Thanks guys I appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions. There are several Ross's around where I live but none have the Leaders so $25 is the best I can do.

Being a collector is madness sometimes.

 

I voted for the voyager version just because I highly dislike the face on the HftD version. Looks like Oil Slick got a hold of him.

 

Niether, find the original ROTF Leader.

 

....but for 25 bucks, get the leader.

 

I was about to post the very same thing. I actually bought one the other night myself [at Ross] just for this very reason.

 

Here's my logic for my choice but you should get the $18 Walmart Prime with Comettor cause [a] he comes with the repaint of one of the coolest design not in movie characters ever Landmine I mean is the price you actually get Walmart Prime $1 cheaper than other voyagers and again with a free deluxe and [c] if you ever seen him under black light you would think thats the funkiest crap ever,his windshield literally glows with the moon and stars on it. So very worth picking up in my opinion.

 

Nothing beats the ROTF Buster version that came in the 2-pack with Jetfire imo. If any movie Leader figure could & should be released as a Masterpiece, it's that one.

 

Yeah the Buster version looks pretty cool I have to admit.

But to be honest, Leaders never interested me until they popped up for $25. If these were $40 I would have passed already (as I have many times before). This is a price discrimination thing really.  

And it's not so much about the cost of having BOTH of these molds - it's just from a collection standpoint, I'm not sure I really NEED both, since they are close cousins. I guess they are different enough though to justify keeping both.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's perspectives so thanks for taking the time to reply!

 

I fixed my HFTD's face with a bit of silver paint, I'm not much of a radicon but it looks almost flawless. The leftover black paint (the one which covered blue parts) just looks like a minor burn, and not bad. He has boh silver "cheeks" now. The rest of him is okay and the hooks are neat. I still recommend him, even if I admit I got him because I didn't grab the original in time and the hooks version was kind of cheap at the time.

 

Okay, I fucked up and hit 2-pack Prime instead of the Leader. So just subtract one vote from collum B and add it to A. I'm such a failure.

 

i don't own the voyager but i voted for that one. the leader is great and accurate but isn't very fun to fiddle with. the voyager's blades are easily removable if they get annoying and he has guns, even if they're crappy looking.

 

If you can buy HFTD Battle Blades Optimus Prime.

Most pictures of the mold suck. because they miss transform him to make him look top-heavy or full of kibble. He's really quite the opposite. He's basically a scaled down leader. Even the transformation is very close to being the same. And he's in scale with the DotM Voyagers. He even has some changes from the leader class that I think they realized that particular mold needed.

Let me just say, he's athletic looking and perfectly proportioned. The junky mess that you see in the stock photos he isn't. And the axes are easily removable/replaceable.

He's by far the definitive Voyager-Prime. If you consider Leader Class out of Scale, or want something DotM megatron/shockwave compatible he's the deinitive semi-in scale prime. Buy him on Ebay or find him at TJ Maxx.

 

I already have the first version of both choices in the poll, so I'd buy neither. However, in line with your post, I picked up leader Starscream at TJ Maxx since he was only $25. I had planned to pass on that toy completely cause I just didn't want it for the original retail price. For $25, I'll take it.

 

Sorry.....its the leader w/battle hooks (vs. the voyage w/battle hooks). Not even close to me. The voyager is nice (and a value w/commettor for $18), but at $25 the leader is an even better value.