Finally got my Prima. I’m a bit late to the party, initially skipping him due to the bland colors and doofy retconned head. Japan shipping was majorly delayed meaning I’ve been waiting for this guy for 2 weeks. Glad to get him for only slightly more than the Japan SRP since supply appears to have dried up. Anyway…
Altmode is basically the same thing that Stege Ironhide and Ratchet turn into. Kind of bland color-wise but the stripe towards the back really shows that Prime trailer lineage. Instructions tell me to attach the sword sticking out of the front bumper but A. It looks dumb and B. The peg is very loose in the port. Var mode is alright, only real robot bits are his shins as the rear of the vehicle and the thing rolls well but undercarriage clearance is tight. Care must be taken to not scuff his head.
Of course, that is with the caveat that his head is scuffed to begin with. I dunno, if you want to do a FFOD background dude just do that design. This is just an awkward smooshing together of one design’s head on top of a completely different design. I particularly enjoy the teaspouts sticking out of either side of his head. Such a bold, trendy fashion statement. Of course, there probably weren’t many people to tell him otherwise to his face at the beginning of Cybertronian existence. Transformation is simple enough and has some neat tricks to reform the vehicle into a heroic humanoid figure, though folding the shins under the roof is finnicky due to the lack of clearance between the moving parts.
Colors are a very light gray, bordering on white and a dark gray. Some metallic blue highlights are trying their best to bring some interest to the toy and partially succeed, but I dunno, the large swathes of bland light gray really needed some color breakup. Plenty of articulation, comparable to Commander Optimus, which is impressive considering the price point. He’s pretty big and not very gappy to boot. Joints feel nicely buttery. Unfortunately, his swordsman motif is let down by the understandable omission of butterfly joints and the less understandable omission of a longer hilt. Star Saber looks good mostly. You can stick the Matrix on it but the crappy tolerances mean it just falls off. You can disassemble it into the blade and the handle but they really don't do much separated. Aesthetically, the two stupid prongs to either side of the blade seems like they’d just get in the way of cutting stuff but I guess they match the two stupid prongs on his head. More objectively, the clear blue blade has a big number "2" molded on it. Why?
You might be asking: “unluckiness why did you buy a toy that is very clearly not to your tastes from stock images alone?” Well, the answer to that arrived ten days earlier.
Shameless signal boost here: I started a Upgrade Kit/Add-On thread in the BOT section and I’d love to see people discuss this sort of thing or share their stuff over there.
With the advent of 3D printing, there are now dozens of operations cranking out parts, gizmos and doodads for your favorite plastic money sinks. Saw something cool? Wanna ask how that thing that caught your eye is? Want to give feedback? Maybe just wishlist? Start the conversation in this...
www.allspark.com
