Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime

*Evacuation is the right of all sentient beings!*

Series: Generations Fall of Cybertron
Year: 2012
Allegiance: Autobot
Class: Deluxe

Confronted with the inevitable decline of his homeworld into a long period of frozen, powerless hibernation, Optimus Prime faces a terrible choice: Stay and fight to the finish, only to fall into stasis alongside his world; or evacuate, and hope that the Decepticons pursue him into space so that the planet has time to heal.

Prelude: Believe it or not, it’s been fifteen years since High Moon Studios brought us the gold standard of Transformers video games, War for Cybertron, followed by the even better Fall of Cybertron game two years later. And of course Hasbro made toy figures for those games as well, including an entire Fall of Cybertron line in 2012. And every Transformers toy line needs an Optimus Prime, of course. So today we look at Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime, a figure I was really surprised I hadn’t reviewed yet. So let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Now you might remember that we already had an Optimus Prime figure for the first High Moon Studios game, War for Cybertron, in the first Generations toy line. Well, giving Optimus a new design for a new series is not exactly a new thing, we’ve seen that plenty of times before. Weirdly enough, though, Optimus was the only character who got a redesign for the sequel, everyone else more or less looked the same. Well, that’s Optimus Prime for you. So what has changed between the two games?

First of all, the figure is nearly a head smaller than its predecessor. Both are Deluxe-Class, but FoC Prime is a good deal smaller, probably to put him in proper scale with other FoC figures like Grimlock and Bruticus. However, this makes him look somewhat short when comparing him with notably smaller characters like Bumblebee. But scale in Transformers is a topic all its own, of course. Now, Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime is not just a shorter figure, but also a simpler figure with a simpler transformation and a more streamlined, less chunky design. Really the only kibble he has at all are those two parts on his forearms, which become the truck’s bumper. Apart from that he is a simple, stylish design. But is simpler better?

In terms of articulation Optimus Prime is very good. He is as poseable a figure as you are likely to find in 2012 and can do all sorts of dynamic poses with no problems. Detailing is also quite good, a lot of details from the CGI character in the game are on the figure as well. Quite a few of them, however, are hard to spot because they get lost in the rather uniform paintjob. A few more paint applications would have worked wonders here, I think.

Optimus carries a rifle as his only weapon, which he can hold in hand or stash on his back. There is a 5mm peg on the rifle to combine it with other weapons and Optimus himself sports 5mm holes on arms and legs, where you can attach more weapons if you wish.

So bottom line for the robot mode: it’s a fun figure with no real flaws unless you put him in direct comparison with his predecessor, where the smaller size and near-invisible detailing becomes more apparent.

Alternate Mode: Now the original WFC Optimus Prime had a pretty complex transformation for a Deluxe-class figure, transforming into a science fiction style truck that has been described as a “fist on wheels”. Now Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime still transforms into a science fiction style truck, of course, but much like the robot mode, the design is very different. It’s more angular and has a stronger resemblance to Optimus’ usual semi-truck mode.

Now the truck looks pretty cool, I especially love those triple smoke stacks, but the same rather uniform paintjob as in robot mode once again swallows a lot of the detailing and makes this toy look simpler than it actually is. Also, it appears even smaller in this mode, as Optimus folds together in several ways, so you might even mistake him for a Scout-Class figure here.

So bottom line for the truck mode, same as the robot mode. Good, but should be bigger and more detailed.

Remarks: There was never an in-game explanation, as far as I know, why Optimus Prime was redesigned for Fall of Cybertron, while pretty much every other major character remained the same for the second game (advancements in graphics notwithstanding). Probably just because he’s Optimus Prime and there needs to be a new Optimus Prime figure in every new toy line. Kind of weird that they didn’t do a new Bumblebee, too, though.

While I loved the idea of an entire toy line dedicated to a fabulous video game, I have to say quite a few of the Fall of Cybertron figures fell a bit short of what they could have been. Not that they were bad figures, mind you, just a bit short of their full potential. If Optimus here were a bit bigger and the details brought out more with a few more paint applications, I’d put him on par with his previous War for Cybertron incarnation. As things stand, he is a fun toy, but does feel a tiny bit like a step in the wrong direction after the first one.

Rating: B-