Bot Shots Optimus Prime and trailer.

I swore never to buy these when I heard about the release.  Well, not at the prices I thought they’d be anyway.  I assumed that Australia would get slugged about $7.00 a pop for the Bot Shots individual figures, whereas I don’t think they are worth more than $5.00.  Anyway, then I saw the Optimus Prime with his trailer launcher.

THEN, Nemesis Prime.  And they were both cute.  As it turns out, they didn’t end up being as pricey as I’d though, being in packs.  Still, Optimus came to $15 something, which is a bit pricey, but considering the amount of plastic, probably better value than say a scout class figure, or even those awful 2.5ish Avengers figures at $18 a go. Seriously?  Who'd pay that for those bits of rubbish.

Erm, long story short, here is a review of Bot Shots Optimus Prime with his launcher trailer.

The packet is a plain old bubble on card, which is fairly neatly presented.  Not too much going on with just a bit of spiel about the toy and what it’s for.

As you can see, there is a lot of space under Optimus in the blister.  I can see that is unavoidable due to the trailer set up, but it makes me chuckle a little, as it seems that Optimus is levitating.

Interestingly enough, this was the only piece of paper that I received in the package.  Not a smidgen of information as to how to play the game, or how to transform Optimus.  Not that it’s hard, but these are aimed at ages 3+

Another Odd thing, was that even on the packet’s back there was no information as to what the rules are.  I knew it was a janken/scissor/paper/rock game, which is also obvious by the swapping symbols on Prime’s chest, but no-where had any information as to why each one has a number next to it and which symbol beats which. 

Now, if I were a parent, and my kid was pestering me for these, let’s just say that because there was a Megatron and Optimus (Megs has a launcher as well) and I bought both, I’d have a set, but no idea of the rules.    You could guess that blaster beast fist.  But then blaster would also beat sword and sword beats fist as well.  No clue about the numbers though.  That’s pretty poor.

No information on the game at all.  Incredibly awful design there!

Now onto Optimus.

I should have taken a shot of Prime and base together in robot mode, but completely forgot, anyway, here they are.  the fist on Prime’s chest can be flipped around to either a sword or gun/blaster and they have different numbers.  It turns out the numbers are for when both players have the same icon, so fist vs. fist, highest number is the winner.

I really like the ruck and trailer mode.  It reminds me a lot of Star Convoy’s look, where the truck is a part of the trailer.  The strip is reminiscent of G1 Prime’s trailer, as is the back blaster at the back which looks like the extendable cab that could have a little man inside it.  Best of all, the way that Optimus clips into the trailer effectively keeps him in vehicle mode, as the toys are spring loaded and mine seems a little too eager to jump into robot mode.   I also like some of the sculpting, like in the side of the trailer, there are little round bits that look a bit like Optimus’ fuel tanks

Remove Optimus and it looks like this by itself.

The front has a ramp for launching which can be left open if you want.  It’s not possible to store another bot shot in the trailer and close it.  Here is the side view, and transformation is also spring loaded, a press on the black guns at the back.

Reveal launcher mode.  I like the launcher in base mode.  It’s cute and has a nice bit of detailed sculpting on it, sparse applications of paint and guns that can flip out!  It looks sufficiently G1 enough to keep this nerd happy.

The black spikes pointing out of the base are the spring loaded things that push the toy out.  What I find interesting is on the bottom of the base, there is a little black tab, that if not in the right place will prevent setting of the launcher as well as launcher release.  So if you have the launcher off the ground, you can’t get the launch braces to lock in place.  If you lock them in place and pick it up, pressing the release button won’t release them.

Of course putting Optimus in the base looks nice.

Ready for action!

The Optimus toys itself looks pretty cool.  Annoyingly cute I think, with his super-deformed style look.  I now await a line of plushies invading stores.

Robot mode is fairly simple.  The feet just fold up, arms down and the hood of the vehicle flips over the head.  The bumper of the vehicle is the release for transformation and most times Optimus stand up properly.  The fist is just hinged and needs a bit of manual manipulation to move it around to the other options.  Sadly the changing icon thing in the middle ruins any chest decorations.  Although they have put in a bit of paint, but you have two large shoulder screws, and then the icon in the middle, so the look is a bit let down, but it’s not that bad I guess.    As long as there is a bit of paint and sculpting, I think it should be ok.  A plain chest there would be really boring.

The head sculpt is pretty good, with enough Optimus in there to make you know who you are looking at. 

Truck mode is nice but lacks paint.

He has a trailer built into his truck mode, so I guess you could say it’s a road train when connected to the launcher.  Sculpting detail is surprisingly good, with lights on the grill and roof, door mirrors, smoke stacks, little fuel tank things, stripes up and down the ‘trailer’ and a horizontal line across the side.  the back even has some lines to represent doors.

I really like the grill detail, as it has an Autobot insignia on the top.  Aside from that, there is no other place with faction symbols.  That goes for the other Bot Shots I have nabbed as well.

The other pack I got is a 3 pack and has Nemesis Prime in it.  Here is a shot of the two together.

I will cover Nemesis and his pals later.

Overall my impressions of this toy (and therefore the line) are better than what I was expecting.  I think this can be kind of fun.  The launcher seems to work fairly well, the detail on the toy is better than I thought it would be and I get a good feeling of fun from this set.  As long as it doesn’t get anymore expensive, I’d be fairly happy.  I think $15 would be the most I’d be willing to pay for the launcher set and any less is a good deal!

I can see this as being fairly fun!  I doubt I’d get anymore though, perhaps one or two more, probably a Ratchet somewhere along the lines and there is potential here as well for some special ones.  I’d be all over a couple of glow in the dark characters.  Imagine a glow in the Dark Sunstorm!  Oh yeah!  The choice would be cool, yellow GID plastic for Sunstorm, red for the Fallen.  Green for, um, Ghost of Starscream!  HELL YEAH!

It wouldn’t be too hard to make some based on other series as well.  Optimus looks mostly G1 with a touch of G2 (truck mode) thrown in, but Some in an Animated style would be cool.  Galaxy Force (Cybertron) Convoy (Optimus) would make a nice launcher set as well.  Even an RID (Car Robots) Optimus (Fire Convoy) would be nifty as well.

There is a lot of potential with this line I think.  Hopefully Hasbro will refine it and make its something special as it’s cheap, easy to play with and get to grips with.  A long as you know the rules… I for one would really like to see some bases made or transforming carry cases.  Imagine Metroplex in city mode with 4 launchers about him, or Omega Supreme in some form or another, each one having storage places for the little guys!  Man that would be cool and I would probably be very very tempted to get them, and then buy MORE little guys to inhabit the cities!