Transformers Classics retrospective look! Transformers United UN-06 Optimus Prime (2010)

As you can see, like I said in the Prowl post, I was randomly opening up figures from different lines. In the west at this point, they were releasing Reveal the Shield figures. A gimmick which saw the return of the rub stickers of the 84' G1 era. In Japan, to carry on the different name tradition, Japan named their product line: Transformers United. However, Takara opted to not go with the rub stickers. The first couple waves of the United releases saw a few re-releases of previous established molds, but rather than sporting their chrome moniker, the United releases saw the debut of metallic paint instead. The results were mixed as many collectors cherished the idea of chrome. Most folks in the west saw the metallic paint as trivial at best wheras the Henkei era just blew everyone's minds away with the G1 accurate color scheme. Not to mention, in Japan, certain Transformers such as Optimus Prime and Jazz were called Convoy and Meister respectively as examples. In the United line, all the Transformers, for an odd reason, maintained their westernized names. Some people say the Japanese versions had to coincide with the Michael Bay Transformer movie names at the time.

Coincidentally, my cousin from Hong Kong came to visit me here in Honolulu, Hawaii back in 2010. She saw my passion for Transformers so when she returned home, she visited a toys store here and bought Transformers UN-06 Optimus Prime for me. I am grateful for her purchase for I lacked an Optimus Prime in my collection. However, this Prime was only a deluxe size which means he was roughly the same size or even smaller than Prowl or Sunstreaker. Here are the pics.

Boxed

Robot Mode

I can tell you that the paint looks nice. This figure was a re-release of a previous 2008 special deluxe edition. Eventually, Takara released another version of this figure the same year as the United version as the Sons of Cybertron which also included Classics Rodimus. Both "sons" figures were translucent in texture.

As for complaints, United UN-06 Prime is small and not to mention very skinny. Had this been Henkei, they would had painted his smokestacks and grill with chrome. The other grey areas would had featured richer silver paint most likely. Many fans abhorred his "bug eyes" and felt this figure was sloppy. If you look carefully in some areas, not all of his red parts is of metallic finish. Look at the pic which shows his back as you can see some parts look dark (metallic) and bright red (original finish). The United line feels rushed at this point. Just for fun, he is one of the few figures that you can shine a bright light on the back of his head, and it would make it look as if his eyes were glowing.

Alt Mode

This is probably the reason why some folks also detested this figure. Must I say anymore how this turned out? He looks like a bunch of random parts thrown together. The turret (his gun) is a nice concept. But since this figure is so small, you really need to put a very small figure to make pretend and pose with Prime.

Conclusion

Eventually, I did get Convoy ( Optimus Prime) the Henkei release after I didn't feel satisfied with this figure, but I got it for free so I shouldn't really complain. His alt mode should be used only for novelty purposes. This figure should mainly target Optimus Prime completionists. Everyone else, get Henkei/Universe Prime for your classics.