Name: Optimus Prime

Function: Autobot leader.

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”

With the destruction of Megatron, Optimus Prime thought that he was finally, after millions of years, at peace. Little did he know that the escape of Starscream would draw dozens of new Decepticons to Earth. The desire burns brightest in his spark is that the war will soon end. He is determined to see that end come, and so he works with his human comrades and the other Autobots to hunt down Decepticons that have come to Earth, and destroy them, one by one.

Optimus Prime has always been one of my favorite Transformers. He has been the Autobot leader throughout history, and for those of you reading, Optimus Prime has had many transformations taking him from a semi to an ape to a fire truck and back to a semi again. Optimus Prime is probably the most recognizable, if not the most popular, Transformers figure there is. Even people who might not care much about Transformers know who Optimus Prime is. This version of Optimus Prime does a great job representing the character as well as the movie version.

Alternate mode:
Optimus Prime from Revenge of the Fallen transforms into a semi that resembles a Peterbuilt Type 379 tractor truck. As seen in the first movie, Optimus Prime’s protoform scanned one of these passing by and configured Optimus Prime in this beefy road master. The truck is very solid, with tight joints and looks like close to a scale replica of the real version. With a red body and blue cab, the hood is decorated with blue flames and the cab is decorated with red flames. I think this was to add color to Optimus Prime in the Movie instead of the blue, red and gray we are all used to.

Several distinct features of the truck include having plastic tires for the second movie version versus rubber tires. The smoke pipes are also soft plastic rubber, which help to keep from snapping off, but also is not as sturdy as rigid plastic. The trailer connector also has a peg that looks as if it is designed for a trailer that was not released with the figure. The Mech Alive gears are visible through the windows and there is a little button on the back of the cab that when pushed in makes an engine idling noise as well as activates the lights of the Mech Alive gears.

Robot mode:
Optimus Prime’s robot mode exudes sheer dominance. This version of Optimus Prime gives any previously released version a run for the money. Well, Masterpiece Optimus Prime and the small stacks one is one of my absolute favorites, Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime ranks right up there.
First of all, Optimus Prime says “I am Optimus Prime.” Yep, that is all he says. The irony about that is that I don’t really care much for the voice gimmicks on the toys, but when I press down the Mech Alive gear on his abdomen, his eyes light up, his chest bows back and he proclaims “I am Optimus Prime” as if he is to say to any lurking Decepticon “I am Optimus Prime, and I have come to destroy you.” Not to overplay the simplicity of the bold statement, but the gimmick was simple enough as a “Try me” addition to the store boxed version, but is on target as far as Optimus Prime’s attitude.

Optimus Prime has his faceplate on for battle mode instead of an open mask showing his bot face. He also has flip out energon blades which seem to play a greater role of his hand-to-hand combat style in Revenge of The Fallen. Unfortunately, this version of Optimus Prime does not come with his rifle, which I found disappointing. The energon blades are right down wicked sick and watching Optimus Prime rip apart Decepticons on screen solidified just how wicked sick Optimus Prime breaks it down.

Optimus Prime has lots of articulation points and is one hulking beast of an Autobot. Optimus Prime is a great addition to my collection. The Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime is one of the cooler versions of Optimus Prime’s and deserves recognition as one. The only thing I need to make it feel complete is a rifle.

Transformation: 9. Optimus Prime has a very complex transformation series, and the Mech Alive feature for the connecters under the window have a spring-loaded feature, which makes it difficult. The trick of the transformation is that the bottom has a connector that joins with a slot on the forearms. If you get stuck on this part, check out a video on Optimus Prime’s transformation. Other than that, the transformation is decent.

Durability: 8. I love clickity joints. Remember the days of the originals? Back then we didn’t call them G1, we called them Transformers. A lot of them had the clickity joints which let you know you were transforming the robot into a car and vice versa. This Optimus has some cool clickity joint sounds and is very sturdy in either mode.

Fun: 9. The Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime leader class is a lot of fun and is on scale with the other voyager class toys in relation to size comparison in the movie. I love the energon blades and the attention to detail given to the toy.

Price: 7. I picked Optimus Prime up for $44.88 which is an increase over the previous line’s leader class toys at $39.99. I think the almost $5 increase is related to the demand of the movie toys over normal series because there is more demand for the toys during a movie production run than during a normal cartoon series production line.

Overall: 9. Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime leader class scores a 9 because of the different features that the toy has. Overall, I was very impressed with the toy and am happy to add it to my collection.