One of the first One-Step Changers ever!

Man, the Age Of Extinction toyline actually had a lot of firsts didn’t it? It was a rocky toyline no doubt… but it did have its moments.

Now then, is One-Step Optimus here a high point or a low note?

Vehicle mode

Optimus is Western Star truck… with a lot of junk in the trunk. His arms, chest and feet are all just… there. At least his front end and smokestacks look good because they’re decently painted.

For playability, Optimus rolls around really nice in truck mode. It’s cool that all six of his wheels roll and that none of them are fake.

Transformation

Optimus literally springs out into robot mode and springs in to transform into truck mode. It’s a fun time… when it works.

We’ll get into that in the gimmicks section later.

Robot mode

Optimus looks… not great but not terrible either. His head and chest look good but his proportions are off. His arms and legs are super skinny while his body is… bulbous.

It also doesn’t help that he barely has any paint in robot mode. Optimus really should have had more colour in his arms, legs and crotch.

Optimus barely has any posability but some One-Step Changers have none whatsoever. Better than nothing, right?

• His head can rotate from side to side.
• His arms rotate at the shoulders.

Gimmicks

Optimus has a one-step transformation both ways… which was new and novel back in 2014. One-Step Changers are a mainstay of Transformers products now but that wasn’t always the case!

Optimus transforms from truck mode by pressing the silver sun visor thing on top of his windshield. He transforms back into truck mode by flipping the front of his truck mode back into place in one smooth motion. It’s a cool transformation and it’s neat to watch him explode into robot mode or compress down into truck mode automatically.

The problem is that he gets jammed and stuck pretty easily. His arms or chest get stuck then you have to manually adjust them to get it to work.

That sounds like a nitpick but transforming in one step is this line’s whole thing. I’d like Optimus a lot better if he didn’t get jammed so often.

Toy or collectible?

Toy.

Optimus is a One-Step Changer which means he was geared towards kids by default. He’s a simple and affordable Optimus Prime that kids can transform quickly.

Interestingly, Optimus here is one of the more expensive One-Step Changers now and goes for about RM80 ($20) new. You can definitely find him cheaper used… which you should because he’s not worth getting new.

Closing

As much as I like One-Step Changers, this one’s a bit of a hard sell. Optimus is more expensive than other One-Step Changers and his transformation isn’t as smooth as some of the later ones. It doesn’t get jammed every time but it happens often enough that it’s noticeable and annoying.

It’s pretty neat to have one of the first One Step Changers to ever come out but you can probably skip this guy unless you’re a dedicated Optimus collector.