Orion Pax

Presenting Orion Pax from the Transformers Generations toy series. 

There are actually two origin stories as to what Optimus Prime was before the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons began. It really depends upon which continuity you are following. One has him as a librarian, but the most common tale has him as a dock worker who actually idolized Megatron and was heavily damaged by an attack by the Decepticons when they came for the Energon stored in the docks. Orion Pax were taken along with his two friends Dion and Ariel to Alpha Trion where they are rebuilt.

Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime, Ariel becomes Elita One. No one is sure what happened to Dion, but fan speculation suggests that Dion becomes Ultra Magnus. 

This particular Transformers Generations Orion Pax follows the history that Orion Pax is a librarian. Orion's blister pack reads "Orion Pax: Long before the burden of the leadership was forced upon him, Orion Pax was a great thinker, an intellectual revolutionary. He spent his life plugged into a console, sorting, parsing, and filing historical data. As the world outside grew darker and more bleak, he saw hope for the future in his world's past. He saw, when no one else would, that Cybertron could once again be free - and he has clung to that dream even through the dark times since."

Translation: Orion Pax is a daydreaming nerd with his head stuck in the past :)

The blister pack goes on to list his attributes as follows compared to the Transformers Generations 30th Anniversary Optimus Prime:

• Strength - 3 - Rebuilt this jumps up to 10
• Intelligence - 9 - Strangely falls to 8 - muscles made him dumber 
• Speed - 4 - Shoots up to 7 - far more horsepower
• Enrance - 4 - A massive 10
• Rank - 2 - Well he's a Prime now, 10
• Courage - 10 - His heart is still the same, 10
• Fireblast - 1 - so I guess the rifle he's holding is a water pistol. Prime's is 9
• Skill - 9 - Also goess down to 8 - Muscles made him stiff. 

What's to like about the TF Generations Orion Pax?

I think Orion Pax is a fine cautionary tale that speaks of what happens when you dream too big. I mean you go from simple archivist to leading a century spanning war against a homicidal army. I'm quite sure that there are days when Optimus Prime wishes he was simple Orion Pax again. It's a testament to his heart that Optimus Prime has yet to become bitter and fall from being the idealist that Orion Pax was. 

Well there's no turning back. 

The Transformers Generations Orion Pax is a solid figure with very decent transformation - not too hard, not insultingly easy. Just right. He's also a very nice upgrade from his G1 version which was nothing more than a redeco of the G1 Kup. 

I love his detailing. I love that he looks like a soldier Autobot with hints of Optimus Prime:

I actually like Orion Pax's back, it's quite solid looking. In the comic book that accompanied Orion Pax, he actually self-attaches a mouth guard. Makes me wonder if I can switch heads with either the WOC or FOC Primes or if someone will make a 3rd party upgrade for him. 

Articulation is also excellent but that out-thrust chest limits some of his arm movement, preventing him from fully "dual wielding" his rifle and battle axe, though it is possible within limits:

Yes, Orion Pax can kneel:

As you can see Orion Pax comes armed with a battle-axe (Yeah it's Prime Jr, of course he comes with an axe) and a rifle. He's nicely balanced and a dream to pose - love those arms:

Orion Pax transforms into a very solid truck - which kinda looks like a pick-up with cargo in the back:

Orion Pax's weapons can be mounted on the side:

What's NOT to like about the TF Generations Orion Pax?

Well you can't help but look at him and see Iron Hide from afar - what with that big glass chest. If you really weren't sure who he was, I'm sure you would think that he's a weird looking Iron Hide. I wouldn't be surprised if a redeco of this is released as Iron Hide and Ratchet.

The next problem is that he's so solid you have to wonder why they left his arms open with such gaping holes. It's s small detail and definitely negligible. Call it nit-picking, but it would be nice if they could have closed the gaping holes on the inner sides of his arms. There still is extra plastic after all on his arms thanks to the gray fore-arm shields. 

Other than that? Nothing. He's perfect and a fine must-have addition to any Optimus Prime collection - like mine. This particular Orion Pax was purchased from Toy Kingdom here in the Philippines for PhP 699.75 (Roughly US$ 15.90) He's available for US$ 16.99 (Roughly PhP 747.56 plus shipping) on Amazon.

Worth every penny.