Why couldn't they have used the Buster version...WHY?!? *Ahem* Very nice review, hopefully mine will be shipped out soon as well.
He really looks impressive great review! Do you think it's possible you can switch the smokestacks so the Striker Prime can have the smokestacks gun? The colors on him actually look more cooler than the Jetwing version!
So there's incentive for you to get Jetwing Prime and vice versa. A true ULTIMATE edition would've been this Striker with buster cannon with swords and jetpack. Also the voice chip for this was used on hftd leader Optimus(unmasked, battle hooks).
Great review!! Thank you so much for showing the guts of the parts. Does anybody know if it's easy to swap the sword arms of the original ROTF Leader with any of these new guys, jetwing in particular? I know all about the new mechtech ports and such, but I was just wondering if it was possible. I'm really torn on which Prime to get. Right now, I'm leaning towards the Two Pack Optimus and Jetfire Buster Prime. That seems to be the best compromise, but I have to say that having immediate access to Striker and Jetwing is very tempting.
If only the gray parts were silver. And it had the pin-striping. But this is probably the best of the non-Buster Leader Primes. I do like the darker color scheme and the flame pattern. edit: But I have to say I really don't like the use of color in the guns. The random blue looks out of place.
Awesome in depth review you have provided but i guess ill pass on this one. I'll wait for 3rd party add on for the armor and guns
Hey BraveMagnus, can the jetwing pack from jetwing Optimus fit on Striker in robot mode? I remember reading that jetwing Optimus had a piece retooled on the back for the jetwing to attach to, which made him different from ROTF leader Prime aside from the abs and foot add ons. Does Striker have this retooled backpiece too, or is it the exact same as ROTF leader Optimus?
Wish I could say that was intentional! Welcome to Japan, though - everyone's got tatami mats Edited the first post with these pics. You have to detach the gattling cannons for that. So I did pics with and without and edited those into the first post. Thanks! I'll edit the first post to reflect that! I'm afraid that's my fault. The blue is actually quite dark in real life - about the same color as the blue on the rest of Prime. It's pretty unobtrusive, and doesn't look bad in person! You'd have to push out the pins holding the gas tanks to the "wing" sections. I'm afraid that's a little beyond my skill. It does NOT fit. Striker has the back-plate modification necessary for it, but the Jetwing backpack won't fit over the gas tanks/smoke stacks. So, unless you removed those somehow you can't attach the Jetwing backpack. I guess that's why Jetwing Prime came with the Buster versions! Yeah, they would have needed to mod it with holes for the mechtech guns. Given that they modded the normal smokestacks/gas tanks, though, I'm a little confused why they couldn't mod the Buster version instead? But I'm no toy engineer. I'm sure there was a good reason.
@Brave I was talking about the blue panels that have the gas tanks. They're on pegs that can pop off easily.
Hm... I guess you could do that. Though, the colors would be pretty off... Might be that the original Buster Prime uses a similar color? I've never owned one, so I don't know...
Whoa what the hell...so there IS truly an incentive to buy both aside from TakaraTomy trying to make more profit! Damn, I was planning to get both and put the jetwing on Striker in bot mode and possibly mode the Jetwing Optimus as a movie 1 Optimus. Guess I will keep both unaltered! Thanks for answering man.
Could be a cost thing, could be tolerance/engineering. I actually have no idea how the Buster gun works or transforms. We can figure out the sequence of retools though. Original mold -> Buster version (changes out tanks for tanks/gun) -> Jetwing version (new forearms w/out swords, new abs, new slot, added jetpack) -> Striker (new shoulder MechTech ports? new tanks, slots in front, new accessories). I think I'll be content arming Optimus up with his MechTech ports. Big oaf never used the Buster gun in DotM anyway!
It's awesome, especially paired with the clear plastic for the eyes. The darker plastic reminds me of the Walmart Battle Blades Prime with Comettor, that one had a good tone of grey that didn't look cheap. Darker grey doesn't look cheap when paired with brighter colors like red and blue, it's a cheap way of getting around not using silver paint but it works effectively here.
