General Information: Images:
*Images with an asterisk and text in italics below from Hasbrotoyshop: Take home this First Edition figure of the unstoppable AUTOBOT leader. Switch this fierce fighter from robot mode to vehicle mode and back again! Contains robot figure. Ages 5 and up.
Packaging: The sides of the box have a dark background with lightning patterns in the background. The "Transformers Prime" logo is found there as well with the words "First Edition" under it, referring to this figure as being one of the first waves of figures from the toy line. The back of the packaging has a gorgeous drawing of Optimus Prime holding the Matrix above his head as it glows with power. The quote "One day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour.", a line from the 1986 "Transformers: The Movie" film spoken by G1 Optimus Prime. Remove the magnet and you can open the panels on the front of the box to reveal artwork and text inside each panel. The artwork includes the familiar "group" shot of the Autobots standing on a cliff which was used to advertise the series before it aired. The other panel has a longer view of the same illustration from the back of the box, allowing you to see more of Optimus Prime and includes some of the text provided at the top of this review. Sitting inside the box is a plastic, vacuum formed Autobot Matrix, complete with a round center section and two large handles. Strapped to the handles are black velcro strips that have "chain" patterns on them, essentially making this a Matrix that you can wear! Inside the center of the Matrix is the Optimus Prime figure in robot mode. Overall, this packaging is a gorgeous presentation and really helps make this exclusive special. A lot of thought went into the design of this packaging and it paid off beautifully!
Robot Mode: First, let's look at some of the more traditional G1 influenced design elements:
As for the movie design influences, Optimus Prime's overall shape is much more in line with his movie form that the G1 form. He is a lot less blocky than most Optimus Primes. He is designed with many curved parts including his shoulders, waist, hips and thighs. Even parts with angular areas such as his lower legs have curved sections. An example of this is found on the lower portion near his feet where the leg is curved, but the area near the feet comes to a "V" shape. In addition to the curved designs, he has many sharp looking sections that reflect the liberal use of angular panels on the live action movie Transformers. Here you'll find such panels on his shoulders and hip area. The design of Optimus Prime's weapon is also heavily influenced by the movies. In G1, the Transformers generally held their weapons, but in the movie universe many transform their arms into blasters and cannons. In the "Prime" cartoon, Optimus does the same, but this figure does not have that capability. Instead, the blaster can rest over his fist and wrist in such a way that it looks like his forearm has transformed into a weapon, which is a really good compromise in my book. The design of the weapon is also bulky and large, with a long barrel and a shorter one (perhaps a targeting scope?) that relaly looks fantastic. Finally, while it is traditional for Optimus Prime to have smokestacks on his upper body, G1 Prime had them on his arms. Here, they wind up on the back of the figure, very similar to the way some elements of the vehicle mode from the movie wound up on the back of the character's robot mode. Optimus Prime is cast in five plastic colors, all iconic to the character: metallic red, metallic blue, silver, black and translucent blue. These colors are distributed rather evenly over the robot mode. Red makes up most of the upper body while blue is used for the head and lower legs. The silver parts are set in between the red and blue sections on parts like his elbow joints, thighs and ankle joints. The smokestacks on his back are cast in silver as well. His chest "windshield" panels are also cast in silver, resembling the CGI model's color scheme. The black plastic is used for any parts that become his vehicle mode wheels as well as the front of his feet. An attempt was made to use translucent blue to provide Optimus with "light piping" in the eyes, but it seemed the designers abandoned the idea. The clear plastic does form part of the back of the head and the eyes, but the eyes themselves are painted over. Overall, the distribution of these colors is a very "traditional Optimus Prime" color pattern and it looks great on its own. The paint colors used on Optimus Prime are very much in line with his plastic colors. The paint colors include silver, metallic light blue and gunmetal grey. The silver color is the most heavily used. On the face, it's used not only for the mouthplate and the area around his eyes, but also part of the helmet that resembles vents. The top of his chest and parts of his mid-section and hip area are also colored silver. On his legs, silver is used to paint a portion of the figure near the feet. Gunmetal grey is used to offer some metallic looking contrast with the silver on his chest and mid-section. The metallic blue is used on curved parts around his hip area which really stands out nicely and keeps that section from looking too monotone. The metallic light blue paint is only used on his eyes, which I mentioned earlier are painted over. Frankly, I odn't think the light color of the clear blue plastic would have worked well. This stands out much more. Optimus Prime has twenty points of articulation in robot mode. This includes five in each arm, four in each leg and waist articulation to boot! Prime has a really nice assortment of ball joints including his head and wrists. While his hands are sculpted in a semi-open palmed position, the design accomodates any standard Transformers weapon. The caveat I would add to that statement however is that the pegs on these weapons need to be fairly long to fit into the slot while not getting in the way of his wrist joint. Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
Vehicle Mode: Much like the traditional Optimus Prime color layout, Optimus favors red in the front and blue in the back. While inspired by the movie Optimus Prime, it is important to note that the front end here is pure red instead of having a flame pattern on it. This looks very clean and almost elegant compared to the more loud patterns that have been seen on Prime in recent years. The red and blue plastic colors are balanced out by silver on the front grille and smokestacks. On the grille, there's a small area sculpted in the shape of the Autobot symbol. Here you'll find the Autobot symbol painted in, analagous to the Autobot symbol found on the top of the grille on the movie Optimus Prime truck mode. In this form, translucent blue plastic shows prominently on the windshield, and stresses the difference between the "windshield chest" from the robot mode to the "real" windshield in vehicle mode. Silver paint is used on the front over the windshield and on the sides on the cross hatch patterns. Silver is also used to paint the sides of each wheel. A bit of blue paint is used on the sides as well, painted at an angle leading to the blue pieces on the back of the vehicle. Overall, this color scheme is a spot on "Optimus Prime" color scheme and pays a lot of homage to the legacy of the character. It's attractive and looks very clean. I like it a lot. There are a lot of very well sculpted details on this figure. On the sides there are raised circles representing rivets and cross hatch patterns. These details help to give the vehicle a more realistic look. On the back is what appears to be a trailer hitch, but it's really for the weapon. On the back of the vehicle, you'll find raised, rectangular rear lights. Unfortunately they're not painted, but they're hard to miss.
Final Thoughts:
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"Transformers Prime" debuted in 2011 as the first fully CGI animated Transformers television show in years. While other shows had blended traditional animation and CGI, this as the first to harken back to the days of "Beast Wars" and "Beast Machines". This show introduced a storyline heavily influenced by the live action movies, and thus the designs of the characters had very "movie like" sensibilities to them. The first action figure from this line to be officially sold was Optimus Prime, who made his debut as an exclusive sold at San Diego Comic-Con, and then later made available on 
