>>6702960He was my first ever 3P purchase earlier this year, and I really love him. Quality is great, all the paint and plastic are nice-looking and durable. His gray plastic is excellent, which proves just how bad Hasbro always drops the ball on that. He's got some diecast in his feet and lower legs to keep him stable. All of his ratchet joints feel great. Even with his big shoulders, he's still very poseable. The entire cab of the truck just sits on his back. Not very elegant, but he's so great otherwise, it's hard to be bothered by it. His two guns and massive sword are all awesome.
His transformation is just about the minimum it needs to be. I don't own any of the monsterbots, but I heard they were simple, intuitive and fun to transform, so that applies here too, I guess. It's not quite as refined as most MP transformations, but it's still totally solid and fun to do, especially with the chunky shoulders.
Truck mode is massive and powerful looking. A little scrappy along the sides where the robot arms awkwardly sit. It's not 100% accurate to any kind of real truck, but it still looks so awesome that it's easy to forgive. Heavy and sturdy. They're planning to make a tanker trailer for him sometime this year, it's gotta be huge.
Ultimately, I bought it because I've always liked the Laser Prime design, and I'm pretty sure Takara will never get around to making a good one. I also wanted a long-nose semi version of Optimus Prime, but didn't want to settle for the movie MP. He makes a great imposing leader figure. I actually stored away my MP-10 in favor of him. I also bought FT Grinder X this year, and I'd be hard pressed to say which I like more. They're both stellar figures.
