My Japanese Rusty Prime arrived today, so as promised in the Breakout Battle review, here are some comparison photos of the Hasbro Scrapyard Optimus Prime with the Japanese Rusty Optimus Prime... to let you make up your mind as to which you think is more movie accurate. Most of the photos I had seen previously online of the Japanese one were the robot mode, which had me preferring the Hasbro version... but now that I have had it in truck mode, the paintwork makes the Japanese one look slightly better in truck mode (it actually looks like an abandoned junkyard truck, compared to the Hasbro version just looking dusty). The Hasbro one still looks better in robot mode (to me), but neither capture the red and blue you can see through the dirt of Optimus in the movie in robot mode. Since these are parts that are mostly hidden in truck mode, I don't see why either version didn't put some "weathered" blue or red on those parts. It's not like they spent all their money on painting the whole exterior of the cab, because the Japanese version has splotches of the pinkish-red "rust" on the robot parts (which actually works against it for not looking like rust or weathering), while the Hasbro version has more of the brown "dirt" painted on its robot parts. Side by side though, the Japanese one is just way too white to be considered the "Movie-accurate" Optimus toy. It actually looks more like an Ultra Magnus redeco Optimus toy. As such, if I had to choose one, I'd probably prefer the Hasbro version... because it has the better robot mode (the mode I display the toys in), it has a plausible vehicle mode deco that they replicated well with paint (being dusty instead of rusted), and it comes with a cardboard diorama tray for display. Anyway, the rest of the photos, for others to make up their minds with. The images on the back of the box made the Hasbro one look whiter. On the front of each, the same artwork is used for Optimus, although, the Japanese one looks like it might be the Silver Knight artwork since it is so white. You can still see hints of blue on the Hasbro box art. It's amazing to think that that is all paint covering both of them. I couldn't get my Japanese one to transform properly, as you can see in the photo above, a little tab kept getting pushed up on the roof of the cab. When I looked for the reason, I found that the front middle panel of the cab was not glued together properly, so it stuck out just a millimeter. It might not seem like much, but that tiny difference can affect the whole alignment of larger parts, which you then do see as significant (like the BotCon Scorponok shoulders). Below is the part that wasn't glued in far enough, making it press against the robot neck inside the cab in Vehicle mode. The only thing I could do is sand down a little off the front of that part, so it could then slide in next to the robot neck, instead of pushing it up through the roof of the cab. With it fixed, I could go back to taking photos of the Vehicle mode. . . . . . The paint method of both appear to be different as well. Either the Hasbro one was brushed on, or the resolution of their spray was finer, because the Japanese paint deco looked like one of those bad reprints of a 1980s comic. From a distance it looks really nice, but close up it looks really bad. . . Robot mode. The Japanese version uses the face-plate head, while the Hasbro one uses the mouth head... which could be an element of personal preference to collectors choosing one or the other. (I also think that the blue robot eyes on the Japanese version is too bright, as the Hasbro one has slightly darker eyes... while the other two Red Optimus toys have black eyes) . . . . The colors of the Japanese version in robot mode keeps reminding me of the limited edition version of the Dual Model Kit - http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:DOTM-DMKOptimusPrimeSpecialColorVersion.jpg .
I think Hasbro's looks better by a long shot. Maybe the wear and tear isn't as strong as I rather like it to be, but I think that it's more authentic since it's part of the figure molding. The Takara one cheats a lot by just simply printing out fuzzy graphics that I bet Reprolabels could beat, and then just getting lazy on the robot mode. Thanks for the comparison, griffin-of-oz! EDIT: Could someone please shed some insight on what kind of tampos the Takara Optimus Prime has? Fusion graphics?
thanks for the photo's. yeah.. hasbro either has a terrible attention for detail, or is just lazy.. i'm sure it's both though. that being said, they're both pretty bad.. there's no accounting for the robot mode with either. i'd rather have a more accurate looking robot mode than a more accurate vehicle mode. i mean.. he should've been a heavily washed out red with some dirt or just.. and a heavily washed out blue.. that way he retains his colors, but is still faithful to the way we saw him in the movie. but both of these aren't all that great. i give it to takara for the flame detail and such. i think they should get rid of hasbro's upper body and get rid of takara's lower body and mash the two figures together. oh well, i don't think either takara or hasbro will ever produce a figure with an accurate paint scheme.. not because they don't want to, but because it would either be too difficult or cost too much.
I think I will probably go with Hasbro's version, but it really is disappointing that neither seem to have really got it right. Like you said, some washed out blue or red in the bot mode would have really made it perfect. It looked in yesterday's photos like there was a slight tinge of blue on his head, at least. I'm curious, have you tried swapping the heads at all? I'd be interested in seeing what the regular release's head looks like on the Hasbro rusty version.
I just can't get over how bad the Takara one is in robot mode. It might just be the photos but the head looks white to me. But you're totally right, the Hasbro one could definitely use some red and blue in truck mode, but it's closer. I think the rims need to be rusty too. You could probably build a really good one using a combination of both of them. EDIT: The more I look at the Takara one, the more it looks like he just is covered in blood. He'd go well with Murder Bee.
Under a really bright light, there is indeed a slight blue tinge to the feet and head. But so dark that you almost miss it as being just another dark brown. Swapping heads would probably make it too blue and clean to suit the rusted body.
Thanks for the pics. I think Japanese Rusty looks better in cab mode. Hasbro's is not as boring in bot mode. In bot mode neither looks like their onscreen counterpart though.
Hate that black/blue legs on The hasbro version, glad i got The takara version. Imo it looks way better
From the sides, Hasbro's one looks OK. From the top, it's too obvious the rust was applied with a brush, even from a distance. From the front, he doesn't have enough rust. Takara's one, on the side with the smoke stack, looks perfect, but everywhere else on the cab looks too rusty, especially the front. The rust doesn't look good but you have to look closely and I find it easier to believe it grew there than Hasbro's. Tho the back of the truck (the trailer hitch or whatever that whole section's callled) looks too clean. In robot mode, I like the look of Takara's more but not as a Optimus dying. He is too clean. So Hasbro's automatically wins by not looking clean. I'm really not crazy about either of these but I guess I'll go with Hasbro's.
Thanks for posting pictures! It gives collectors like me a chance to make comparisons between the 2 rusty versions. I don't like the dark color parts on the Hasbro version. I get what they are trying to do but it looks weird to me - limbs are dark but the body is light in colour. I actually prefer the uniform white for the Takara version - all it needs is to more dirt and rust paint applications for it to look good.
I think the best looking this could get is if you swapped all of the dark brown pieces on "Breakout" and gave them to "Rusty Ver." The back won't stand out as much in vehicle mode and it adds contrast in robot mode.
Yeah, I think I'll definitely go with the Hasbro version on this. It has a much nicer looking robot mode, and the vehicle mode passes pretty well for a rusty, beat up old thing. Takara's truck mode cab looks nice, but the back stands out too much, and the robot mode is far too plain for my liking
I like Takara's better, though neither one really appeals to me. The appeal of this fig is the G1 homage though the Nemesis version looks great too but I think it's hard to screw that up with any Prime figure ever made. A little off-topic as well. That chromed out version has a lot of great details I would love to switch with the regular Hasbro version to get a more complete G1 inspired version. The white stripe, some of the chrome accents, etc. Can't wait to play Frankenstein with some of the other versions and the OG Hasbro one.
