I won an Ultimate Optimus Prime at Auto Assembly Europe which was interesting since I never, ever intended to buy it. Not only did it look fairly ridiculous in previews, in Swedish stores it costs roughly a kidney and a half, and since he’s so huge, importing is just as expensive.

Speaking of huge, though. It’s quite fun to read the claims on the box, saying he’s 55 centimeters tall. It’s extra exciting since the biggest Transformer toy of all time, Fortress Maximus, is also 55 centimeters. But it’s pretty much a lie. Optimus Prime himself is fairly small, somewhere around the Ultra size category. He then transforms his trailer into a huge battle suit which extends his legs and arms and gives him a new diaper. Pretty cool, but still only about 30 centimeters at the crest of his head, and his head is tiny by the way. Then you deploy… the fairy mode.

Basically the reason for this figure being ridiculed, the wings extend way up and around him, making him reach somewhere around that magical 55 cm mark. Does that change the fact that it’s a lie? No. Fortress Maximus can raise his arm and then suddenly ”OMG 65 CM TRANSFORMER”. The antennas add to the fairy queen look. But then, as if to prove something, he pulls out his huge big freaking cannon of galactic destruction. This thing is loaded with lights and sounds and other things that actual kids like, and adds a helmet to his tiny little head.

Suddenly there is a rather simple solution to his major problems, thanks to a video by Peaugh. First, get those wings back down. In a downwards position, they look rather like a cape, like Vector Prime’s. That’s quite cool in fact. Then, bring out a screwdriver. The screws you need to remove are shown circled here (plus one on the opposite side of the helmet). Two basically hold the cannon assembly to the helmet and the other holds the cannon bars together.

Remove those three screws and pull the sides apart until you can pull one and then the other side off the helmet. Don’t worry, it won’t break. You end up with a rather nice helmet and a huge cannon thing which you can hang on his back for storage. If you still want to use the cannon as intended, you can just put it back without the screws.

Optionally, you can file off the outer section of the helmet pegs, for a better look. They are just for holding the screws. You could even file off the entire pegs but then you lose the BFG mode. Pegs shown here:

With that little mod, you get a much better and more proportional look to him. Another minor addition is putting his feet level to the ground: there is actually some articulation even if it’s rather hard to move. The result is a figure who is pretty much the modern version of G1 Powermaster Optimus Prime, Armada Superbase Optimus Prime or Cybertron Optimus Prime. He may be a brick but he’s a brick with weapons and wings. Also, he transforms into a truck with a rather neat trailer which is nice to have. So yeah, I’m rather happy to have him. Of course, you can’t argue with the price I got him for…