Optimus Prime (Fallen Leader)
Review by NekroDave
Until the release of Unifive's Garada K7 Jumbo Machine, there wasn't much history of jumbos being re-released in alternate colorways but it is becoming more commonplace now as companies look to maximize their return on investment by re-using molds. One of the better ideas for this practice is this Optimus Prime (Fallen Leader) toy. In the classic 1986 Transformers Movie, this iconic character's death traumatized children everywhere and when it happened, he mysteriously turned all gray to signify his loss of life. All black versions of toys have been a thing since the 1970s but never really made much sense. So just shifting the color to a lighter gray and depicting an iconic scene is a great idea. And if you're morbid like me, you kind of love that they just released a toy of a corpse.
However, as you can imagine based on my review of the initial release of this mold, I was in no hurry to rush out and buy a second version. But when it went on sale at just over $200 (rather than the retail $350), and I had decided to start writing here again, I figured it was worth it to take the plunge and see how it was. I thought the worst case scenario would be that I'd have an extra jumbo and be able to flesh out our database. And I'm happy to report that I don't regret it, at that price.
As usual, the boxes first. The outer box front is mostly similar to the regular version.
However the side of the box designates this as the "Dead Version". Not even "Fallen Leader", but "Dead Version". Pretty blunt.
Like the toy, the regular box is just all gray. No alternate text, whether it be "Dead Version" or "Fallen Leader".
As the toy is simply a recolor, there's not too much different from the initial release.
The major changes are in the stickers. Not only do the pre-applied ones in the window now have cracks sustained in the climactic battle with Megatron, but now the waist sticker actually fits! The sticker is slightly smaller to allow for a snug, but comfortable fit and the strips that wrapped around the waist have been elimated entirely. If this is the trade-off for having stickers that will actually fit and stay put, I'll happily take it. It looks much better.
Once again, Prime includes his signature blaster. And although it's still not perfect, this specimen can mostly hold it at an angle without it falling over. Again, not perfect, but not so bad that I have added another little elastic.
Same situation with the opening chest panels. If I hold the toy completely upside down, it might swing open. But it's much tighter than on my regular version, which flopped open at even the slightest tipping of the toy. The interior Matrix of Leadership is the only part on the toy that shows any color.
The launching fist and rolling wheels are still included, even though this Prime won't exactly be rolling out anytime soon.
So, in closing, this toy isn't perfect, but it's an improvement on the regular release. I probably wouldn't recommend it at the full $350 price, but it's much easier to appreciate at a reduced cost. My specimen leans a little for some reason, but I've experienced that with vintage jumbos as well so I don't care too much. I'm just glad that they managed to breathe a little life into this "Dead Version".