Dave's Transformers Tribute Rant: Optimus Prime and Orion Pax

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Transformers Tribute Rant: Evolution Pack

Optimus Prime (redeco of War for Cybertron Optimus Prime)
Orion Pax (redeco and face swap of Titans Return Kup)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/PrimePax

This is a bit of a weird case. It's clearly sold with movie elements on
the packaging, and goes along with another Evolution Pack sold exclusively at
Toys R Us (don't look for a review of that, $40 for protoform Prime and a
movie Deluxe Prime is not money I intend to spend). But both original molds
are Generations, so I'm going to file this under Titans Return reviews. It's
an Amazon exclusive, although that might be an "exclusive" that pops up at
some other online retailers.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/Deluxe1 - Optimus Prime mold
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/DeluxeR4 - Kup mold


CAPSULE

$30 on Amazon.

Optimus Prime: Original mold was recommended. This is basically the
same thing, with minor color changes but the same "love it or hate it there
is no in between" engineering. If you never got War for Cybertron Optimus
Prime, this toy is a net positive for the set. But if you already have this
mold, you may want to sell this off to someone who doesn't.

Orion Pax: Original mold was recommended. This is a good color update
to look vaguely Prime-like, and it's not like this is the first time an Orion
Pax has been made from a Kup mold (Japanese exclusive in 2005 used the G1 Kup
mold).

Set as a whole: Worth the asking price, especially if you didn't already
have the WfC mold. Recommended.


RANT

Packaging: A wide window box 12" (30cm) wide, 8" (20cm) tall, and 3"
(7.5cm) deep. Optimus Prime is on the left and Orion Pax on the right, both
packaged in robot modes. Optimus is slightly mistransformed in order to fit
into the blister.
The upper left border has a "Transformers Tribute" logo, and the lower
left has a white/silver/red on black image of movie Optimus Prime. The bottom
border has both names and "Evolution Pack" in four languages. There is no
separate name given to Orion Pax's Titan Master. The top and sides have more
movie Optimus images in white/silver/red, the bottom is just legalese.
The back has photos of both toys in both modes, along with the number of
transformation steps. A single bio note translated into four languages
covers both (and is also clearly movie continuity):

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing." The words of
OPTIMUS PRIME tell of his own epic journey as the universe's greatest
protector. A humble data scientist, ORION PAX accepted the MATRIX OF
LEADERSHIP to become the powerful AUTOBOT commander OPTIMUS PRIME.

The instructions are a single sheet folded up behind the cardstock tray.
One side for Orion and one for Optimus. The Titan Master is simply called
"Titan Master figure" in the instructions. The printing is significantly
clearer than most Titans Return sets, they actually went with simple line art
rather than murky grayscale. Seriously, check this out:
http://www.dvandom.com/images/orionkupinst.JPG

Weirdly, the cardboard tray is covered in first movie images and logos,
including the early version of Megatron's face that never showed up in the
movie or on any toys.


AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME
Altmode: Cybertronian Truck
Transformation Difficulty: 27 steps (and they may be underselling it)
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: Gen (WfC)
Weapon: Rifle
Function: Autobot Commander
Motto: "Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."

Packaging: 7 ties on the robot, 2 on the rifle. To get into proper
robot mode, the panels on the elbows need to be raised to the upper arms, the
wheels on the back folded back a bit, and the wheels on the boots need to be
folded back

Color Swaps: Red replaced with bright red, dark blue replaced with
slightly less dark blue. The light gray plastic is replaced by a dark blue
steel sort of cool gray, while black is replaced by a dark slightly
desaturated blue.

Paint Apps: In robot mode, all of the hot pink paint except for the
Autobot symbols is replaced by AllSpark Blue paint. The details on the
collar area fill in the entire rectangle with paint rather than just the
circles, though. The Autobot symbols are more of a regular pink. The chest
windows are (sloppily) painted a dark gunmetal with AllSpark Blue in the
panel lines. There's extra AllSpark Blue paint on the inner shins. The
backs of the hands are painted in a decent match to the blue steel plastic.
The faceplate and helmet crest are silver, and the eyes seem to be blue
steel. There's no paint on the forearms, unlike the original.
Vehicle mode continues the pattern of replacing hot pink with AllSpark
Blue, although the little tail light bits are simply omitted. The silver
paint is replaced with blue steel, and the wheel hubs are left unpainted.
There's pink Autobot symbols on both front fenders.

Mold Changes: None that I can tell.

Other Notes: This is indeed a VERY involved transformation, far more
complicated than a Deluxe is likely to ever be these days. So many
counter-intuitive steps, especially around the waist, but once you get it
right the vehicle mode is solidly locked together and has a nice 30s/40s
streamliner art deco feel to it.

Overall: Well, it clearly looks different, while still looking Optimus
Prime-like. If you already have the War for Cybertron mold, though, you
might look into selling this one off to recoup some of the cost of the set.


AUTOBOT: ORION PAX
Titan Master: Unnamed
Altmode: Truck
Transformation Difficulty: 18 steps
Previous Name Use: Gen (T30)
Previous Mold Use: Gen (TR)
Weapon: Twin Blasters
Function: Data Scientist
Motto: "Some days I feel like I'd forget my head if it weren't attached."

Packaging: 7 ties on the robot, plus a rubber band holding the head on.
One tie on each gun half.

Color Swaps: Not really a clean swap, Kup apparently had multiple sprues
of some of his colors. All of the opaque blues become bright red except for
the the soles of the feet and the inner sides of the boots, which become a
silvery medium blue-gray. The clear blue becomes more of a bright clear
aqua, and that includes the wheels (which were painted over on Kup). The
dark gray of the Titan Master and the tuns becomes that silvery medium
blue-gray, while the dark gray of the waist, inner-torso (vehicle front),
legs, and feet becomes light silvery gray.

Paint Apps: In robot mode, the faceplate is silver with bright metallic
blue eyes (maybe a clear blue paint over the silver of the face). There's
yellow accents on the shoulders, belt buckle, and faux headlights at the
bottom of the windshield. There's silver on the upper forearms, the visible
wheel hubs on the boots, around the belt buckle, and the vehicle front
visible inside the chest. There's an Autobot symbol inside a winged rondel
(not Elite Guard, it's different) on a silver strip across the top of the
chest. A grayed out blue paint that is a good match (if more matte) for the
light blue plastic is used extensively, on the groin, kneecaps, and the
fronts of the boots. Red details are left unpainted on both the kneecaps and
shins, basically the same bits that are yellow on Kup. The piece inside the
torso is otherwise painted over entirely in red, which isn't a perfect match
for the plastic, but this isn't too obvious behind the chestplate.
In vehicle mode, The only really new paint apps visible are silver
faction symbols on the sides, outline versions of the "Autobot symbol in a
winged shield" thing from the chest. Okay, strictly speaking these are also
visible in robot mode, they're on the backs of the shoulders. The overall
color scheme hands together pretty well and evoke the standard Optimus Prime
look. The gray feet on the sides play the visual role of the fuel tanks.
The Titan Master's own little face is painted silver with a yellow
visor. The guns have blue paint on the barrels, pretty close to the shade of
blue used on the WfC Optimus in this set.

Mold Changes: New faceplate on the Titan Master, that's it as far as I
can tell.

Other Notes: Hips are loose, a problem Kup shares. But washing off the
joints with soapy water fixed the looseness on mine (the waist snaps apart
pretty easily for cleaning).
I'm still really expecting a Targetmaster Crosshairs version of this
mold, it's such an obvious choice, especially given how the combined cannon
looks like a Targetmaster. In fact, give it a Shapeways faceplate and it
almost looks like Crosshairs as-is...not all the reds and blues are in the
right places, but it's close enough.

Overall: Good mold, good redeco. Definitely worth getting, but not if
you have to go through scalper markup.


Dave Van Domelen, nice to have a short and simple review after the
novella that was Trypticon.