 |
| The Media wonders why nobody trusts them now. |
Kingdom Come! The Kingdom line has come to an end for me. The Kingdom line also marks the first time in a long time that I have reviewed all the figures I've bought for the line ( I still have Siege or ER figures that remained un-opened. Ditto for Takara Legends and so forth). Today, we have Rodimus Prime, Commander class Rodimus Prime to you. Does he fare well? Is he worth the Commander class title? Let's find out and let's get started!
Boxing
Rodimus comes in a fairly big box. Similar to that of Commander class Jetfire and Sky-Lynx (whom I still got to get to). What really takes up this box as you can see is his trailer. Cool art-work of him running alongside his alt mode with his sword.
Alt mode
Rodimus comes with his Winnebago and race car mode which is a 2 for 1. Not to mention, he comes with lots of blast effects and accessories. He comes with his rifle which can be folded and a cool silver- finished sword.
First off, this is his trailer and its nicely colored. His exhaust pipes in the front can flap open so that way you can secure his race car mode in the trailer. Under the belly of the trailer houses a tray that can be removed where you can store some effects and his matrix glow effect. He has lots of pegs in his trailer which allows you store his weapons to your liking. It was also neat that you can use the black flame effects for the exhaust ports on the side of his trailer.
What I probably didn't like about this mode was the visual presentation. Despite me saying that it is nicely colored. I felt it could had used more design to it. Besides the flame decal on the sides, I feel the trailer still looks incomplete. Touchy-wise, the trailer feels very light. Not entirely a bad thing but not sure if this is worth the $80 we are spending about. (I got this for $60 on Amazon so not too bad I guess.) Not to mention, Rodimus is Commander class due to this part. I get to this more on later. The wheels could definitely use some work. They look like buttons if anything. Really generic on this part.
However, this mode plays well. The wheels do touch the ground and rolls smoothly on all ends. The race car mode which becomes the robot mode was fairly easy to transform though I had to use the instruction manual somewhere towards the end. And then transforming him back to car mode wasn't too difficult at all as well. The race car mode does look as if he stacked on some weight comparing to his 86 model, but that's what you get for being a Prime I guess. The real negative thing in this mode is that somewhere below his front hood, there is this small tab that will touch the surface in some instances. If you are a fan of alt mode, you may wanna be careful of scraping this part since it is part of transforming his head in robot mode. Yeesh!
Standing tall
Isn't he a thing of beauty? Optimus Prime's successor handles great and looks immaculate for the most part. The plastic on this guy feels top notch. If you handle him, you will definitely feel the difference in comparison to the lower class figures. He feels heavier to be exact and it is not detrimental in any way. Like 86 Hot Rod, he as finger articulation but the difference now is that you can toggle not only his thumb but his pointer finger which seems to be a gimmick which I will also show you later on. He has the double jointed knee like Kingdom Tracks but it is no where nearly as wobbly. This doesn't bother me too much here but some fans did point out how they despised how he has large knee gaps in between. I thought it was minor and the joints are tight so it works out for me.
Despite his face looking fairly wrinkly, it didn't irk me as it did to some fans. His heel tab on the left leg wouldn't lock in place. Lucky thing it stays closely shut and it doesn't needlessly flap all over the place. It is probably just my copy. 2nd, if you are a first timer, locking that chest piece can prove to, as a fan called it, waiting for a disaster to happen. It takes a few tries to get it right, but it is fairly tough to snap in the first time. I did fiddle with this guy a bit so the more you try it, eventually it's easy peasy but man it does feel like you gonna break something the first time just trying to snap that chest piece in. Unlike 86 Hot Rod, at least that chest piece becomes the front hood of alt mode.
Last, I wasn't a big fan of his wing shoulders. Whereas the previous Hot Rod incarnations looked great, his wings just look too big. I understand this is supposed to be G1 accurate and it seems like his G1 toy resembled this trait, I just wasn't a big fan of it. Maybe I'm more of a Hot Rod fan instead.
W/86 Hot Rod
The trailer was pretty much just made for Kingdom Rodimus. 86 Hot Rod can fit in the Winnebago, but his front is nearly lifted off the ground. They can trade exhaust effects which is a nice touch. The turret mode is too small for 86 but he manages to pull it off, barely.
"First Prime, then Ultra Magnus. And now you!"
"Arise Rodimus Prime!"
"This is the end of the road, Galvatron!"
Finger pointing action like I said.
"Now light our darkest hour!"
Chest compartment
(First pic: 86 Hot Rod Matrix, 2nd pic: Kingdom Rodimus Matrix)
86 version looks brighter. Hasbro didn't forget the Matrix. It's located in his chest compartment where you pull his chest flap down. You can also fit Galvatron's Matrix in here as well providing that you take off the chain.
The Matrix effect is tacked on here. The effect really doesn't fit here but I made it work for the camera.
I like the 86 Matrix effect better still.
With Galvatron
As you can see, Galvatron is taller than Rodimus Prime. Rodimus only scales with Galvie simply due to the big shoulder wings. This is where I come to full circle when I mention how Rodimus is only commander class simply due to the trailer. Galvatron is 30 bucks cheaper than this guy and yet he is taller! Rodimus does have good plastic quality but if you ain't into the trailer and all, Rodimus is overpriced, really. But let's make it worth it but giving him Jetfire add-on blast effects but now colored in blue.
Conclusion:
Since I got him for $60, the trailer and the extra add ons are worth the 10 bucks. Some sites charge almost $90 for the Autobot protector. What can I say? Rodimus Prime is a good figure. I really dig the material they used for this guy, he doesn't feel cheap at all. They made lots of nostalgic posing and replay value for this guy. I really feel they could had done some more work on the trailer and that chest piece is going to give nightmares to first timers, but with practice it makes perfect. It is a bummer that he is shorter than Galvatron, but definitely get him if he dips 60 bucks and below. Have a nice day folks.
