Optimus Prime was the hero to many, many children from the 1980s. I was one of them.
PROLOGUE
Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobot, the good guys from G1 Transformers cartoon series. I know this factoid is redundant but I guess there might still be many readers out there who might not know about this. ;)
When G1 cartoon aired back then, as a child with some LEGO sets/parts , I tried building many of the TF characters and Prime was one of them.
And the variant of Prime I loved the most then and now is Powermaster. I managed to snag the Japanese version aka God Ginrai commerative edition almost 2 decades later.
LEGO Optimus Prime version 0.xx
I actually have vague memory of this build. It was probably made between 1989 - 1991 when I was around 13 at that time. And I think it was a powermaster version as I remembered merging the incomplete build to become super mode . Below is the only photo of this creation on the table. The cab windshield parts in yellow probably came from LEGO set 6658 and 6361 :
Can you guess the LEGO set on the table above?
LEGO Optimus Prime Trailer version 1
More than a decade later, I returned to LEGO as a young adult... and made a LEGO Optimus Prime Trailer meant to be hitched onto MP01 Masterpiece Optimus Prime.
Powermaster Optimus Prime Cab mode fits inside the trailer!
That's a partial view of my LEGO Fort Mas in the background,
Brickshelf.com (and now defunct mocpages.com) was a repository for many LEGO creations of mine back in those days. You may click on the link below to video more photos of this creation there.
LEGO Optimus Prime Trailer version 2
This one was made mere months later after the first version. To differentiate it from its predecessor, I had the blue stripes design on the trailer flipped horizontally.
Another major addition was Super Roller, a companion to the Trailer aka Combat deck module. Roller in the original G1 toy doesn't transform. I made one that transformed into a winged beast (hence the Super)
I remembered ordering bulk LEGO parts from bricklink.com, enough to build 3 copies of this creation above (both the trailer and Roller).
My plan was to sell the extra two copies on ebay. Sadly.... it was not successful. There were enquiries by potential customers but they backed off after hearing the expensive shipping fee from my country, Malaysia. Sigh.
I ended selling some of the mostly gray parts to a buyer living near my area .
LEGO (Neo) Optimus Prime version 2
Made in 2005, I called him Neo Optimus Prime after Beast Wars Neo, the series I was interested in and bought many toys from the series.
Click here for building instructions for this creation!
LEGO (Neo) Optimus Prime version 2.5
If my memory serves me well, this version provided a trailer-turned-apex-armor for Prime v2 above with no modifications to the latter. This creation was inspired by Powermaster Prime, naturally.
LEGO (Powermaster) Optimus Prime version 3
At the beginning of 2014. I rolled out Powermaster Optimus Prime with my own take on the base mode.. which is quite different from the original G1 version. Click on the link below to view photos and also writeups on this project. There's tons of 'em!
Click here if video is not showing.
On retrospect, I think both the cab and trailer were overengineered, leading to complex transformations. The old school G1 vibe wasn't there in robot and base mode. I must admit I did not enjoy transforming this Prime at all , something I forced to do when making a video about it.
LEGO Chibi Optimus Prime aka Optimus Pram
This cute specimen here was a tongue-in-cheek creation by me just for the heck of it. I think it was made around year 2014. As titled, he turned into a pram/child stroller.
LEGO Optimus Prime version 4
This project was started in 2019 I think. But I was too "greedy" and started a few more LEGO projects , causing this one to be in limbo.
In 2022, I was given opportunity to design an Optimus Prime , an official commission for a Building Blocks company . So I quickly took to chance to complete this Prime v4 to be delivered.
Below is the photo of my prototype together with the final boxed product , named Pangu 13014.
Note some off colored parts in the prototype as I didn't have all the right colored parts back then .
What Next
Well, I am busy working on Optimus Prime version 5.
This Powermaster version will stay true to his G1 form (especially base mode). This creation will roll out at the first quarter of 2024. Stay tuned!
As a lil gift for you to reach this far reading this blog, below is a sneakpeek of the trailer for this project .
And I occasionally teases my work-in-progress in my youtube channel. Please go there and subscribe to my channel!
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