Dual Model Kit Optimus Prime (DMK 01)

So I finished building my DMK 01 Optimus Prime today and here it is:



Takara-Tomy went full out with this model and it looks to me to be the most accurate posable movieverse Prime yet.



And the posability is great. In addition to being really accurate to the CGI character model, not having the ability to transform gave this kit the benefit of greater articulation.



The head moves at both the top and bottom of the neck and can tilt side to side in addition to looking side to side and up and down. Shoulders have a full range of motion and can even move forward and backward where they connect to the main body. Arms can rotate at the top of the shoulder and have a single jointed elbow, but with a very good range of motion. The arms have a much better range of motion than ROTF Leader Prime because they don't have the swords connected to them restricting movement. Wrists are ball jointed. And the fingers on his hands are even fully articulated. Though unfortunately the way the digits of his fingers connect to each other means that they like to fall off and I find that the hand is most stable in a closed fist position.



There is good waist rotation as well, but it is a little restricted by some of his armor. I believe the waist had a full 360 rotation before the outer parts were put on. There is also a weird joint at his waist that can pull out and let him bend forward more at the stomach, but it is hard to pull out and I'm scared to test it now that it is all put together. Hips have a really good range of motion as well and can swing forward, backward, and side to side with a really good amount of range. The legs bend at the top of the knee and at the bottom of the knee there is a sort of automorph feature where the parts in his leg extend out to give a little more bend. The feet and ankle articulation is very impressive. A very nice side to side movement and forward-backward movement. Also all of the the front, back, and side toe digits of his feet have full individual movement.



And of course he comes with both of his swords.



One thing to note is that his swords do make his arms a little heavier and sometimes his shoulders don't want to support their weight with the swords attached.



His thigh pieces actually have a sliding feature that moves as you bend the knee much like a lot of MG Gundams have.



Due to the amount of pre-painted parts and chrome that is provided, painting really isn't that necessary for this kit but they provide you with extra flame decals to put over your paint for those brave souls who attempt to do so. I'd love to see what you Radicons do with this kit.



Two other features this kit has is a secondary face withe the face plate down and parts to actually plug the swords into the wrist sockets instead of connecting them to the side of the forearm.



Here he is with ROTF Leader Prime in truck mode (I'll try to get a robot mode picture eventually):



And here he is with '07 Movie Leader Prime:



Here he is mid-build:



Pros:

+Excellent detail
+Excellent articulation
+Inner frame is mostly pre-built, so that cuts down on the difficulty of the build
+Comes with pre-painted parts, chrome, and rubber tires
+Snap fit, no glue or paint required.

Cons:

-Fingers like to fall apart when not in the fist position
-Doesn't transform, but this gives the figure greater screen accuracy and articulation
-Lots of smaller parts that can fall off and are potentially fragile, but just note that this is meant for display and not for play and you should be fine.
-Instruction manual not as great as Bandai's but not too difficult to follow
-A little pricey. This kit will need to be either imported from Japan or bought from a retailer who imported it and will probably run you between $80 and $130.

Overall I would say that I am very impressed with this kit and would LOVE to see them make a Megatron or Sentinel Prime kit. While this kit is a little expensive, I feel like I got my money's worth and now have one of the best representations of movieverse Optimus Prime on my shelf. Highly recommended!

Looks crazy awesome, very accurate looking.

Looks awesome. Couple of questions:

- Does it help to have previous experience with models (even with snap-together models only) to know what you're doing, or can a novice walk right in and put it together without a high level of difficulty?

- How easily do parts fall off? With a minimal nudge, or do you have to handle it excessively to loosen certain things?

Originally Posted by YoungPrime The importance of suck a thread belongs in General Discussions.

Looks great! I know you said "snap fit", but did need to glue any pieces? Any fear that some pieces are loose? Also, about how long did it take to put together? Thanks for the great review!

My feedback thread can be found HERE.

Excellent review and pics! This guy is so bought!

About the issue with the fingers, could it be possible to make them more secure by making the digits connect via a metal pin?

I think previous model kit building experience does certainly help, but even if you're a beginner I think you'd be okay as long as you carefully followed the instructions and took your time. Tools you'll need to put this together are a pair of nippers to get the parts off the runners and either a file or hobby knife to get rid of the sprue marks. If you're not fully confident yet, it wouldn't hurt to pick up an HG Gundam or two for some experience before you put this together.

As for parts falling off, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be, but you may knock something off when fiddling with it. I'd say the biggest offenders are the parts on his hips and the parts with the headlights above his waist. Some super glue would fix the problem completely, but I haven't felt the need to use it yet.

Nope, no glue is necessary, but it wouldn't hurt to have some on hand in case you have a problem with parts falling off. If you find yourself posing it often it would probably be best to glue some of the parts that fall off. But again, parts falling off is not as bad as i thought that it would be.

I built this course over Monday, Tuesday, and today working a few hours each day. I'm sort of a slow model builder and I don't know the exact amount of time it took but I would say maybe 5 or 6 hours? The inner frame being pre-built significantly reduces the build time.

Thanks! How the fingers connect is by a peg on the side of each digit plugging into the side of another digit and what happens sometimes is that the fingers just sort of slide off sideways when you're posing them. I think if you could just close off the other side of the knuckle, the fingers wouldn't slide off. I don't think I did a very good job of explaining that , but the fingers are attached differently than say a PG Gundam.

I know I'll be painting BB, and I'm on the fence on Prime.

Do these things seem to come apart again easily enough that I can assemble them and plan on taking them apart again later to paint, or should I really plan on painting them before I assemble them?

You could probably get away with doing that. I had to disassemble and reassemble a few parts when I did things in the wrong order and I didn't have any problems, though of course it would probably be best just to paint it from the get go if you want to go that route. I don't have Bumblebee, but from what I see he needs paint much more than Prime does (the main reason I won't be getting BB). You may even decide that you don't need to put too much paint on Prime if any at all.

Nice review. I'd like to see some actual HD Video done of this kit.

I really want some good close up photos so I can see just how detailed this piece is.

The chest panels(windows) look odd. Are they clear on the front and then painted on the back?