General Information: Images:
*Image from Hasbrotoyshop.com
Text from Hasbrotoyshop: Spring into action with this quick-conversion, vehicle-to-robot hero! With the press of a button, this AUTOBOT warrior changes from truck mode to robot mode! Activators are a new sub-line of Transformers aimed at providing simpler transformations with a fully functional and posable Transformers figure. Activator transformations are primarily accomplished through the pressing of a switch or tab and manipulation of a few extra parts. Such transformations are much akin to the early "spring loaded transformations" used in many Beast Wars Transformers figures. It's a foregone conclusion that almost any sub-line of Transformers product needs to have an Optimus Prime figure, and Activators is no different. Introduced in the second wave of figures, Optimus Prime is represented in his Earth cab/truck form without the rest of his emergency vehicle mode.
Robot Mode: Optimus Prime's head features all of the design bits that fans have come to expect from an Optimus Prime figure including his central crest, antennae on the sides, discs on either side of his head and a mouth plate. While the Animated series Prime does have a regular mouth and only uses a mouth plate in battle, I have often found it amusing that whether we're talking about Movie Optimus Prime or Animated Optimus Prime, Hasbro generally opts for the mouthplate to be up if they have to choose a "default" look. His chest is actually based on a very old design with some modern influences, containing the original "truck front on the chest" design including the windshield windows, grille and headlights. The main difference here involves the extreme angles these design elements have taken as opposed to the very straight and rectangular designs from G1 Prime. This chest design also borrows heavily from the G1 figure Star Convoy, which featured simalarly shaped windows. In a touch virtually unchanged from G1 Prime to this one, you'll find four small lights running along the top of the chest unit. Optimus' other design aspects are fairly simple, with his arms lacking any sort of extra sculpted bits such as the smokestacks on G1 Prime. His legs are certainly shaped similar to G1 Prime, with an almost blocky, rectangular appearance but the aforementioned unique design of going from thin upper legs to thicker lower legs keeps them looking interesting. This robot mode is very much in line with the characters' animated appearance. The head sculpt is spot on, along with the designs on the torso. His waist has several designs on the sides and center and his lower legs have the truck wheels wrapped around the ankle areas, something carried over from the animation model (albeit there the wheels get much thinner and virtually vanish). Here, the bulk of the wheels actually makes Prime look even more powerful, giving him a nice tough look. What I love is that the angles of the design work out such that he looks like he is "puffing out" his chest while his legs are slightly backswept. This is a very dynamic pose often used with anime characters and in comic books, and it's nice to see it realized in 3D form. Optimus is cast in red, blue and silver plastic. Since these are Optimus' primary colors, few paint applications are necessary. Silver paint is used on his mouthplate, the edges of his headlights and the grille on his upper body. Yellow can be found on the head, waist and feet, providing smaller details that contrast nicely against the blue plastic used on these parts. His eyes are painted light blue, in keeping with the tradition of Autobots having blue eyes. An Autobot symbol is tampographed on his right shoulder, which has rapidly become the "traditional" place to put the symbol following the G1 Optimus Prime's animation model design. Optimus has fifteen points of articulation. This includes ball joints on his shoulders and hips as well as parts that move as part of the transformation such as his wrists and feet. The ball joints allow for a fantastic range of motion and do not compromise the visual design at all. Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
Vehicle Mode: Where the figure looks a bit odd is the wheel section. Since the wheels are attached to the legs by several swing panels, this adds a bit of extra bulk to the vehicle mode that makes the wheels stick out to the sides a bit. The net effect is that the vehicle looks oddly wide. Also, while an effort was made to create a fender of sorts from his wrist panels, there really isn't anything on the lower portion of the vehicle's front end to tighten it up visually, so it looks like a vehicle cab on two legs (which is what it is, but you get what I mean). Had there been something else there (a panel to give the illusion of a fender or something) the vehicle would look a bit more solid. There is a ton of kibble on the back, mostly owing to the silver tab in the center which acts as the trigger mechanism for Optimus' transformation into robot mode. Like the wide wheels and lack of fender, these are things that I chalk up to the constraints of creating a convincing figure of a new aesthetic, spring functionality and full transformation capacity at a relatively lower price point.
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