Transformers Robot Enhanced Design (R.E.D.) Optimus Prime
Leader of the heroic Autobots, Optimus Prime is wise, noble, brave and honorable. A warrior with almost no equal, Optimus uses his abilities to lead his army to save his home from Megatron and his Decepticons.
Since this is Hasbro’s new “Robot Enhanced Design” line, which focuses more on articulation as a full action figure and less on gimmicks, the figures in this line all do NOT transform. I guess it’s more of homage to the old Action Masters line?
I am so glad they didn’t follow the “weathered look” of Prime like on the package. Yikes.
Prime stands roughly 6 inches tall.
A surprisingly good call here by the design team to use hinged wrist joints on all the hands.
Ugh… poor design choice here. The mid-thigh swivel really sticks out. It may be fine on Marvel Legends figures, but here, thanks to the right-angled corners of the legs, they just look really wrong when not aligned properly. They really should’ve gone with a different design approach here. Revoltech did it better.
The set comes with a character specific backdrop diorama.
Alternate “pointing” right hand.
Prime comes with his Matrix of Leadership.
The Matrix can be removed from his chest.
Unfortunately, there’s no way for Prime to properly hold it with both hands. Sigh…
It bugs me that we can plainly see the Matrix now, there should be a plate covering the Matrix in Prime’s chest.
Prime also comes with his iconic Ion Blaster.
Last but not least, Optimus Prime comes with his Energon Axe accessory.
Thanks to the props, you can recreate the famous “Prime vs. Megatron atop of Sherman Dam” battle from the second episode of “More than Meets the Eye”.
Overall, not bad, but not great? I dislike the lack of paint definition on his eyes, the plastic feels cheaper somehow compared to Megatron and for some reason, seeing the Matrix through his chest seems wrong (based on the movie, there’s supposed to be a cover piece so that we can’t clearly see the Matrix all the time through his chest).
The sculptwork is decent but I feel that that lame paint job ruined it somehow (particularly the eyes). Maybe if they painted him entirely, instead of just relying on molded plastic color, the finished product would be leaps and bounds better? I’ll just probably grab Prime and Megs and call it a day for this line, since their other offerings seem mediocre at best and I really don’t see this line taking off.
Gold
