So the MPM Optimus Prime arrived, let's have a look shall we?
First off, let's start with the strongest part of the figure, and the part that really got me excited right out of the box: the robot mode. The robot mode on this figure is stunning. The detail is incredible on the mold. The wash effect across portions of this figure contribute to the detailing and molded in greeble, and produced a pretty spectacular effect the whole way around. It is a gorgeous looking robot mode, with a ton to look at.
The articulation department is frustratingly close to being spot on. The main issue is the head: it can basically only swivel, there isn't a lot of up and down motion to be had, and coupled with the darker eyes means it's hard to get him really looking at something above his chest level. He also really needed a knuckle joint on his pointing finger, but that's a more minor complaint in the grand scheme. Outside of that, the articulation is solid and he can pose it up pretty good.
The gun is pretty big and pretty neat, but it does have an issue where it can only be held in the normal hand to forearm position, otherwise it is not tall enough to clear the forearm for poses like the 2-handed gun pose, but you can still make do with the way the hands function to loosely hold the gun.
The matrix included is a nice touch, if a bit out of place considering Prime wasn't shown to have something like this. But it is neat and a nice touch to the overall package.
Transformation isn't too bad on this, it is mostly straight forward, and things are mostly going where you expect them to. The grill becoming the movie accurate back was neat.
But you can definitely tell this figure really focused in on that robot mode and not the alt mode. The alt mode is definitely the weakest point on this figure. The back seems too long, the wheel base feels too long from front to back wheels, and the area from the smokestacks on back just isn't that good. The alt mode definitely feels like a victim of budget cuts or trying to avoid over-complicating things. The gun storage is also pretty weak, but it is what it is.
So overall, this figure ain't bad. The robot mode is a rockstar that I would say is pretty near perfect, a 9 out of 10 at least. He just needed a little more in the head and hand position. Transformation is pretty involved but not stupid complicated. But the alt mode lets it down.
Overall, I'd say this is maybe a 7 out of 10? I don't want to be too harsh, but the alt mode is pretty disappointing in the back despite the badass robot mode.
I would recommend him though. The design is pretty good, and the robot mode has some mass to it and really plays the part.
