Transformers TLK Optimus Prime review

Optimus Prime's character design in the original trilogy was one that I fell in love with the moment I saw it transform before my eyes. It was the kind of reminiscence of his old self that I actually like in retrospect because I didn't need him to be exactly like his G1 self. The robot design makes Optimus a lot leaner while still giving him a powerful look. And he looks amazing without the mouthplate, as the exposed face hits him well than it would on G1 Optimus if his blocky face had no mouthplate. Seeing the reveal of his new look did get me both excited and concerned. At first, I dug the fact that he has a new design to help keep him different from what we got, and it did provide that unique knight motif; the problem comes from how it was presented at first, with the somewhat stylized AOE artwork making it hard to tell how it's exactly supposed to look, along with some of the design cues not being 100% accurate to what was unveiled to us. To make matters worse, fans were horrified to witness how awful the 2014 First Edition figure looked, being a $60 vac-metallized turd and all. The $45 Leader figure was better, but it's not exactly good. The Voyager, on the other hand, was the Evasion Mode figure with various repaints that were in almost every store (due to its constant repaints), but while the engineering of that figure was pretty good, its color scheme is inaccurate. While the Knight Armor reuse of the Leader figure attempted to be accurate, and its Excalibur variant managed to make its backpack removable, it wasn't until 2017 where we have an Optimus Prime that manages to be engineered well while also not requiring transforming. Here's my look at what's hopefully the first step in cleaner-looking AOE/TLK Optimus Prime with my review of the Premier Edition figure!

This is what the figure looks like when it's stock. I changed the details back when I got back home from my vacation in Mexico (where I first bought this figure), but for anyone wondering what it once looked like, here you go. The sword's inaccurately orange, the shield has baby blue, the rims are missing paint, the head has more blue than silver,, and there's no red on the feet, amongst other details.

Here is Optimus Prime in his vehicle mode. The Western Star truck mode he takes form of in AOE and parts of TLK is pretty faithful to what it looked like in the movie, though I went ahead and added some paint for the rims, smokestacks, and Western Star logos. This vehicle mode pretty much has everything one would expect for the proper vehicle, so you don't have to worry about the lack of any details that are missing aside from what's usually added on the stock toy. As truck modes go, it's certainly a departure from the more "traditional" Peterbilt design, but it does work as an evolution from what we got (unlike that red box that appeals to the 80s man kids). The flames are applied nicely, the molded details are present (even if some of them aren't painted), and the proportions are about right to what the truck mode should look like (though the truck sits a little closer to the ground than normal, and the rear wheels are a little far apart from each other)

Here the weapon storage for the shield: it goes on the trailer hitch, which fits well and doesn't really ruin the look of the truck. Also, notice the silver smokestacks. The sword goes under the truck, and it doesn't get in the way either. That's how weapon storage works in my books.

Here he is next to a Transformer that doesn't show up often: Galvatron. Seeing these two together is kind of cool, as we get to see the more vibrant and colorful Optimus Prime next to Galvatron, who's a lot less flashy in comparison. I'm sure G1 fans thought that Galvatron was going to be Motormaster, especially considering how no one expected this gray truck to be a new body for Megatron.

It's funny I mentioned Galvatron because the transformation of Optimus is honestly similar to Galvatron's. The backpack looks similar, but the rest of the transformation works way better than Galvatron's. Obviously, it's due to the fact that Optimus has more part layout to go with his color scheme, but props to him for at least having more things to do for the transformation. The front of the vehicle and the gas tanks all become parts of the legs, while the torso, despite not having the same level of springs and hinges Galvatron had for his backpack, it's a lot more compact than any of the other Optimus Primes before him with the same body design. The arms and chest transformation are fairly simple, but props to the arms for using parts of the truck mode.

The robot mode is easily better than anything we've gotten before from HasTak. The proportions look right, the molded details are accurate, and while there's still some kibble here and there, at least it's cleaner than the messes made before. It's so good, to the point where I easily forgive Hasbro for the three-year wait I had with getting an Optimus that scales nicely (and not getting the Leader or its shrunken down knockoff counterpart). Like I said, not entirely perfect, and I can see Hasbro wanting to make one last shot at a Studio Series version of Optimus Prime, but it's far superior to the larger scale figures, especially with Hasbro learning from the mistakes of the larger toys. The leg kibble's sort of prominent, but it flows nicely and is reminiscent of his old legs. It's also nice that his backpack doesn't have the rear wheels strapped on him and looks more like he's transformed more convincingly, even if it's not 100% accurate. You can also have the sword on his sheath and notice the added paint apps done by me.

Head sculpt looks closer to Optimus's design in the final movie It's nowhere near as thin from the front and has all the sculpting one would expect, though the eyes could be a little less soft. Maybe I could easily fix that with a toothpick and silver paint one day. Also need to paint the silver on a bit better than in this image. As for the articulation, while I won't compare this to Evasion Prime (as I already once did that in a review for Beewun Prime), I will say that in terms of articulation, Beewun Prime's better in that department. Head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back as well as in and out. The shoulder pads don't get in the way, and it's also nice to see them not be flat pieces like on the FE or stupid roof halves like on the Leader. The biceps swivel, elbows bend only at 90 degrees, and there is sadly no wrist swivels. The waist swivels, hips move front and back as well as in and out, the thighs swivel, and the knees bend at 45 degrees. There is also no ankle pivot due to the transformation. The slightly limited leg articulation from the knees down kind of sucks because there are plenty of poses to put this Prime in, especially when it comes to the weapons.

His sword and shield are properly sculpted, yet I had to add the paint on them because they aren't painted accurately. The sword's not too bad because of how easy it is to paint over it. The shield could use a little more work on my part. Still better than what they first looked like.

Some fans are able to make their TLK Optimus Prime kibble-free. As you can see, the figure now has almost everything associated with the truck mode now separated from the toy proper. While that may seem cool in theory, I don't like the execution used on it. The problem is the fact that the toy needs the stability associated with these toys to work properly, as without them, the feet won't stay on properly, nor will the truck mode really stay together that well. I'd rather Hasbro take another stab at an even cleaner AOE Optimus so no one has to take the figure apart while also giving us some better paint apps and articulation.

This is a version of Optimus Prime was from a Toys R Us giveaway, which is just the same toy only with some weathering all over the toy. It's something you can do with your figure if you know how to weather toys.

Let's go over the other reuses of the figure (all of which were made in 2017 only). This is Dark Optimus Prime, who is also Nemesis Prime and has the more accurate flame deco, darker colors, silver smokestacks, a purple sword to go with the eyes, a blue shield, and blue for the hip armor. While it's got some nice added paint apps missing from the regular release, I wish the head had the proper red streak on one side (which was an iconic aspect of Optimus when he was temporarily Nemesis). Plus, the figure looks drabber when Optimus really wasn't as dark in this deco when he was Nemesis. I guess it depends on the lighting of the scenes Nemesis was in.

This is the SDCC version of Optimus Prime, which gives the character a bit more of an accurate despite a few inaccuracies here and there. The weapons are better painted (at least the shield is), the chest is better painted, the legs have more paint applied, and the back panels made from a side fo the truck are red plastic with blue paint instead of the blue plastic with red paint from the original release. There are still a few details that aren't accurate, like the smaller flames and the blue-collar piece. The packaging is similar to what the Alternators were packaged in, and also included is a piece of a tire used from the real truck Optimus Prime turns into. Yeah, it's not the most exciting accessory, but at least the deco's closer to perfection.

This is the Clear Optimus Prime version of the mold, and he's got about the same details Dark Optimus Prime got, only in translucent plastic. He can only be obtained at 7net by getting the home video version of The Last Knight, with the following: regular Blu-Ray + DVD + Special Features Blu-Ray, a 3D version of the same thing, a 4K version of the same thing, or the main 5 movies in one set.

For anyone wondering, yes, this guy was given a chrome version for the Lucky Draw line. Still, it's pretty blinging.

For a robot mode comparison, here he is next to the AOE First Edition mold, the Leader Class figure, and the Battle Command toy. Why am I making this comparison? Well, despite me wanting Hasbro to make one more stab at the Knight Prime design (no, not that Beewun Blockhead), I want to remind people about har much better the TLK Voyager is than anything we've gotten from the past. While I don't mind Hasbro using some vehicle kibble to make the toy remain transformable, it should all depend on how it's done. Example: look at how much junk is on the FE's trunk. I don't care how much chrome is thrown up on that thing, it's an awful Transformer that is a regression from the 2009 engineering, especially when it comes to how embarrassing the $60-80 price tag was. The Leader figure is slightly better, but only slightly, as the legs use some engineering (while the backpack is mainly the rear wheels). It's still not great, as the arms look disconnected from the figure and the toy's kibble is still just as annoying. The Battle Command figure may seem like the best version of Optimus, and I know its paint apps and sculpting may look the best from what we got, but its only good from the front, as any other angle is ruined by the stupidly big butt kibble and barely modified truck front. You can attempt to remove the kibble, but know that the wires are going to be cut off. So...even with the room for improvement, I still prefer the TLK figure over what Hasbro made in 2014 (or Takara when it comes to Booty Command Fannimus Prime).   

Here he is next to Megatron and Galvatron. It's so nice to have an Optimus look great with a Megatron that's done right from the start of the toyline he's from and a Galvatron that's painted decently. Beats having a Leader Prime not scale with Voyager Galvatron.

So where do I stand with TLK Optimus Prime right now? Well, I have to say I owe it to this figure for being the Transformer that got me back into collecting Transformers again after choosing to quit from the peer pressure that was the Combiner Wars Completion Crisis and the Titans Return Walmart Drought. I wasn't really in the mood to collect Combiners when I wouldn't go outside often and sadly, I could only go to the one Walmart store at Indiana (because the other one near my brother's high school is one that we rarely go to) and the Target near me closed down. It wasn't until I stepped into college where I began to delve into the collecting hype again, what with the multitude of Targets to visit, and the abundance of places to check out. Now, my collection feels a lot more impressive if a little crowded, and it's all thanks to this Optimus (as well as Berserker and HFTD Starscream). I guess it's better to buy Transformers that feel different from another than get Deluxes that form limbs and Voyagers that form torsos (also why I skipped out on almost everything POTP). Still, TLK Optimus Prime fills the gap I wanted since Age of Extinction came out: a good, Voyager-scaled version of the badass Autobot Leader's new form with good engineering. I wanted an Optimus Prime that felt like a real Transformer, not some robot with kibble barely useful for the transformation. I wanted an Optimus Prime that captured his new look wonderfully. This new figure, while not exactly perfect, does everything I would want a Voyager Prime to do. But until the Studio Series version comes, what could you do to make this guy better? Well...

You can get the Dr. Wu upgrade kit, giving him a much better sword and shield than what was made beforehand. I recommend the metallic option!

You can also get him some stickers to give him some details that were missing from the regular release. A little more red's needed here and there, like on the shoulders and forearm gauntlets.

If you have the painting skills (and ones better than mine), you can make your TLK Optimus look gorgeous with a movie-accurate deco makeover! Ryuki of Seibertron.com made a tremendous take on the mold with some sweet paint apps in mind.

BUT if you're going to make an Optimus Prime repaint that's not trying to be accurate to the movie design, then don't do it...like...this...

Yeah, I hate to be rude, but there's only one way to react to that:

Anyways, here's an image of the TLK group I took from 2018! So like I said, Optimus Prime's got some things that still could be fixed, but for the most part, I'm happy to own this figure and am glad he's the one that kickstarted my interest in collecting Transformers again.

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