Optimus Prime (Bumblebee) Transformers - Studio Series #38 Transformers Studio Series Voyager Class Toy Item No.: Asst. E0702 No. E4629 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: Blaster, Display Backdrop Action Feature: Transforms from Truck to robot Retail: $29.99 Availability: February 2019 Other: Smaller, Less Intense
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I'm late to the party, you already know Optimus Prime (Bumblebee) is essential. "What if we did an updated 1984 Optimus Prime?" is more or less what fans expected out of the 2007 movie and got something else entirely. This feels like a place from which you could reboot the entire Transformers toy line and potentially have movie fans and geewunners all jump on board and say yes.

the robot is a gorgeous design inspired by the 2018 Bumblebee movie, doing the unthinkable - having a truck transform into a robot, without fake kibble to make up the difference. We didn't get a lot of toys like this since the end of the Unicron Trilogy, we saw a lot more fudged robot chests and truck grilles.

The tall robot has a staggering quantity of articulation and a spot-on sculpt with smokestacks on the arms, blue eyes, and tons of little moving parts that you might nudge while playing with it. He's about 6 1/2-inches tall, and is worth every penny of the $30 retail. I assume we might see a better masterpiece edition some day, but this Voyager-sized robot is so good you might throw your Generations Optimus Prime in a box and replace it with this. It's classic, and it's modern. THat's tough to do - and you get his blaster, too.

The truck is a truck - it's that flat-nosed Optimus cab you all recognize, with lots more panels. I found it to be fiddly and panels would pop off after a few seconds, so it's imperfect but decent. I'd liken it to getting a pretty fantastic action figure that can also bunch up into a cool alternate mode. The wheels are painted nicely, the windows look good, and it's a familiar truck with some bits and pieces that mostly integrate nicely without looking like robot bits.

It's good - it could be a bit better in truck mode, but it's ambitious and there's a lot to like here. This is the kind of imagination that would be fun to see more of if we're destined to be retreading the same characters over and over. All of the broad Optimus elements are here, remixed in a pleasing way to give us something new and fun. I'd love to see a simplified version of this toy too some day - but this is no slouch. The tire treads look good, there's a trailer hitch, and the gun is nifty. I think it's worth your while.

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