wooo! light up pecks! I've no idea why they did that... I guess so if a human rides along, they can read the map? I'd rather the lights light up, or nothing at all...

My only 2 complaints are that A) all the grey parts are too obviously non-painted parts which kind of cheapen the look a bit, and B) the big hunk of plastic sticking out the back of the cab in vehicle mode.

 

The plastic appears to be actually silver, similiar to the silver on Galaxy Convoy/Cybertron Prime.

Also, grey plastic is not suddenly 'cheap' plastic, most of it is standard ABS plastic or High-impact polystyrene. Its an internet fan assertion that any plastic in a hue they do not like is somehow 'cheap'.

As for paint costs, aside from the problem that they either paint it all or paint it in parts due to his feet, yeah, they need to keep projects under budget.

 

Oh ho - look promising! I like it!

 

AGAIN! Why does prime have light up windshields?!!!!!!!!

Does he talk that way ala alt mode in the movie?

 

I like it, though it kind of has a half-painted look to it. Oh well, I'm still gonna buy it.

 

Kewl, I shall be buying that later this year  

 

They're just called fenders. You can have quarter, half, three-quarter, or full fenders over the drive axles. Movie Prime has full fenders. And exceptionally form-fitting ones at that--definitely custom, not a factory style---Movie Prime has a lot of custom (and DOT illegal) options overall, IMHO he's almost a "Ricey Peterbilt" at this point. Like what "Pimp my ride" would do to a semi. Just a plain red, standard options, uncustomized 379 would have looked a lot better, and a lot more like the "all-American 18-wheeler" peoeple expect IMHO. Movie Prime almost has the "pickup trying to look like a racing semi" look.

Half fenders on a 379 look like this:


Quarter and three-quarter should be self-explanatory now.

And just to illustrate my point, here's a truck that's the same make/model as movie Prime, just in a far more typical configuration/options/paint:

 

Might have to keep this one in truck mode next to Laser Prime.

 

Unfortunately, silver/metallic gray plastic compares rather poorly visually to silver paint or chrome. (the best recentish attempt IMO was the silver plastic on Armada bendy Prime) I'd assume the elaborate flame paint job with gradient colors and the like blew the majority of the paint apps budget. Unfortunate, since silver paint or even chrome would aid the relative realism of the truck mode greatly. The flashy colors and flames make the silver-gray plastic look very dull by comparison.

It will be interesting to see if Takara-Tomy adds anything to the paint job of Japanese movie toy releases.

 

Another vote for Where's the chrome! I know it can be argued that it wouldn't wear well, but without it the toy looks like a test shot or preproduction sample.

 

I think he's somewhere inbetween 1/32 and 1/28 scale. All the other Autobots seem to be, especially when you compare Ironhide and Ratchet with the Alternators (though Ironhide should be quite a bit bigger; Ultra sizeclass would have sufficed).

That said, they REALLY should have made the legs out of part of the sleepercab. As they are now, they're WAY to short, and the red kibble on his back could have easily been used for the arms then. The small legs really hurt him. Guess I'll go with the Voyager version, depending on how big and wellpainted that one is.  

 

Im not sure about this figure...these legs are too short...but I like the alternate mode.  

 

I hope that this is mistransformed cuz it sucks that there is no gun storage if it isn't.

 

Very nice. He keeps looking better and better.

 

no knees = no buy

 

Awesome, simply awesome.

 

Dude, what is the deal with the Wizard of Oz posters?

 

Leader Optimus looks great. That truck mode is boss. I'd like it more if they actually chromed the grille, bumper, etc but I can see myself getting this. Hopefully pics of the voyager will surface soon.

 

Look at the length of those smokestacks! Now why did the US Masterpiece have to get trimmed again?...  

 

Looks cheap and plasticky.