After Armada ended, fans of the series yearned for an updated take on the design with more articulation and a better design than the brick of the old days. While Hasbro did give fans a Galaxy Upgrade retool of Siege Magnus, a fully new mold was revealed as a prototype for the Unicron Trilogy Prime's first design, in grayscale and with only the robot mode shown next to Gen Selects Star Convoy. It took a long while to get to that stage, but we finally got what might be an arguably better figure with the Legacy Evolution design for the Generations line-up. With the reception towards the series growing positive overtime thanks to fans not wanting to follow 1984, I think Armada truly deserves some more love this time. So let's see if this guy is worth obtaining.
Here we have Armada Optimus Prime in his vehicle mode. The series was known for having more experimental altmodes in contrast to the earlier traditional ones of G1 (excluding Season 3 & beyond) or the more realistic altmodes that the Autobots utilized in RID, so it was cool to have a new take on Optimus that while similar to G1 Prime in terms of coloring and being a truck, has an identity of its own simply by reinventing the wheel (literally in a way). This is a beefy truck with an equally radical trailer that he comes with. Some would probably complain about the gap where the cannon lies, but I think with some tweaks, you can fit those crates inside the gap. The cannon stays on top as it should, and I have to say overall how much I value a time when Optimus Prime would experiment with his appearances in different universes vs nowadays how Cyberverse, all prequel movies, and Earthspark to an extent, revert to the G1 look.
In general, you can really see just how much character is put into the vehicle mode with the chunkiness of Prime alone, but even the trailer does its "similar-but-different" approach with how the stripe and Autobot insignia calls back to the G1 days but the tank treads and the bulk on the sides contrast everything from the norm. Some would wonder why there are tank treads, but looking it up, there are trucks that use rubber tracks for a few different purposes. Aaron Archer does know more than I do.
For a Commander Class vehicle mode size comparison, here he is in-between Legacy Motormaster and Kingdom Rodimus Prime. It's quite interesting seeing how varied these truck bots can get as far as styles are concerned. We have Motormaster being a traditional truck bot with the aesthetics and trailer being grounded in reality, Rodimus being a space Winnebago, and Optimus being a more fictional truck that would be impractical in real life to an extent. I don't mind if trucks like these get to be made as Commanders when it comes to them getting more mass in their plastic as well as having more features that wouldn't normally be added in an average Voyager. We've got another Commander truck coming soon, and perhaps we'll see what is set to come with Magnus.
And here he is with two Leader Class figures with trailers, on the left being Earthrise Optimus Prime and on the right being Velocitron Scourge. no disrespect to G1 Prime and RID Scourge, but I can't help but feel their more traditional design philosophies make them feel smaller than with Armada Prime. I don't have him with me in vehicle mode, but I will add that DOTM Prime from Studio Series is comparable to those two.
Up next, here we have him with his future self in the Unicron Trilogy, specifically the Galaxy Upgrade Optimus from way back in Siege! Now, that figure was a pretty heavy retool of Ultra Magnus, meaning he wasn't entirely accurate to the original toy. I should mention that this was before Hasbro finally had the balls to make toys that weren't based in G1 or Beast Wars for the Generations line, and also after we had those subpar TFP figures from Legacy Wave 1 & 2 (apart from Bulkhead to an extent)..
Leader Class Megatron takes up the spotlight next. While Leaders have been getting smaller to the point they're now Voyagers with Benefits, these two are at least in scale with each other and aren't going to be much of an issue for future Armada updates once we get to play with them in the near future.
And for a look without his trailer, here he is next to Armada Starscream and Hot Shot. It's pretty decent scale between these characters, though Optimus Prime and Hot Shot is somewhat going to be seen as undersized next to Hot Shot and the same could be said for Starscream. Regardless, not bad for three of the four big faces of the Unicron Trilogy. Also I did find one minor issue with Prime's truck mode: that being the small gap between what will be the shoulders and forearms of the robot mode.
And finally, here he is with his old Supercon self from 2 decades ago! Yes, good ol' Bendy Prime from way back in 2002! That figure was the only Armada Prime I had in my collection for quite a long time, especially when he had articulation and wasn't overly reliant on a gimmick like his Superbase counterpart. I think both figures do a good job with resembling the character model in the show well enough, though I will admit I kind of wish the new Legacy one had more silver on the bumper as well as some yellow headlights.
Transformation is pretty involved for this design, as it isn't just a case of hanging the front down into the arms, flipping the chest down, or extending the legs as well as flipping down the feet. Instead, parts of the truck front hinged onto the shoulders, the forearms now rely on double-elbows rather than friction joints, and the wheels rotate while the shins have panels that help with the foot transformation. The resulting robot mode looks leaner than the norm, but it does match the character model much better than in the past with his older toys. He maintains the same bulk that makes this Prime stand out from other incarnations, and I couldn't have it any other way. The gold is a balance between the duller gold that was on the Hasbro version of Superbase Prime and the Takara vibrant yellow, and other details such as the gray fists and the black stripes on the chest. Plastic quality is also nice, though one issue I did have comes from the waist, that being how it doesn't peg together from the back properly even if you try to squeeze it tightly. Doing this also leads to the issue where the butt flap splits in two when it shouldn't. But beyond that I have no complaints. This is a great design for Prime, capturing the time when Optimus was not just a stylized evergreen/G1 bot.
Head sculpt continues the trend of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" that Hasbro failed to do with the TFP guys by leaving it in the same style it had in the Armada series, from the yellow/gold forehead to the yellow eyes, the curved-back antennae, and it's great that Hasbro decided to leave it as it is rather than a lazy reuse of a G1 head. His articulation consists of a ball-jointed head, shoulders that swivel front and back as well as hinge in and out, swivel above the elbows, double-bend at the elbows, wrist swivels, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, (which are ratcheted like the hips), and ankle pivots to boot. No waist swivel like Bendy Prime, but there is a very good reason why he doesn't have one. Am I right, Siege Apeface? Am I right, Earthrise Seekers?!
His ion blaster can be held in his hand, looking badass and at least doing a better job of imtegrating the classic G1 look of the weapon while still adding a bit more sculptwork to make it less 1:1 rather than make it look like it has excess plastic unshaved. Interestingly, the instructions say the gun can be pegged on the back if you relocate the Autobot insignia to his shoulders...perhaps this might be a sign of things to come for a future combination? If it were to involve a jet, man that'd be fire.
He has a Matrix chamber, similar to the Superbase Prime; this time, it IS removable, allowing you to either depict him handing it to Hot Shot before the younger bot rejected it due to not being seen as fit to use it or when Prime abandoned it at the end of the series before he went soul-searching.
Here he is with his fellow Armada gang, and being a Commander Class figure made him perfect for scaling next to these characters as a Voyager-sized figure while still retaining his bulky proportions. Taller than Starscream and Hot Shot while still being a bit shorter than Megatron.
Here he is next to his Supercon self once again, and you can definitely see how different these two are when it comes to the aesthetics they maintain. I'm sure fans who never saw Armada since it last came out as well as stick with the Deluxe toy for years would be startled by how the new Prime is as lean as the previous toy is wide. You could say that Legacy Prime is meant to represent his cartoon appearance and the old Supercon is meant to be his Dreamwave form. I would argue that \the old toy has not just the wider proportions but also the more oversized tires on him vs. the ones on the new figure, the darkened scorch on the grill, and the darker colors (in addition to the clear plastic). Also next to Galaxy Upgrade Prime, you can tell which figure got the freedom of being a new mold vs another which is a retool and nothing more.
And here he is with RID Scourge and G1 Prime once again. He is slightly shorter than either figure, though that might be the way the shoebox used for the review setting sort of dips down in the middle. In any case, he should be a little closer to their heights, and in case you're wondering why we have RID Scourge and not Laser Prime, I prefer Scourge overall and wanted to get that figure in these colors. A G1 Nemesis Prime is only available in Siege colors rather than the Earthrise mold because of the Netflix series, but Armada Prime getting a Nemesis Prime repaint...will require a lot of modifications to make him a Voyager beyond the retooled head and deciding if they'll color him as either Hasbro or Takara's take on the old toy.
Now for another Commander Class core bot comparison, with Motormaster on the left and Rodimus Prime to the right. While G1 fans will be scratching their heads as to why an Armada character is getting a toy in that scale and not Silverbolt, it shows one thing I appreciate with the Legacy line of late: variety. And that's what the line needed after Combiner Wars stuck with Oops All G1 outside of Combiner Wars Armada Megatron or Titans Return Tidal Wave. Even still, they were repaints, and the same went for whatever FunPub did with Beast Wars Uprising. All to appeal to just G1 fans vs. the growing interest put towards non-G1 stuff such as the Beast Wars series in Kingdom.
As we give attention to the trailer, it can transform into its battle platform mode manually, so thankfully, Baltmatrix won't set his balls on fire when he messes with the motor incorrectly! On a more serious note, this trailer is much more involved than what we previously had, as it actually transforms more like the Powermaster trailer did to an extent rather than open and splay all of its sides out like a box would. The resulting battle platform is less like how it once was, especially without the central tower on top. Ultimately, if any mode had to be altered the most, it had to be the trailer. On the positive side, with the artillery cannon on the back and the blaster on the front, it sort of looks like an aircraft of some kind. And hey, I'd rather have poseable legs rather than a motorized gimmick.
For another comparison, here he is with the G1 trailer, showcasing signs of how much deviation is made from the simple, opening box to the sprawled-out battle platform.
With the tanker trailer base of RID Scourge, they are both sprawled out and have a bit of a towering cannon, but Armada beats the tanker trailer.
And this is Rodimus Prime's own take on the battle platform. Certainly much taller but it makes sense given how big the Winnebago is as a whole. I also like the trailer on Roddy, too.
And we now have Motormaster's base for one final comparison. These two almost look like they're combined, which makes it feel rather Power Rangers-ish in a way. Or moreso how the Titan bases and some Commander bases connected in Titans Return and the WFC trilogy.
Combining Prime with the trailer is where things truly shine for this design. We get Optimus becoming the upper body first having the legs become the arms, and the rest of him becoming the torso (this time, the front of the truck becomes the torso in a way unexpected at the time). The trailer transforms somewhat like Powermaster Prime while maintaining the faithful approach of the Unicron Trilogy design philosophy. You are told to have Prime's grille slide into the cavity of the backpack before attaching the torso to the waist, but you could technically do the latter step first if you really want to experiment with the transformation. Also, don't forget to hide the gaps properly with the feet under the forearms because I failed to do that. The resulting super mode is breathtaking. A design that was ridiculed by purists back in 2002 slams any insults back at them by being much more striking with the modern-day toy engineering that makes him feel completely definitive. He is much more refined, especially in the legs, the super mode looks effective in terms of proportions, and in contrast to the old toy, he is no longer a brick this time around without betraying his design aesthetics. The only issue I have with the super mode is that the butt flap looks a bit out of place, especially if you leave that piece attached to the back. Other than that, I love how this guy turned out.
Head sculpt is signature for Armada, with the golden paint apps for the pipe ears, the mouth plate, and the forehead crest. The only inaccuracy I can find for the eyes is the eyes not being red. I was hoping Hasbro would fix them before the release since they did the same with Studio Series Mirage's head becoming blue after it was originally gray, but hey, it's better than Earthrise Prime not having any silver paint to separate the blue eyes from the face when they were originally yellow in the stock images. His articulation gives him the same ball-joint range, the shoulders ratchet front and back as well as in and out. The biceps swivel, the knees-now-elbows bend, the wrists swivel, and his fingers articulate. There is a waist swivel underneath the waist flaps, hips that ratchet front and back as well as hinge in and out, thighs swivel, knees ratchet, and ankles pivot.
Holding the Ion Blaster in his hand, Optimus's smokestacks from the regular mode can peg on the front. They don't become a pistol that lights up for this mode, but it's better than how the Supercon Prime's inability to do the gun mode. Next to Motormaster, he is shorter than the Gestalt, but I feel that makes sense when Prime's trailer is meant to be integrated into him specifically in contrast to Menasor's requirement of utilizing all limb-configured Stunticons. Regardless, I'm sure Armada Prime can beat the slag out of G1 Menasor.
And here we have him with his Cybertron self, and you can see how the shorter height kind of helps this guy not make the Galaxy Upgrade figure seem too out of scale. That being said, I am interested in seeing how a proper updated Cybertron Prime will look if we get that in a future Generations line.
And here he is with the rest of the Armada characters. He now towers over everyone else, and it makes me interested in seeing how Hasbro will tackle future Generations lines when it comes to the future characters that they will later get to, from Jetfire to Overload, and hey, Tidal Wave is on the way! Overall, Armada Optimus Prime is not just my favorite Commander Class figure tied to Sky Lynx, but he also might be the best figure in the Legacy Evolution line! I thought Tarn or Dreadwing would take the spotlight, but no! This guy wins in the same ranking the same way Spinister won over Siege, Netflix Soundwave with Earthrise, BW Megatron with Kingdom, and Transmetal Megatron with Legacy. The David Kaye Megatron chain is broken, but spoiler alert: Armada Megatron might be close in the ranking list while Armada Prime is number 1!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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