The Energon Pub

TransMY.com user, Onizuka Takahashi, has posted some new images of the upcoming DOTM Voyager Optimus Prime in various poses and a side by side with Voyager BattleBlades Optimus Prime. These are probably the most flattering images of the figure to date.

Forumer Onizuka Takahashi provided more pics of DOTM toys. This time it is the much critisised Voyager Prime. But according to Onizuka, the Voyager feels very sturdy when handled and has more points of articulation compared to Battle Blades Prime. The chest is not a faux cab, instead it is an armor plating covering the cab windows. There are side by side comparison shots for the Primes and also Starscream.

There is also an image of the new Deluxe Starscream posed nest to ROTF Breakaway. Nothing all that new, but these do give us a little better idea of the size of the figures in the upcoming line.

DOTM prime is just bad. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why does the DOTM figures look like their getting smaller and smaller and getting less detail? and im sure price will be going up too and paying alot more for something you get less of!

I don't know if he's just grown on me or if I've just gotten used to him or what, but I'm actually starting to like him. I think he looks pretty good in these images.

That is SMALLER than the ROTF figure? Is deluxe the new voyager now?

DotM is such a step backward. Worse then the original movie line in terms of engineering. I mean, RotF leader Optimus is one of the best engineered figured I own. Other RotF figures share the same quality. These figures have been chunky and far less intricate. So far the only figures I'm buying, for the character more than anything, is Ironhide and Shockwave.

I'd hate to say it, but I think we are looking at what prime looks like combined with his trailer.

Those pontoon things on Optimus might make good thrusters for leader class Starscream. I might pick it up on sale or something just for that.

Looks like it should be a burger king toy. My theory behind primes look is thats how he looks combined with his trailer. Id really like to know how hasbro has the balls to charges us more and yet make the toys crappier, we all know that the dotm voyagers are going to be around $25 and deluxes will be $13. We're already seeing these price jumps in most stores with the current lines so i doubt hasbro will lower the price when these come out and they're all the rage with the public.

Hmm well i dont like the front of the truck been on his arms and what ever them gray fire extinguishers are on his shoulders look crap so does his chest.
Thers not much detail and realy not that much to him worth buying it for,that bb o p looks naff aswell.

now thats just depressing

on the bright side ive got a new name for the dotm version
"pontoon prime"

despite the hate, i love the dotm toys. i cant wait til they are released!

Before I rant let me say this: I LOVE the Transformers movies and the movieverse toys!

But, this new Optimus Prime is very upsetting to me. Again, not to harp about scale, but this toy isnt even in scale with itself!!! look at the fake wheels on the back portion of his thigh... yeah those tiny little fake gray wheels... they are out of scale with the wheels on feet.. *sigh

No offense but if they are gonna half ass this then I feel responsible to call them out on it. This toy is not good. If Hasbro is not gonna do a better job on the Leaderclass & Voyager Prime, then please just re-release the old toys and save these new molds for different Transformers. It really irritates me that we get 10 Bumblebees and 10 Primes, while we have yet to receive a decent Blackout Toy, or any Scrappers & Hightowers. Hasbro, do the right thing, make all of the Constructicons, it absolutely drives me nuts that we get Transformers movieverse toys that arent even in the movies, but Hightower and Scrapper, among others are not!

Send this Prime back to Hasbro, melt it down and make Constructicons!!! ALL HAIL MEGATRON!

I must say, I kinda like this new Voy OP. Certainly different, and the giant weapons look kinda cool in an overkill sort of way. Shame he has the high crotch problem as Battle Blades OP, I think that's my biggest complaint. I'll buy him.

I wonder how screen-accurate this mold is, recall that Prime was going to be changed slightly.

EDIT- xtsaur is right about the fake wheels, that's pure fail. Not enough for me to hate this figure, but still fail.

Lord Onixprime wrote:DotM is such a step backward. Worse then the original movie line in terms of engineering. I mean, RotF leader Optimus is one of the best engineered figured I own. Other RotF figures share the same quality. These figures have been chunky and far less intricate. So far the only figures I'm buying, for the character more than anything, is Ironhide and Shockwave.

So...the first movie line was a lot of Energon re-deco's, (stongarm, wingblade, etc, etc) ROTF was seeing how many repaints we could get people to buy, and DOTM is mostly Blah, with the exception of Shockwave and a few others.

However I do like his poses in those pics.

I heard on the TFW boards that Hasbro's simplifying the new toys after getting complaints from parents that their kids can't play with the ROTF toys too well because of their complexity.

As much as we like the complexity, these are kids toys after all.

The engineering looks like what Transformers Prime's toyline should be.

Hopefully the Leader Class figures (We can hope Optimus, Megatron, Shockwave) will be better engineered.

Sadly, it looks as if they're dumbing down most of the figures to compensate for the oversized weapons. I have little to no confidence in this line so far.

Bogard wrote:Sadly, it looks as if they're dumbing down most of the figures to compensate for the oversized weapons. I have little to no confidence in this line so far.

I don't even get the weapons, I mean the concept is cool but really? You can't think of better weapons Hasbro? I mean Barricade looks like he's carrying a huge rake

The figure is shorter but the legs are longer. They've put fake wheels on the thighs with no paint apps. It looks cheap n nasty. I hate it. It has he aesthetic of a toy designed for a three year old.

I'm shocked that he's smaller than Battle Blades Optimus too. I thought for sure he'd be up scaled. Must meen Ironhide and Shockwave are pretty short too.

Baha08 wrote:The engineering looks like what Transformers Prime's toyline should be.

Very true... this Prime does look very "prime-ish". Wow, that might be the most obvious statement ever!

009* wrote:I heard on the TFW boards that Hasbro's simplifying the new toys after getting complaints from parents that their kids can't play with the ROTF toys too well because of their complexity.

As much as we like the complexity, these are kids toys after all.

Quoted for truth. I mean, this DOTM prime is a nice balance between the simple transformation of '07 Voyager Prime and the much more movie-accurate BB Optimus, which looks pretty darn complex. Many little moving parts = easily broken by a child. Remember that you or I might carefully transform and display our figures, but our children want them to be converted quickly so they can be bashed together on the carpet battlefield.

That being said, my initial reaction to DOTM Prime was 'blech', but now with these pics I actually think the figure is quite nice. His legs look thicker and sturdier, which is something that I always liked about the '07 Voyager figure, but he has less obvious kibble, except the pontoons, but even with those his back looks much cleaner that BB Prime, who's back looks very crowded.

Autobot Strider wrote:

Baha08 wrote:The engineering looks like what Transformers Prime's toyline should be.

Very true... this Prime does look very "prime-ish". Wow, that might be the most obvious statement ever!

009* wrote:I heard on the TFW boards that Hasbro's simplifying the new toys after getting complaints from parents that their kids can't play with the ROTF toys too well because of their complexity.

As much as we like the complexity, these are kids toys after all.

Quoted for truth. I mean, this DOTM prime is a nice balance between the simple transformation of '07 Voyager Prime and the much more movie-accurate BB Optimus, which looks pretty darn complex. Many little moving parts = easily broken by a child. Remember that you or I might carefully transform and display our figures, but our children want them to be converted quickly so they can be bashed together on the carpet battlefield.

That being said, my initial reaction to DOTM Prime was 'blech', but now with these pics I actually think the figure is quite nice. His legs look thicker and sturdier, which is something that I always liked about the '07 Voyager figure, but he has less obvious kibble, except the pontoons, but even with those his back looks much cleaner that BB Prime, who's back looks very crowded.

That's a very interesting point about the complexity of the figures...and it is true. Heck, sometimes we as adults can't get them right. If a child can't do it, they have a negative experience and they don't want to play with the toy anymore. Parents then see that the kids aren't playing with that toy and stop buying it for them. My 9 year old nephew asked for the TRU Devastator for Christmas. I gave it to him. Both he and my sister (his mom) were unable to correctly get things transformed so I had to come over and do it for him. He hasn't touched it since. I doubt this is a rare occurance. These are kids toys, after all, and if a kid can't play with them then they will not sell.

Did anyone else remember the quote earlier from ILM where they said they were redesigning Prime and BB a little bit? Maybe he has gotten new chest armor...This doesn't look like a combined mode to me.

First-Aid wrote:

Autobot Strider wrote:

009* wrote:I heard on the TFW boards that Hasbro's simplifying the new toys after getting complaints from parents that their kids can't play with the ROTF toys too well because of their complexity.

As much as we like the complexity, these are kids toys after all.

Quoted for truth. ...

That's a very interesting point about the complexity of the figures...and it is true. Heck, sometimes we as adults can't get them right. ...

It's a good point, but the failure is with Hasbro allowing the movie designs to be made of "thousands of moving parts" to begin with. It makes a translation into toys near impossible.

While Leader prime, and to a similar degree the newer RotF voyager Prime are marvels of engineering, they are a serious process to transform. Even the Deluxe Skids and Mudflap are a real pain to get back into their car modes.

My one nephew (9), who is a casual Transformers fan, simply can't do the newer transforms, and that frustration translates into him buying different toys instead.

For me, though, this new Optimus convinced me to go out and hunt down Battle Blades Op.
I wasn't going to get Battle Blades, but if the new go-to scale will be voyager for the bigger guys, and if the new voyager OP looks this crummy, I will be saying "no thank-you" to buying him.

If transformers are too complicated for some kids they can just get the activators and FAB's, isn't that what they're for? There's no need to dumb down the entire line. Besides, Hasbro is actually using the skill level scale right, so it's their own fault for biting off more than their kid can chew.