INTRODUCTION
In 1997, cashing in on the success of their Beast Wars line, Hasbro/Kenner released a new, exclusive line of Transformers figures to test the market and toy collectors alike on how the return to transforming vehicles would be received. The result was Machine Wars. Only available at Kay Bee stores, this line consisted of previously unseen molds and repaints of exclusive European Generation 2 molds. However, without a television show or comic book made to support the line, these toys did not create the similar impact Generation 1 and Beast Wars did. A year later, the line was dropped.

Machine Wars Optimus Prime is a repaint and slight remold of the Turbomaster figure Thunderclash - a rarity for Optimus Prime figures since his character usually has a new mold with every new Transformer line released. Now appearing in the red, white and blue colours every Transfan is familiar of Optimus Prime, his missile launchers now only shoot two missiles compared with the lock and load gimmick of Thunderclash's toy. Hence, this review will also see if this version of Optimus Prime is worthy enough to be considered as a "true" Optimus Prime or not.
(Please take note that I haven't applied the labels to my MW OP toy. :P )

Since this Optimus Prime was packaged in vehicle mode, this review will first look into that.
Machine Wars Optimus Prime comes in the familiar truck cab and trailer mode fans have come to love. However, unlike his previous incarnations prior to this line, this has a more futuristic look with a streamlined cab and a trailer that one does not normally see coursing through the city streets. Grey and white are the dominant colours, with a little dash of red in the trailer's lower front end. There are also black sections, namely the missile launchers and the radar. And last is probably the most inappropriate colour of golden brown found in the front and rear ends of the roof. The trailer's sides retain the familiar design found in previous trailer incarnations of blue and white stripes with the Autobot symbol. Similar to his Powermaster version, this one packs some heavy firepower with two missile launchers attached on the trailer's front end. These launchers swing out sideways at the press of a button found in the front end of the trailer roof. His rifle can also be attached between these launchers in vehicle mode. A radar is placed at the rear end of the trailer atop a gold-coloured section of the its roof, and the name Transformer is sculpted in the trailers white door. This trailer has four wheels.
The cab carries the familiar red "body" and blue "tail" colours, but in addition, grey is added to the mix. The front half of the "body is grey with light blue windshields of clear plastic, while the rear half is read. There are also blue and white stripes gliding along the cab's sides. However, unlike previous Optimus Prime trucks, this truck has no smokestacks. Looking forward generation-wise the truck cab bears a resemblance to Robots In Disguise Ultra Magnus' (more on this later). A very nice vehicle mode to display.
However, what draws away from this optimus Prime's truck mode is the vehicles inability to make realistic truck turns. This is because the hitch for the trailer is fixed and prevents it from swinging back and forth when moving like a real trailer truck would. Hence, when playing with it, don't expect this Prime to make good turns.

Separate the cab from the trailer. Swing down the cab's "tail" section. Flip the "tail" ends up to form the feet. Push down the white panel at the back of the cab and to reveal the robot's head. Pull the head halfway out. Separate the cab's front sections and fold back to reveal the arms. Lower the cab hood to form the chest and pull all the way up the robot head. Extend robot fists. The cab is now in robot mode.
Press the button on the trailer's front end of the roof to lower the missile launchers. Remove the white "door" panel at the rear. Grab the grey portion of the roof and pull it out towards the front end; Swing up the rard section up. Pull out both sides of the truck until it reaches approximately 45 degrees from the trailer's bottom. Swing down the grey portions of the sides down (I did mine with two "clicks") and flip out the red flaps tucked inside them until they are level with the trailer's rear end. By now, the trailer base shoul look like an awkwardly standing tripod. Separate the gold inside sections to reveal the "laser" weapon. Pull up the weapon to make the upper half of the base stand properly upright. Rotate the entire upper half 180 degrees and swing out the small white handles found underneath the radar. Attach the detached white "door" panel tabs onto the holes found between the missile launchers. This will act as a platform for the robot to stand on. the trailer is now in base mode. The small white handles can be placed on the robot's fists to ensure a secure position.

Now here is where things become really interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if any Transfan would suddenly exclaim, "Hey, this is not Optimus Prime!" after transforming his Machine Wars incarnation to robot form. From the all-too familiar cab and trailer mode to something... uncomfortably different. Let's start off with the face itself. This Prime does not have the most recognizable feature of any Prime at all: no face plate. Plus, the shape of his head does not look anywhere near the typical Optimus Prime head. No faceplate, no antennae, different head crest and different "cheeks." This guy looks more like Ultra Magnus than Optimus Prime! What gives?! (On a side note, the box art for MW Optimus Prime is a recycled artwork of Laser Optimus Prime. Do not be decieved by the box art!)
One thing to remember about this Optimus Prime in particular is that his is not an original Optimus Prime mold. Hence, the face of Thunderclash was carried over when the Machine Wars line saw its Optimus Prime incarnation and never got the chance to be remolded into the familiar face we have come to love.
Another missing feature of this Prime are the trademark truck window/front grill chest portion. Most vehicle Primes have the familiar blue (or clear) left and right window panels for his chest and/or a grill to represent his abdomen. Instead, Machine Wars Optimus Prime replaces this with a "roof chest" version - that being his hood formed the chest in his robot mode. Fortunately, the cool and spiffy Autobot insignia placed over the blue "bird" (if that is indeed a bird!) sticker covered up for this departure. Otherwise, having a grey roof as his chest actually gives this Prime a dull and boring look.
As for his arms, all you can do is bend them at the elbows up to a right angle or fully swing it down. Give him his gun and he's like a zombie when aiming it or lowering it. The fact that you can swing his shoulders inward isn't even worth doing it. It would make him look like he had broken shoulders. What adds to its lack of appeal are the golden colours of his forearms: totally not in harmony with the rest of his body colours. Those limbs should have been coloured either red or blue instead. Another thing that also contribute to the lack of arm movement are the windshield halves attached behind them. Plus, it makes this look like he has a set of small wings behind him when viewed at a certain angle.
His lower body, however, matches the usual Optimus Prime legs: dominant blue colour and wheels on the legs. It also sports some good detailing from the parts of the truck that add more life to the robot. Unfortunately, those are the only good things we can find from that. These legs lack any articulation at all. If that isn't bad enough, the legs are attached to one another at the robot's feet making it impossible to have this Prime do some poses that involves the leg splitting up. Kicking is a DEFINITELY out of the picture! There's no way to put him in a decent and balanced pose if you try swinging up or down both his legs and feet since it will only cause the robot to fall down. That means this Prime can only stand straight. Perfect if you're at attention for the rest of your life - NOT! Oh, and did I mention that he has black feet?
As for his trailer/base, it's pretty impressive given that it has a tripod look that wasn't familiar with any of his previous bases during the time this incarnation of optimus Prime came out. The elevated look gives this trailer a very eclectic look. What I also enjoyed with this base is that one can rotate the upperhalf of the base with Prime standing on his platform. It gives the look of a personal assault tower that can cover the entire perimeter during combat. If only this mold retained the rapid-fire feature of the Thunderclash toy, those missile launchers would rock if one plays with them! It's too bad that the "laser" weapon isn't part of the rotating portion. It would have been great to see that weapon adding more firepower. It's pretty interesting to take note that the rotating upper half can also be detached from the base to create an unofficial mini-aircraft. Hey, great play comes from great imagination, kiddies! While the tripod approach was very innovative, it also gives the impression that this base is very fragile. Two of the tripod's "legs" are the trailer sides - thin pieces of plastic. Only one "leg" - the rear end of the trailer - looks sturdy enough to hold the whole base together. Another thing about the base is the lack of detail to enhance its appearance. It would have been great to see some nice sculpts on the "legs" and the rotating upper half so as to make this base more imposing and give the impression it can take on any Decepticon army attacking Optimus Prime. The gold actually blends pretty good for the base because there is no shade of blue found anywhere except for Prime's when he's standing on the platform. Really, if only more detail were put in it, this base would really rock! As for the "laser" weapon, I wished it had a cool feature (i.e., firing missile, lights & sounds) so as to show its importance play-wise. Instead, it's just there, tucked inside the gold section of the trailer waiting to be revelaed and that's it. Yawn.

RATING: The face is definitely the major turn-off for any Prime collector, but once you get over it - wwhich may take quite some time - this Optimus Prime is still worth getting for the die-hard Optimus Prime aficinado. (A thought occured to me: Maybe another reason this incarnation of Prime turned off some collectors was due to the fact that a lot of Transfans still hasn't gotten over the Beast Wars thing where their optimus Prime-like character turned into an ape; and that HasKen's response was give them a not-so-exciting truck mode in the form of MW Prime?). Perhaps this departure from the traditional optimus Prime look is also a factor as to this toy's appeal for some collectors - not to mention that it is quite a rare pieece these days. However, it would have been better if HasKen improved upon the mold instead of impairing it. For one, they shold have kept the features found in the Thunderclash mold (e.g., rapid-fire feature). Two, improved the colours and detailing on the mold. And three, add more features on the toy ("laser" weapon, rotating base). Also, they should have improved upon the toy's articualtion, considering that they just made a breakthrough on that with Beast Wars recently around that time.

A great piece to display especially in vehicle mode, but if you want a more exciting optimus Prime to play with, this is not one I would recommend. If you're a die-hard Prime fan, get it regardless of the departures and flaws. If you want a Thunderclash replacement, this is good enough. If you feel like getting it but turned off by the toy's lack of interesting features, kitbashing may be useful.

This review was written on 07 April 2005.