Got this nearly a week back, but never had the time to crack it open.
My initial thoughts when I saw the online pics was "Another trans-scanning crap?" which plagued the 1st Movie toyline. I had Bee and Optimus from the trans-scanning line and those 2 were the worst purchases I made in my collecting years.

Fast forward to the present, I was not so optimistic about this until I was persuaded by my friend to get it. Giving this piece a shot, all I can say is I kinda glad I did.

'Kinda' you say?

Well, for starters, this figure requires some assembly ala gunpla style. You will need to cut the parts from sprues and fit it into the main body.

Speaking of the main body, I was impressed by the build and durability of the core figure. It is TOUGH. Even there is no diecast, this damn this is thick and made to last. Don't matter if it is slightly smaller than the deluxe figure, I was very impressed with the heft and thick feel of the plastic. Definitely a plus point for me.

Let's get to the pics and explanation.

Prime comes packaged in robot mode with all the parts fixed on the sprue. Some cutting is required, but if you are into any basic sort of gunpla, that would only take you a measly 5 minutes.



Besides the yellow bodywork, he is also packed with the white car parts. Which is interesting as you can go all white in FJ Prime or you can mix and match to get yourself some interesting color pallete.



I have not taken the white parts out yet, but let's see in a few days. But if anyone has done that, please feel free to post it up.

The back of the box highlights the gimmicks and other shamelss FJ Cruiser Prime product shots.



Transformation is the most interesting one I have come across in a long time. This guy practically does a robot yoga where the top is the bottom and the bottom is the top. Think Animated Blurr and you will get what I mean. But for the uninitiated, here are the steps:-

Remove the spare tyre that will become his weapon later, lift up the back piece and accordion it.



Next, flip down the tail lights and push down the hands.



Bring the T bar that attaches to the hand to a full swing.



Split the front sides from the front of the car.



Flip the sides mentioned earlier to a 90 degree angle and you can see how the feet is starting to take shape.



Fold the side panels and form the feet and the legs.



Now this is where it gets interesting, rotate the T Bar to a 180 degrees and push it up to the sides. Forming his torso. It i a tight fit and there are no sign of floppiness.







Fold the arms panels and bring down the chest.





Finally, compress the car roof and you are done.



The axe is a bog standard flip out everything that is the handle bar and everything else to form the axe.









FJ Prime albeit small can pull off a multitude of poses and for a figure of this size it is more than satisfactory.

He can--

Pull of the standard stand there looking at you with his axe


Posing with the axe waiting to cleave you


"Imma gonna jump and chp ya" pose


And the lumberjack...or psycho..whichever that suits you




Here are come comparison pics with other figures.







My conclusion?

Short version - SMALL but FUN

Rant:
This is definitely a step upwards after the stupid trans-scanning figure. The build quality is what sold me and the car parts will require some assembly. But the plastic on the sprue are just as durable and I am glad that this figure will definitely stand tough.

Unlike the trans-scanning ones, the parts do NOT pop out easily and secures nicely and snugly even during transformation.

I say get it, but the size might be off putting to some. Your mileage may vary here. But it's unique and one of the kind. Give it a shot.

And here are the pics I posted earlier today. The light piping rules.

 

holy shit, it doesn't partsform!

this thing looks kickass!! if it wasn't expensive i'd totally buy one to make into a movie swindle.

 

This looks really, really cool. I might get one if they do it in red, but that's only because I'm an Optimus fanatic. Realistically, the price is too high for something so small.

 

Has anyone ever considered that the white sprue may be for customization, as in painting the parts anyway you'd like?

 

Well, I plan to airbrush the white into something more pimping, maybe Movie Prime flames.

 

Thanks for posting the review, you just saved me a lot of time. I love that figure, the transformation is wicked, and I like the compact size.

 

Hey man, I would love to see your take/review on the fig also.  

 

this figure's pretty cool! where can you order this guy?

 

I liked the Trans-Scanning line despite the kibbly robots. It was a cool and unique concept. Their paint jobs were the absolute best, not even matched by the so-called Premium versions. I would have liked to see that kind of paint job on this toy, but I understand why they couldn't do it.

The toy itself, I have nothing else to add, your review is spot on. Sure he could have used a few more articulation points, but he can get decent poses with the ones he has. The look and transformation sold me on it.

 

That is the best engineering I've seen on a toy since RoTF Optimus.

 

Now that looks like a nifty toy! Definitely going to have to get one at some point. Hopefully this'll drop below $50 after a while.

 

It already is... It's only $39.90.

 

Damn, I heart FJ Prime...

 

Where from? All I'm seeing is in the $60 range...

EDIT: Aha! I didn't check Robotkingdom. Damn, now I don't have an excuse...

 

that looks like an awesome little figure.. the transformation reminded me of someone and it took a while for me to figure it out.. but, after seeing those pictures, it reminds me of how the FE Vehicon transformed. Maybe it's just me...

Still looks cool

 

Considering the assembly nature of the figure, It would've been awesome if some different extra optional heads were included.

 

I've seen some others talking about QC issues and easy breakage around the joints. Now that you've handled it a bit are there any signs of stress or cracking? I've got this guy ordered but I'm nervous.

 

nope, still solid as a rock

 

Yeah, the figure is rock-solid. If it breaks, that's because you don't know what you're doing AND applying a lot of force.

 

With $20 shipping.  

Soooooooooo tempted to buy this...