Transformers Age of the Primes Nexus Prime review

A lot of the Primes we got in the AOTP line have been consistently good. Some aren't as good like with Solus Prime and Alpha Trion, but I've been happy with seeing these characters spread across different size classes and having designs unique to each other. That is until we were given our first look at Nexus Prime. Problem number 1 was that he was not a combiner despite that being what he is known for. Next would have to be despite retaining that ability, he does not have a team of his own nor a frame whatsoever. And of course, his design is a mix of generic and too blocky in its overall look. Now that we have the confirmation of him having his own limbs, and possibly a frame for himself, let's see if this torso is either an underrated triumph or an underwhelming turd.

Here we have Nexus Prime in his vehicle model and it sucks. The front section where the cockpit is at reminds me of the Micromaster Combiner guns, but the rest of this is awful. It's super blocky, the wings are puny, and it barely even works as a Cybertronian altmode. This is almost like Energon Wing Saber but even worse.

One good thing about this "mode" is that it can combine with Superion's frame when it's in its alt mode. Nexus has the same slots that were on Silverbolt, and while the aesthetics clash somewhat, at least this gives the Voyager something else to do as a torsobot. Makes me wonder if this would benefit from the rest of the frame resembling Energon Storm Jet but in Nexus Prime colors.

Here he is with the other altmodes of the 2026 Primes so far. Even with only these three and without either the ones we got in 2025 or the upcoming Liege Maximo and Vector Prime, Nexus still sucks.

Transformation is weirdly similar to how Energon Wing Saber changed forms, mostly with the legs being made up from the sides of the altmode while the arms were tucked away somewhere in the middle. The front section folds onto the robot back while the wings detach and relocate there. The robot mode we end up with is mostly based on his TFOne design rather than being a new version of Energon Barricade, the figure used to make torso bot Heatwave. Yeah you heard me, we got a Shattered Glass Decepticon named Heatwave before the name was used for Rescue Bots! The color scheme is pretty close to HW, but the blues are brighter and opaque rather than translucent. You could say they wanted to combine elements of the general concept for Nexus Prime's design with some new ideas so as not to make him dependent on Energon Barricade's design or being too similar to Onslaught. After all, they did that with the TFOne version, but making it very plain. Reminds me of when Hasbro had to do something with those Bumblebee movie robots who were on Cybertron since they never transformed in the movie proper. Also I like it when Hasbro reuses the same wing piece rather than mirroring it, because why have both pieces with proper symmetry when we can always have one side of each wing always keep those slightly recessed circles without trying to keep them consistent?

Head sculpt is super generic like the rest of the TFOne design. Look more like they de-Primed his combiner head while vaguely paying tribute to the unchanged Energon Barricade head that Heatwave kept. Articulation consists of a ball jointed head, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist rotation (with very limited space because of the forearms), waist rotation, universal hips, thigh rotation, hinged knees, and ankles that pivot. His wings can turn into guns, though I half-expected them to turn into axes.

Oh and he has his own artifact: the Enigma of Combination. It's as nicely painted and resembles his arc-reactor looking chest detail, though the latter is meant to homage the Energon Star port found on Bruticus Maximus's chest and all versions of the mold. 

Here he is with the other Primes we got so far, and even in bot mode, he barely wins any challenges. Only this time, instead of looking awful and uninspired like in vehicle mode, he is just uninspired compared to the other Primes.

Thankfully, this toy doesn't completely suck, as the torso mode actually kicks ass co.pared to the rest of the toy. I like that we can rotate the upper body of the frame so we can see more of Nexus Prime. In a way, this feels more like the old way of using Voyagers as actual torsos like with Combiner Wars, albeit without the waist and thighs still belonging to the rest of the frame. In a way, this feels more like a mashup of Barricade's torso mode with Storm Jet's, especially with the similar wing shape on the sides and the cockpit vaguely resembling what was on there. The only issue I have would be the gaps near the sides of the torso, whereas the best part would be the head sculpt for looking more realized and better painted than the original version.

For anyone wondering, you can technically combine this with Menasor, but only the little purple panel can peg on one of the holes while the clips for the Menasor chest keep it from getting lopsided. I don't get why nothing was added to make Menasor's frame compatible with Nexus, especially with the incoming G2 set coming soon as well as a possible Hasbro-released Motormaster. An adaptor should be a priority for Nexus Prime if we get an upgrade kit, and he needs one more than the others because this toy is 66% lame. It'd be one thing if he was given the Commander Class treatment to go along with Armada Jetfire, but to just leave him as a Voyager with a blocky jet mode and a bland bot mode hurts him greatly. Yes, he is needed for your Prime display if you don't want to spend too much on the TFCC version, but be ready to wait for the rest of him to be made; the limbs are a matter of WHEN while the frame is a matter of IF.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐