Optimus Prime (Masterpiece; "Year of the Horse" Edition) [Toys "R Us/Bigbadtoystore.com Exclusive]
Vehicle ModeTrailer BaseRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Price: $130 U.S.
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Hard
Color Scheme: Dark dull red, clear plastic, dark dull blue, transparent icy blue, and some chrome gold, semi-metallic milky gray, black, chrome silver, moderately dark milky brown, metallic gold, silver, transparent dark red, and light sky blue
Rating: 9.9

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Masterpiece Optimus Prime v2.0. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Masterpiece Optimus Prime v2.0 here.)

    For this special "Year of the Horse" edition of Optimus Prime, the "core robot" has colors that are largely unchanged. His red is still red, and his dark blue still dark blue; both colors are simply darker, duller shades. His prominent silver stripes are still there, and his waist is still silver while his wheels are still chrome silver and black. Some internal parts are now a medium brown instead of gray, which works better with his overall duller color scheme. The gray of his upper legs has been replaced with a more eye-catching, semi-metallic version of the color, however, and the pelvis "lights" in robot mode are now dark red instead of yellow, along with some minor changes like the lights on top of his roof now being painted silver instead of yellow. The biggest change to the core robot, though, is clearly the replacement of most of his chrome silver with chrome gold; I quite like this change, as it gives this piece a bit more of a "special" feel and adds to color diversity as well. As for Prime's trailer, most of it is oddly a clear plastic this time around, which may not be practical but looks pretty neat, especially given all the parts and mold detailing you can see inside it. What especially makes this eye-catching is the icy transparent blue plastic used for most of the repair drone station, part of his trailer stand pieces, and his "energy axe' hand attachment. All really combine with the trailer to give it a semi-arctic feel. On the back of the trailer is a rather prominent red-and-gold "Year of the Horse" Autobot symbol, mixing the Autobot symbol with a horse's features on one half. It looks pretty cool, and definitely calls this set out as something special.
    No mold changes have been made to "Year of the Horse" Optimus Prime, but his little human minifigure and Roller drone have been removed on this version.
    "Year of the Horse" Optimus Prime is a pretty neat redeco of one of the best Transformers molds of all time. The duller colors don't look quite as good as Optimus' traditional red and blue, but the metallic gold, icy blue transparent plastic on some of his trailer bits, and a few other minor differences like the addition of brown make his color scheme slightly better overall, in my opinion. However, that said, this set is $30 more than the original MP Optimus Prime 2.0, and it lacks its human minifigure and-- more importantly-- Roller drone, the latter of which is pretty integral to Optimus' base. As such, I'd have to recommend the original version of this mold over this redeco; this is more for variant collectors or those who absolutely cannot find the original release of this mold for a reasonable price.



Optimus Prime (Masterpiece, "Year of the Horse" Edition) Bio:
For millions of years, noble Optimus Prime has led the Autobots in their war against the tyranny of Megatron and his evil Decepticons. His unwavering courage in the face of centuries of desperate battle is an inspiration to his comrades. He is an unstoppable warrior and a flawless leader, pushing ahead through the darkest times in the history of Cybertron and remaining unbowed, unbroken, and always committed to victory.
Strength: 10.0
Intelligence: 10.0
Speed: 10.0
Endurance: 10.0
Rank: 10.0
Courage: 10.0
Fireblast: 10.0
Skill: 10.0

Review by Beastbot

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