very arguable, because the G1 cartoon truck pretty much had the same flaws. They just transferred over to a newer figure.

Looking at MP Skywarp w/o his stickers applied ... looks just like a near perfect scale model to me. Anybody not knowing any better wouldn't even think it was a transformer.


With that said, Prime was the 1st of the MP line ... so they really just fine tuned it over the years.

In conclusion, the crappy truck mode is still worth the awesomeness of bot mode ... easily. Ignore the truck flaws if you want, but they're still present.

An MP Prime version 2.0 will be interesting.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:Don't get me wrong, MP Prime is just insanely awesome. The truck mode just has noticable flaws. Bot mode, not 1 flaw to be found IMO.

I agree with Autobot when he said that the figure was designed with perfecting the bot mode in mind. It just had to be, it can't look any better.

Also, the transformation is even cartoon accurate.

I'll buy that.

IMO the MP line *should* strive towards toon accurate bot modes, with close approximations in alt mode. The seeker mold, has a pretty good balance between the alt and bot modes, with a few compromises on each, while the megatron has a very accurate gun mode and a lot of compromise in the bot mode. But I digress ...

With the G1 toys, they had much more accurate alt modes. They all looked like toy cars (or whatever) and then flip, flip, flip ... Oh look it can be a robot too. Very often the bots had only a passing resemblance to their on screen counterparts.

Those are very different design philosophies.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:With all of that accuracy going on ... something has to suffer.

Here's where I start to disagree I don't think anything really suffers, but when designing a transforming toy you generally need to pick one of the 2 modes to be the more accurate.
Movie leader prime is kind of the opposite of MP prime. A pretty dead on alt mode, but the bot mode (while still pretty cool) is more of an approximation of Prime's on-screen bot mode appearance.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:The wheels suck, but the suspension is freakishly awesome. The red flap on each side of the truck (lower/rear portion of the cab) is obviously there just to complete the box shape.

I don't have an issue with the wheels. Too small? look at the comparison images from the prev page. They look OK to me And the red flap, the one behind the wheels, does complete the cab, in the same way the lights or windows complete the cab.

If I had to tear apart one bit of MP prime, the black shoulder hinge really annoys me. They tried to disguise it, kind of as a window, but it just looks bad. Maybe they could have had an extra red flap 'o plastic over that, I dunno.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:The lone chair in the center of the cab, what's that all about? If you saw that in real life ... wouldn't you be like "WTF? Something is strange here!"

Alright, agreed, but it is still a toy, or at least a scale model. It also doesn't have an engine, but I'm not docking points for that either.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:Since the truck was an actual production model, they should've designed it to look exactly like it. (nod to MP Starscreams F-15 mode) If they did that, Freightliner has blueprints that Hasbro/Takara could've worked with ... instead of making it kinda look like the model. This idea is very arguable, because the G1 cartoon truck pretty much had the same flaws. They just transferred over to a newer figure.

Looking at MP Skywarp w/o his stickers applied ... looks just like a near perfect scale model to me. Anybody not knowing any better wouldn't even think it was a transformer.

Prime was never a production model truck. He may have been based on a real truck, but like BB, Jazz or any of those G1 toys they weren't exactly the same as the real world counterparts (licensing reasons and whatnot). He was a generalization of a cab-over truck, and not a specific peterbilt or freightliner or whatever.

Once you get to the toon, all the autobots get even more generic looking. Again, take a look at the ref pics on page 1 of this thread. The prime truck has differences from frame to frame. LOL Trying to build a real world toy from that reference is tough.

But I see your point, they could have used a specific truck as a guide. Personally I'm kind of glad they didn't.

Speaking of the MP seeker mold, he is awesome, but he to has compromises. The maligned leg kibble in bot mode, and even the underneath of the plane in alt mode are compromises to the "real world" look.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:With that said, Prime was the 1st of the MP line ... so they really just fine tuned it over the years.

If that were true Megs, as the latest MP design, would be better than prime. While better is a relative term, I don't think most folks would agree that he is.

AlienQuiksilver wrote:In conclusion, the crappy truck mode is still worth the awesomeness of bot mode ... easily. Ignore the truck flaws if you want, but they're still present.

The only flaw I see in the truck mode is the shape of the upper chest/front windows. (OK, and the shoulder thing I harped on earlier) In order to be more accurate to the toon's bot mode, the chest comes forward in the middle. Mostly noticeable right over the grill. Anyway, this kind of kills the smooth, flat "lines" normally associated with a cab-over truck's normal appearance.

Someone else mentioned that the legs need to retract closer to the body in truck mode. They do! It can be a bee-yatch to get them to retract, but in truck mode, the thigh should be retracted into the lower legs. Yea, there is still a little of the pelvis showing (ha ha, I said pelvis) but it should look like this: http://www.seibertron.com/toys/fullsize ... 1&image=33

WOW, that's a lot of typing! But in the end, I think this is all just nitpicking. LOL

Could improvements be made? Yea, I guess, sure. But the flaws are so very, very minor IMO (and judging by what you wrote, I think yours too, AQ).
MP prime, in both modes is still one bad@$$ motha trucker!!!

What I meant was I wish the blue lower legs would slide all the way up to the back of the cab. Just imagine if the that gray upper leg and waist section could be completely covered and the feet were not sicking straight out the back.

I love discussion threads like these, I disagree that the MP prime cab over engine truck altmode is way off, it's kind of out of proportion, I think in the tires size, but overall it does the job..

however say what you will about the later trucks of Prime that have come out, but I'm hoping Hasbro sees fit to do a repaint of their Movie version toy of Prime into what I call the true prime update.. I will be getting my customizer to do this for me in about 2 weeks...

But this in my view fits proportions, and if I was to ever consider what Prime would look like given a 21st century design, then this toy does it!!!




Painted in the G-1 style, the proportions and engineering behind this toy are amazing!!!


this repaint, not necessarily in that much detail, should be done for everyone's prime in mass retail through the premium line, so everyone can enjoy a realistic prime!!


this is the image that gets me the most....


i mean it could pass for a real model truck!!!



they may not have gotten the Masterpiece Prime's truck proportions correct, but Hasbro sure did one better in the Peterbuilt!! To me, this repaint of the movie Prime is the G-1 Prime updated, and not that funky Flames paint scheme.. this is the real deal, and I am totally getting this done!!! not a bad paint job for a 40.00 toy, that makes it look like it's price should be 150.00..Retail..

Hasbro should do this repaint.. and as for the Cab over truck, i do think since he was the first MP, it could have been better if he were released later, but from what we did get though, is just perfect in my mind.. and full fills the need of an accurate G-1 Prime for me.. I just look back at the cartoon, the altmodes weren't perfect, and if i think about it logically, they are robots emulating earth modes, so if they are a bit off, it's understandable to me.. they do it to hide and not become the actual vehicle, something has to sacrifice for the Bot mode..so for me MP prime is perfect in that respect...tires too small, mehhh... in Japan they do allot of funky stuff to their trucks that have proportions like that.. so it's not a big deal for me, maybe the truck owner was trying to do a lowrider version??

Still If you want a great and accurate altmode, look to Movie Prime, JUST REMEMBER TO REPAINT IT, BECAUSE THERE IS A PLETHORA OF DETAIL YOU'LL NEVER SEE AS IS BECAUSE OF THE HASBRO GREY MOLDING....

MP Prime looks jus as coll as any other flat nose truck 2 me.


@ me i think the only problem is that he is missing his trailer which 2 me, wat really make his alt mode stand out more.

next face it, the flat nose design is just ugly in my book as a cab but combine wit a trailer........

skywarp-2 wrote:But this in my view fits proportions, and if I was to ever consider what Prime would look like given a 21st century design, then this toy does it!!!

I've seen custom paints like this before, but damn, they are awesome. If only it were possible for the official paintjobs to do the toys justice.

Oh and Prime looks a zillion times better without the flames.