OK, so I was a bit on the fence when I saw this in the Japanese import store. I mean, I already have a Cybertronian mode Prime and a Battle Damaged one from the 2-pack. What I didn't like was that either one of those were tiny when compared with figures such as Ratchet. So grudgingly, I picked up this Wingblade Prime, hoping I won't regret it. Welcome to Transformers Animated Week of Mecha March 2011 here on Toy a Day!
The Japanese box is a lot more rectangular than the Hasbro box, and seems very simple. The front has a large enough window that continues to the top, and quite a lot of text in English, with the Japanese text limited to really really small font here and there. There's aalso a picture of the toy in robot mode on the front to complement the robot mode that's displayed.
The Japanese text is more prevalent on the back, but even then, the titles are in English - Story and Gimmick. There's a nice illustration of the toy, and the action features are shown in a series of photos below that. The cross sell figures are limited to the faces of the figures instead of full body pictures of the toys.
I'm going to talk about the non-toy contents first, because there are more of these here than in a normal Hasbro box. There are the instructions, of course, but instead of it being just for Wingblade, there's also another set of instructions for "Optimus Prime". I have to wonder if there were two different versions of Prime released that were merged by the Japanese into this one box. Possibly. Then there's a flyer of sorts that folds out to show all the toys of the line to date, complete with their Japanese numbers. There's also a card size sheet for some sort of competition or club or something, and an actual trading card, which is displayed prominently on the packaging so as to be visible through the window.
There's a lot more parts included with this Prime. Most of the accessories are for Wingblade, but there's two for Optimus himself. They are not designed to work together, especially in vehicle mode, although they could be mixed and matched in robot mode.
The sculpt is well articulated, and thankfully, it's not a Bayformer. The Japanese version is made from a see-through coloured plastic, which gives this Prime an interesing look. They've also added in an extra point of articulation on the face such that when a lever behind the head is raised or lowered, it puts on and removes the mask from his face, and gives the option to display Prime with two different faces. What's a bit odd is the way the hip is designed with a corkscrew of sorts - it doesn't really work well and it makes the hip way too Sy-Klone loose.
The weapons for Optimus Prime consists of a five piece axe, and one of those pieces includes a water cannon that can be filled with water to squirt out water. The Wingblade accessories are more extensive. There's the wings with 4 points of articulation and the hammer, two missile launchers and a pair of "gloves" with yellow-tipped wings that is articulated. The Wingblade accessories fit snugly on Prime. Now I know Lego has micrometer accuracy in the sculpts, but I dare say that this Prime probably has the same amount of accuracy based on the way everything fit together so perfectly due to friction.
The vehicle modes for each model is interesting as well. The normal Prime axe converts into the back part of the cab and the water cannon-gun ends up as Prime's firefighting cannon. It's a neat touch. The Wingblade accessories also fit flawlessly onto the back of Prime to give him a weird winged truck look. Battle Armour Prime perhaps?
Overall, I'm more than please with this Prime. I haven't reacted so positively to a toy in a long long while (and I've opened over 400 toys in the 14 months). I have to say, based on this Prime, I'm gonna dig up the old Animated figures out of storage to display them! This Prime has also singlehandly convinced me to actually collect TFA figures - now that's gonna be a hard act to follow! That's how much I like this Prime.
The Japanese box is a lot more rectangular than the Hasbro box, and seems very simple. The front has a large enough window that continues to the top, and quite a lot of text in English, with the Japanese text limited to really really small font here and there. There's aalso a picture of the toy in robot mode on the front to complement the robot mode that's displayed.
The Japanese text is more prevalent on the back, but even then, the titles are in English - Story and Gimmick. There's a nice illustration of the toy, and the action features are shown in a series of photos below that. The cross sell figures are limited to the faces of the figures instead of full body pictures of the toys.
I'm going to talk about the non-toy contents first, because there are more of these here than in a normal Hasbro box. There are the instructions, of course, but instead of it being just for Wingblade, there's also another set of instructions for "Optimus Prime". I have to wonder if there were two different versions of Prime released that were merged by the Japanese into this one box. Possibly. Then there's a flyer of sorts that folds out to show all the toys of the line to date, complete with their Japanese numbers. There's also a card size sheet for some sort of competition or club or something, and an actual trading card, which is displayed prominently on the packaging so as to be visible through the window.
There's a lot more parts included with this Prime. Most of the accessories are for Wingblade, but there's two for Optimus himself. They are not designed to work together, especially in vehicle mode, although they could be mixed and matched in robot mode.
The sculpt is well articulated, and thankfully, it's not a Bayformer. The Japanese version is made from a see-through coloured plastic, which gives this Prime an interesing look. They've also added in an extra point of articulation on the face such that when a lever behind the head is raised or lowered, it puts on and removes the mask from his face, and gives the option to display Prime with two different faces. What's a bit odd is the way the hip is designed with a corkscrew of sorts - it doesn't really work well and it makes the hip way too Sy-Klone loose.
The weapons for Optimus Prime consists of a five piece axe, and one of those pieces includes a water cannon that can be filled with water to squirt out water. The Wingblade accessories are more extensive. There's the wings with 4 points of articulation and the hammer, two missile launchers and a pair of "gloves" with yellow-tipped wings that is articulated. The Wingblade accessories fit snugly on Prime. Now I know Lego has micrometer accuracy in the sculpts, but I dare say that this Prime probably has the same amount of accuracy based on the way everything fit together so perfectly due to friction.
The vehicle modes for each model is interesting as well. The normal Prime axe converts into the back part of the cab and the water cannon-gun ends up as Prime's firefighting cannon. It's a neat touch. The Wingblade accessories also fit flawlessly onto the back of Prime to give him a weird winged truck look. Battle Armour Prime perhaps?
Overall, I'm more than please with this Prime. I haven't reacted so positively to a toy in a long long while (and I've opened over 400 toys in the 14 months). I have to say, based on this Prime, I'm gonna dig up the old Animated figures out of storage to display them! This Prime has also singlehandly convinced me to actually collect TFA figures - now that's gonna be a hard act to follow! That's how much I like this Prime.
Yeah, this guy s definitely on my list, though I've been really unwilling to fork out the equivalent of US$40 for him. Oh well, maybe I'll stumble upon a loose one one day for cosiderably less (Yeah right! :P)
ReplyDeleteCool version of Prime. I like these TFA figures a lot.
ReplyDelete@SDB: I got mine for S$59... so a bit more expensive than what you can get it for I guess.
ReplyDeletePerhaps not...I actually don't think I've seen it for cheaper in these parts! :)
ReplyDeleteJust looking at your review of this figure makes me want to get into TF:A too!
ReplyDeleteYou should - they are great. Better than anything out there since G1. I would highly recommend these!
ReplyDeleteYes, hockstylin. What Novelty said. I'd also throw Henkei/TF:United in their as well!
ReplyDeleteOh, agree with the Henkei stuff as well. United not so much, but I just found out that the Megs/Rods/Galvatron 3-pack is exclusive to Malaysia (and I presume Singapore) so if you have the cash and the patience on ebay, you might be able to make quite a bit of money off that.
ReplyDeleteReading this post remind me to open this same Prime too which is still in box. LOL Nice review!
ReplyDeleteYou should open it. It's a great toy.
ReplyDelete