Review #92: Ultra Prime
(plus Reprolabels and Shapeways augmentations)
-- Ultra Prime Review Series #6 --
In my last review, I hinted that I might have something a bit different for my next review. Well, here I am doing my next review, and this isn't that something different. I decided I just didn't feel up to writing that particular review quite yet, after all. But I will still do that review at some point. I'm actually thinking it might be good for the very, very beginning of April...
So what will I be reviewing today? Well, that should be bloody obvious, since the title of the review is up at the top of this page, so presumably you read it already. But just in case for some reason you missed it, today we are looking at Ultra Prime!
So who the heck is Ultra Prime? Well, the previous reviews in this series were Optimus Prime and four other Combiner Wars versions of 1984 Autobots. So, ever wonder what would happen if 1984 Autobots were a combiner? No? Well, neither did I... until these toys came out!
Before we take a look at this strange new combiner, however, let us take a look at the individual figures all together. For reasons that will become clear momentarily, they are also being joined by the Legends Class Hot Rod I reviewed way back in 2015!
So what will I be reviewing today? Well, that should be bloody obvious, since the title of the review is up at the top of this page, so presumably you read it already. But just in case for some reason you missed it, today we are looking at Ultra Prime!
So who the heck is Ultra Prime? Well, the previous reviews in this series were Optimus Prime and four other Combiner Wars versions of 1984 Autobots. So, ever wonder what would happen if 1984 Autobots were a combiner? No? Well, neither did I... until these toys came out!
Before we take a look at this strange new combiner, however, let us take a look at the individual figures all together. For reasons that will become clear momentarily, they are also being joined by the Legends Class Hot Rod I reviewed way back in 2015!
From left to right: Sunstreaker, Mirage, Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Ironhide, with Hot Rod in the front. (Click their names for their previous, individual reviews.) And here they are in robot mode:
Hot Rod is joining the group as he also forms part of this combiner. He does, I fear, throw off the whole "1984 Autobots make up a combiner" thing a bit... but since he is just a Legends Class figure, we can say to ourselves that he is a fresh young Hot Rod who is hanging out with his elders because someday he wants to grow up to be just like them. And if that doesn't quite cut it for you, Hot Rod is just an optional part of this combiner. But for now, let's take a look at how Ultra Prime looks with all six members.
Ultra Prime
I have to say, before I had everyone all together, I was dubious as to how I would feel about this. After all, my collection is very much based on G1 nostalgia, and these characters have no business being a combiner. But once I had them all assembled, I was sold! I suppose it helps that these toys are not my main toys of these particular characters, and so this can just be a fun alternate version of them. And I like it!
He is quite well articulated. A few joints, including a ball joint, in the neck. Shoulders ratchet outward, forward, and backwards. There are upper arm swivels, double jointed elbows, and (since the fists just peg on) wrist swivels. He has a waist swivel, which you don't always get on these combiners, so it is nice to see it here! The hips are a little odd at first glance, but once you get used to them, there is good articulation to be found there, with ratchets giving outward, forward, or backwards movement. These are the same joints that were Optimus Prime's hips, so the replacement ratchets I talked about in his review work here as well to provide extra stopping points along the joint. Finally, there are ratcheting swivels above the knees, and then the knees themselves.
Just take a little care when posing him as Hot Rod's connection to the rest of the team is a bit tenuous. (Surely, that is not symbolic of anything...) He fits a bit loosely on his pegs, and can be prone to falling off if you're not careful.
Just take a little care when posing him as Hot Rod's connection to the rest of the team is a bit tenuous. (Surely, that is not symbolic of anything...) He fits a bit loosely on his pegs, and can be prone to falling off if you're not careful.
Ultra Prime can make nice use of most of the individual members' accessories. Optimus's two rifles plug together to form a larger rifle for the gestalt. Prowl's shotgun makes a nice shoulder mounted canon. Sideswipe's gun/sword becomes dagger sized in the gestalt's fist. Mirage's weapon makes a nice hidden blade mounted under the fist on the arm Mirage makes. The only odd man out seems to be Ironhide's axe, unless you want to use that in place of Sideswipe's sword... but it would be a tiny axe in the gestalt's fist! So that doesn't really work for me. But there are a few spots on Ultra Prime where you can at least store the axe if you are adverse to having leftover pieces.
I'm using just the standard Combiner Wars hands and feet with Ultra Prime, not any kind of upgrade set as I did with Superion. More on that in a bit. For now, let's see what he looks like if we scramble the limbs around a bit, and also drop Hot Rod out completely.
I'm using just the standard Combiner Wars hands and feet with Ultra Prime, not any kind of upgrade set as I did with Superion. More on that in a bit. For now, let's see what he looks like if we scramble the limbs around a bit, and also drop Hot Rod out completely.
Leaving Hot Rod out provides you with two chest options. You can just close the panels on the chest, which actually gives him a nice pair of chest windows befitting an Optimus Prime based figure. Or, alternatively, if you leave the panels open, there is some nice molded detail inside which is kind of Matrix-like. The detail in there is a bit lost in a sea of unpainted red and grey plastic, alas, but it is there. The shape of the detailing there makes it look like it is a homage to the Transformers: Energon version of Optimus Prime.
Sideswipe (and anyone sharing his mold) as an arm actually has a bit more articulation in the elbow than most Combiner Wars limbs. In addition to bending forward, it can bend side-to-side a little bit. Sideswipe also has a similar peg hole under his fist as Mirage did, meaning that you still have a place to put Mirage's weapon on the gestalt. |
Theoretically, it doesn't matter which arrangement you have the limbs in. After all, this is not a pre-existing gestalt, so he doesn't exactly have a traditional arrangement. But the arrangement I prefer to use myself does put the limbs in the same places they would have been for the standard arrangement for Menasor back when these toys were the Stunticons. Let's put the limbs back that way and do a little bit of a comparison. As has been well documented in this series of reviews, I don't own Combiner Wars Menasor, so here Ultra Prime is with the Fansproject version:
And then, thanks to the magic of harvesting the internet, here is the Combiner Wars version for further comparison. On the left, with new member Offroad (who shares a mold with Ironhide), and on the right with original member Wildrider.
On the subject of the hands and feet, I refrained from getting any upgraded ones for this set as I did with Superion. Yes, you can't get quite the same poses with the standard feet, but I find you can get some decent ones! And I really like Ultra Prime's stock ones, with the two-toned hands (silver and grey). And with Sideswipe's hand-foot-gun thingy actually being integral to both of his individual modes, that was just more incentive not to replace them! Finally, I just did not like what Perfect Effect did for Prime here. Yes, they made some nice hands and feet for him quite similar to what they did for Superion. But they bundled them together with another large chunk that on the surface, would make Ultra Prime look marginally better. But this piece is supposed to permanently attach to Optimus Prime, and it makes both of his modes look like utter crap!
It's like, seriously! What was Perfect Effect thinking with this? And with selling everything as one kit? If the hands and feet had been in one set and this was in another set (which is how they sold very similar accessories for Menasor), I might have picked up just the hands and feet and found a way to keep Sunstreaker's hand-foot-gun thingy in the picture as well. But there was no way in heck I was paying for that giant useless hunk of plastic! (Deco differences in the Optimus Prime in the above photos are because the Takara version was used.)
So, I decided against the Perfect Effect upgrades for Ultra Prime. Did I get any sort of upgrades for him at all? Yes, yes I did. What kind of upgrades? Stickers! A butt-ton of stickers! So let's take a look at each figure individually, and see what the Reprolabels stickers have done for them.
So, I decided against the Perfect Effect upgrades for Ultra Prime. Did I get any sort of upgrades for him at all? Yes, yes I did. What kind of upgrades? Stickers! A butt-ton of stickers! So let's take a look at each figure individually, and see what the Reprolabels stickers have done for them.
Ironhide
We're starting with Ironhide, as I feel he is the one who benefits the least from the stickers. Which doesn't mean he doesn't benefit at all... but the benefits don't exactly wow me.
In vehicle mode, we see that the yellow stripe is made more of a golden color and extended farther along the side of the vehicle mode. The stripe didn't cover the old one perfectly no matter how carefully I tried to apply it, and some of the original stripe peaks through. A dark gray accent is added to the bottom of the sides. The windows are changed in a way I might have just skipped, except that Reprolabels colored in the previously unpainted rear window, and if I wanted the windows to match it was all or nothing. Some red and yellow accenting was added to the sides of the hand-foot-gun thingy. Finally, on Ironhide's rear we see some rear lights and a license plate. |
Robot mode doesn't reveal much more, beyond some accenting to Ironhide's chest and combiner peg.
All in all, by itself, Ironhide's sticker set is really just... mediocre. I'm not saying he needed anything flashy... but maybe he didn't really need anything at all? Honestly, if Ironhide wasn't part of a set of figures, I might not have bothered. But he is part of a set, and I didn't want to be looking at them and thinking, "One of these things is not like the other..."
Sunstreaker
Like Ironhide, Sunstreaker's labels don't feel essential, but they aren't quite as "meh," and I do like them. The spoiler gets some chrome. There's chrome added to the hand-foot-gun thingy, too, which I feared may be redundant over silver plastic, but it actually adds a nice subtle accent. There's a black sticker added to the roof which is a detail right off the G1 figure. He gets a front license plate, some lights on his rear, and a "CR" on each side. His hood gets a Lamborghini logo.
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He also gets stickers that cover his windows. Like Ironhide's, I might have just left these off, as I did rather like the toy's natural window color. But the stickers added important detailing to the side windows, and again, if I wanted the windows to match, it was an all or nothing affair. Overall the black windows look nice, but if one looks closely around the edges, the original window color does peak out a bit here and there.
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There were two options for the windshield, one that had wording on it and one that was blank. I opted for the blank option. A cheeky little Easter egg was some stickers I opted not to use that went on a part of the toy hidden under the windshield, which shows the interior seating and has who I presume is supposed to be Spike driving Sunstreaker.
There were also chrome stickers provided for the wheels, but here I did feel that the silver paint was good enough, as I felt the return would not be worth the annoyance of putting on twenty four tiny little stickers. And the silver paint there does look really good! So yeah. The wheels were good enough as is for me.
Robot mode gets some new accents. A bit of black added to the chest. Some gold just below the upper leg swivel, some tiny black stickers filling in some molded detail just below that, and finally what looks like some technical detailing on the front of the lower legs. Overall, much like with Ironhide's, Sunstreaker's sticker set just doesn't feel absolutely essential. If this was a completely stand-alone figure, I might have just gone without the sticker set. But that being said, I cannot deny that I like what the stickers have done for him. So not essential... but certainly not the "meh" that was Ironhide. |
Prowl
And then we come to Prowl. This is where things start to get interesting. He gets much more of his proper G1 detail. Before, "Highway Patrol Police" and the blue shield on the side were all scrunched up on the front of the door, all on one panel. Now, it's all spread out, filling the door area completely in a much more aesthetically pleasing way. Doing this included adding some white and some wording to the middle of the door which was previously a big black splotch, due to being a piece made of unpaintable plastic. Now it seamlessly fits in with the rest of the door rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.
Looking at the hood, where there was previously an Autobot symbol there's now another blue shield. Below that is the chrysanthemum emblem found on Japanese police cars. Then, below that, a new Autobot logo can be found. |
The headlights have some additional color to them. There are licence plates reading "POLICE" on the front and back. Rear lights and other detailing are also added to the back. A bit of chrome is added to the light bar. Highway Patrol wording is also added to the rear of the vehicle and to the windshield. In the process of adding wording to the windshield, once again we see the window colors completely changed. The rear most window is also enlarged a bit, filling in a molded area that previously left a bit of it unpainted.
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The hand-foot-gun thingy gets a tiny splash of black and white added to it. It doesn't really pop so much when used as a gun, since it is on the gun's underside, but it will certainly be more apparent when used as a hand or foot.
The stickers do quite a bit for robot mode as well. Starting at the top, the crest on his head is made a more vibrant shade of red. Nice, but not the biggest change... but we're just getting started. He has chevrons added to his shoulders. His chest has new detailing to better emulate his chest, with a blue shield once again replacing his Autobot symbol, and a new Autobot symbol, along with some additional black giving greater fidelity to the black on his hood, added below that. A black bar is added to the exposed bit of combiner peg below his chest. Detailing is added to his crotch and hips. Finally, his feet, which were formerly white, are given a great splash of detailing. The G1 toy's feet were made from the back of the car. Not quite the case here, of course, but the stickers add faux rear lights and some additional "Police" identification.
If Ironhide was "meh," and Sunstreaker was nice but not essential, Prowl very much is essential to this toy. The stickers really bring this toy alive, so much so that if this figure was not part of a set that I want to keep him with, then with the addition of the stickers this toy, even with all of his faux parts and his lack of door wings, might actually have bumped the earlier Generations figure (and its tacky, tacky paint job) out of my collection as my main Prowl figure. (But don't worry, Tacky Prowl. You're safe... for now! Mwa ha ha ha ha!) |
Mirage
And now, Mirage. Oh my Goddess, Mirage. He is like a completely different toy! He gets a lot of additional white and some red striping added. He gets his proper 26 numbering back (rather than the inverted 62 that this toy inexplicably originally had). And most importantly, he gets all of his sponsorship detailing!
Leiger is the name of the company that built the car and fielded its racing team. Elf is a French oil company. He gets some Goodyear sponsership for good measure, and finally... Cybertron. This needs a bit of explaining. The G1 toy had Citanes sponsorship. This was a corruption of Gitanes, a French cigarette company. Reprolabels doesn't like to produce stickers that can even vaguely support smoking, and so instead they went with "Cybertron." I find this an acceptable substitute. |
The Cybertron sponsorship does include a dancing female figure that is definitely a homage to a similar figure on the Gitanes logo. Reprolabels simply removed the figure's skirt. So... nude dancer? The Gitanes logo is apparently supposed to be a dancing Gipsy woman. My fiancée says it is bullcrap (except she didn't say "crap") that her people are being used in such a way to sell cigarettes, but apparently I am not in trouble for having a derivative of that logo on a toy that I own. So... yay for that, I guess? But boo to Gitanes. I mean, what is this? Darkie Toothpaste? (Which sadly, yes, was a thing.)
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Every sticker set I am looking at today has included a few alternate sticker options, but for the most part, these alternate options aren't too much to talk about. Usually it's just alternate license plates, or some different tech detailing. Mirage, on the other hand, has some alternate stickers worth discussing. Except for Cybertron, his sponsorship all had alternate versions provided, presumably for people who wanted to avoid putting real companies on their toy.
In place of Elf you can have him say Ark, presumably in reference to the ship that first brought the Autobots to Earth. Goodyear can be replaced with Corrostop, which in Transformers fiction is the cure to Cosmic Rust. Finally, while not all of the Leiger and Cybertron sponsorship is replaced, the bits on the spoiler and the rear end can be replaced with "No Traitor," presumably in reference to the Transformers episode called "Traitor," in which Mirage gets accused of being one. The spoiler has a second alternate option, in this case a cheeky self-referential sponsorship from Toyhax.com, the website that sells Reprolabels. (I almost decided to put this one on the toy, actually, as I kind of appreciated the ballsiness of it. But in the end, I had to go with the more traditional markings.)
In place of Elf you can have him say Ark, presumably in reference to the ship that first brought the Autobots to Earth. Goodyear can be replaced with Corrostop, which in Transformers fiction is the cure to Cosmic Rust. Finally, while not all of the Leiger and Cybertron sponsorship is replaced, the bits on the spoiler and the rear end can be replaced with "No Traitor," presumably in reference to the Transformers episode called "Traitor," in which Mirage gets accused of being one. The spoiler has a second alternate option, in this case a cheeky self-referential sponsorship from Toyhax.com, the website that sells Reprolabels. (I almost decided to put this one on the toy, actually, as I kind of appreciated the ballsiness of it. But in the end, I had to go with the more traditional markings.)
Mirage's hand-foot-gun thingy gets some blue, white and red detailing. We'll see this more when we get to the gestalt form, but it is actually a bit of a nice touch that each one of the hand-foot-gun thingies have gotten an additional splash of color that helps tie them in with the robot that they form a limb with.
Robot mode benefits a lot from the stickers, as well. A lot of the vehicle mode stickers are visible when looking at the figure from angles, and really pop in this mode, as well. He gets some nice red striping added to his forearms. Some nice additional detailing is added to his chest on the combiner peg. Some other stickers to either side of the chest add some additional blue and cover up some screw holes nicely. Unfortunately, they also cover up the Autobot logo on his chest! Fortunately, one of the other figures' sticker sheets included some extra Autobot logos, so I stuck one of these on Mirage's shoulder. Mirage's sticker sheet is, over all, freakin' awesome. It doesn't take this Mirage to where it is about to replace my earlier Classics version as my main Mirage, but that is because that Mirage isn't a tacky mess like Prowl is. But as for the merits of this set and what they do for the toy, I think it honestly is slightly more impressive than the already extremely awesome set for Prowl. |
Optimus Prime
Optimus. Oh my goodness, Optimus. If there was one problem I had with this toy, it was the unsightly mass of unpaintable grey plastic. Guess what these stickers fix? Gone is the sea of grey, made a lovely and proper red. The grey does peak out around the edges, but this looks as if it is by design. It probably would have been difficult to cover the grey panels completely, and so they just rolled with it and made it look like stylized panel lines. I think it came out quite nicely.
Other detailing added to the truck mode includes a few chrome accents including some glorious stripes on the sides, a few yellow accents filling in some molded recesses, lights on his rear, and turning his windows black. Again, I had no issue with Optimus's original window coloring... except that not all of the windows were originally colored, and fixing it was rather an all or nothing operation. It looks good, so, whatever. |
Once again, as stated in his original review, the silver on Optimus's wheels came via the magic of Sharpie. This is the one area where the stickers didn't offer their own fix, so it is a good thing I'd already taken that into my own hands!
Some additional detailing added to vehicle mode includes black windows for the robot mode chest, as well. Also, new Autobot logos for the shoulders. There were two options here, one option filling the shoulders with a black background, and the other a red background with yellow chevrons under the Autobot logos. Personally, I would have preferred no chevrons on a red background... but of the options available, I went with the one I preferred. The forearms had yellow arrows added to them and for this sticker, there was only one option: a black background. Again, I would have very much preferred a red background, but the black background sticker is better than nothing.
Other details added to robot mode include some red and chrome to his abdomen, gold accenting on the hips, and yellow accenting on the knees.
Hot Rod
And then we come to Hot Rod. I've a horrible confession to make. I placed my Reprolabels order, and... then realized I forgot to include Hot Rod's sticker sheet on the order! But, if I had ordered it, here's what it would've looked like:
Someday I will get these... but I was not about to put in an additional order just for one Legends Class figure's sticker sheet. But, while I was an idiot and forgot to order the sticker, for now I do have one addition to Hot Rod. I ordered an accessory for him off of the 3D printing website Shapeways. This was my first experience with Shapeways, and so I was curious what I was going to get. The piece in question was a replacement spoiler accessory and a gun.
Shaoeways accessories come in a single color, and (among other options that wouldn't have made sense for Hot Rod) I had a choice of going with either yellow or black. I decided to go with the yellow, and use Sharpie on the gun to turn it black. Unfortunately, being somewhat inexperienced in the world of Shapeways plastics, I didn't realize that the black on the gun might rub off a bit on the yellow of the spoiler...
Ah, well... It isn't the end of the world, and usually isn't too bad to the naked eye. But you know how tiny details can become magnified in still photography, so it might stick out more readily here. Mind you, it isn't as obvious in these initial photos, as while the gun is plugged in it covers up the area where it would have rubbed off on the spoiler. |
The big black gun on top of Hot Rod might look a little out of place, however. I mean, objectively, it isn't any worse then most Combiner Wars vehicle mode weapon storage. But if you want to leave it off, you can. Looking at it this way, though, you can see where some of the black from the gun rubbed off on the yellow of the spoiler.
Now that we've looked at everyone individually, let us see how they look as a team:
Not bad! Hot Rod is a little bit, "Hey! Hey! Look at me! I'm here, too!" But overall, this is one good looking team. But now, of course, for the main event. Let's get these guys all re-combined, and see what their gestalt form looks like all stickered up!
Ultra Prime, Take Two: Stickered Up!
Without the stickers, Ultra Prime was a fun "what if" of a combiner. With the stickers, he becomes an awesome new combiner proud to join the ranks of his fellow classic combiners such as Superion and Defensor.
Hot Rod's new spoiler is an even better chest crest for Ultra Prime then the stock spoiler was, as the new one doesn't have the handle sticking down from the bottom of it. Hot Rod's gun has a part to play in the combined mode as well. It connects between Hot Rod and the rest of the gestalt to form a more solid connection. It isn't super solid. But at least Hot Rod isn't about to pop off if you look at him funny anymore. But, as you may recall, Hot Rod is a purely optional part of this combiner. Let's evict him and see how Ultra Prime looks without him!
Visible even with Hot Rod was a few previously unseen stickers from the Optimus Prime set which weren't as visible on Optimus Prime's individual modes. He gains a bit of extra blue on his hips. Looking at him now without Hot Rod, we can see even more additional stickers. On the closed chest, you can see some additional black windows and some chrome stripes which really help bring out the Optimus-ness on Ultra Prime. Opening the chest up you see some lovely stickers that bring out the Matrix chamber detail inside that was previously lost inside the sea of unpainted grey. It looks really good! Good enough that one might almost prefer leaving Hot Rod off so that this detailing isn't hidden away.
He is a lovely looking combiner which is an interesting new addition to the Transformers mythos. Before getting these toys, I would have been hard pressed to ever think that these characters ever belonged together as a combiner. Before the Reprolabels, I just thought of them as a cool curiosity. As they are now, this is a pretty awesome representation of the individual characters who in turn turn into a cool new combiner ready to defend against the Decepticon menace.
Time for some comparisons! First, the usual size comparison photo with a standard sized DVD case. I've done a split screen with this photo, so you can see the un-stickered version on the left and the stickered version on the right.
Time for some comparisons! First, the usual size comparison photo with a standard sized DVD case. I've done a split screen with this photo, so you can see the un-stickered version on the left and the stickered version on the right.
I don't usually comment on the DVDs much... but I happened to watch this one while taking the photos for this review. It had been quite a long time since I watched Highlander 2. It is never going to be considered a masterpiece of cinema, and it is definitely a terrible sequel. (They really should have listened to their own film when they said, "There can be only one.") But I forgot how enjoyable this film is as its own thing. It really is one of those movies that are so bad that it comes full circle to being really good! And any time Connery is on screen is a pure joy. You really can kind of tell that the cast knew this was a bad film while they were making it, so they decided just to have fun with it, and it shows in the performances.
Now, enough for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with Transformers, and back to the Transformers! Here is Ultra Prime on the shelf he lives on.
Now, enough for a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with Transformers, and back to the Transformers! Here is Ultra Prime on the shelf he lives on.
As you see, Ultra Prime just looks great along with other Autobot combiners such as Superion and Defensor (who I must review one of these days). And who's that in the back? Is that another new combiner? Maybe we'll take a closer look at him, too, one of these days... But for now, Ultra Prime! A come from nowhere combiner who, especially with the help of the extra detailing that the Reprolabels provide, is a welcome new addition to the G1 canon.
A bit of sad personal business. Today we laid to rest my fiancée's father, Gary Rinker. I only had the privalage to know him for a few years, but it was an honor. I'll do my best to do well by her, Gary, and you will be missed. |
Review added 12 January 2018 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed.