Death's Head
28-09-11, 08:48 AM
The largest figure in the Beast Wars range Transmetal Optimal Optimus towers over everyone else. Something of a centrepiece for the range, it is a shame that in some ways the figure isn’t quite the greatest ‘show-off’ piece. His looming size makes it difficult for him to interact with the other toys in the range – something that was frequently played up in the TV show – he’s a bit like the Headmaster Fortress Maximus in that respect. He’s big and impressive, but what can you actually do with him?
Optimus remains a gorilla and unlike the other Transmetal figures he is more overtly robotic in both beast and robot modes, save for a few patches of ‘hair’ etched into his forearms. The gorilla mode is quite fearsome looking bearing an angry grimace. The gait of a gorilla is perhaps most accurate in this version of Optimus, simply by virtue of those very long arms. The toy is very loud, being a burst of chromed blue and orange accented with grey and brown. Whilst not a bad choice, it does bring to mind those huge cheap, battery powered robots that can be found in pound shops and market stalls up and down the land. He bears a large set of canons on his back which can be swung up and launched. The electronics will also shine a light through his light-piped head when you pull back the trigger to launch the missiles, giving his eyes a nice glow. The great aggravation of this toy are the blast shields on his forearms. They are designed to ‘explode’ off his arms with the flick of a trigger to mimic battle damage but they are so tightly sprung they tend to pop off of their own accord with only moderate handling. Where his forearms not such skinny bits on nonsense I’d leave them off altogether. The use of ratchet joints at the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles makes Optimus an exceptionally tight toy to move into any position making him one of the most durable figures of the line in so much that his joints wont be going loose and floppy any time soon, if ever.
As with all the Transmetal toys Optimus has a transport mode. Him being a premium figure, he has an additional mode squeezed out of his form. As with the other Transmetal figures, the modes are there as an additional bit of fun, not really designed to be proper vehicles in the traditional sense and Optimus modes perhaps more than the others don’t really convince you that he’s anything other than the robot mode with a few adornments – a bit like the old Centurions toys. The flight mode is probably my favourite because its easily achieved, just being a slight arrangement of the robot mode with the missile launcher rearranged to reveal the cockpit. It looks silly but is a hefty thing and nice to swoosh around. The ground attack mode I’m not so keen on as mainly you can’t really see it because of the arms. Not that it is much to look at anyway, but obscuring most of the mode doesn’t help it much either. It doesn’t roll very freely either due to the weight of the toy. Both modes are little more than a sideshow but because the Transmetal toys were sold on the basis of having these ‘third’ modes, its hard not to feel underwhelmed by them, no matter the intent behind them.
Simplicity is the key with Optimal Optimus and he easily flips between all his modes before reaching his final configuration as a robot. I like his robot mode. It’s not the prettiest thing and suffers from really poor proportions – most notably those huge great big orange hands easily the ugliest part of the toy. The blast shields will irritate you if they are left on the forearms. They can be detached and reassembled on the shoulders where they will not pop off, but personally I think this makes him look even more ridiculous and gives him the most ungainly looking pillar arms, so I stuggle on with them on his forearms or take them off altogether. In addition to the chest mounted missile launcher, Optimus also has a melee weapon in the form of a rifle (which is also bright orange). Although quite a large thing, held in Optimus’ great big pipe cleaner hands, it suddenly becomes a tiny cocktail stick. Making the gun bigger would have been silly, but it looks daft as it is and with everything else going on with the toy, I’m not sure why this was felt a necessary inclusion, particularly as unlike other Beast Wars toys, there’s no proper storage for it. It just has to plug onto the unfeasible battery pack. Whilst we’re on that, the electronics on this toy are another slight enfeeblement. There’s no sounds (despite there being ample space to accommodate a sound box), just a small LED light which requires two AA batteries to power. Its overkill for such a pointless feature and I think I’d have gone without and not felt I was missing anything. It certainly has the effect of making the missile array extremely cumbersome for such little return.
A huge, clanking, awkward toy, Optimal Optimus owes his appeal to his size and play value rather than aesthetics and engineering. He’s nicely detailed and full of bling, but he does fall short of expectations compared to the likes of Rampage and Depth Charge whom were much better executed in a lower size class.
839840841842
Optimus remains a gorilla and unlike the other Transmetal figures he is more overtly robotic in both beast and robot modes, save for a few patches of ‘hair’ etched into his forearms. The gorilla mode is quite fearsome looking bearing an angry grimace. The gait of a gorilla is perhaps most accurate in this version of Optimus, simply by virtue of those very long arms. The toy is very loud, being a burst of chromed blue and orange accented with grey and brown. Whilst not a bad choice, it does bring to mind those huge cheap, battery powered robots that can be found in pound shops and market stalls up and down the land. He bears a large set of canons on his back which can be swung up and launched. The electronics will also shine a light through his light-piped head when you pull back the trigger to launch the missiles, giving his eyes a nice glow. The great aggravation of this toy are the blast shields on his forearms. They are designed to ‘explode’ off his arms with the flick of a trigger to mimic battle damage but they are so tightly sprung they tend to pop off of their own accord with only moderate handling. Where his forearms not such skinny bits on nonsense I’d leave them off altogether. The use of ratchet joints at the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles makes Optimus an exceptionally tight toy to move into any position making him one of the most durable figures of the line in so much that his joints wont be going loose and floppy any time soon, if ever.
As with all the Transmetal toys Optimus has a transport mode. Him being a premium figure, he has an additional mode squeezed out of his form. As with the other Transmetal figures, the modes are there as an additional bit of fun, not really designed to be proper vehicles in the traditional sense and Optimus modes perhaps more than the others don’t really convince you that he’s anything other than the robot mode with a few adornments – a bit like the old Centurions toys. The flight mode is probably my favourite because its easily achieved, just being a slight arrangement of the robot mode with the missile launcher rearranged to reveal the cockpit. It looks silly but is a hefty thing and nice to swoosh around. The ground attack mode I’m not so keen on as mainly you can’t really see it because of the arms. Not that it is much to look at anyway, but obscuring most of the mode doesn’t help it much either. It doesn’t roll very freely either due to the weight of the toy. Both modes are little more than a sideshow but because the Transmetal toys were sold on the basis of having these ‘third’ modes, its hard not to feel underwhelmed by them, no matter the intent behind them.
Simplicity is the key with Optimal Optimus and he easily flips between all his modes before reaching his final configuration as a robot. I like his robot mode. It’s not the prettiest thing and suffers from really poor proportions – most notably those huge great big orange hands easily the ugliest part of the toy. The blast shields will irritate you if they are left on the forearms. They can be detached and reassembled on the shoulders where they will not pop off, but personally I think this makes him look even more ridiculous and gives him the most ungainly looking pillar arms, so I stuggle on with them on his forearms or take them off altogether. In addition to the chest mounted missile launcher, Optimus also has a melee weapon in the form of a rifle (which is also bright orange). Although quite a large thing, held in Optimus’ great big pipe cleaner hands, it suddenly becomes a tiny cocktail stick. Making the gun bigger would have been silly, but it looks daft as it is and with everything else going on with the toy, I’m not sure why this was felt a necessary inclusion, particularly as unlike other Beast Wars toys, there’s no proper storage for it. It just has to plug onto the unfeasible battery pack. Whilst we’re on that, the electronics on this toy are another slight enfeeblement. There’s no sounds (despite there being ample space to accommodate a sound box), just a small LED light which requires two AA batteries to power. Its overkill for such a pointless feature and I think I’d have gone without and not felt I was missing anything. It certainly has the effect of making the missile array extremely cumbersome for such little return.
A huge, clanking, awkward toy, Optimal Optimus owes his appeal to his size and play value rather than aesthetics and engineering. He’s nicely detailed and full of bling, but he does fall short of expectations compared to the likes of Rampage and Depth Charge whom were much better executed in a lower size class.
839840841842