Let me preface this review by noting that this is my first experience with the Movie Leader Optimus Prime mold, so please let me know if you see anything I've messed up in transformation. I won't really cover the base Optimus figure, as it isn't too different from what has come before it and the real draw here is the Jetwing.

A couple rushed box shots, was too eager to rip it open!









Enough of that boring stuff, let's get right to it!





Like many people I wasn't really a fan of the new paint on the gatling guns, particularly as the stock Amazon photos made them look very bright. In-hand, my opinion has completely changed. I think it looks fantastic, I love how the coloring of the gun handle mimics the gold-to-red gradient of the forearms and the silver barrels look very sharp. The only distracting bit are the barrels' orange safety tip, but even that isn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. The orange on the barrels is spray painted on and I imagine if one were so inclined it wouldn't be too difficult to repaint them. EDIT: The barrels are actually orange plastic and painted silver, which makes it even easier. Cracka J found that silver paint pens sold at stores like Walmart were a perfect match, check out his posts here and here!



The wings look absolutely great. The silver paint on the wings combined with the homage to Optimus' G1 trailer works so well. They attach very securely to Optimus' back and have nice ratcheting joints to allow you to position them how you like. One thing I did have difficulty with on mine were the red wheel covers; I can't get them to plug into the pegs on Optimus' back, doesn't matter if the Jetwing is on or off, the holes on the wheel covers seem to simply be a bit too small for either of the pegs. Not a huge deal, as the wheel covers rest securely against Optimus' back without plugging in, but something I noticed.



The Buster gun is simply awesome. Looks great and the way it transforms and integrates into the vehicle mode is fantastic. When not in use in robot mode, it stores very nicely into the Jetwing (see above picture, you can see the grey smokestacks peeking out along the length of the jets). Just to be clear, the blade is not included and was purchased separately. The blade is a KO of the Striker Optimus blade, made by UFO. Another minor quibble is that the Jetwing panel that comes down to cover Optimus' left shoulder does not lay as flush with the shoulder as the right-side panel. If you look carefully the left shoulder panel is slightly raised compared to the right. I'm really not sure why, the left panel simply seems to hit the shoulder sooner than the right for some reason, but again it's a fairly minor issue.



Then and now! Jetwing Optimus looks so good with MP-10.



Vehicle mode!

Transforming this for the first time last night was just as challenging as I'd heard, it... it was not a pretty sight, haha. The most difficult part was getting the arms just right. Now that I've learned the transformation's quirks though, it's a much smoother process. Had no trouble transforming him back and forth for his review photos.



Again, this is a mode that I hadn't thought looked too good from the pictures, but in-hand I love it. The quality of the Leader Optimus' vehicle mode is already well known, but the way the Jetwing fills in the rear really works for me. The guns share the gold-to-red of the car hood in this mode as well and it really looks great. The wings attach very securely and of course can be deployed for some fun flying truck action.





These two just look so good together!



If you do not yet have a Movie Leader Optimus and are interested in adding one to your collection, then I wholeheartedly recommend you snatch this guy up ASAP. The mold has been updated to make it more accurate to Optimus' DOTM appearance, it has the fantastic Buster gun, the Jetwing looks great and it integrates wonderfully with the figure in both modes. All these changes and additions are completely new to a US release of this mold, which makes this worthy of consideration even for folks who already own a Movie Leader Optimus. With so many accessories you have many display options and no matter how you choose to display Optimus he will look awesome.

This is a great release, props to Hasbro and Amazon for making it possible!

 

It's nice that he comes with the Buster it gives you options if you wanted to also Buy Striker Prime - I'm so tempted to go crazy on this and some of the others - but I know it will very soon get very silly so I'll hold off a little longer.

But the temptation of Jetwing+Striker+Hooks or Swords and the shield and back pack together or and a default gun in each hand is very tempting as is the combination of Striker Prime with wings in vehicle mode.

I was curious how well the giant guns store in robot mode on his back ?

 

Unfortunately there's no storage on the back for the gatling guns in robot mode. The clips that the guns attach to in vehicle mode face forward, rather than back, when in robot mode. If you want to have the gatling guns on Optimus in robot mode, he must be holding them.

I also forgot to mention one thing that may help others new to the mold; be sure to press the Buster gun all the way into his fist until you hear it click into place. It snaps in very securely once this is done. At first I didn't realize I needed to do this and the gun was quite loose in his hands, which was very disappointing to me as the Buster was one of the big draws of the figure to me. Once I figured it out though, the happiness was back!

 

Nice pics and review. Received mine from Amazon today. I have ROTF Optimus but this is my 1st retool.

 

doesnt look bad with striker prime XD

 

Really love the colors on this thing.

 

Thanks for a great review! Why isn't my screen resizing the pics though?

Anyway, I really want this but I already have rotf prime AND the first striker prime, so I don't think I can justify this. I really wish they sold an accessory pack for this mold, with all the weapons, plus an ax! I would pay a lot for a set like that.

 

Love the colors: the G1 stripes, the Movieverse gold-to-red gradient, the funky "energized" blue mechanics, even the orange gun barrel tips (they look superheated!).
The promo photographs on the package look so dull in comparison.

 

Looks fantastic. Great pics.

 

Really wanting this guy, the remolded parts looks sweet.

 

Getting this for xmas. Can not wait.

 

I appreciate the kind comments, folks!

Probably my fault, I'm awful with forum stuff so I just used the 'insert image' button to post the pictures. Hope it still works for most people, I would have made the pictures smaller but Optimus is such an intricate figure that the smaller pics seemed to lose a lot of detail (my shoddy photography had already done plenty of that, lol).

You will not be disappointed.  

 

I would be happy to get onr for $50 or second hand, then get rid of my Rotf :/

 

Just a question, but aren't the guns molded in orange and then painted silver?

 

Me too.

 

I already got the first version when it was released at Australian retail, but I love the colours on this one! Still, can't justify it since I already have a Jetwing Prime.

 

Man...That is one clean carpet.

 

Somehow I've missed until now that he actually comes with the buster gun.
Good review, and though I have three of the mold already, I'm gonna probably have to get this one! Looks awesome.

 

Superawesome. I'm a big fan of the G1 stripes on the otherwise dull looking wings!  

 

Yep.