DJ Plays With: Transformers: The Last Knight Premier Edition Voyager Class Optimus Prime
I’ll go ahead and address the question that quite a few people ask of me when I admit that I don’t hate any of these movies, including the new one. No, not whether or not I was dropped on my head as a baby, but why? Honestly, around the time of DotM, I pretty much just accepted that these movies are what they are – the complete and utter lowest common denominator version of the franchise I genuinely find enjoyment out of, and unfortunately the most represented version of it in the public eye. With that in mind, I sort of just soldier on with my expectations incredibly low and just see what enjoyment I can get out of it but also making sure that whatever criticisms I have of it aren’t just the easiest hyperbolic things to scream about on Twitter or Facebook. I also make sure that anything I defend – and I use that term loosely – are things in the movies themselves, and not stuff from my brain automatically filling in blanks like it tends to. Ultimately, the Transformers as a franchise is a healthy, widespread one with a multitude of entries in different forms of media, running concurrently with these big dumb stupid movies, so even if I find one of them completely terrible, I have things like television series, a comic book (THREE, in fact), and shoddily made web series to keep me entertained. Plus, if nothing else, if the movies can give me some cool toys, it’s all worth it.
Just like how, from Transformers: The Last Knight, we have Premier Edition Voyager Class Optimus Prime.
The conspiracy theory going on is that this Optimus Prime toy started life as a toy from the last movie’s short-lived toy line, but was shelved and saved for this go around. We’ll get into the why’s later, but whatever the case, his alt mode is an excellent representation of the then brand new Western Star freight liner vehicle. If people thought his look from the first three movies was a little loud and exaggerated, this newer form puts that one to shame with the excessive exhaust pipes on his back on top of now iconic flame paint job on his hood and cab. While past Primes have had brighter, more eye-catching versions of this paint job, the pearlescent blue finish with the bright red and the minor return of that wonderful silver makes it so as loud as the design might be, the truck wears it well. Plus, hey, it still rolls.
A running theme in this review will be how this is just so much better at representing Optimus Prime then either of the Leader class toys from AoE. The transformation is still simple but hides and folds away the truck pieces much more elegantly and smoothly, and rather than hide everything in a backpack like before, splitting the difference between his back and his legs gives him a much more balanced silhouette. You end up with a toy that nails the look of the CG model as much as possible given the limitations of price point and real-life physics, and mostly successfully. The paintwork is almost great. The silver paint on his chest and other areas bring out the mechanical details where needed, and the red and blues blend and break up the colors where needed. I said almost, because while the head is gorgeously detailed, the paintwork is severely lacking. A little more of that silver would help, but more than anything, the bright blue paint they use on Prime’s eyes is a total botch. There’s too much of it, and while leaving them unpainted would have been worse, they paint the rims outside where his pupils are, and as a result they just look like these gigantic, bright eyes that stick out oddly. It’s unfortunate because otherwise, that’s a nice movie prime head, and it being the eyes they messed up on is a bummer. I’m not a real fan of light piped eyes (since they’re usually not implemented well), but even that would’ve looked better than this. Oh, that theory I mentioned earlier? Some of the “proof” is how this is very much Optimus from the mid-point of the movie, before he gains his more knightly inspired gauntlets and boots in the Knight ship, both of which he still has in the current movie.
Poseability-wise, it’s the standard set – head on a ball joint neck, cut and swivel shoulders, bicep cut swivels, elbows, waist rotation, swiveling and spreading hips, thigh cuts, and knees. However, no ankle joints this time, which is a bummer, and no wrist rotation, which really puts a downer on his accessories. Optimus comes with both his Sword of Judgement and Vector Shield, and while both are molded nicely, the lackluster paintwork brings them down a few notches. With the former being mostly orange and the latter being mostly that same bright blue with some gray, just a little more red detailing on both would have done wonders. They’re almost maybe a little smaller than I’d have liked, and lack of wrist rotation limits how well Optimus can wield the blade, but otherwise they work well enough. The Sword can also be stored on his back for moments of not brutally murdering other beings, though all you can do with the shield is rotate it 180 degrees in its peg hole into storage position…or just take it off and put it somewhere.
Even ignoring how not-great a job they did with the Leader class last time, this Optimus Prime is a good toy. While the RotF Leader toy is impressive in complexity, this voyager toy being able to take a transformation that outright cheats with no regard for trying to even seem real and make a lower level price point figure is commendable. It’s hands down a better toy then the ones from AoE, and fits in quite nicely alongside the Autobot line-up from that movie as well. Honestly, the one and only thing that’s stopping me from giving this a full recommendation to fans is the price. I said earlier this was part of the “Premier Edition,” and that basically means it comes in a box reminiscent of Marvel Legends Infinite Series or Star Wars Black Series figures (also from Hasbro, natch), except there doesn’t really seem to be any proof of these toys being in a supposedly more upgraded package. Even the box itself hardly has any writing or bios on it to separate it from past toys, and ultimately costing about $30.00 is asking more than this toy is really worth. Fortunately, you can find Optimus and other Voyager toys for about $5.00 less in some place, which I can recommend a bit more easily. Don’t pay full price, and this is a solid Optimus Prime.
And so ends this journey through the Transformers Movie toy lines with Optimus Prime toys. Honestly, even the figures I was maybe somewhat down on just made me interested in the lines again, and I personally found it fascinating for myself as a trip through memory lane since I really haven’t taken this close a look at some of these toys in awhile, and in the case of Movie 1 and DotM, ever. Still, that’s probably all for reviewing Transformers in the immediate future, though there may well be at least one more Movie Optimus Prime worth looking at fairly soon…
