Ok let me start by saying that I was not liking the look of this figure at all. As a huge fan of KuBianBao MP-10V (Voyager sized MP-10 Optimus Prime) and then more recently Siege Optimus Prime, I didn't see the need to get Earthrise Optimus Prime. IMO it was inferior to those other two.

After a while, I wanted to see what the hype was about. I told myself that at the very least, I would have a cool truck mode Optimus Prime to display. I was FINALLY able to track one down for a decent price. I got an ebay gift card for Christmas that covered most of the cost and I held out for one that was retail price.

My inital assumptions about Earthrise Optimus Prime were way off. This is one of the best molds of all time. The transformation is fun and I can't put it down. Seriously it's that much fun to transform it.

Not to mention the looks of the figure. It's everything you could ever want in an Optimus Prime. It looks the part and for the most part, the quality is top notch. The posability is pretty amazing. It's smooth and fun. You can get him in pretty much any standard Optimus Prime pose with ease.

The deco is gorgeous. The blue plastic Hasbro used with the metallic swirls in it is fantastic. I also love the metallic blue paint used on the head and hands as well. it's absolutely beautiful.

With that said, here is a HUGE problem. I'm not sure what the hell Hasbro was thinking when they molded the back of his head in red plastic and PAINTED it blue. They should've just molded the entire head in blue plastic.

Here's why. Granted I am not rough with my figures at all. I take care of them and I'm extremely easy when I transform them.

I'll add pictures to this post later but, after just a few transformations, the blue plastic on his "ears" (the round base of each of his antennae) and also the tip of one of his antennas has rubbed off to expose the red plastic underneath.

I'm not sure whether I got a copy with defective paint but, this is HIGHLY disappointing. The design choice is poor and the fact that I waited so long to finally get one of these and then to have it end up this way is frustrating to say the very least.

The problem is, there doesn't appear to be an easy fix for this. I could repaint it but the paint will just scrape right off again. I suppose I could figure out how to separate the head and strip the blue paint off the back of the head and dye it blue but, that's boss level Radicon stuff and I'm a Radicon level 4 right now.

Amazing figure. Extremely frustrating paint design flaw.

** Edit: Here is the picture of the defect. I took a picture of one side because the "ear" on the right side looks exactly the same. You can also see red showing on the the tip of the antenna in the picture as well:

 

I tried searching and didn’t see anything so sorry if this has been brought up, but I was just playing with my ER Prime and he has a leg flap that covers a 5mm peg on his right leg. What is it for?

 

Leftover from the Siege mold. It was weapons storage and a trailer hitch on that one – the legs are reversed from their original use, so here it's on the outside.

 

The flaps are supposed to be out when in truck mode. Which uncover the vestigial 5mm hole leftover from the Siege mold.

 

@TyrantGalvatron ; it’s not a fun solution going forward, but have you considered simply popping the head off and placing it to the side for transformation/display purposes? I know it defeats the idea of being a “transformer” to do so but the head is on a simple ball joint and comes right off. Doing so would save you the headache of any further paint wear and it’s not like his head has to be attached for vehicle mode.

Or do what I do and have one to keep in the box and one to play with, hah!

 

Heck, if you're going to go the route of popping the head off, you might as well go all in and fashion a Titan Master adapter for Prime. Then decide which Optimus noggin you like better - Diac or Ginrai.

I wonder if there's anything like that on Shapeways? The Ginrai Titan Master is actually surplus-to-requirements for me at the moment, since I use the Perfect Effect upgrades with Super Ginrai. Or maybe not - I put a lot of effort into making ER Prime's eyes yellow.

 

Got the Kingdom repack. He is definitely the best CHUG scale Optimus Prime. Pulls of a lot of awesome things. But at the same time he just feels like another Optimus Prime figure. Still a great pick up.

But the trailer is mediocre. It’s nice to have one but it also lacks quality.

 

Curious how your custom blue paint went. Any pics? Have you tried painting the inner gray portions of the legs too?

 

Yeah sorry, I've meant to post images for awhile but have been sidetracked with things going on around here but here's some looks. I painted to the first knuckle on the thumb and on the side of his head for damage similar to that posted above and there's a look at the lighter painted eyes as well as the Netflix Prime wheels on the Earthrsie Primes back. They look really nice.

No I never painted the gray sections on the legs, but they never bothered me really.

 

The moniker of the 'perfect' Optimus Prime toy is a very difficult title to achieve. Not only would that toy require a certain level of accuracy to the G1 design (most notably the cartoon), but also feature several features and gimmicks that collectors would expect out of the definitive version of the Autobot leader. Many toylines such as Classics, Combiner Wars, Power of the Primes, and Siege have attempted and failed to create the perfect Prime, but after a long wait, War for Cybertron: Earthrise finally succeeds in giving us the best version of Optimus we ever got. He's so good, the rerelease in Kingdom feels entirely justified.



Let's start with robot mode. Obviously, the first point in Earthrise Optimus Prime's favor is that he adheres well to the famous G1 design, without any extraneous kibble hanging off his limbs (Classics Prime was most guilty of this, as was Siege Prime to some extent). There's some mild kibble composed of the vehicle bumper and the front wheels on his butt, but it folds up very compact against his body so it's hardly noticable. Depending on which sources you look at (i.e. the Studio OX designs) one might even argue it makes him more accurate. Articulation features all the War for Cybertron Trilogy bells and whistles, including ankle rockers and a waist joint. The butt kibble slightly obstructs full rotation of the waist, but why would you want to turn his waist 180 degrees in robot mode anyway? He's not gonna star in the Exorcist or anything, and the available range of motion is adequate for any pose you might want to put him in. He's even more posable than Studio Series 38 Optimus Prime, who was my favorite G1-style Optimus until the day this guy arrived. The paintwork is all crisp and perfectly applied in the right places, and the eyes and hands are both cartoon-accurate blue (thank Primus). I do wish his eyes did have some more contrast with his face, but I'll take blue eyes over yellow any day. His ion blaster fits well into his palm, but if you want the more G1-accurate version you're going to have to buy the Centurion Drone Weaponizer Pack. (Or if you want his energy axe, too.) I myself will gladly replace the blaster once I get that set in hand, but for now the one he has serves its purpose. Depending on your individual QC you may encounter problems with visible specks of black dust stuck behind the chest windows, but fortunately it's easy enough to get an exchange.



Then we get to what makes this toy special. A well-articulated Optimus Prime with an ion blaster? Any toyline can have one. Hell, Siege had one just over a year ago. But a well-articulated Optimus Prime with an ion blaster whose chest can open to reveal the Matrix of Leadership, and comes with his own official Combat Deck? Virtually unheard of. The only cases I know of are the Masterpiece and Hybrid Style figures, both of which are prohibitively expensive and also not a part of widely accepted CHUG. Unlike Siege Prime, the Matrix isn't just molded on - it's an actual separate accessory, accessible by opening his chest windows. And of course Prime can hold it using his opening hands, for all your lighting-the-darkest-hour needs. If you want you can also give him the Matrix effect part from SS86 Hot Rod for some added bling, since that toy's Matrix is the same as Prime's and the effect works with both.



But even the Matrix has been released before, most notably in the Power of the Primes line. No, the crowning achievement of this figure is that it comes with its own Combat Deck, something literally unheard of outside the original G1, Masterpiece, and Hybrid Style toylines. Don't believe me? Go check out the Toys section of TFWiki's Combat Deck page. This toy holds the distinction of including the first ever Generations Combat Deck/trailer. This was also the reason the Voyager-sized Optimus was marked as Leader class, which was entirely justified in my opinion. I am gladly willing to pay a little extra if my money will get me a set as good as this without having to look for third party options. The artillery robot (which lacks its antenna, but gains a second grabber claw) can detach and be used as a weapon or jetpack by Optimus, which is actually a pretty nifty feature. It's definitely new for sure. The only nitpicks I'd give it is the lack of a proper rear bumper and the short ramp, but neither are too egregious to prevent me from enjoying this awesome toy. And naturally, the Combat Deck can assume its upright 'repair bay' position, which is actually the configuration it's packaged in.



Vehicle mode is also perfect. It's a nice, simple flat-nose truck that's clearly inspired by the vintage Freightliner, instead of making questionable 'updates' that might have marred the figure such as the Classics and Combiner Wars toys did. The transformation is ingenious and involved, but features enough familiar 'G1 Optimus' steps such as the arms and legs. I particularly liked the way the fuel tanks flip out of his thighs, it was a clever way of hiding them in robot mode. Of course he can tow his trailer, which goes a long way in making the truck look complete. What I found a little strange is that the front wheels have unpainted rims, but the rear ones do - it's a questionable decision, one that's difficult to find a reason for. Very odd indeed.

(NOTE: The instructions say to flip the knee flaps out in vehicle mode to connect the legs to the cab, but I left that step out as the truck mode was more stable without it. When I unfolded the knee flaps, the truck constantly wanted to lean forward and had trouble getting all six wheels on the ground.)



This is a toy that fully deserves its popularity. Like a lot of toys from the War for Cybertron Trilogy, Earthrise Optimus will definitely be the definitive version of the character in my collection for a very long time to come. He hits all the requirements to serve as the 'ultimate' Optimus Prime figure, even including features previously only seen on more expensive toys such as the Matrix of Leadership and Combat Deck. He's the guy you'll need to lead your army of Autobots, so if you don't have him yet go grab him as soon as you can. Fortunately, his rerelease in Kingdom will make him easier to track down... hopefully.

 

Fantastic review. Thanks!

 

Megatron must be stopped.
No matter the cost...

 

Surely some people here have painted the eyes on this yellow. Does anyone want to share pics and what paint they used to do it?

 

Does anyone know why every copy of this mold has his left window peck slightly ajar? It was on my original copy, my new one, and my Amazon alter universe version. Every copy of the toy seems to have it from looking at all reviews of every color. Any idea what is making it not sit flush? Not sure if posted yet or not, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

It’s not every copy but it is a lot. The copy I just picked up doesn’t have it but the two next to it did. My first copy of dead Optimus had it too.

 

The pin puts pressure on the chest hinge keeping it from lining up. Also the 2 hinged panels don’t close flush to give you a place to put your finger nail to open the chest. It doesn’t bother me anymore than the 5mm ports in the smoke stacks.  

 

Hey gang, I just wanna take a board survey here. Get us a headcount for Toy QC researching purposes. I own Earthrise Optimus, but for those that own both Earthrise and the Kingdom repack or just the Kingdom repack, does your Kingdom Prime suffer from the same mold degradation issues seen in this guy's video? Lemme know how your Kingdom repack Optimus is. Thanks.

 

Happen to have a pic?

 

Of the good version? I sent back my first Dead OP that it was bad on.

 

Mine is fine. He’s not the perfect Optimus to begin with. All 7 copies at olies have half ass face paint. All Netflix versions have the same half ass paint application. I’ll pick up an extra Netflix Optimus on clearance if I see one re paint the face and fix the QC issues. Till then ER is the standard. I found 3 in the wild before I found one with legit paint application. So I bought it.