In Robots in Disguise, the leader of the Autobots is again Optimus Prime. However in this incarnation of the beloved franchise he takes on the guise of a Fire Truck. I know many old fans find this amusing, annoying, personally offensive or downright blasphemous; but I don't. In the bygone days of the original Transformer toyline I always felt let down by the fact that, although the main Autobot force was scaled more or less faithfully to each other, Prime was not. Here we had the embodiment of goodness, justice, wisdom and power, yet he just didn't feel as imposing as his animated series incarnation. I wanted a Prime who towered over his subordinates and enemies. I wanted a Prime that could make the Deceptacon hordes tremble at his very site the way a good commander should, the way Prime did. Now, some 17 years later, I have my wish; the Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime. And I owe it all to his alternate Fire Truck mode. Optimus Prime has four modes; his Vehicle Mode, a roughly Ultra-sized robot mode, a 'powered up' mode, and Battle mode.

VEHICLE MODE:
I must say, from a purely objective standpoint this is a nice looking toy. Well may it be that I've never seen a Fire Truck that looks exactly like that, but I don't let it get to me. It's big, it's got a ladder-type thing on top, and it's red; what more could you ask?

The overall color scheme is red with a grey ladder mounted on top, the windows on the front and side of the cab are of a translucent blue plastic while the wheels are vacuum metal silver. The tires are rubber with "Fire Convoy" emblazoned on them, which was this toy's name when originally released in the Japanese Car Robots line.

The ladder can swivel a full 360º on its base and can extend to double its original length. The front can bend downward 180º and a button on its top can be pushed to release the water cannons. The four projectile launchers on the top of the ladder can be folded back and locked into place and another bottom on the back can be pushed to release them. A design flaw on mine and at least one other that I know of causes the first two missiles to be fired when this button is pushed, but nevertheless it's a cool feature. The truck rolls nicely on most surfaces, however the panels on the side that the front wheels are attached to tend to fold out when he's rolling, which is annoying sometimes.

TRANSFORMATION (ULTRA ROBOT MODE):
Prime's cab is attached to his aft by two slots, if you look into the gap between the cab and the body of the truck near the floor you should see how. Separate the cab from the body and set the body aside for the moment. Fold the front down so that the windows point to the floor then fold the top portion back and over. split the front of the cab in half and fold the two halves outward. Fold the flap with the wheel forward over Prime's shin and outer leg then open the white panels on the back of his legs and swing his feet out. Bend the siren lights into a "V" shape, take a hold of the segments on either side of the siren and fold them out and around, pull down on the lower section of these to reveal Prime's hands and arms. Push down on the body of the toy to reveal his head. Place his gun in either hand and stand.

ULTRA ROBOT MODE:
The primarily red color scheme carries over in this mode, his torso is Vacuum Metal red with vac metal silver on is abdomen and metallic blue painted detail on his chest. His pelvis is the same grey color as his ladder and his upper legs are white while his lower legs have detailing in metallic silver paint, his feet are dark grey. His forearms are white with blue detailing on the wrists and grey details on the hands. His head is painted with metallic blue and grey and his eyes are vac metal Yellow, which is striking when the light hits them or the red of his chest reflects off them.

Prime has 20 points of articulation in this mode, including his neck, shoulders (3 points each), elbows(2 each), wrists, waist, legs(2 each), knees and feet. This, coupled with the fact that this mode is lightweight and well balanced allows for a huge range of action poses, the ball joints on his feet add to this since they can be flat to the ground (or near enough to) while his legs are adopting some truly gymnastic feats.

TRANSFORMATION (BATTLE STATION/COMMAND CENTER):
The aft of the truck separates into seven sections. Begin by detaching the front sides; place your thumb on the Autobot symbols on the back part, grip the front and pull, it requires a bit of force. The next two sections are held in place by a clip, you should bend them outward to detach them. On the underside, pull the dark grey feet out so that they're pointing straight down, fold in the wheels and then point the feet straight (This last part is optional, I don't recommend it because it makes the base mode sit unevenly). unfold the section with the super mode hands and fold out the thumb, then fold the hands down like S.A.M.'s, the part behind the hands should be left sitting up. Attach these parts to the sections with the Autobot symbols (the symbols should be facing upright and forward), then connect these to the main part via the pins in the forearm panels (the panels with the turrets on them). bend the ladder section up, point the cannons down and fold the sides of the ladder out. The Command Center is ready for battle.

BATTLE STATION/COMMAND CENTER:
The battle station carries over the same red color scheme as the other modes, though the grey of the ladder is far more prominent. The detailing on the chest adds to the effect of the station - preventing it from looking bland; in fact it looks quite powerful, especially when the tower is turned around to reveal the missile launchers. Its arsenal includes two twin-barreled lasers, two five-shot Surface-to-Air missile arrays, (the hands, and no, I didn't make that up) four missiles and two cannons on top of the tower. The horns on top of the super mode head can also be thought of as independently targeted double-barrel lasers.

This station is smaller than that of the original Optimus Prime or Laser Rod Optimus Prime (later repainted as Black Battle Convoy in Car Robots or Scourge in RiD) and unlike them has no facility for the smaller toys such as the gobots, spychangers or microbots. However it has a heavy arsenal and looks impressive in its own right, and it's cool to be able to employ all of Prime's weapons while he's dukeing it out with the Predacon and Deceptacon hordes.

TRANSFORMATION ('POWERED UP' MODE):
Begin by dismantling the base. Take the bottom section (the part with the wheels) and split it apart, point the feet down and fold the wheels in and then set them aside for the moment. take the forearm segments and fold them so that the hands are on the outside. Now take Optimus attach the forearm segments to his forearms via the relative pins and holes (the instructions tell you to use only the right forearm but I prefer to use both). Now take the rocket launcher sections and attach them to Prime's shoulders so that the feet are on the outside and the blue bits are pointing forward.

'POWERED UP' MODE:
Prime starts showing a bit of beef in this mode, the shoulder rockets and big forearms and hands are reminiscent of The Thing from Fantastic Four, although Prime is the same height in this mode, one gets the impression that he could dish out a bit more punishment than he could with naught but the puny pistol.

The color scheme remains the same, the blue added by the rocket launchers and the detail on the forearms does little to distract from that striking vac metal chest, so the overall aesthetic is essentially the same.

With the added posability of the thumbs and the turrets on his arms prime now has 24 points of articulation, though his shoulders are restricted somewhat by the rocket launchers.

TRANSFORMATION (BATTLE MODE):
Begin by disassembling 'powered up' Prime. Grip Prime's shoulders and pull them out, grip his torso and legs and pull up so that his head disappears. Fold the forearm segments so that the hands are facing out, now attach them to Prime's forearms. Take the feet/shin sections and fold the feet out to full extension, open up the grey panels and lift out the shin guards, place Prime's feet in the holes of the feet/shin sections so that the grey panels are on the inside and snap the shin guards into place on Prime's legs. Take the shoulder armour and put them on Prime's shoulders so that the light grey rails are facing forward. Take the ladder/torso armour and clip the back of the chest to the holes in between Prime's chest, fold the rest back and fit the grey section over the peg behind Prime's head hole. Fold the Ladder back completely and fold the cannon up as a 'third leg'.

BATTLE MODE:
in his optimum battle mode Prime is a mean looking robot! He is still mainly red, but with a lot of orange, grey and blue detailing. A section on his chest can be folded up to reveal what some have called a Matrix and others have called a power converter. His horns are vac metal silver, his chest is red with an orange 'sash' that covers a grey and black panel his head is red with grey detailing. he stands roughly 11 inches in height; meaning he towers over his Predacon enemies. the ladder/cannon can be brought over his shoulder and supported by his right arm by turning the base of the ladder to the right then turning the grey piece behind his head to the left and finally bringing the cannon over his head. when this is done Battle Mode Optimus Prime has no less than eleven weapons at his disposal; the four missiles on his ladder, the cannons on its end, the turrets on his arms, and his Ultra mode gun can be inserted into a hole to the left of his head.

This mode in itself is reason to buy this toy. It's not very well balanced but a wide range of poses is still possible, and on top of that it just looks so damn cool! for its size it is incredibly posable - with no less than 27 points of articulation including the neck, shoulders (3 points each), elbows (2 each), hands (2 each), waist, legs (2 each), knees, 'toes' and the cannon (3 points)

OVERALL:
One of the best toys - if not the best - in the Robots in Disguise line. With four alternate modes, incredible posability for such a large figure, tons of features including electronic lights and sounds, and the name of the most popular Transformer ever this one has to be a winner. The small gripes about the missile launchers firing accidentally and the tire panel opening when the truck rolls are small things and easily overcome when faced with the sheer play value of this figure. Add to that the fact that Optimus Prime can be combined with Ultra Magnus to form the immense Omega Prime and this is a must for any fan or collector, young or old.