Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth Michael Bay directed Transformers cinematic outing, opened this past weekend to huge box office numbers. This week AwesomeToyBlog will take a daily look at one of the new toys in support of the film. Today’s the last day of Transformers week and I’m wrapping it up with Smash & Change Optimus Prime.
In the interest of full disclosure, as soon as I opened the box I didn’t expect to like this toy very much. Boxed, he looks quite nice. As I said when I previewed the Age of Extinction toys, I’m really quite fond of the unified look of the brand with the red ‘Transformers’ logo across all the packaging. When I opened him I noted that the articulation was limited, he has elbow articulation and the equivalent of a bicep swivel. This limited articulation does give Prime a few different poses he can hold with his included sword. On Optimus Prime’s back is the cab of his truck mode. This is when I hit bottom with this toy and said – “geez, that’s sorta lame”.
To transform Optimus Prime you adjust his arms down to his sides, grab him by the handle (on the back, connected the cab – can’t miss it) and whack Prime against a solid object – I used the countertop. In one swift motion Prime was a truck. I was amused by this. I whacked him against the counter again – he was a robot. Once more – truck. Again? Robot. The ‘Smash & Change’ gimmick totally worked. At this point the cab on Optimus’ back didn’t bother me at all. Whack! Truck. Whack! Robot. Of all the Transformers I’ve futzed with over the past month, two months – I think this one was the most fun. Sure, it’s not super articulated and I can’t put him in cool poses for photographs. And no, he’s not exactly a robot in disguise, since he’s a robot with a truck on his back…but you know what he is? Fun.
Final Thoughts: As an adult collector, I always feel that it’s tough reviewing younger skewing toys. Generations Transformers are aimed at kids and collectors – I know how to approach those. The Power Battlers, One-Step Transformers, Smash & Change Optimus Prime – those aren’t aimed at collectors, they’re for kids. They’re for playing. They’re for fun. Sometimes I don’t connect with them, but in the case of Smash & Change Prime, I totally connected. He’s just simply fun.
One final thanks to Hasbro and the fine folks at Hunter PR for providing the Transformers used for Transformers week.
