Rating: - Perhaps the greatest of all Prime figures
As far as any of the Primes' I've had the opportunity to play with, he's definatly the best to me.
Yes, this is the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime figure. No, he's not a reproduction of the original. This figure is a reimagining of the original figure, this time around standing 12 inches tall.
First, to begin the review, I will let you know that I own the original U.S. release of this figure, so as far as I know, here are the differences:
This one comes with a display base with sounds, so I cannot comment on this item.
Coloring is different. The paint scheme is pretty much the same, except there's a bit more silver trim on the legs, and also some blackening here and there on my figure to simulate battle damage. This one is painted to make him look prestine. Personally, I've grown to appreciate the blackening on my figure, it makes it look like Prime has seen his share of combat. His gun is also colored deferently. But all else apears to be the same.
To begin, I imagine that the designers of this toy wanted to make an ultimate possible Optimus Prime figure that looks exactly like his show self, and atleast as far as his robot form goes, they pretty much suceeded. Optimus in his robot form is amazing.
The thinner arms and legs from the original toy version of Prime are a thing of the past: this Prime looks like he's built pretty solid, and nothing looks wimpy about him.
He has an amazing amount of possability: his ankles, knees, waiste, arms, elbos, shoulders hands and head all turn, pivot and swing. He even has colapsing pistons on his knees, elbows and ankles. Plus his individual fingers can move too!
All this gives him an incredible array of possibilities for posses. Right now, my Prime is setting on the hutch of my desk holding the ticket stub from when I say the new Transformers movie about a week or two ago (I know, I'm a geek).
Transforming this figure is a challenge, even to veteran transformer fans like myself. You might attempt to transform him with the instructions, but trust me, you WILL need them.
His tranformation is incredible complex, more complex than any other Transformer I've ever seen. He has the same basic elements, like his arms folding into his sides and the legs moving back to become the back of the truck, but there's far more to it than that.
Stuff like his headlights folding out from his back, and a second grill folding out from his chest all take place.
I can go on gushing about how amazing his robot mode is, but his truck mode is not quite as impressive.
Let me put it this way: you can tell he's a semi truck when transformed. But it looks blocky, (other than being a flat nosed semi, that is), with a hing or two exposed, and the details fron the front of his lower legs exposed in the back. The less than stellar truck mode doesn't bother me too much though, since I keep him in robot mode about 99% of the time anyway. It would be nive if they had a better truck form for him.
Now, the added bells and wistles:
This figure is built with the long lost art of die cast parts, which gives him some heft. The whole figure isn't die cast, just his chest and lower legs. But it's nice that you know some parts are tough to break.
he comes with several accesories: his well known Ion Rifle, an Energon Ax that can attach to his arm (like in one of the first three Transformer episodes), Megatron in his compacted, gun mode (with removable shoulder stock, scope and silencer), and the Matrix, which fits in his chest.
In fact, the Matrix not only fits in his chest, but it can be opened too, and there's an L.E.D. that it rests in front of, to give the illusion of it glowing.
He has a panel that flips up on each of his arms to simulate a communications panel, with a picture of StarScream on one panel, and of Bumble Bee on the other.
Part of his transformation includes (but does not require) fliping into place a hole on the back of his truck, which indicates that a trailor can ver easily be mounted on the back of him.
He has these vents on his legs that open up when you puch down on his legs, which is odd since it's not really neccesary.
Lastly, there's a button on the beack of his head that when pushed, moves his faceplate, simulating the action of him speaking.

There's alot of good about this figure, but a few things worth mentioning that could stand some improving:
his ankles are a little weak. Some report that they have difficulty posing him in anything but a straight "at attention" stance. Personally, I can pose him in a few different poses, but it's tricky. He often seems to want to fall forward of backward. Strengthened, ratchet style joints there, like in the rest of his legs, would have been very helpful.
Die cast parts usually mean paint on them, and the paint can chip off easily. I've had my Prime for more than three years, and I am quite careful with him, but even still, I do see him chiping in the chest area.
I wish his knees were tooled differently, since it's not quite possible to make him get down on one knee because of the design.
Overall, my complaints are minor, except for the one about the ankles.
This Prime figure is mostly for serious collectors, or those who wanted a very show like Prime. I'm not so sure he'd be well suited for children, especially not for $60+ dollars.
And ultimatly, you have to ask yourself if this is worth that price to you. Me personally, I was willing to spend $70, and I really don't regret it. But not everyone is willing to.
Just make sure you know what you're getting first. And if you want a Prime figure, but don't care for the price, maybe you should get another figure, like the Classics Optimus Prime, although not at the current Amazon price of 49.99 (which is a MAJOR rip off). Classics Optimus Prime retails at about $19.99. This is a more budget concious figure, although he does depart abit in terms of design somewhat. But probably still a worthy Prime figure.

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