Age of the Primes Solus Prime

Prelude: The last time we saw Solus Prime she was a wee little guy hiding inside a wee little Pretender shell. Now, though, the Age of the Primes finally brings us a Solus Prime wielding a mighty hammer (if she be worthy). So heat up the forge, bring out the metal, and let’s make ourselves some McGuffins for the next Transformers TV show. Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Now technically this is the second official Solus Prime figure, but the Power of the Primes version was really just a little Prime Master dressing up in Octopunch’s clothing. This new one here, however, finally looks like Solus Prime as we know her from the Covenant of Primus and several other depictions from the Aligned continuity. She is a Deluxe-class figure, slim and with a definite female air to it, and carries her famous hammer, the Forge of Solus Prime.

Solus is mostly purple with some grey and golden highlights and adheres to the modern standard of articulation, no problem. Detailing looks very good, no complaints here. Her big shoulder pieces can point up, down, or stay straight, your choice. She wears what is either an oversized loincloth or a smith’s apron (probably the latter), which is three separate pieces of hinges to allow for maximum articulation. It also enables you to have the middle part stand straight up like… well, you know. Shut up!

Solus has few visible vehicle parts on her, at least when looking at her from the front. There are tires on the backs of her feet and shoulders, plus she has a hood as a backpack. Her hammer, which consists of three pieces and needs to be taken apart in order to be put in or taken out of her hand, can be stored on her back. 

No real complaints here, except that her apron looks a bit silly in some poses and that her feet tend to pop off if you turn them at the ankles. Apart from that, very nice, though for some reason I am not feeling very excited about this robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Most of the original 13 Primes were never shown in their alternate modes (if they even had one), Solus Prime among them. The figure, however, transforms into something approximating a truck. The transformation as such isn’t difficult (though the instructions make it seem that way), but it’s … exhausting, somehow. Especially putting the shoulder pieces into the right place. And don’t expect it to work without popping off at least one of the feet.

The finished truck looks sufficiently science-fiction-y to work as a Cybertronian vehicle while still clearly being a truck. Well, as long as you look at it from the front. The back doesn’t really manage to hide that it’s a pair of robot legs. Solus’ hammer can either be attached to the left side or be mounted on top, where it looks almost like a tank cannon. 

That’s pretty much it, really. A decent-looking truck mode with a somewhat finnicky transformation.

Remarks: Solus Prime is one of the Thirteen Original Primes and the only female among them, thus all female Transformers are her descendants. She forged most of the McGuffins… sorry, artefacts of the Primes, including the Star Saber and the Requiem Blaster, and was eventually killed by Megatronus Prime. After her death she transformed into the Well of All Sparks, a passage to the heart of Cybertron and the wellspring of new Transformers life. Or to put it differently, the only female Prime became Cybertron’s vagina.

I am not really sure what it is about Solus Prime, but I’m… underwhelmed, I guess. There is nothing I can really point at and say, this is bad, but overall this figure just leaves me with a profound feeling of “meh”. Maybe I expected too much, I don’t know. The figure itself isn’t bad, but neither is it particularly good. It’s as good a representation of Solus Prime as we’ve ever gotten, so there is that, but hopefully we’ll get a better one at some point in the future.

Rating: C+