Video Review - Transformers: Age of Extinction Target Exlcusive Silver Knight Optimus Prime and Grimlock

Those colours look really washed out on Grimlock, like someone left him in the sun.

The Optimus is sort of meh. Could have used some reds and blues instead of that sickly whitish gray plastic. The Grimlock, on the other hand, is gorgeous IMO. This will become my new Neo G1 Grimmy. Great review, Chuck!

Thanks Chuck! If you have this, means it must have hit the NYC area. I'll definitely be checking out a couple of my local NYC Targets in the coming days...

A running change on a figure is not uncommon, especially figures with very pointy edges, such as Dark Of The Moon Crankcase with his "middle finger" claw, which was then trimmed for what appears to be safety's sake. It's become apparent that Age Of Extinction is the next toy line to have this factory modification happen, and this time? It's Dinobot Slug's horns.

Seibertron took some pictures of a wave 1 figure, which was used to create Slug's gallery over here, and compared it with a wave 2 packaged figure and it showed a very noticeable change in which the horns are now rounded with very soft looking edges.

Seibertron included the packaging code in the picture below, and the number is 40941. The wave 1 packaging carries the following number: 40551. I've included that image from my personal collection. Fortunately, the codes aren't exactly necessary as the different horn tips are easily seen through the packaging bubble.

Without further ado, the images:





















Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around.

Man, it's such a small difference it took me a few seconds to actually notice it. Personally, I think I might prefer the rounded horns. The "chopped" ones to kind of look like someone came along and cut the tips off all of Slag/Slug's horns. I wonder if that's exactly what happened. Maybe he originally had pointy horns, but the saw it as a safety concern and caught it in the factory before the 1st wave shipped. If you look at the official images on the box, they do look pointier than either versions.

Soft rubbery plastic, rounded tips. If a child can't be trusted not to blind themselves with a toy perhaps they're too young to have it. Give them a ball or soft teddy instead.

I picked up all of these guys on Saturday. I think I sent in an email report, but maybe I didn't, because I know I would have included a reference picture and I didn't see it on my host. Anyway, yeah, AOE wave 2 voyagers are in and so are the two-packs. As I mentioned previously, the 2-pack Grimlock has a better deco IMO, although it's not really a deal. Wave 2 deluxes had not shown up last I looked, but now I will have to poke around.

Has the design of swords been changed as well or is it just the horns?

Fifo wrote:Soft rubbery plastic, rounded tips. If a child can't be trusted not to blind themselves with a toy perhaps they're too young to have it. Give them a ball or soft teddy instead.

And gijoe toys are any differnt with there weapons sharp pointy sword made of. Hard plastic there both Iin smae age range excpe rescure bots

That's a cool looking figure.

My mini-reviews of the new Deluxe figures:

Drift is really cool. Simple, classic car transformation combined with tight joints and good poseability. Has a "real" car chest; no fakery. Head sculpt is unique and cool. All four swords stow away in car mode. I like how the doors fold back to form armor for his upper arms. The only nits I have to pick are the lack of rotating wrists and limited ankle movement.

Strafe is awesome. I was confused at first because he's packaged with his upper body in bot mode and legs in beast mode. Most impressive is that he has a huge wingspan, but the wings fold up nicely behind his back in bot mode. You can give the bot mode a lot of different looks by playing around with the wings. I also love the silver paint on the wings. Posing him in beast mode is tricky, but that's always the case with bird-like alt modes. The ability to bend the wings so he sort of walks on all-fours is cool.

Slash is... exactly what I thought he would be. A cool-LOOKING beast mode and a crummy bot mode. I say cool-LOOKING best mode because it has little articulation aside from the lower jaw opening. There's not much you can do in terms of posing it, so it's play value is limited. I'm not sure how I feel about the big rubbery tail. And the bot mode, well, let's just say he's staying in beast mode. I can't think of anything positive to say about the bot mode. I mostly bought it because I plan on buying all the dinobots, and at least he'll look cool in dino mode when displayed among the rest of the dinobots. At least his colors are cool.

Fifo wrote:Soft rubbery plastic, rounded tips. If a child can't be trusted not to blind themselves with a toy perhaps they're too young to have it. Give them a ball or soft teddy instead.

If we could "Like" a posting on this site, I would have done so for your response, Sir. You hit it right on the head.

Just IMAGINE all the little tikes waiting in emergency rooms all over the country with Dinobot Slugs stuck in their faces if they hadn't made this running change! Oh, the horror!

"Dragons wrote:

And gijoe toys are any differnt with there weapons sharp pointy sword made of. Hard plastic there both Iin smae age range excpe rescure bots"

I know, right? The Construct Bot sets come with hard, pointy swords that one would think are clearly deadlier than Slug's tiny horns. Wtf?

Cobalt Prime wrote:

Fifo wrote:Soft rubbery plastic, rounded tips. If a child can't be trusted not to blind themselves with a toy perhaps they're too young to have it. Give them a ball or soft teddy instead.

If we could "Like" a posting on this site, I would have done so for your response, Sir. You hit it right on the head. :APPLAUSE:

Just IMAGINE all the little tikes waiting in emergency rooms all over the country with Dinobot Slugs stuck in their faces if they hadn't made this running change! Oh, the horror! :lol:

"Dragons wrote:

And gijoe toys are any differnt with there weapons sharp pointy sword made of. Hard plastic there both Iin smae age range excpe rescure bots"

I know, right? The Construct Bot sets come with hard, pointy swords that one would think are clearly deadlier than Slug's tiny horns. Wtf?

I think it also has something to with those parts being likely to break off, then be swallowed by little tikes. >:oP

Looks better chopped. Not only is it now a flatter robotic straight edge, but its also more jagged than the rounded.

Looking at mine, I'm not sure it's "chopped" - there aren't any of the stress or cut marks I noticed when Crankcase was available. That said, I do like the rounded horns better, and will definitely be looking out to replace the Slug I have.

Err... I have a wave 1 Slug(confirmed by the number on his leg and on the package) with the rounded horns.

Hi guys,

Haven't been on the boards in a while so I probably missed this info, but is this Silver Knight Optimus thing Target is doing actually something from the film or is it just an excuse for a variant?

Feel free to PM if there are AoE spoilers involved.

Thanks!

JBPrime wrote:Hi guys,

Haven't been on the boards in a while so I probably missed this info, but is this Silver Knight Optimus thing Target is doing actually something from the film or is it just an excuse for a variant?

Feel free to PM if there are AoE spoilers involved.

Thanks!

The whole "Silver Knight" thing isn't an isolated case, as there are more releases of similar nature, all Target exclusives so far except for the Kre-O sets, which are Toys "R" Us.

JBPrime wrote:Hi guys,

Haven't been on the boards in a while so I probably missed this info, but is this Silver Knight Optimus thing Target is doing actually something from the film or is it just an excuse for a variant?

Feel free to PM if there are AoE spoilers involved.

Thanks!

The answer to whether or not the "Silver Knight" thing actually pertains to something that happens in the film is an easy one to give: "We don't know."

the top horns look better chopped but the nose horn looks better rounded. But im not so sure they did this for safety i think it was just a screw up in manufacturing & they fixed it.

I wanna hack off a bunch of his horns. Not just the tips. I'm thinking of hacking off the rhino horn. Those silly jaw horns and a bunch on his tail. He's got too many horns if you ask me.

megatronus wrote:Thanks Chuck! If you have this, means it must have hit the NYC area. I'll definitely be checking out a couple of my local NYC Targets in the coming days...

I got it online so I'm not sure if they're in stores yet

Still no in-store sightings of the Slug Evolution 2-Pack from TRU? I see Slug everywhere in his mass release version, but I want that minicon G1 homage, dang it!

Sabrblade wrote:

JBPrime wrote:Hi guys,

Haven't been on the boards in a while so I probably missed this info, but is this Silver Knight Optimus thing Target is doing actually something from the film or is it just an excuse for a variant?

Feel free to PM if there are AoE spoilers involved.

Thanks!

The answer to whether or not the "Silver Knight" thing actually pertains to something that happens in the film is an easy one to give: "We don't know."

You never know, might've been revealed or shown in a TV Spot, figured I'd ask.

Slowpoke'd a bit, but I'd like to point out that I'm looking forward to that Target exclusive Grimlock and SK OP set. I'd buy it just for the optimus and sell off Grimlock. I really dont like that FoC mold. However, the deluxe Optimus mold is awesome and to have him in all shiny chrome... sweet!

Toys look good, but let me say I'm not a fan of the "action features" of some of them.

Looks like HTS has some of the wave 2 simplified toys up. I got a one step hound coming my way

Wolfman Jake wrote:Still no in-store sightings of the Slug Evolution 2-Pack from TRU? I see Slug everywhere in his mass release version, but I want that minicon G1 homage, dang it!

I saw some today at a TRU in Duluth, GA. I didn't think to take any pics and I didn't grab one because I already have the single release. But they're out.

It's a toy! It's a card! It's a transforming gift card from Target! Fellow Seibertron.com member daimchoc has found in his local Southpoint Target in Durham, NC, this peculiar Optimus Prime themed store gift card - check out the mirrored images below, and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub.

looks nice may stoip by so I can get one

It's cool to see they are repurposing the Botcon 2007 Optimus transforming gift card.

yourtransformersneed wrote:It's cool to see they are repurposing the Botcon 2007 Optimus transforming gift card.

Was that always a Botcon exclusive, or is it one they handed out there as a promo and was later available some places? I unearthed one of mine from Storage and was playing with it. Wonered if it still had money on it but probably epired long ago.

Looks like this is either continuing the "silver" knight theme or the dirtied up truck cab Evasion Mode.

Flashwave wrote:

yourtransformersneed wrote:It's cool to see they are repurposing the Botcon 2007 Optimus transforming gift card.

Was that always a Botcon exclusive, or is it one they handed out there as a promo and was later available some places? I unearthed one of mine from Storage and was playing with it. Wonered if it still had money on it but probably epired long ago.

Looks like this is either continuing the "silver" knight theme or the dirtied up truck cab Evasion Mode.

I picked one up at my local Target in 2007, so I highly doubt it was a Botcon exclusive. It's interesting that they've decided to dust off the mold, though.

nice to see them bringing this back, we need more stuff like this these days.

Disappointed that Transformers: Age of Extinction Voyager Class Evasion Mode Optimus Prime isn't scene accurate? You'll be happy to know there will be at least one version out there that strives for film accuracy, however it's exclusive to Toys"R"Us Japan. They've just listed a more movie accurate deco with faceplate version on their website. It's listed for 4999 Yen, and scheduled to release on August 10th. Keep an eye on our sponsors, as they will likely be importing this figure. Official images mirrored below:

Houston, we have a winner!



Now comes the hard part of actually trying to get it.

Sabrblade wrote:Houston, we have a winner!



Now comes the hard part of actually trying to get it.

Ahahah, they made what you wanted! Don't worry, BBTS will probably have it. Just gotta check every second for the pre-order before they run out.

Nope, still too bright looking for my taste.

Needs to be more darker.

Sigh - all I want is AD-02 colors w/ faceplate...

Not too bad as that is a hard paint job to pull off.

I kinda like that Prime, nice and weathered. Maybe the next waves of movie toys will be better.

I for one believe that the domestic Hasbro Evasion Prime release should have received the face plate treatment and this mold should have been released sans the face plate. If the US version is supposed to harken back to the '84 color scheme and pull at the heart strings of G1ners then the face plate should have been included. Still I like both molds. I purchased two so far. One to remain MISB and the other for display. I opened one today and it is probably one of my all time favorite TF movie verse figures. Great joints and paint job. My only gripe would be the elbow articulation. The one big plus about the AOE line (at least the voyager and leader class molds) is that you can remove the figures from their plastic and re box them in their plastic without destroying the packaging. Takara has been doing that for years. Hasbro has followed suit recently. I noticed this upon opening a few Marvel Legends figures from Captain America TWS and the Amazing Spider-Man 2

FINALLY!!! oh well, robot mode... nice try, poor apps

I think Hasbro color apps machines are not working or out of ink...

looks too clean & bright,should be more of an off white with a hell of a lot more "rust". I dont think this mold is ever going to get a good paint job by hasbro or takara

Doesn't look that bad to me, and I like that Transforming gift card too.

....shit, I'm gonna have to get this, aren't I? It may not be 100% absolutely perfect, but it's good enough for me.

I think the final figure may have less "rust" than this is showing. I bet its hand painted and as they paint more and more it will become tiresome and they just wont put as much effort or care in.

The bot mode needs more paint, he suddenly becomes Ultra Magnus's cab bot when he transforms

I do like it though.

well impressed with this but I agree re the faceplates this one should be without and the g1 deco should be with

wonder how many will buy 1 of each and switch