OMG. Got my TS-01 this morning. I'll say it right away: either you will love it or hate it to death.
CORE BODY
All silver with painted red eyes and painted blue matrix. Decently detailed. Crazy articulation (think Microman, but more stable). We're talking about 35 points of articulation. Insane. Even in that form, the head still looks like Optimus Prime imo.
PROTOFORM MODE
Armor is easy to put on (6 different pieces: 2 for the legs, chest, waist and 2 for the arms) and stays securely in place. Believe me, the parts won't fall off. If anything, they're hard to remove because they're small and because of the tight fit. Articulation is still excellent in this form.
ENTRY MODE
Ok, that mode is the weakest of the 5 modes (gaps everywhere), but it's still decent enough for what it's supposed to be. Transformation is easy (you fold the head back, swing the arms to the top and back and swing the legs back) and once in comet mode, it's stays nicely put together. Displayed with the stand (made of 3 parts), it sure looks nice.
ROBOT MODE
You just need to remove the protoform armor and replace it with the truck and robot bits. Again, this is easily done. And boy it's fun to do! It totally looks like a different toy and the detailing is REALLY nice. The downside is that the robot mode is kibbly and harder to pose. The coolest feature in this mode are the 2 integrated guns: extend, rotate 180 degrees, flip up the handles (much like on THS-01 Galaxy Convoy) and position the cannons as you like). Brilliantly integrated, especially at that scale.
TRUCK MODE
Holy crap. That was just PAINFUL. No wonder the transformation level is 4, it is really difficult to transform. This Prime might be a shellformer, but it's anything but easy to transform. And again, some of the steps are just brilliant. The hardest part was to keep the doors connected to the roof (and the roof connected to the back) while trying to position the front of the vehicle to close everything together. Too much pressure here and another part moves out of place elsewhere and you have to redo it all again. I can already see a few fans being really frustrated at that point. I am myself very patient and I love challenges, but it was almost too much of a good thing.
But once you get there, the truck is just beautiful. Chrome on the grill and the smokestacks, some silver paint apps, flames, 2 pairs of double wheels on the back (unlike all the other versions of Movie Prime), a nicely detailed hitch. Just gorgeous. Clearly the best and most nicely detailed version of Prime in truck mode. All kinds of mechanical bits molded just about everywhere, even under the truck. And guess what? Even the 2 doors open! Even better, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the 2 forearms and hands look like they form the seats. Really nice. Windows are all clear plastic, nothing painted here. Tires are plastic. Truck is very tight and rolls really well.
Because I like overly complex toys with lots of playability, this is easily my favorite version of Movie Prime. You basically get 5 toys in 1 package. That's hard to beat. The detailing is superb, and that's another huge plus for me. But if you don't have the patience, it could very well be your worst nightmare...
A few pics coming soon.
