One of the many figures that kicked off Hasbro and Takara's efforts to revitalise and reimagine the original Generation One cast of characters with modern toy engineering, the Classics/Henkei voyager Optimus Prime was easily one of the most popular to be released. But does it live up to the hype? And how well does it hold up when compared to more recent figures?
The Henkei line was Takara's version of Hasbro's Classics line, and their voyager Optimus Prime was easily one of the most popular from the line. The idea behind these lines was to reimagine the Generation One cast in a more modern setting, and looking at Optimus' vehicle mode, that's very clearly been achieved
Rather than a being a box on wheels like his Generation One counterpart, Henkei Prime transforms into a much sleeker looking truck, the kind you'd see doing long treks across Europe to deliver goods. The wind-vane really adds to the modern look. This truck looks like something powerful and imposing, as Optimus should do. The grill is painted up in chrome, and though I'm not really a fan of chrome on Transformers toys, it's not on too much of the figure that it can be there without bothering me
Rather than a being a box on wheels like his Generation One counterpart, Henkei Prime transforms into a much sleeker looking truck, the kind you'd see doing long treks across Europe to deliver goods. The wind-vane really adds to the modern look. This truck looks like something powerful and imposing, as Optimus should do. The grill is painted up in chrome, and though I'm not really a fan of chrome on Transformers toys, it's not on too much of the figure that it can be there without bothering me
In robot mode, this figure continues to look absolutely fantastic. It's very clearly meant to be Generation One Optimus Prime, but with some lovely angles and details that bring him into the modern era of Transformers toys
The head sculpt is really nice, and he has some gorgeous light piping, the kind we don't see too much of anymore. Mine has a QC issue on the left shoulder, where a second Autobot symbol has been tampographed over the first. It's very minor though, so it doesn't bother me too much. His colours are really stunning in robot mode though. The red, silver, and dark blue really bounce off each other quite nicely. He's got a big of kibble on his forearms and back, although I suppose you can remove the wind vane if it really irritated you, but thankfully none of it really holds back the figure any, and doesn't get in the way of pose-ability
The head sculpt is really nice, and he has some gorgeous light piping, the kind we don't see too much of anymore. Mine has a QC issue on the left shoulder, where a second Autobot symbol has been tampographed over the first. It's very minor though, so it doesn't bother me too much. His colours are really stunning in robot mode though. The red, silver, and dark blue really bounce off each other quite nicely. He's got a big of kibble on his forearms and back, although I suppose you can remove the wind vane if it really irritated you, but thankfully none of it really holds back the figure any, and doesn't get in the way of pose-ability
In terms of weapons, he comes with two rifles - one which folds open to form the smokestacks of the truck, and another which folds up to form the wind vane. Neither of these weapons are particularly special, and certainly don't resemble Optimus' classic rifle in anyway, but I just love how they integrate with the vehicle mode
Nowadays, most weapons just attach to the side of the vehicle via a 5mm port. We don't see much of the weapons becoming part of the vehicle mode, or even being hidden somewhere in the vehicle mode, so the level of weapon integration on this figure just makes me smile. I usually just use the smokestack gun myself, and leave the wind vane on his back
Nowadays, most weapons just attach to the side of the vehicle via a 5mm port. We don't see much of the weapons becoming part of the vehicle mode, or even being hidden somewhere in the vehicle mode, so the level of weapon integration on this figure just makes me smile. I usually just use the smokestack gun myself, and leave the wind vane on his back
In terms of pose-ability, this guy is a little lacking in some areas, but he's still able to pull off some pretty kick-ass poses nonetheless. He's got a swivel joint in his neck, bicep, waist, and knees, and hinge joints in his shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. A ball joint or two and some wrist articulation would've been nice, but this figure is still pretty fun to mess around with and pose regardless
Overall, this figure definitely has its flaws, and in some aspects it falls a little short compared to more modern figures, but it's still a really great toy in spite of that, and is still one of the best modern representations of Generation One Optimus Prime, topped, in my opinion, only by MP10 Optimus Prime
If you're looking for an Optimus Prime for your collection, I think just about any version of this mold will do the job perfectly
If you're looking for an Optimus Prime for your collection, I think just about any version of this mold will do the job perfectly
8/10
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out some comparisons in the gallery below
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out some comparisons in the gallery below