Saturday, January 22, 2011

Transformers Movie 2 Leader Class Optimus Prime Part 1

For the toy, not the movie

Late as usual, I'm now desperately trying to catch up on the reviews of my older purchases. ^^; This Leader Class Optimus Prime from "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" was bought in November 2009, some 5 months after the movie premiered in Malaysia, but the review on the action figure, starting with this posting, is more than a year later after the purchase date. ^^; You can count me to be among those who are surprised at how late things can be on this blog XD


This is the 4th Transformers action figure in my collection. The first one was Leader Class Optimus Prime from the first "Transformers", which I reviewed back in September 2007. The second and third were Binal-Tech BT-22 Convoy featuring Dodge Ram SRT-10 and Transformers Alternity Convoy featuring Nissan GT-R Super Black Ver. respectively. All are the Autobot leader in either Optimus Prime or Convoy incarnations. Even though there are so many Transformers characters out there, the boss is still my favorite of them all.

I watched the movie on DVD after getting this action figure. The visual effect is awesome but very excessive. The story on the other hand, is horrible. ^^; There are glaring plot holes in every turn of the story, and tons of stuff blowing up here and there whenever some action sequences come on, wherever possible really didn't help to make the movie any bit impressive in my opinion. To some point I thought the movie maker was trying to hypnotize me into believing the movie is good by showing me so much explosion. XD Too many comical characters and dialogue, often not necessary at all, make all the funny moments seem dragging to the entire movie, making it rather hard (and tiring) to laugh at the jokes. "Transformers 2" was a good choice as a summer blockbuster movie - you watch it to be entertained by the special effects. The story is a superficial element in this movie it seems. ^^;

With that said, I did enjoy the special effect of the movie. The transformation of Devastator, that 1 on 3 battle in the forest and the grand finale are done superbly. Some of the other scenes that involve a lot of explosion and destruction, like the sinking of an entire aircraft carrier didn't attract much of my interest. I watched "2012" before "Transformers 2", and that movie involves even more destruction, on an even greater scale as well (and "not" surprisingly, a movie with "awesome" writing ^^;), so there is not much I can praise for this movie. I think some of the scenes from Roland Emmerich's previous disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow" had more dramatic scenes of destruction that were executed better than the ones in "Transformers 2". Just my opinion anyway.

On the other hand, Megan Fox is very hot in this movie. ^o^ I can't recall what significant stuff she did or say in the movie, but she's hot. ^^ I'm quite sure a chunk of my appreciation for the movie is for her really. XD



Anyway, as mentioned before, I hadn't watch the movie when I bought this Leader Class Optimus Prime. The first impression I have about this figure when it was announced is how much accurate the design has become as compared to the first movie release. Bigger torso with broader chest, slimmer legs and the much improved design of its back, which is the refined element I love the most on this figure. The first release seems to stuff all the part that couldn't be transformed to the back, giving the action figure a "backpack" ^^; This second release eliminated that bulky design, and adjusted the placement of the fuel tanks on the back to follow the design as seen in the movie, which is an awesome design point. ^^

There will be an entire posting dedicated to the comparison between the two versions of the action figure in this review series to elaborate on the design differences. ^^

The complexity of the transformation between the robot and vehicle mode is another huge selling point to me. I watched the review on Youtube way before the toy arrived in Malaysia, and the urge to just get one immediately and play with it was super gut-wrenching to control. ^^;




The actual figure is never as metallic as the depiction on the back of the box. ^^;



A preview of Leader Class Megatron (with no elbow joint incorporated for the cannon turret/right arm) on the box side.


Box open.




Tied down by a tons of strings and rubber bands.

A look at the "Try Me" function - push the tab in the middle of Prime's abdomen downward and the chest will be lifted, which comes with the sound effect of "I'm Optimus Prime" and lighting effect for the eyes and chest.


Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.



All the strings used to restrain Prime for returning to Cybertron. XD




Transformation manual.



Promotion booklet introducing all the different ways to lose your money for more Transformers toys and collectibles. ^^;


A nicely designed backdrop with Cybertronian rune symbols.

More images of the action figure in the next posting. ^^

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