TF Prime: Battle Shield Optimus

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by zephon, Aug 17, 2012.

  1. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    Transformers Prime: Battle Shield Optimus is a Toys R Us exclusive which features a repaint of the AM-01 Voyager class Optimus (plus the Hasbro RiD voyager Optimus' sword) bundled with gold recolors of AMW-07,08,09 (the gold color must be the reason behind the "G" suffix in their names).
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    The back box art shows Optimus wielding the included Cosmotector shield and the Arms Micron Star Saber.
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    Each side of the box shows the stats of Optimus and the Arms Microns respectively.
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    The thing about the box of Battle Shield Optimus is that it's 2 inches wider than a regular Arms Micron voyager box.
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    Opening the box from the bottom would reveal a pouch with a good number of instruction sheets -- 4 sheets for Arms Micron assembly, 1 transformation instruction, 1 catalog, 1 sticker sheet and finally 1 notice of a labeling "erratum" (this last piece of paper doesn't really matter as it deals with Japanese labels)
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    Eventually, here's the toy. You'll need something like clippers or a small pair of scissors to free Optimus and the AM spruce under his bubble tray.
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    Let's start off with the meat of the matter. Battle Shield Optimus Prime is a repaint of the AM-01 Optimus. We can also say that he's a repaint of the RiD voyager Optimus, less the glowing springing weapon thingy.
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    Being a part of the Takara/Tomy line of Prime toys, the details are not painted on but rather emphasized using shinny sticker decals. In this case, the Autobot logo and headlights are stickers.
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    The camera doesn't really capture the gray shade this recolor has. It's a type of gray that deepens in dark background but pales when exposed to bright lighting -- that's why he appears metallic gray (ala DOTM Striker Optimus) in some pics and ashen gray (ala MP "Sleep" Optimus).
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    I guess to save on costs, the wheels are also the same color as all other gray areas of the toy. I personally prefer the tires to be black.


    Robot mode shows more of the gray part exposed. The red shade used is more of a pale red version instead of the bright metallic red on AM-01. The clear blue plastic used on the forearms and chest windows have been replaced by a smokey gray color.
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    Note that I opted not to apply the stickers on the shin and feet.


    Closer look at Optimus. Notice the red coloring on the lower bar on the chest. This color seems to make the head sculpt stand out very well.
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    Let's start off with the basic accessory. Optimus comes with the sword that came with Hasbro's RiD voyager class Optimus.
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    The fit is a little loose on the right hand (must be the result of the sword being held by the figure in the package)....
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    ....but fits very tight and very snug on other ports around his body. The advantage of having the sword packaged with the Takara/Tomy version is that it can be stowed at the back using the AM ports there.
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    The toy has a rather "limited" range of motion:
    - single hinge elbows and knees which can fold down to 90degrees only.
    - ball joints on the head, shoulders, hips and ankles.
    - bicep and thigh swivel.
    - transformation gives the wrists an up-and-down swivel.
    - no waist movement.
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    *It's worth noting that the hip ball joints are not as tight as I would want them to be.


    Onward to the selling point of this toy -- the Arms Microns! The 4 Arms Microns are packaged in 4 separate bags.
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    Let us start off with "Pural G" (according to TFW2005). He's basically a repaint of AMW-07.
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    His head sculpt would probably remind you of Prowl due to the "horns" on the forehead.


    He comes in a "yellow gold" color and forms the top of the Cosmotector shield. He doesn't have any forward/backward swivel on any of his limbs.
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    The second one is "Sais G" (according to TFW2005). He's a repaint of AMW-08.
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    I'm not sure who his head-sculpt resembles, if it's Ironhide/Ratchet due to the shape of the helmet. Then again it does make sense that he could resemble Sideswipe.

    Sais G comes in a middle shade of gold. Quite prominent is that he's an Arms Micron that has a shoulder-mounted ranged weapon. Transformation gives his limbs forward/backward movement. He forms the middle of the Cosmotector shield.
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    Finally we have "Jays G" (according to TFW2005). He's a repaint of AMW-09.
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    Somehow, his head sculpt reminds me of Jazz because of the visor.


    Jays G's dark shade of gold can already be considered as a lighter shade of bronze. His limbs do not have any practical forward/backward movement.
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    Here's a group picture of all 3 Arms Microns. Instead of going the "translucent plastic" route, they went for the "unified color scheme" for these guys.
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    Size-wise, they're "regular size" as far as Minicons go. Here they are beside a little Spartan figure for size comparison.
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    Battle Shield Optimus also comes with the Micron that came with AM-01 -- "O.P."
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    He comes in the same shade of gray as the body of the main toy. He's got forward/backward shoulder swivel.
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    In a nut shell what this Toys R Us exclusive offers is a Voyager Class Optimus with 4 Arms Microns.
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    *It's not as cheap as Darkness Megatron but it's more value for money than any other Voyager Class Arms Micron toys out there. This set costs cheaper than getting AM-01 + AMW-07,08,09.


    Time to load out Optimus! Let's start off with the weapon that came with AM-01 - "O.P.". The weapon fits well on either of Optimus' hands -- no kibble catching on anything.
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    It's important to remember that O.P.'s gun handle SHOULD NOT be bent the wrong direction otherwise it will stress the hinge. It's worth noting that in the case of O.P.'s weapon mode, what we normally regard as the "front sights" are actually found under the barrel instead of the top. As it is, O.P. undeniably is a good-sized gun for a Voyager class Optimus.
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    Now let's see what the Cosmotector Microns have to offer. Starting from the top, Pural G (AMW-07 repaint) turns into a sword.
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    I guess based on the number of handles on him, he can be carried a number of ways. Any knife-fighter would tell you though that the best way to carry a bladed weapon is the "conventional way". The sword is the perfect size of Optimus.
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    Next in line is Sais G (AMW-08 repaint). His weapon mode is definitely a battle axe of sorts.
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    One has to make the figure wielding him hold the weapon properly to prevent Sais G from looking like a fan instead of an axe.
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    Finally, we have Jays (AMW-09). Jays is a tough one to call -- looking more like a spearhead more than anything. I'd play safe and call the weapon a mace or club (blunt force trauma anyone?).
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    I first wanted to explore the possibility of making it a pile-driver by pegging it on forearm ports but the handle to hilt is too short in the case of Optimus. So a club or mace it will be.
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    Here's a sneak peak on how the Microns combine. As opposed to the Skyboom Shield, these guys use more than just 1 point of contact to combine with each other.
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    All 3 attack weapons now combine to form....a shield! Quite anti-climactic that they don't turn to a larger sword or a lance but rather go the other direction and become a large shield.
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    This is now the super combo weapon called Cosmotector. Super combo weapon in the sense that 1) they are all made up of the same color of crystal. 2) each shape of crystal is represented in their combination.
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    The combination of shield + sword is definitely Gundam-esque. The concept of target-master / weapon-master and the weapon aesthetics are definitely Transformers.
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    The box art at the rear of the box shows Optimus with the Cosmotector shield on one hand and the Star Saber on the other. As I don't have the other 2 Microns needed to form the Star Saber, I simply improvised with the weapons at hand.
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    I initially didn't want to get Battle Shield Optimus simply because he's going to be my 3rd incarnation of the mold (I eventually sold of AM-01 to finance this). I did a little math and based on the price he was going for, he turned out to be worth it. With the exception of loose hip-joints, this guy turned out perfect out of the box. I know, Leader Class prices for a Voyager class is kind of steep but consider that this is a Toys R Us exclusive (recolor) plus he comes with 4 Arms Microns, he's worth my money.
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    *****
     
  2. rxlthunder

    rxlthunder Banned

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    It saddens me to see that beautiful grey plastic almost never appear on my toys.
     
  3. Star Saber

    Star Saber Cybertron 5th Commander

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    Nice review, just a quick question is it just me, or is he sort of a darker shade of grey than the regular Prime? Almost kind of looks like he's in sleep mode.
     
  4. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    Exactly! He's in a darker shade -- bright light makes it looks like he's in sleep mode and indoor light makes it look like he's in....dark mode.
     
  5. Shin Densetsu

    Shin Densetsu I WILL DESTROY YOU Content Contributor Veteran

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    Holy crap man, this is awesome! Dig the colors and weaponry. Is the chest molded in red?
     
  6. Shatterpoint

    Shatterpoint Neato

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    Am I the only one who hates the colors on this guy?

    He looks...dead.
     
  7. payres

    payres Well-Known Member

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    Sais is meant to be Sideswipe I believe
     
  8. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    I'll have to agree on this as it does make sense.

    Regarding the 'dead' color, it's not really the gray that gives it the gloomy, cloudy look but the 'dirty', worn and faded red they used on him. It's like they added a few drops of they gray paint in the red batch. Believe me, it doesn't look that 'dead' in person.

    @shin, the chest is molded in red.
     
  9. Star Saber

    Star Saber Cybertron 5th Commander

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    :lol  ok, the darker shade colors actually remind me of how Nemesis Prime looked on the show, except for a lack of purple
     
  10. Laulau

    Laulau Well-Known Member

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    That. It's the main thing that interest me for that toy. If I have to pay hight import price, I don't want to see paint pealing after a few transformations.

    For the "dull" effect, I think it comes from the wheels being the same gray as the rest of the bot. Black wheels would give more relief.
     
  11. baggzey23

    baggzey23 psn - baggzey23

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    in the uk the am version is the same price as the leader £45 while this version is i think £65

    i got the nomal version and i think it fits in with his colour scheme nicely
     
  12. Alpha Omega Trion Supreme

    Alpha Omega Trion Supreme One of the longest handles in the fandom!

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    I bought him thinking that blackish translucent plastic was going to be on the figure for the windows and forearms. That's what BBTS had up for the product pics. As you can see, its not, even though the package shows it. Pretty dissappointed. I put off grabbing an RiD Prime for this, and I think the deco on that is better. This looks kind of.....dead.

    I really didn't enjoy putting the stickers on the microns.
     
  13. Lbsammills51

    Lbsammills51 Well-Known Member

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    I hadn't looked at the pics of the packaged version very closely, so I'm honestly dumbfounded that they actually included the sword from the Hasbro version with this release. Totally random, but kind of cool since the four microns are also still included. I do wish they'd used clear plastic for the sword instead of the unpainted gray version, but oh well.

    Looking forward to receiving mine, if RK will ever bother to ship the damn thing along with my Sixshots.
     
  14. Stepper

    Stepper Well-Known Member

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    Am disappointed that the shield is not gold chrome
     
  15. Alpha Omega Trion Supreme

    Alpha Omega Trion Supreme One of the longest handles in the fandom!

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    Has anyone put the feet stickers on this or on AM-01? Is it worth the effort, and does the sticker go on easy without fear of something not aligning right and causing part of the sticker to be off the figure? Or should I not bother? It's the only sticker I don't have applied yet for fear that its going to be a nightmare for all the flaps and bending it needs to do.
     
  16. Laulau

    Laulau Well-Known Member

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    Still bumping with the same question : The red parts of the chest (that become the side panels behind the windows) are molded in red or painted in red ? And if that's paint, is it resistant to scraching ?
    Thanks.
     
  17. Roanstalker

    Roanstalker Great Baan Gaan fan

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    Zephon already answered that its molded in red.
     
  18. Laulau

    Laulau Well-Known Member

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    Arf, sorry. Missed this answers tucked in the bottom of his message.
    Really considering purchasing it now. Wonder if I could switch the wheels with the regular PRID one.

    If he looks "dead" to some, he can be a good "Prime Nemesis Prime" candidate.
     
  19. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    I personally didn't bother apply the stickers on the feet. I'll take the paint option should I get the urge to have black feet, but right now, the amount of area requiring the sticker is a cause of concern in my opinion.