Optimus Prime Lego KO

Presenting a KO version of Optimus Prime.

This is BingTianWang of the Hundred Changes Jin Gang. I have no idea what that means. All I know is that THAT is a Michael Bay Transformers Movie designed Optimus Prime.

I came across this Chinese KO in a store called UNO - that I wanted to actually bring up on trademark violations - that sells cheap stuff in Waltermart here in the South of Metro Manila in a place called Bicutan.

We were looking for cheap Christmas decor when we came across a few rows of Legos, and there he was, a single box just sitting there.

Now I positively abhor Lego and he's a cheap knock-off but hey! How can you beat the grand price of PhP 439 (Roughly US$ 9.99)?

So here he is.


The box itself hardly makes sense. It probably does in Chinese, but definitely not in English. The blister card says "New Influence: By developing intelligence and inspiring potential to make children grow up with happiness."

Deep. Waaay beyond my level of comprehension.

When I opened it, I was 100% sure that it would be incomplete. A part of me was even sure that it would not be Optimus Prime inside - the box was sealed after all. I was happily surprised to not only find that it was indeed Optimus Prime and it was not only complete, there were a few left-over spare parts - just like regular Lego sets.

WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT THE OPTIMUS PRIME LEGO KNOCK-OFF?

Okay I won't pretend I know much about Lego - because I don't (I kinda stopped playing with them at a certain age. My brother was waaay better at Lego than I was). So I suppose it boils down to the basics: Is this toy fun? Does the toy look good? Is the toy durable? How long will you play with it or is it a display piece only? Can I resell this?

Well the last one shouldn't be a basic.

Anyway, YES!!!! It was a lot of fun assembling it. Who would have thought scrounging through nearly 400 different pieces for a single piece of plastic could be so much fun? I do not consider the four hours I spent assembling this knock-off Optimus Prime a waste of time. It was nice to have a task that does indeed provide a strange calming focus that results in a really cool reward at the end and stimulates the imagination at the same time.

The final product is an Optimus Prime that has the most basic of articulation, but is looks quite good. Yes, it can look even better with a paint-job to the face, but that should be no problem at all:

The Optimus Prime Lego KO looks great from almost all angles:

Articulation is so-so, very basic. But let's be honest, there are Transformers who have less articulation than this Lego KO Optimus Prime:

His truck mode is pretty solid. Please don't mind the elevated siding. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong till after the shoot. Apparently I dislocated the smokestack. 

As for fun factor, it's LEGO! Optimus Prime is fully customizable which leaves only your imagination as a limit. What I have here is a simple remount of his arm weapons:

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THE OPTIMUS PRIME LEGO KNOCK-OFF?

He's made of Lego. Optimus Prime is not very durable. Either that or I just don't know Leo or how hard Lego should hold. He does tend to fall apart. Maybe it's because he's a Knock-Off of Lego.

Also it took me four hours to assemble him. Not that I'm complaining. But after four hours of holding these mini-bricks, it felt like my hands were coated with something. My best guess is that this Optimus Prime Lego KO was made with paint that was not meant for children. If you get this, don't eat it.

Cool for the price of PhP 439 (Roughly US$ 9.99), and definitely a lot of fun. But I think I'll pass on collecting. It's just not Dark Lord Dungeon material.