Hasbro's newest collectible model of the Transformers franchise is an Optimus Prime toy that transforms from humanoid metal vessel to a vehicle on its own. In 2007, executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay rebooted the franchise with a series of sci-fi action films based on the '80s cartoon and line of children's toys made by Hasbro. The successful action series released its latest entry in 2018 with Bumblebee, a spin-off within the same Transformers universe starring Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena.
The Transformers media franchise includes physical toys, comics, and TV shows that chronicle an ongoing battle between two groups of robots, the Autobots and Decepticons. In the first movie, Shia LeBoeuf plays a teenager named Sam Witwicky, who finds himself involved in the ages-old robot war when he unknowingly purchases an Autobot called Bumblebee. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots, the good guys of the two robot coalitions who seek to end the war and rebuild their planet. In most iterations of the character, Optimus Prime transforms into a red and blue truck.
Hasbro has released its newest Optimus Prime toy along with a host of other products from the Transformers: Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom and other brands as part of its Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest event. The Transformers Optimus Prime Auto-Converting Programmable Advanced Robot – Collector's Edition features technology by Robosen, a company that engineers programmable robots. Pre-orders for the product have begun on HasbroPulse.com at a whopping $699.99. Here's what Optimus Prime looks like in robot and in truck mode, along with a CGI rendering of its many components:
At over 1.5 feet tall in robot mode, the collectible features an authentic G1 design with lighting. This Optimus Prime is voiced by his original actor and comes equipped with over 80 sound effects, speakers, and microphones. Robotics enthusiasts will appreciate the model's 5000 components, including 60 microchips, 27 servo motors, and a lithium-ion battery. Users can make the Autobot leader transform, attack, move, speak, blast, or carry out user-created actions with either vocal or app-based commands using the specially designed app. The purchase includes a number of accompanying goodies in its travel case, among them a battle axe, a blaster, and a charging cable for the bot.
The toy boasts a number of other details to entice interested collectors, but its main selling point is its ability to auto-convert. According to the company, this is the most functional "real life" version of a Transformer made so far. As robotic technology improves, toy robots are becoming more robot than toy, bringing Hasbro's Transformers even closer to resembling their on-screen counterparts.
Source: Hasbro