Optimus Prime (Transformers (Super7)) Review

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Optimus Prime (Transformers (Super7)) Review

Optimus Prime
Transformers (Super7) (Super7)Time to transform and roll out, except for the transforming part.

Super7's had the Transformers license for a while now, mainly doing ReAction figures with it, but the first wave of Ultimates arrived last month, with two more waves in production right now, and a fourth one currently up for pre-order. These figures don't transform like what Hasbro and others have been putting out for years, and some people may not like it, but I have no problem with it.

We know the usual Ultimates packaging; a trapezoid-shaped box with a slipcover and two plastic trays on the inside. The slipcover on these figures have an outline of the character on the front, and their name on the left side. The back of the box itself, rather than having a character bio, showcases their stats. There's not much to deal with when taking everything out of the trays, just some tape and a single twist tie. The box looks nice and is collector-friendly overall, but takes up quite a bit of space.

Optimus Prime's sculpt is done by Four Horsemen, same people behind the TMNT and Disney figures I've gotten, and his design here is his "G1" look. More specifically, he's based off the original cartoon, and has a simple, blocky design. Two head sculpts are included here: his regular head, and the one that the original toy had, which has more blue on it and yellow eyes as well. Both look nice, but I'll probably have him shown off with the regular head more often.

The body itself is also accurate to his on-screen look, and they did a good job blending the articulation in with it, though there are some areas of limitation which I'll talk about below. My main complaint with his sculpt is that the windows on his chest are too large, but other than that, he looks great. There isn't a lot of areas that had to be painted, but the paint is pretty clean with very little marks and fuzzy edges. The Autobot leader stands approximately 8" tall, which isn't a direct 1/10 scale version of him, but he's still pretty big.

This Prime may not be able to transform, but he still has some decent articulation. He has a ball-jointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles, swivel biceps, waist, and thighs, ab crunch, and hinged knees. There's also a hinge joint connecting the shoulders to the torso, giving them some extra up and down movement. Also on the plus side are nicely hidden ab and thigh joints, thick pegs for the wrists and hips compared to the stick-thin ones the TMNT figures have, and the pelvis is made of a softer plastic as to not hinder leg movement. As I said, however, there are some areas where range is limited. The head has some decent tilt, but don't expect too much with how short the neck is. The elbow bend 45 degrees at most, and the ankles have virtually no rocker swivel. The hindered articulation sucks, but he can still manage some good poses.

As for accessories, Prime has a good amount. There's the toy-accurate head I mentioned earlier, but he has four extra hands to go with his fists as well. There's a gun-grip right (with vertical hinge), a pointing left, and a pair of open hands, with a post on the left one to hold one of his other accessories. I do wish he had a pair of regular gripping hands (with horizontal hinges), however. The basic Prime artillery is also included, with his Ion blaster, Energon ax that can plug into either arm, and the Matrix of Leadership from the movie.

There's some more unique stuff as well. The jetpack is like the one he had in the "More Than Meets the Eye" pilot, and it clips onto his back. The weird glittery soft plastic thing is the Energon chains from "S.O.S Dinobots", and it wraps onto his arms. The surfboard comes from "The Ultimate Doom", and has (rather thin) footpegs to keep him stable on it. The pegged open hand is designed to hold a basketball, so you can recreate his b-ball game from "The Master Builders” (though the limited elbows also limit his balling poses). Lastly, we got a little figure of his human friend Spike. He stands only 1 1/4" tall, and I'm not sure he's supposed to be that small.

Super7's Ultimate Prime isn't a perfect figure, and there was still room for improvement (especially those elbows), but he's not bad either. I like the aesthetic here, the joints move well in spite of some hinderance, and there's plenty of deep-cut accessories to please G1 fans. The price point is a setback, however. $55 is quite a lot to pay for a 7-inch scale figure when companies NECA and Hasbro have done nicer in that range for cheaper. If you manage to get a good deal for him, though, he'll be worth your time.

- 6/23/22