Dec 16 - Optimal Optimus played by Perfect Effect PE-DX06 Gorira
I only bought this because I had pre-ordered the PE Megs, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered. It’s not because it’s a bad figure or anything, I just didn’t want one without the other. Now PE did take some liberties but overall I think it’s solid. The bot mode is phenomenal looks wise, articulation is good but was hoping for a bit more shoulder movement without having to break up the look by exposing more joints.
The transformation is ok, a lot of turning of parts with this guy so I went to the “APC” mode first. I’m not sure if I did something wrong because the underneath seemed to look as others done in their reviews and there was very little, if any, clearance for the knees and the gorilla head underneath. They were touching the ground before the wheels were. I made the best adjustments I could but yeah very close contact for sure.
Not too bad looking, no tabs for the hands so they do just kinda sit there. I wish the turret would move but seeing what it is hiding I can understand why that wasn’t an option. From there I went to “plane” mode with toy/original look first and then the PE vision. I can’t say if I prefer one to the other as they are both passable, but let’s face facts, none of his vehicular modes really made that much sense as far as actual vehicles went. I had the same issue with him as I do with Mega Doragon. I really needed a flight stand. I didn’t have to use multiples but it was a real balancing act. Now I should mention that (as I just remembered) with PE Megs, that there was another reason I went with black for Flying Dragon poses was that his wingspan was far too large for the other backgrounds I shot him on. With Optimus his shots are facing down for the balance and I didn’t require black as his wingspan, while large, is nowhere close to that of Megs.
On to beast mode from there and he does look good I gotta say. Articulation is very limited in the legs of this mode, no waist at all which brings me to the worst thing on this figure, especially this being the reissue and they had an opportunity to fix it. There is a little tab that basically holds the top half to the bottom half and one well-placed sneeze and that shit’s toppling over like the first time I ever got really smashed many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, its decent looks wise but a bit of tweaking couldn’t hurt. Regardless of whatever flaws it may have it is really a spectacular piece and now that he has arrived the original Optimal Optimus had to go. It’s nice to have the TM2 leaders actually stand at the same height unlike the Hasbro figs but I did like them both as well.
