If you liked SiegeUltra Magnus [FOTD #2,062] and Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime [FOTD #2,095], then you'll have love Nova Prime. Based on leader of Cybertron before Optimus Prime in the IDW comics, the former head of state got lost in the Dead Universe and became Nemesis Prime. But this is before that - he got a black repaint when he became evil, but he hovered like some predatory bird over much of those comic series. This is his second toy - the Fan Club had a pretty paltry one. This Leader-class one is effectively a Voyager-class robot in platform shoes, but it works. He's got a lot of firepower and wings, despite effectively being Ultra Magnus with a new backpack and head.
If you were a fan of that very long run of comics from IDW - and you probably should be - this is a character you know and want as a toy. I assume Hasbro could do a better, fancier toy, but it's a lot better than the expensive club exclusive deluxe-class model.
While the inner robot is basically the same as we've seen before, his armor accessories bring you a new chest, a new head, new shoulder pads, and the ability to put him on a shelf next to the Galvatron, Jhiaxus, Cyclonus, and Dai Atlas toys I'm sure you just have laying around. Hasbro did an admirable job making a new character out of an old toy mold that, in all honesty, I was not planning to buy again. But a new Prime character toy? Sure. (New to me, at least, the FubPub one wasn't worth the asking price for a Deluxe at the time.) The figure is a mishmash of styles - the old bits are overly-detailed Siege elements while the new ones are a lot more subtle without all the lines and grooves. It clashes a bit up close, but the colors do a pretty good job of giving you the illusion of everything looking like it goes together. Given how many Amazon exclusives are only deco variants, a new head and some wings would be reason enough to pick this robot up. The new parts alter his silhouette enough that I don't feel I had to justify this purchase. It's cool! I like it. I just hope that this is indeed his final form, or that something significantly better comes around later. But not too much later, original gangster Transformers fans who were here at launch are in their 40s now.
This one is a partsformr. You can slap the armor on an inner Optimus-ish robot to get a big robot. You can take it off and you can shove it in a truck shape, which is more convoluted now than it was in 2019. Fitting the shoulders in the boots and getting all the pieces together is kind of a hassle, but it's a perfectly nice space truck fist of doom once assembled. The wings don't blend in completely in the truck form, but you can probably look at it and not have it scream "I've got wings!" at you.
Outside of colors and the vague truck shape, this toy's truck mode doesn't look like the comic art I remember. And that's OK if you're making an exclusive deco variant - the robot is what you're here for, and the truck is perfectly OK to see the one time you transform it before leaving the robot on your shelf. There aren't a lot of moving parts beyond the two cannons on the top, or the pistols you can mount and rotate on the sides. The wheels are about as good as ever, which is to say, not very. At least it looks cool in and of itself..
I bought this character because I liked how the character looked and wanted to add to that "gang" form the comics. I have no idea if they'll use him again somewhere or not, but I assume fans are going to be paying through the nose for these when supplies dry up in the next 1-2 years. (Unless, of course, they make a new one.) I'd recommend it to anyone who liked (and especially preferred) the early "Robots In Disguise" and unnamed chunks of that IDW run of Transformers comic books. It's not a super-poseable robot, but he's a big mean guy with wings and big stupid guns. It's fun.
16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal. We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.
RSS 
