Toy Review: Ori Toy Hero of Steel Optimus Prime

In this review I take a look at Ori Toy’s first Transformers product in Hero of Steel. This non-transforming Optimus Prime is pretty damned cool.

Producer: Ori Toy

Price: $139.99

Release Date: July 2016

Item Height: Approx. 9″

Item Weight: Approx. 1 lbs

WHERE TO BUY: TFSource

So Ori Toy has made its debut into the world of Transformers collectibles with their Hero of Steel Optimus figure. This is a Masterpiece-scaled, non-transforming version of Optimus which features a very unique design and an extremely wide range of poseability. I have to say in advance that I have a pretty strong bias with this one due to having preferences for the non-transforming aspect of this figure and what I would call a “Super Robot” styled aesthetic. Even with that, I’ll do my best to review this as objectively as possible from the “toy” perspective.

At 9″ tall and showcasing a more bulky silhouette, Hero of Steel immediately catches an eye as an imposing piece. the over emphasis on areas like the shoulders, forearms, and calves, really give it more of a manga-esque, super robot vibe aesthetically and I like it a lot. The headsculpt is very well done, but I do wish the “mask” portion was a bit less narrow. The painting is flawless and I like the color choices; while the blue is more traditional, the red is more muted, but metallic which I think would have been drowned out by a more cherry red. Even beyond the painted access, small things like parts of the thigh/knee going between silver and gun metal really help to break up the palette and features like the faux matrix compartment underneath the clear windows show a great amount of attention to details.

Words can’t even describe the poseability. You’ll have to check out the video portion of this. It’s incredible and really extenuates why I love non-transforming homages to these characters.

The version in this review is the standard release which comes with the iconic blaster seen on most Optimus iterations. There is another version for an additional @0 that comes with both this as well a Megatron in gun mode that he can wield (note; the additional weapon is the only difference in that version.) The weapon pegs into his hand and is held well, but I’ve noticed that the ratchets throughout the arms are so strong that they create enough vibration during arm movement to shake the weapon loose in has hand. A nice feature of the blaster is the back end’s ability to slide up and down which keeps Hero of Steel’s forearm from being obstructive in what angles he can hold it at. I also absolutely love that this not only clips onto its back, but can be angled however you like.

I do have a few gripes, however. The first is the placement of the wheels on his hips. I think that they look well enough aesthetically, but they definitely hinder the outward range in their swing. Since this is a non-transforming piece, there’s no real “need” for them to be placed there, so I would have preferred elsewhere like possibly being part of the lower torso. The other is the ratchet joints in the hips. There’s too much wiggle room in between the catch point for my liking and it leads to him wanting to split out of A-stances when on smooth surfaces. This happens far too often, and I wish these companies would just abolish ratchet joints in the hips. In my experience, there’s been maybe three toys out of the hundreds I’ve gotten a chance to play with that really nailed ratchet joints in the hips, and that’s far too low of a success rate for this feature to be so standard. That being said, he seems to hold well after starting to split when you place his legs back.

Overall Score: 7.5/10 – This is a really nice piece. A unique take aesthetically mixed with high-quality materials and awesome poseability. I would have scored this at least an 8.0, but the hip ratchets definitely brought it down since they’re not what I’d expect on a toy I’d place into the high-end category. Non-transforming homages are and will continue to be a rough sell by design to the majority of the Transformers fandom, but I hope that people give Hero of Steel a try if they get the chance to.