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MPM-04 Optimus is a pretty impressive figure, and it humbles me to think how impressive it would've been to see this 10 years ago, when 07 Leader Optimus seemed the best the seemingly impossible movie designs could be adapted to. Then ROTF Optimus seemed like it couldn't be topped, and I wondered how much better this one could be. But goddamit, it really makes the ROTF leader pale in comparison in terms of engineering. Both are still fairly close as far as results, but the little things you can tell were finessed through a decade of redoing this same design really show through. I'm not much of a bayformer fan, so I can't tell you how close it is to the actual movie, but it sure feels like you're going through a movie transformation.
But yes, it could've been better. I would've spent an extra hundred if it was painted more thoroughly, because compared to 3A's nontransforming Optimus, it still looks like a toy. Obviously that level of paint is nearly impossible on a transforming toy without issues, but it still feels missing. It could've also used some more refinements as far as tolerances and pegging goes, but ultimately I'm still impressed by how close this thing is. This wasn't meant to be a feasible design, at least not one done by a toy, and they actually pulled it off.
