Name: Optimus Prime
Series: 6" Titaniums
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Fire Truck
FIRE TRUCK MODE
Height: 6cm Length: 16.5cm Width: 5cm
A red fire truck similar to the original, Optimus Prime has a grey ladder on the back, metallic blue painted windows and six black plastic wheels. There are stamped Autobot logos on either side of the cab and grey grip panels on the rear. While he's a tad simpler, this truck is quite similar to the original, and the colour scheme is pretty good. The windows are no longer transparent, on the other hand the orange robot stuff on the rear tray of the original is no longer around. He's a little gappy in the centre, as was the original, although in a slightly different way.
It's a good truck mode, really, and considering that the transformation had to be totally redone here, it's an admirable effort. The front is now angular, not curved, while the bumper and headlights aren't defined anymore. The sculpt is still pretty good, despite this omission. The ladder is quite well done, there are moulded and painted windshield wipers, seams where appropriate and a sculpted (but unpainted) stroberack.
The wheels all roll and the ladder can lift to 90°, the nozzle section swings down 180° with two nozzles that fold out at the tip. The base rotates through 360°, there's some wiggle in the baseplate itself, but it'll basically stay in place while the ladder moves around. This truck mode holds together fairly well, actually, certainly better than some of the other 6" Titaniums.
A pretty good truck mode, without any notable flaws, which is not a given in this line. I would have liked to see something in the way of headlights, but on the whole it's a good fire truck mode. Solid rather than spectacular, but Optimus Prime works in this mode without any engineering faults.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Unfold the panels forming the cabin, flip forward and reassemble to form his boots and reveal the thighs. His feet actually fold out from under the roof during this process. Slide the rear section forward, stand him up. Split the rear tray section, swing down to the sides to form his arms, rotate the shoulders, swing the forearms into place and flip out his fists. Slide the grey ladder base down, rotate the ladder out over his right shoulder as a shoulder cannon. The last step is optional, by the way (I'll come back to that).
ROBOT MODE
Height: 15cm Width: 10cm
A red robot with white thighs and fists, Optimus Prime has black feet and a light grey groin. This is the larger, super, robot mode - there is no smaller robot now. The chest features the orange and grey strap is present on his chest, with an Autobot badge stamped on the right, as on the original. The boots are painted to resemble the panels on the original, including false tyres on his knees (with the rear front tyres visible below). The head is red and silver with yellow eyes. The grey ladder either hangs off the back or sits on his left shoulder. Considering that the transformation has been completely redone, this is a great copy of the original toy's super mode. The colours and sculpt are quite faithful to the original - making this robot mode look quite impressive.
Time for the die-cast roll call. The chest, shoulders and feet are metal, which makes Optimus Prime rather top heavy, yet he's still remarkably stable when all's said and done. Even the panel-formed boots stay assembled without causing any trouble. The engineering is again really good, and along with the stability, nothing is too loose or too tight.
Optimus Prime is quite blocky, but this doesn't mean he's not poseable. The head turns, his shoulders rotate and lift out the sides while his elbows bend and feature ratcheting rotators as well. The waist and hips are also ratcheting, the latter in two planes of movement. His knees bend back maybe 45° and there are (ratcheting) rotators mid thigh to help his knees out. Prime's ankles are fixed, but then loose ankles could bring the whole thing crashing down, so fixed ankles are fine by me.
There are holes in his fists but nothing to place in them, so the holes are only for show. There are panels on the outsides of his forearms, lifting them up reveals rather rudimentary wrist guns - which do a poor job of representing those on the larger toy. Adding to this the fact that they're still half hidden underneath the panels, I can't say I'm really keen on the whole thing. Still, the designer did bother to add in this feature, I guess. The ladder over his left shoulder is kickass, however. It's a huge cannon, and the nozzles on the end sell it as a weapon. It doesn't cause any real balance issues, either. I've got Prime standing in a "holding" position - as if it were a bazooka, which looks really nifty. While this ladder lacks the missile launchers along the length, it makes for a much cooler cannon on this toy than the original's.
A great reproduction of the original, considering the difference in transformation. The attention to detail really makes this robot mode work. He's stable and poseable with a great shoulder cannon. While there's slightly less metal than on some of the other Titaniums, I'd rather a successful toy than a heavy one that flops. As in the truck mode, there aren't really any major flaws here.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although Hot Zone is a repaint of RiD Prime.
OVERALL
In a tribute line aimed at adult collectors, RiD is something of an unusual character choice. To be honest I'm still not sold on the fact that they chose this character to revisit over some fairly iconic (but rarely revisited) G1 characters, such as Galvatron for example. Having said that, the execution is the best I've seen in the Titaniums I've sampled. The play value is decent, the poseability in robot mode is great, the stability in both mode is good and the paint job and sculpt are good. The transformation is quite different, and while there are some cheats, it's enough to support his two modes. If you like Titaniums or this particular incarnation of Optimus Prime, I'd recommend this figure - 9/10
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