Here we have Optimus Prime in his vehicle mode. By now, you should generally be familiar with this kind of truck mode. It's a Western Star 5700 model, it has a more radical flame deco than what the trilogy model has, and the toy is officially licensed this time around compared to the heavy modifications done on the Peterbilt 379's likeness. I'm also sure that we know that toys based off this altmode tend to consistently get the truck mode right with no issues, though that's due to the robot mode requiring that it maintains that knight aesthetic rather than use those truck parts in any meaningful way. What I can say is that unlike the chrome on the First Edition, this alt mode wisely uses it on the smokestacks, sun visor, and grille. We go a step further and use it on the rims, something we usually see on the Masterpiece G1 offerings but not on either Buster Prime or MPM Prime; in fact, only the Takara version of Premium Series Optimus adds chrome to the truck parts thanks to those rims being separate pieces from the rubber tires (which we also get with this figure).
With the alt mode being about as perfect in terms of proportions and kibble management, I guess the next thing to talk about would be the toy's weight. The toy was much lighter than Leader Class figures were from a decade prior, no doubt from the thinner, smaller plastic spread as well as the lack of electronic features, but at least the back adds a.but of weight from the fact that its assembly does more than just become a backpack. As we'll get to, it turns into a shield for Optimus to use.
Underneath are some of the weapons included with this figure. Unlike the symmetrical sword storage from the originally tooling, this is actually able to store the axe in addition, but I would advise not to given how easily it flexes.
For a vehicle mode size comparison, keep in mind that he is smaller than the ROTF Leader was, and moreso than the First Edition turd we got before this figure. At the very least, he will scale fine with the usual Deluxes and Voyagers, even Alien Attack Firage fits in better with him than any MPM display.
Transformation is where the figure gets most of its criticism from; while more effort was put into this than the Turd Edition with the shellformery slop on its back, the issue is that not enough effort was put into one half of the toy. Turning the front section into the legs is actually a genius bit of engineering with the always the halves twist and turn for the truck's grille, nose & cab, and front wheels in addition to the waist rotation. The upper half is mostly just moving truck parts around while the torso, arms, and backpack do very little to enhance the silhouette. I mean, having the roof halves turn into shoulder pads and the truck sides into skirt armor is kind of genius, but they're far too oversized and look clunky as hell with the hinges on display. Also, I have seen some copies have a weird quirk where the spring on the weapon is so powerful that it either causes the head to pop off when tabbing the chest in or just making the face swing up awkwardly. As for the robot mode, I think the proportions for the design are a little on the toyetic side, both with the kibble placement on a clean design as well as the boxy torso making his arms appear thin and lanky in comparison. I guess the benefit to this is that the removable backpack cleans up his silhouette better, though you can always leave the back kibble in place if you really wanted to. I kind of like that the wheel arches near the ankles are still around the legs, since they make for a cute nod to how Bayverse Prime toys usually have that design trait, and I dig that Takara at least sculpted part of the back so there wouldn't be a plain headache rack, but the back of the legs are still hollow, and I wish Takara got to fill them in or have them contribute to the transformation somehow. On the plus side, the retooling done in this figure is exquisite, especially comparing the inaccurate chest and arms we got with the original version. The paint apps being all silver with premium attention put in some of the smaller areas, combined with the gauntlets having proper color break up, makes this feel more polished than chrome placed randomly would do.
Head sculpt is another step up from the Armor Knight tooling we got, with the shape and paint work not just better matching the CG model, but we also get what was the first time since Animated Voyager Optimus Prime where you can display the face with or without a mouth plate, but rather than go the approach Animated and Cybertron went with from sliding a lever up, you lift the face up, rotate it 180 degrees, and use the alternate look you desire. 2 years later, in addition to this modified reissue, the faceplate gimmick would pop up on MPM Optimus Prime, and both Leader-sized Legendary Optimus Prime and Ultimate Optimus Primal would use that gimmick.
With the beautifully painted Sword of Judgement in hand, articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, ratchets in the shoulders (with the front/back motion being at an awkward angle when tabbed in place and the outward movement using indents too far apart), rotation above the forearm, ratcheted elbows, wrist rotation added to the Armor Knight/Calibur version, thumb articulation, waist rotation, ratcheted hips, rotation above the knees, ratcheted knees, and slight ball joints for the ankle pivots.
The backpack is more than just for partsforming, as the whole thing turns into a shield used not in Age of Extinction but Dark of the Moon instead. While the gunmetal and copper paint apps are badass it's a little oversized for him. As for the weapon storage, the sword and axe can tab or slide onto the back without any issue.
In addition to those weapons, we even get a bonus hand held Energon blade found only with the first many copies of this mold. This has to be the first time a hand held version of weapon came with a transforming version of the character, even if the arm-deployed blades are both more common and popular. Anyone wanting to use this to recreate the brief time he had this blade against Galvatron are in for a ride awakening when they find the peg and the forearm ports incompatible with each other.
With these weapons, we can bring back the GOAT himself, Asia Premium Series Striker Optimus Prime. Yes, while my Buster Prime is combined with Movie the Best Jetfire, this figure will be part of my Optimus/Megatron shrine. The instructions and Amazon Japan listings say the weapons are compatible with the Movie the Best version of Optimus due to the articulated hands, yet all pre-2017 versions of this mold can use the blade given the handle includes the same dimensions found for the Ion Blaster, Jetwing cannons, and Striker weapons. The shield scales better with this Optimus, and it also has a C-joint clip for the forearm panel pins to secure it in place. Even the blues on the shield match decently well, even if not 100%.
By removing the head of the axe, you can slide the handle through the hand so it can seamlessly hold the weapon without issue. The downside is that the blue for this thing stands out much more than if it were gunmetal, but hey, he can be displayed fighting Sentinel Prime in the ruins of Downtown Chicago.
With so many weapons at his disposal, I bet we can prove this is the example of one toy getting so much love compared to the other. The ROTF Leader is much taller, far more complex, and can display all of his weapons at once (even compared to Optimus Primal). What is this favoritism you speak of? Maybe I should keep Calibur Prime's left arm warm with a spare shield.
The original version of AOE Optimus Prime was closer to the concept art rather than the final design we got in the film. This means the chest is far more intricate in detail than the pectoral look, his head and sword are more jagged, the feet have inaccurate spikes pointing up whereas they should be smooth with red painted on, and the forearms do not match either look he had before or after grabbing his sword. Depending on the figure, the red plastic and paint is either a more traditional red or a darker red found on Sentinel Prime. For some reason, the all clear plastic used on this toy are cast in this nasty piss yellow, I don't know what the fuck Hasbro was thinking with using this color instead of something a little more natural, especially for the windows. The shield is almost accurate save for the fact that it's permanently deployed in cannon mode. Also, the backpack he was stuck with not even collapsing downwards more or transforming to look compact hurts the appearance far more than it should.
As for the Takara version, while the clear plastic is still yellow, we at least ditch the chrome on the chest in favor of reversing the colors and at least trying to match the final chest design. They also added silver paint for the rims upper arms, thighs, head, and torso. So it looks better than the Hasbro version, but only slightly.
We also have the gold chrome Lucky Draw version, so no explanation needed on what it looks like. Also, you may think there are stock photos of a clear plastic version floating around the Internet...
...yet in actually, it is part of a 2-pack that came with a decent patina-esque Grimlock. That mold sucked more than this one did, but we now have more chrome (especially on the shield), darker blues, richer reds, and more color break up for the head. On the downside, how shins are inexplicably red. Thankfully, the sword and windows are now blue, which looks better.
And here we have the precursor to the Calibur retool, originally called Armor Knight Optimus Prime. This figure's screen accurate retooling is carried over to its 2.0 TLK counterpart, only we still have the backpack that cannot be removed, the sword and shield are cast in orange plastic and are hardly accurate, and the reds and blues are more metallic. While this is nice on its own, I prefer the further modifications introduced with Calibur Prime.
This figure naturally got a black repaint known as Black Knight Optimus Prime, meaning this is not an evil Nemesis Prime repaint and instead represents the Elderdroid repaint we got with MP-01B Black Convoy. The truck mode looks extremely slick with the teal between the front and backs of the truck, it's that sexy.
To tie in with The Last Knight, we got an Asian exclusive repaint of the inaccurate tooling known as Shadow Spark Optimus Prime. This figure is painted to look like the abandoned, rusty state he was in when he was left to rust in space (with no explanations given), yet he has the Nemesis Prime purple eyes. Reminds me a bit of the Sleep Mode repaint for MP-04 Convoy.
As for the standard Hasbro release, we get a drab, de-premiumized version of the outdated tooling with no chrome, an unpainted shield, and smokey clear plastic instead of the retarded piss yellow. Beyond the removal of the ugly yellow, this is a real face slap of a stupid repaint.
Thankfully, in addition to Calibur Optimus Prime, we get Movie the Best Nemesis Prime, whose midnight blue, blood red, darker silver, and purple accents found for the eyes, axe, and black shield make this closer to the premium dark chocolate branding you'd find. I bet a seductive Quintessa voice over would play over after marking this toy with the red scar. By the way, this was the first time we got an explicit Nemesis Prime repaint for The Last Knight before Hasbro did their Studio Series version whose colors are brighter in comparison (ignoring the dark grey), yet the film had only the eyes and part of the face change.
For some comparisons with other figures based on this design, here he is with the transforming versions in the form of Studio Series on his right and The Last Knight Voyager on his left. Honestly, the Studio Series version may be the best figure when it comes to articulation and engineering, but even it has its own issues with how underpainted it is for a LEADER CLASS. I also appreciate the TLK Voyager for being a decent figure back when it came out, yet I always hated how 3 years after AOE's release, they hadn't found a way to do any real color break up to make him as accurate as possible, nor is the articulation that great considering the knees bend at 45 degrees, he has no wrist or ankle movement, and therefore poses worse than Evasion Prime. Thankfully, for all of its issues, we can say that Calibur Optimus looks the nicest and most premium thanks to his high number of paint apps.
And here we have him next to his Yolopark AMK Pro counterpart. What a night and day difference one makes from not having the ability to transform, huh? On top of that, the proportions for the model kit better match the on-screen CG model, and the use of a black wash further highlights the level of detail overall. I guess you can say that the Leader figure would make for a good altmode display, but now I want to talk about why I'm about to give it the rating you'll read below: when it comes to the devolution of Leader Class figures, it's disheartening to see them go from big ticket toys with lights and sounds (Cybertron through Dark of the Moon, maybe the Prime ones count but the Weaponizers and any beyond-Voyager sized toys are't proper Leaders) to slightly smaller figures with simpler engineering and varying degrees of plastic quality (Age of Extinction & Thrilling 30 through Power of the Primes & early Studio Series) and now Voyagers with Benefits (Siege through recent Studio Series and Age of the Primes). While I can easily say that I prefer older toylines for having more value for money, the AOE line is far from a favorite of mine; apart from Evasion Optimus, Hound, some of the Dinobots, and I guess Drift, most of the figures were very held back with engineering and budget thanks to a mix between simplifying toys after people whined about ROTF's line, the trend of shrinkflation leaving little room for the budget and the process of translating the complex designs to breathe, and the AOE bot aesthetics being difficult to translate on a first try. If I had reviewed the original AOE Leader Prime, I'd give it a much lower rating than what I'll give this retool. It's a toy riddled with issues, especially compared to what it's based on and what we had before, but I can still prefer it over the Turd Edition sold on Amazon. The two saving graces of the original version would be the nice chrome accents and the decent leg transformation; Takara's slightly better paint apps would bump it higher somewhat, the Armor Knight retooling improves the figure even more than the 2-pack's darker blues and chrome addiction ever could, and this version's weapon pack as well as optional partsforming makes it much easier to stomach. Only in that sequence do we get a salvageable retool whose screen accurate parts, properly premium paint, and weapons compatible with a (much better) Leader Class figure made half a decade carry what is an otherwise subpar toy. All I'm saying is to be happy we got this (and Nemesis!) so we can ignore all other versions of the mold, especially that AWFUL Hasbro TLK Leader repaint. I know there is still room for improvement with this thing, but I don't regret buying this toy because of what redeems it. It's not like Combiner Wars Megatron where people praised it purely because of the silver paint or the head sculpt; this mold is honestly better than CW Megs or Thrilling 30 Jetfire, but it's more of a single step above than it is a leap in quality like what I'd use to describe older Leader toy. So if you have to have just one version of this mold, avoid all others and stick with this or Nemesis Prime. The final improvements added to this version of the figure prevent this from being a huge pass.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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