Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[Sabrblade]

If I did have any one nitpick to make about this set, it's that I was hoping it would be smaller. The original was pretty heavy, even without the batteries. And it towered over so many other figures in the line. In the show, the Autobot Brothers each came up to Optimus's torso, while their toys instead came up to Prime's waist because he was so much taller than them. Same with Magnus being gargantuan in height when compared to everyone else.

I get that they probably made them that big because of Optimus's standard robot mode needing to be equal in height to the G2 Laser Optimus mold that was used to make Scourge, and because Magnus needed to be able to carry the Deluxe-sized Autobots in vehicle mode (X-Brawn and the Build Team were especially chunky in their altmodes), but modern-day Scourges made from modern-day Laser Optimuses are smaller than the original mold, and modern-day Deluxe vehicles are typically less massive than the original X-Brawn and Build Team members were.

So making the whole set a bit smaller would not only size better with some of the original toys, but also with today's Legacy molds. Optimus in particular is going to be a giant in his standard robot mode when placed next to the likes of Siege OP, Earthrise/Kingdom OP, Legacy Laser OP, and Legacy Armada OP (in his own standard robot mode). And if he's that much taller than any of those versions of G1 Optimus, then it'll be tricky to recreate The Oath of Iron:

[Sabrblade]

Designer notes from Evan:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2vNqMmuIwP/?img_index=1

Hello Transformer fans!

I hope you all enjoyed today's Haslab reveal of OMEGA PRIME!

I did once say that "We'd never do an Optimus as a Haslab!" Boy am I glad to have been so wrong.

Making this a Haslab really allowed us to plus up the offering and make the figures the best they can be.

It was such an honor to work on this set of figures with Yuki san over at Takara Tomy. He 100% took the reigns on this one with his passion on how to improve over the original figures that he himself worked on back in the day. Whenever he would send video updates of how the model was functioning, he would play the japanese theme song in the background and hum along (it was adorable). If you've never heard the original Japanese Car Robots opening theme song, I really recommend you look it up as it's an absolute bop. The singer did the songs of another franchise I dearly love and put his heart and soul in every song he did.

Back to these amazing figures, they are an absolute joy to play with and a complete distraction that I need to store away from my office or I just don't get any work done.

Deco wise, we based it off the Animation/ Encore figures which is why Optimus has the C-001 license plate and the white coloring will be a more pure metallic white instead of the vanilla off color white of the original toy release.

Tires are all molded ABS plastic so they will not degrade like the original figures (my originals have all started to crack so I know the pain many have gone through.).

There are no electronics or spring loaded gimmicks in these figures which really allowed us to better utilize the space they took up and make these the best they can be. Each figure has ankle joints so posing them is a dream.

Combined modes feel solid and I hope you all will be pleased with playing and posing them out.

Please be on the lookout for Backer updates as we continue forward!

This also confirms something else: Evan's a Digimon fan!

[Grahf_]

If I did have any one nitpick to make about this set, it's that I was hoping it would be smaller...

Indeed. I was somewhat shocked when reading their heights. The scale with this set is definitely thrown off by quite a bit. Especially against Scourge and Shadow Striker.

The problem is though that if they made them to scale better, more people would be vocally against the set. As it is some don't seem to think this is even any bigger or has any more articulation. Some seem to think it's just a slight retool of the original. Others are complaining about the lack of sounds as if that even matters. More still either don't remember or are willfully forgetting how overpriced the reissues were and how many problems they had. Now just imagine if the set was actually smaller than the original or had any less actual features than this has.

As for the stability, they mentioned that Prime's backpack/former battery pack does something to better stabilize the combined modes. Hopefully that and actual heel spurs on several of the modes will help stabilize this taller set. Better joints too as well.

But yeah, as someone who thinks Legacy Armada Optimus' super mode is too big, I don't like that these are even bigger still. They made a scale and should stick to it. Otherwise why are Victory Leo and Star Saber so damn small compared to Deathsaurus if not to stick to that scale. Isn't Victory Saber supposed to be taller than Deathsaurus and not the same height? So Armada Prime, Deathsaurus and now Omega Prime are all too tall.

[Sabrblade]

Otherwise why are Victory Leo and Star Saber so damn small compared to Deathsaurus if not to stick to that scale. Isn't Victory Saber supposed to be taller than Deathsaurus and not the same height?

Yes. Apparently, the guys at Hasbro are under the belief that Star Saber needs to combine with Victory Leo in order to match Deathsaurus in height, instead of already being at that height on his own while being even taller as Victory Saber.

Deathsaurus, meanwhile, is the perfect height since he's suppose to be as tall as your typical Combiner. So he's just the right size to match with the CW/UW/POTP-style Combiners.

It's Victory Saber who should have been bigger, since Star Saber and Victory Leo are also supposed to be Combiner-sized (though, Victory Leo is a bit shorter), and Star Saber's base component Saber should have been Voyager height to match with the various Optimus Primes I mentioned, as well as with Kingdom Rodimus. As is, he's pint-sized, even smaller than your average Deluxe.

[Immortal Starscream]

I honestly did not believe this would be the thing they went with. kudos to all those that guessed right. I am actually glad it was not primus. I would not be able to afford that, let along have real estate for him to move into.

As for the omega prime set, I have the original. well, my prime is the original Japanese super fire convoy, and my magnus is the U.S. release. Magnus's electronics don't work anymore, and the yellow beast has had a field day with him. Prime on the other hand, all his red paint flaked off his chest, so now he has solid chrome pecs. Yellowing on him is barely anything. But combined they are not stable for anything, and have taken more then one floppy plunges off of shelves.

Also, hunting that ultra magnus is how I met my best bud. So I kinda feel obligated to get this.

[Sabrblade]

Also, hunting that ultra magnus is how I met my best bud. So I kinda feel obligated to get this.

So you're saying you're basically like the kids in this commercial:

[Dino-Snarl]

Best choice. Primus would have been a tough sell. 4 for 1. Great value! Pre-ordered, but odd we have to wait until next year (fall 2025) for this year's 40th Anniversary bot. Know why, but still ...

[Overcracker]

I think my only real nitpick for this is the hollow fists on the base Prime. One, the should have been solid, and two, they should have been articulated.

The loss of firing missiles (a real pain in the original one as they had a hair trigger and would fire if you looked at them wrong) and electronics is completely expected and not really a bad thing if we are being honest.

My original Prime and Magnus haven’t had batteries in them in literally almost 2 decades.

The vacuumed metal chest and head pieces were a surprise. Even Takara went matte for their less than stellar Encore reissue.

Don’t care much for Blue Bolt having as robot mode now, but whatever.

Not sure why they felt the need to point out the hand shaking gimmick that works exactly the same as on the original.

I do appreciate the “girdle” for Omega mode to support the extra weight. That’s has always been an issue with the original and the very thin waist.

Not sure I’m willing to pay 250 bucks for it though.

[-Kanrabat-]

250$US is much more expensive than a titan. And that's juts the base price, without shipping nor taxes.

I have not enough emotional attachment to this Prime Magnus duo to commit.

Still, I'll be eating my shorts if the thing is not fully funded with all the tiers unlocked.

[Sabrblade]

In only half a day's time, this set is already over 45% funded.

EDIT (30 minutes later): And now it's 46% funded!

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Well it ticks some boxes...

3x more expensive then the originals...

3x more expensive than the originals were at retail twenty-three years ago, sure. But certainly not 3x more expensive than they are complete on eBay years later, or than they'd be as reissues.

removal of features...

There, you have more of a point. Although who knows? Maybe firing missiles (the feature it particularly hurts to lose) can be added as a stretch goal. And frankly, losing Ultra Magnus' electronics will be a net gain.

removal of quality (though the rubber wheels of the original might be debatable with them mostly not surviving time)

1. What are you even pronouncing "removal of quality" based on? Aside from giving up on the rubber tires, which even you are admitting didn't last well.
2. You want to talk "removal of quality"... You do remember the quality control debacle with Encore God Fire Convoy, right?

Not sure i'm keen on the front of Optimuses truck mode but looks pretty good otherwise,

The front of Optimus' truck mode is probably a bit of further making sure he doesn't resemble any real models of truck.

Could these have been done at retail? With the £90 Commnder classes, yeagh thye probably could have.Plus then we might have got the yellow Optimus repaint.

1. Doing them at retail would probably have required two Commander slots in the same line in the same year or else shoehorning one of them into Studio Series, and they likely would have more sacrifices made instead of being able to do anything to improve on the originals.
2. According to responses from the team working on this, Yellow Splendid Convoy is still very much a possibility.

Not really convinced on this over the originals but it's nice enough for those that want it and it's not superfluous like starsaber was so bonus points for that.

How was Star Saber "superfluous"? Don't forget that MP Star Saber has multiple joint issues by most accounts w/o aftermarket upgrades, and still has no accompanying Victory Leo without resorting to 3P toys. And last time I was looking at it on eBay, that 3P Victory Leo was like $300.

Not really getting some of the carping about this figure.
It's cheaper than the overpriced encore from 6 years ago that had to be recalled.

The originals, while amazing, still have a lot of issues that seem to be fixed in this version. I get why Evan was very emphatic about not having rubber tires because I've owned a couple of these.

I get it as well.

The originals are awesome figures, but Ultra Magnus definitely has some limits when it comes to how well his articulation can be used (especially when it comes to posing him with his weapon), and Omega Prime is well known for having difficulties balancing.

Let's face it, these were never coming out at retail, even at the commander price point with some slimmed down packaging and the loss of blue bolt. Optimus, yes, absolutely could have been done at commander, probably the loss of moveable missiles and some other things in favor of blast effects. Ultra Magnus, no way in hell was any retailer signing off on a commander who mostly is designed to be armor for another commander that wouldn't be on store shelves at the same time. This would have been released over at least two years and retailers wouldn't have bitten.

I mean, they could have shoehorned one of them into Studio Series. But there would have been sacrifices made for sure, instead of being able to take steps to improve on the originals where possible.

I'm personally happy enough with the originals that I don't feel a need to also get these, but I certainly wish them well. And wonder what other RiD 2001 stuff might be on the docket. If this does well, they might feel brave.
Hopefully so brave they even spring for some new smegging lower legs.

If I did have any one nitpick to make about this set, it's that I was hoping it would be smaller...

Indeed. I was somewhat shocked when reading their heights. The scale with this set is definitely thrown off by quite a bit. Especially against Scourge and Shadow Striker.

1. Shadow Striker seems to be only a smidge shorter than OG Side Burn, so I disagree with you there.
2. It is big compared to Scourge, but the issue there is actually on Scourge's end. The Legacy Laser Prime mold is significantly undersize due to the limits of being a Leader-class figure and also due to it being retooled (to its detriment) from the undersize Earthrise Optimus. ER Optimus is almost as badly undersize among his fellows as Classics Optimus was among earlier CHUG Autobots.
3. There's an update you're leaving out of your calculations entirely: Ruination (in the form of UW Baldigus).

The problem is though that if they made them to scale better, more people would be vocally against the set. As it is some don't seem to think this is even any bigger or has any more articulation.

I don't think they actually are bigger than the originals, though. The OG RiD Optimus is 8" from bottom of foot to top of head... and putting the missile pods on adds almost another half inch. So, I'm pretty sure that 8.5" being boasted of on the Pulse page, is the height with the missile pods on and he's pretty much the same size as the original.

Some seem to think it's just a slight retool of the original.

Those people are just plain unobservant lmao.

Others are complaining about the lack of sounds as if that even matters.

Considering that Omega Prime's stability problems are due in part to the added weight of Ultra Magnus' big fat soundbox, that's a dumb thing to complain about. Not to mention how badly Takara screwed the pooch with the soundboxes on the Encore release.

But yeah, as someone who thinks Legacy Armada Optimus' super mode is too big

I'd say you're wrong on that score. It seems very much the right size compared to Megatron IMO, and based on pictures Hot Shot as well. I'd say it's only too big next to Starscream, because Legacy Armada Starscream is too small (Putzwing's slot would have been better spent on him, IMO).

Isn't Victory Saber supposed to be taller than Deathsaurus and not the same height? So Armada Prime, Deathsaurus and now Omega Prime are all too tall.

You're wrong about Armada Optimus and Omega Prime, and Deathy is only too tall because Victory Saber is too small. I suspect Victory Saber was scaled relative to Legends God Ginrai.

[Solrac333]

Oh good. I can skip this one.

[Burn]

The bastion of Haslab in Australia, EB Games and Zing have decided to price gouge.

$749AUD Pre-order

In the past they've been the best way for Australian's to source the Haslab figures as we never had to pay up front and could take our time paying them off before the release date.

But for this set to be nearly the price of Unicron's original release price and twice that of Victory Sabre and Deathsaurus, I'll be sitting this one out. I have the original, I don't have $750.

[Sabrblade]

The bastion of Haslab in Australia, EB Games and Zing have decided to price gouge.

Ouch. That's rough.

If some place like RobotKingdom were carry him, would that be a workable alternative for you?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Honestly, if it wasn't for space I'd still be tempted to get these (once I had the spare $) despite owning and being very happy with the originals because they do bring some substantial upgrades when it comes to articulation-based play. But between what I already have and what's still on my "to get" list, it's probably best I pass.

Part of it's because the originals were already fairly well articulated. It's not the same massive tradeoff seen with Legacy Armada Optimus.

If this set makes it (and better yet, makes it all the way into the stretch goals), I wonder if they'll do Rail Racer or Landfill next. Those, I'd definitely go for.

[Razorbeast88]

Honestly, if it wasn't for space I'd still be tempted to get these (once I had the spare $) despite owning and being very happy with the originals because they do bring some substantial upgrades when it comes to articulation-based play. But between what I already have and what's still on my "to get" list, it's probably best I pass.

Part of it's because the originals were already fairly well articulated. It's not the same massive tradeoff seen with Legacy Armada Optimus.

If this set makes it (and better yet, makes it all the way into the stretch goals), I wonder if they'll do Rail Racer or Landfill next. Those, I'd definitely go for.

Rail racer would be SWEET

[Burn]

The bastion of Haslab in Australia, EB Games and Zing have decided to price gouge.

Ouch. That's rough.

If some place like RobotKingdom were carry him, would that be a workable alternative for you?

I honestly don't have the money for it. As it is I'm passing on nearly every new release because money is that tight these days.

I've got the originals, they were brilliantly designed back then, and to me, hard to improve on. It would be a waste of money to just find out how they improved the engineering on already great engineered figures.

[chuckdawg1999]

I've been disappointed before but never disgusted, today I'm disgusted. You can say size, you can say parts count, you can say that Hasbro told you so because you secretly work for Hasbro and they control things behind the scenes; but there is nothing, NOTHING to Omega Prime that says these figures couldn't be sold at retail. If this gets funded that's it, there goes Energon Prime, a new Cybertron Prime, and absolutely Powermaster Prime. What really bothers me, and I most of you won't care, this wasn't just somebody's first Prime, this was the Prime during 9/11. Neil Kaplan talks about it in an interview on one of the Shout sets. Kids were writing to him wanting to know where Prime was, and some asking if Prime was one of the fire trucks saving people. This is it, we'll never get a chance at Omega Prime again. Shame. Shame.

[Sabrblade]

in an interview on one of the Shout sets.

Shout never released RID2001 on DVD. The show has never had any official English DVD release outside of the UK.

Kids were writing to him wanting to know where Prime was, and some asking if Prime was one of the fire trucks saving people.

That is beautiful.

[Sabrblade]

And 17 hours after the reveal, it looks like the backers have finally called it a night at 47.95% funded.

[I_AM... MEGATRON!]

So if this gets funded that means we're getting a RiD Megatron/Galvatron/Gigatron too...right?

[-Kanrabat-]

The bastion of Haslab in Australia, EB Games and Zing have decided to price gouge.

$749AUD Pre-order

In the past they've been the best way for Australian's to source the Haslab figures as we never had to pay up front and could take our time paying them off before the release date.

But for this set to be nearly the price of Unicron's original release price and twice that of Victory Sabre and Deathsaurus, I'll be sitting this one out. I have the original, I don't have $750.

FFS, that's literally asking for DOUBLE the price.

If you really want the thing, I say hold up until it comes out at Mandarake. So far, all of their HASLAB sell for barely 15/20% more than the initial price, not 100%.

Shipping and import fees will still be an issue, but you'll avoid the price gouging.

[First-Aid]

And 17 hours after the reveal, it looks like the backers have finally called it a night at 47.95% funded.

As I said earlier, I don't think this is going to end up funded. If it doesn't, we may get a different HasLab this year later to TRULY celebrate the 40th anniversary. (Though it'll still end up being Optimus Prime in some way...). If I remember correctly, Unicron was a close call to funding but I suspect only due to price. VS and DS were both more than 75% funded before the usual "slowdown".

[william-james88]

So if this gets funded that means we're getting a RiD Megatron/Galvatron/Gigatron too...right?

Maybe, but I'm not sure if it's to go with this guy or the rest of the RiD guys. What I mean is, it seems we now have 2 different scales for RiD gen figures. We recently for Scourge, Towline and sideburn is on the way, plus we had skybyte before. And all scale relatively well with eachother. But then we get Omega Prime which doesn't scale at all.

So if they make more RiD (which they are, with Sideburn for instance), I don't know which scale it will compliment.

Also Commander class is a perfect class for Gigatron to be released through.

[o.supreme]

VS and DS were both more than 75% funded before the usual "slowdown".

??? Not sure about that. I know there are people online that keep more accurate stats, but I think in the first 24 hours neither VS nor DS were over 40%. I remember after that it crept along, and about every week or so would get a *bump* when international orders were added, usually on mondays (anywhere from 800 to 1500 at a time). For Omega Prime Getting basically 50% in the first 24 hours is a good sign just from North America. But I'm sure this one will follow the same pattern and coast past the 2nd tier with a couple of days left.

*edit* just looked back at the DS thread, keeping in mind it needed 1000 more backers (11k) than Omega Prime. It did have over 4800 in the first day. But it took an extra 3 days to get to the Half way point (5500 on day 4 which was November 1st 2022). So the fact that Omega Prime, while having about the same amount of backers, it is actually leading % wise as its about to pass the 50% mark in just one day, as opposed to four.