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Meat and Potatoes; 5.0
Perks; 5.0
Homer Factor; 5.0
'Bot mode is approximately 12" tall, and about 10" wide. Yes, this thing is a monster. Optimal has the classic Optimus/Convoy head; large mouth, pair of horns on his head. The piece has an orange chest with a cockpit on it, metallic-blue shins and shoulders. Arms are grey and metallic-purple. I know, this sounds horrible, but it actally works very well. The Big Bot has a huge double-barrelled missile-launcher in his chest and a small laser-rifle on hand. The figure is very well scuplted with a multitude of panels, vents, and claws to emphasize the techno-organic look.
Beast mode is very similar to 'bot mode, accept the chest is rotated 180 degrees so a plain-orange chest is shown, the head is replaced by a gorilla-like heard, and the missile-launchers fold down the back and is less prevlent.
Ground assault and hyper-velocity modes are rather similar. The hyper-velocity mode is a modification of the robot mode; the missile-launcher folds on to Optimal's back, the cockpit on the chest folds up, both arms rotate up(think of Superman with his arms up during flight), a pair of wings fold down from the arms, the legs stretch out into jet engines.
In ground assault, the appearance is generally the same, accept the arms now compress closer together, a wheel is slipped between the arms, and two sets of wheels pop down from the legs, allowing Big Bot to roll around.
The meat and potatoes of this piece are stellar. Articulation on this piece, like the other Beast Wars/Machines pieces is amazing; shoulders, knees, wrists, even ANKLES all move well, but not so loosely the figure can't stand. The sculpting is also a joy; details such as panels and vents are everywhere. Oh, and this thing is BIG; about 12" tall in 'Bot and beast mode and almost as wide. Make lots of room on the shelf for this one.
The perks are also very good. The transformations through all four modes are very good, creating cool changes in appearance. Ok, so the modes don't look all THAT different from each other. Still, having Big Bot with four modes is veeeeery cool, and very appropriate for the leader of the Maximals. One odd thing; Optimal also comes with a medium-sized laser rifle. Granted, relative to the other hand-weapons carried, this thing is huge. Unfortunately, compared to the size of Optimal, the rifle is microsopic. If you're gonna give this guy a side-arm, given something BIG, like bazooka-sized.
Homer factor? Very, very, very high. I've collected most versions of Optimus/Convoy from Beast Wars/Machines. They aren't horrible by any means; great articulation and nice sculpts on all. HOWEVER, this is THE BIG BOT, you gotta do something NASTY with this guy. And Hasbro kicked it up to notches unknown to robot and human-kind.(Tip fo the had to Emeril.)
In the end, Hasbro has created an awesome piece of work. It seemed like THE best transformers were always in Japan first, then you had to wait... and wait... and pray they got state-side... or poney up some serious cash to get them as an import. Well Hasbro created a masterpiece on this side of the Pacific folks. Naturally, Takara came out with Super Fire Convoy a few years later. Oh well, you can't win them ALL the time.