Transformers Studio Series Evasion Optimus Prime review

A decade ago, we got Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, who managed to be one of the best versions of that character of all time. No doubt it's thanks to the bot mode proportions, remarks ke articulation, G1 fan service with the altmode, and a wicked transformation with key steps utilized in more recent takes on this iteration during Studio Series. A year ago, I got the Rusty repaint to revisit the mold while also searching for movie accuracy, and in spite of the beige used for some of the robot, the truck mode looked almost perfect. We just need the proper Marmon 97 cab instead of the Freightliner used for the old AOE Voyager (ironically the BBM version looked more like the Marmon 97). Plenty of people have been hyped for a new take at this toy, but the reveal left fans either mixed or extremely mad. I know there are things this does better than the original, but while we will delve into this review with an open mind, I know other aspects are going to be rougher than rough.

Here we have Optimus Prime in his vehicle mode. It is a much closer take on the Marmon 97 than the old Voyager, though it's still unlicensed as far as I know. The truck is decoed to look rusty and faded like the in-film prop, and  it's even got sculpted details to make it appear shot up and worn badly. For example, the bullet hole in the grille. His color scheme is meant to be a more desaturated version of the G1 colors, which is different from straight up using them on the original toy. I even dig the flames on the front of the truck, which helps remind people of the mashup of the classics with the then-modern stuff. That said, it appears the color scheme is meant to match the robot mode where he does have these hints of red and blue. It's one of those things about this design specifically where the truck is mostly monochrome in terms of color, yet the bot mode deco says otherwise. It's kind of like what happened with Shrapnel's torso changing color, or the front of Mudflap's altmode having a dark grey trim not shown on the chest. Also, for a toy that costs nearly $45, is it hard to get the rims painted? Oh well, at least he has windshield wipers. His gun can store on the back though it would be cool if it could fill in the small gap behind the rear wheels.

Here he is with his original mold, both of them in their alt modes. The new one is certainly closer to the on screen model, yet the deco, while a decent attempt at trying to appear rusty and faded, pales in comparison to the version we got from Takara. I know what some people are thinking: shouldn't we compare this with the retail version? I chose not to because not only are we going over movie accuracy, but the Voyagers of today likely cost as much as the repaint did when you could import it around 2014. Voyagers today cost nearly $45, so this is a fair comparison now. I can only guess they wanted to have the bot mode look somewhat accurate since Optimus had those traditional colors loosely, but like with the torso of G1 Bombshell changing color, the movie kind of implies Optimus doesn't stay the same color when he goes from this very faded and monochrome truck into a desaturated version of his trilogy design with some tweaks here and there. So we can say for now that the truck mode wins for the new version apart from the deco. At least give the rims some paint for the new toy!

Transformation is thankfully new in spite of being somewhat like the original Evasion mold, with the inside-out approach used a little differently than before. While the legs are still formed from the back, they face forwards this time around and properly move the middle wheels to the thighs (on top of the feet forming the back of the truck instead of the fifth wheel). The arms are still made from the sides of the truck, but they now have double jointed elbows and proper forearm bits instead of leaving an awkward arm joint with the real windows visible from the back. The torso transformation is also different with the waist swivel, faux truck windows, and the base of the head rotating around before tabbing everything in place. The resulting robot mode is where things get pretty rough, and not because of the best up condition Optimus was in. The legs have more definition to them than the original version, while the arms look more proper than the original Evasion version we got back in 2014. I also like that the right shoulder have some revealing bits that better convey how damaged he is. However, the torso takes the hit when it comes to its appearance. On top of being somewhat blocky like the 2014 version, I have to ask why the faux windows look even faker than the original release; it's a weird thing to say, but they almost look as off as the original SS Prime. Last time a Movie Prime had an even less-convincing chest would be the DOTM Voyager. The back section has some nice detailing, but there is no proper color breakup. That would make up for the lack of panels that would slide up and fill in the silhouette. And while they maye have sculpted the sun visor halves in the chest windows, the smokestacks are barely visible, leading many to believe he doesn't have them at all. I want to say the figure does so many things better than the original, but it falls short on plenty of other aspects. It almost looks more like a refined version of that Bumblebee Movie toyline Optimus that still had the Evasion design instead of the Beewun redesign.

Head sculpt is also irritating to think about, because while it may look fine at first (also appreciate a bit of deco for the right side of the forehead), two issues need to be brought up: 1) it's the one time we could have an unmasked head and Hasbro chose to give him a mouthplate he rarely used in this form, and 2) it's kind of outdated in terms of detailing and accuracy, especially when compared to the older Studio Series Primes with heads that match the CGI better. With his unpainted Mega Striker in his hand, his articulation consists of ball joints to the neck and wrists, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, waist rotation, standard leg articulation moving front and back, somewhat limited range moving in and out because of the tire, thigh swivels (plainly visible since the inner thighs are hollow), hinged knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot.

Here he is with his subsequent form he takes for the later 3 quarters of the movie. I have issues with the lack of paint on the Leader Prime (which will also leave me concerned with the upcoming 2007 remake), but at least his proportions and detailing are on point. At least scale is consistent.

And here he is with the Rusty version of the Evasion mold. Apart from the slight height difference, I'll be honest and say that the new one has better arms and mostly better legs. The new version also has somewhat more accurate colors, but not as accurate as they should be. The torso and head on the original look much better. The former looks more convincing with the overall shape and detailing of the chest windows, and the latter, despite having a mouthplate, still looks closer to the CG model than the one whose line claims to be about accuracy. And hey, he has more visible smokestacks unlike the new one! I'm sure you can combine elements of both versions to make the best Evasion Prime, but as it stands, the new one isn't cutting it as much as I would like. Fun to mess with, and not as bad as I expected, but room for improvement as usual with the current trend of Studio Series.

One more comparison with the Premium Finish head sculpt since I already talked about the older faces looking more accurate. You can tell that the new one better matches the proportions of the CG model, on top of the eyes not looking like the ones we saw in the 2007 promo art or some of the older toys. And I know this version has the wrong chest window detailing, but in its defense, it doesn't have his chest appear etched in. Again, the new figure isn't bad, but he is far from perfect. I hope Baiwei does this toy some justice.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

McFarlane DC Multiverse Gold Label Robin & Catwoman review

As we get closer to the end of McFarlane's DC Multiverse line, we have two Gold Label releases in the form of Silver/Bronze Age Robin and Hush Catwoman! Let me tell you how happy I am to have both characters finally represented in my comic collection after one was only available as Nightwing or that one All-Star Batman & Robin version that was more stylized in design. Meanwhile, Catwoman has had a few versions throughout the line, mostly in live action, but the comic version was mostly either Knightfall purple or a rare Platinum based on the Animated Series. I always did prefer my Catwoman in leather black. These have been long overdue, but will they still be worth getting despite being sold only at McFarlane Toys Store? Let's find out for today's review!

Here we have Robin in-hand, most likely reusing the same teenage/young adult body buck we have seen for many Young Justice types, and it does fit well for a Robin who is getting closer to his Nightwing era. That being said, while I dig the color scheme on him as well as the design of the costume being classic for once, the execution is very lazy overall. We'll put him next to the Burt Ward Robin and layer bring up the Golden Age version (released as a Page Puncher), but the torso should be a single piece if you wanted to keep that area from being discounted. I appreciate that he has the fasteners going down the torso, but they're painted on like the chest emblem. At least the belt piece is a new bit, but the underwear has the scallop detailing painted on despite it jarring with the rest being flat. As for the green bits, the gloves and thankfully elf shoes look good, but the shoulder pieces are just colored to look like that inner leotard, whereas they should be more the ones on Burt Ward Robin. Not helping are the biceps using some green paint to give the illusion of short sleeves going over the bare skin. The paint may look better than what Hasbro does, but that's still barely an improvement. Worst of all, not only does the collar piece appear to sit up a little higher than normal on his neck, but the cape is the same ribbon material that's been shat on by many people. That could have been tolerable if not for the LACK OF A BENDY WIRE! We're going with a special release exclusively sold at the main website if the company, and no one could be bothered giving it a bendy wire?! Even if it's not given the slits meant for the thing to go through, it doesn't excuse that a special release like this doesn't have one. God fucking damnit!

His head sculpt is mostly good (apart from the slight off-centerness of the domino mask's paint), but we sadly have an issue where the skin tone on the head doesn't match the rest of his body where it's exposed. At least the hair has some blue shading, but what happened to the quality control for this figure? Articulation is standard for the line, but what else is new? Even if his cape is nowhere near as dynamic as Batman's or Superman's, it'd look better in some poses had it been given that bendy wire. Oh and his knees look hideous, with the exposed skin Robin's legs usually appear as not helping with that issue.

He has plenty of hand accessories, which is another plus if you want to give him various poses and what have you. So while the tooling sucks, at least there is a bit of value for money. Then again, this has been done before with some Superman figures (Christopher Reeve, for example).

And of course, he comes with the Batarang accessory reused from the Burt Ward version, down to the string attached. Upon closer look with what went wrong over the collar piece, I noticed that whoever assembled the figure didn't even put the cape UNDER the neckpiece; instead, it's BETWEEN the neck and the collar. We even have a crevice that the cape hides, but we can still see it, Todd! At least it gives me an idea of what cape I should use for a swap, but as I always say, I shouldn't have to fix my toys!

The Golden Age Robin we get as a Page Puncher has a different head sculpt achieving the similar artstyle aesthetic from that era, and his cape still sucks, but get this: he looks way better than the one we have here! We not only have the torso piece.that isn't broken up by the articulation, but we have proper short sleeves and sculpted trunks that look better than the painted ones! Admittedly, he has one pair of hands less than the Silver/Bronze Age version, but at least he has a comic.

For some comparisons, here he is with Silver Age Batman (the 2025 version with Ace the Bat-Hound) as well as Burt Ward's version of the character. I know this year, we have a Golden Age version of Batman with black instead of blue, while the newest Silver Age version has a brighter smile. No plans for either. He should be shorter but it could be worse (I.e. a non-Red Robin Tim Drake on the Knightfall Batman body). As for Burt Ward, I had issues with that figure, but the way our comic Robin turned out make him look more like a triumphant benchmark of glory. I appreciate that we get a classic Robin from McFarlane before it's too late, but while there are some things to like about it, the cons outweigh the pros. Holy dissatisfaction, Batman. Makes me wonder if part swapping with Golden Age Robin is possible, but I don't feel like spending full price on toys I already will get two versions of, anymore.

As for Catwoman, this is based on her appearance in Batman: Hush. And it's my favorite look for the character overall; on top of the skintight leather suit that is sleek yet gets the point across, the solid black helps her blend in the night better than either purple or grey. As expected, she is a retool of the Knightfall version of herself, but while that has been egregious with prior uses of the mold, it kind of works here since the torso is retooled on top of the black blending things in mostly better. Still, some further retooling would be nice. At the very least, the few bits of paint we have are good, and the proportions are also fitting for a car burglar like her. Best of all, check out that rack and caboose!

Her head sculpt is really good, and I especially love the green irises she has to compliment the red lip stick she's wearing. Also dig the bits of her bangs peeking beneath her goggles. The lenses of her goggles could look a little glossier, but they do the job apart from the very slight misalignment on the left lens. Articulation is to be expected, but her whip is kind of cool in terms of girth and texturing. Would be cool for it to have a bendy wire, pretty sure that's possible, but the end of it with the knives is a good touch, knowing how deadly it is in her hands. 

And of course, she has the same clawed hands we should expect for when she wants to get somewhat feral against the law. They may be reused from other Catwoman figures we got before, so that's no shocker. That said, she looks great with H2SH Batman, especially with his colors not being weirdly metallic like on the first regular retail release. Would like a black and grey version, but what do I think of Catwoman? She isn't 100% perfect but I like her way more than I ended up liking the classic Robin included in this bundle. She not only looks better, but she also hides her issues more competently in comparison. I know there are people who would gas up a third party option from LPZZ or InArt, but for now, this one is the way to go. Also fun fact, did you know I was going to review this Catwoman with the Harley Quinn retool before my plans changed? I hope I can still cover her somehow.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Robin)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Catwoman)

Yolopark AMK Pro Transformers 2007 Ironhide review

Is anyone feeling lucky today? No? Well you better be after I'm done with this review. The Yolopark praise continues as we take a look at their first of hopefully many 2007 AMK Pro releases! And who better to kick things off than our weapon specialist, Ironhide? While not as prominent as Optimus Prime or Bumblebee, do I still need to go over why he's a fan favorite even to this day? I mean, LOOK AT HIM! We don't get any Autobots as stone cold badass as him since his death other than Hound, but he mostly served the same role! While this dude's design has been somewhat difficult to translate in toy form given how we have to tackle the arm articulation vs upper body engineering, I'm sure we don't have much to worry about when he doesn't transform. Regardless, it's time we see how well Yolopark turned out with their version of this gun lover!

Here we have Ironhide assembled, and even without the cannons on him, this figure looks amazing! We already have the piano black making up the truck parts on his body, the use of metallic paint, gunmetal dry brushing, and an intricate level of sculptwork that rivals the MPM version. Given most mainline Ironhide figures either use different colors for the legs for the sake of color break up (grey or blue) or not color the details in that well, I appreciate that Yolopark skimped out on absolutely nothing and give us the most filled in deco we deserve. Even the gold-like spots we'd expect on this design are picked out, and I'm surprised the license plates and split-in-half GMC logo are kept intact (especially after seeing their Drift come with a Bugatti logo that says "DRIFT" in generic font). Proportions are spot on to his character model, right down to the undersized arms that look better with the cannons on. I'm sure there are ways to display him without parts of his cannons, but that may require heavy disassembly. Also nice to see his back without it being part of the altmode, with the closest we get to those details coming in the brace piece that DNA Design made for the MPM.

His head sculpt is very good as one would expect, with even the eyes painted in case you didn't have the batteries installed. By the way, be sure to have a screwdriver handy when you want to put them in for the LED gimmick. Apparently, some have mentioned that the head isn't 100% accurate, hence why some Chinese sellers include upgraded heads and an LED set meant for the chest, as it stands, the head still looks good and isn't entirely missing anything like the ROTF Megatron head missing the eye pieces. With optics and weapons lit up, his articulation consists of a double ball joint for the neck (with a hinge at the base of the head), shoulders that wiggle around behind the chest on ball joints, rotation and outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, a slight bit of tilt, rotation, and ab-crunch within the torso due to his designs, hips that can move front and back with the side of the drop down system, in and out after moving panels out of the way, swivel at the biceps, bend real deep at the knees (with a shifting panel gimmick for the shins), and ankles that swivel, hinge, and pivot). We even get a bit of toe-ticulation to boot. Also like the MPM, his jaw opens.

The alternate hands he comes with are good for more gestural, pointing, and clenched fist poses, but some of these could easily be recreated with the articulated hands. Personally, I would ditch these in favor of the Heavy Iron upgrade from Dark of the Moon, with new weapon holding hands to boot.

Here he is with his Studio Series counterpart for those wanting to know how much taller the last accessible figure is in comparison. Makes sense this would be what we end up with, though for a more appropriate size comparison...

...here he is with his Masterpiece Movie counterpart! He is just a smidge shorter than that figure, but if you don't mind having a nontransforming figure in your MPM display, like with Blackarachnia, he could fit in despite being slightly shorter than the MPM already is. You may as well do just that given the MPM suffered from poor stability for a figure of its quality, on top of grey not looking that great compared to painting things all the way through. Either way, Ironhide is already a winner thanks to his overall quality and ingenious light gimmick implemented through the cannons. The AMK Pros are already winners overall, but Ironhide may very well be the best one for 2026. He easily beats Arcee, Tarn, and especially BBM Soundwave. He's so good I don't even need BBM Overhyptimus Prime and Thoccwave! GET YOUR PREORDER IN NOW FOR THE 2ND BATCH!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yolopark AMK Beast Wars Megatron & Blackarachnia review

I was already happy to revisit the AMK versions of Optimus Primal and Dinobot, and seeing that we would see Megatron and Blackarachnia made me even more excited. Who knows how soon we'd get the next wave of characters, and what characters would be next after the four we just received. Maybe there will be more Season 1 focus, which would be great to at least give us Cheetor and Waspinator in the next wave, given they were the first to fight. Until then, why don't we continue the Beast Wars love and take a look at the best Yesman ever and his sexy spider lady. I've reviewed versions of these characters in the past, twice for Megatron and at least once for Blackarachnia, so let's see how their non-transforming counterparts turned out!

Here we have Megatron in hand, and as expected from a figure of this caliber, he is very show-accurate to the Mainframe model. Maybe not as 1:1 as the Masterpiece, but it's still a great take on the CG render overall. The color layout and shades of purple are accurate to the show, and I dig that he has a bit of texturing to represent his scaly pattern while still not being fully detailed or realistic. I'm guessing if this was given the AMK Pro treatment, he could have an additional coat of paint to better match the Mainframe's color scheme. As it stands, his somewhat simpler design needs it less than the live action Transformers do (I mean, compare the AMKs of ROTB Optimus Prime and Scourge with the Pros). His talons are a yellower than normal, possibly on Barney territory, though I wouldn't want to delve further into those comparisons. Also, is it me, or are the green bits of his thighs a little too noticeable? Either way, the only issue I have would be how weird the backs of the thighs look, but the figure overall looks great for an asymmetrical bot mode.

Head sculpt looks pretty good, especially with the Predacon logo on the forehead as well as the unique details that help make the BW Megs feel more unique from his G1 ancestor. The eyes are meant to be light piped, but they don't shine through that well. Articulation consists of a double ball neck joint, shoulder rotation, two outward arm hinges, (one within the torso, the other at the shoulder), is bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, a dino head that opens via a lever, a claw for the tail, ball jointed wrists, side-to-side tilt, abdominal crunch, waist rotation, front-back hip joints, drop down system, outward leg movement (with thigh panels that hinge back for better range), thigh rotation, hinged knees, rotation above the knees, ankles that swivel, hinge, pivot, and toe-ticulation. As should be more common with Transformers figures, be it in-house at HasTak or outsourced with YoloBlok, he has a blast effect that can attach to the dino jaw.

Of course, the dino tail can be removed if you want to display Megatron with a cleaner profile for the left arm, and in addition to the fist we mostly saw him with, one of his alternate hands is a gestural open hand to go with the grimacing face. Most of the kibble can be removed to recreate the scene where he was in his downtime, brushing his dino head's teeth. We have a smiling face and a toothbrush, both of which are fitting for a moment like this. Almost looks like a behind-the-scenes pic that could come across as a shitpost. I think the shoulder pieces are meant to be removed, but nothing I could do easily.

For some size comparisons, here he is with the Ultra Class version (albeit the most recent reissue). Kind of crazy how this stumpy figure was refined into a theatrical yet magnificent version of Megatron, and easily the best one to date.

Up next is the Kingdom version, whose height is closer to the old toy, while this figure remains somewhat closer to the height Leaders used to have in the mid-2010s. Of course, given this was from an era where Generations had stylizations or slight tweaks instead of super duper accuracy, Kingdom Megatron isn't fully 1:1 with the cartoon, but it still works for me regardless.

Up next, here we have Optimus Primal, with these two sharing a pretty good height difference we'd usually expect between a Megatron and a Prime.

And here he is with former Predacon, Dinobot. Since Rhinox hasn't been made yet, I wonder if he would be either the same height as Dinobot and Optimus or would stay in between them.

Speaking of characters who used to be Predacons (later in the case for Blackarachnia), here we have the second wave together. Once again, another pretty good size difference between the two, and it makes for a great transition for the other figure we're about to tap into!

Now let's see what she has to offer. As expected, Blackarachnia's sexy, feminine design is translated about as accurately as you'd expect them to do, especially considering she's very humanoid compared to the average Predacon. Her sleek, curvy build is kept intact, and whereas Megatron focused more on sculpt work for his figure, Blackarachnia is focused more on a heavy use of paint apps to keep her as close to the cartoon as possible. There are some bits of purple that some may not be fully accurate; the inner thigh bits are possible, but the feet should normally be black (at least according to the Masterpiece). Her spider legs are adjustable to your liking, thanks to the ball joints at the base attached to the biceps, as well as two additional hinges near the ends of the spider legs. One cool thing I like is that the back has the hourglass emblem representing black widow spiders, and it's all without a noticeable backpack (which this one cleans up well, but Kingdom isn't that bad).

Her head sculpt is very human-like and golden, as one would expect, if a little freaky with the constantly squinting eyes. I'm sure people who bitched about AOE Drift wouldn't say a thing about Blackarachnia appearing Asian, especially given one of the animators happened to be Asian and was part of a young but horny group of Mainframe employees who were looking for some inspiration while creating Blackarachnia. You wouldn't hear this mindset from the echo chambers of the TF fandom, especially if they're going to pretend she's queer just because one of the WFC Trilogy writers wanted her to be as such (like that'd save the Netflix slop from being shat on). That said, her light piping works better than Megatron's, yet the eyes are inaccurately red instead of black. Nothing as distracting as Optimus Primal with yellow eyes or Dinobot with a green face, but it's worth mentioning. Her articulation is mostly the same as Megatron's, with the main differences being a ball joint for connecting the arms to the torso, single-jointed elbows, and articulated claws, a double ball-jointed torso, drop-down hips that are tight as hell but work better than Hasbro's, ball-jointed hips, thigh swivels, single-jointed knees, and toes that can curl instead of just hinge. Her signature weapon can attach to the alternate claws with the space closed in more, as well as a peg to hold it properly.

She comes with two alternate faceplates, though the main differences being how wide open the mouths are don't really make them that meaningful. Either ditch one and add a winking face instead, or give us a toy-accurate head.

The swappable visor is a cool touch, at least, especially with the green used instead of red lightpiping...interestingly, the visor has a piece of clear red plastic that can be removed from the visor piece, almost making it look like she's doing an optic blast like Cyclops from the X-Men would do. And as for removing it entirely, you're left with either her eyes gouged out or one of those censored eye pics.

Here she is with her Kingdom counterpart for anyone wondering about how tall she ends up next to a normal Generations figure; she's probably closer to the height of the Masterpiece if comparison photos between it and the Kingdom are anything to go by. Maybe you can put her in your MP display if you don't mind her lack of a transformation.

And here she is with the previous wave of figures, representing that Optimus Primal and Dinobot, despite being taller than her, are a little shorter than they should be. I guess it's not bad for the boss monkey, but the raptor should be almost twice Blackarachnia's height. Either way, that won't stop me from recommending these two as much as I recommend the first wave. While the size differences are a huge factor in price, I think you still get what you pay for, and then some, with these figures, unlike the current set of Hasbro TFs. Both of their articulation is outstanding; they're as close to the cartoon as the Masterpiece line, and the accessory count is pretty good for each figure in spite of Blackarachnia's barely different facial expressions. I know there are still people out there who are against non-transforming figures, but these have more value for money than the current prices Delues and Voyagers go for now.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐