Takara Tomy Toyota FJ Cruiser Optimus Prime in the Works

An FJ Optimus, that makes total sense. Alternity part 2 perhaps?

And if I didn't like this idea to begin with, the price tag certainly turns me off.

$617.41? For that much cash it had better be the most posable figure ever made. It better be made of diecast metal. The paint better not chip or fade ever. It better be remote controlled for $617.41. If it doesn't print legal tender dependent on the country you're in for $617.41 Imma be pissed. It better cure cancer and diabetes. I'd better be able to plug my NES games into it and play them for that much money. It better have lines spoken by Peter Cullen and Peter Cullen better come to my apartment to re-record his lines or add new ones every three months for $617.41. For $617.41 this toy better let me travel through time and relative dimensions in space!

It looks alrit. I can see a good toy coming from that vehicle but for that price it better be 3 feet tall with every gimmick meaning lights, sounds, perfect paint job, perfect possibility. It has to have the whole nine yards and even some stuff that's never been done before.

Bizarre cryptic listing is bizarre.

I seam to remember quite a few similar listings before, they all either got forgotten or you know turned out to be different or cheaper anyway.

I think he going to be alternity/GT sized.

I checked the current exchange rate for 3780 yen... It's only about $40 US. Just makes you wonder about the scale of the figure.

Yep, it's around $40 give or take. For reference my Alternity Bumblebee was 3,700 yen before taxes, bought from a Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo.

El Duque wrote:¥ 3,780 or around $617.41!

Wait, how did you get that dollar amount? Going by XE.com and Google, 3,780 yen = roughly $39.14 USD.

Yay another Optimus toy.../s

Sabrblade wrote:

El Duque wrote:¥ 3,780 or around $617.41!

Wait, how did you get that dollar amount? Going by XE.com and Google, 3,780 yen = roughly $39.14 USD.

Yeah, I think you did your conversion backwards, El Duque. $617.41 is almost ¥ 60,000.

If this is an Alternity figure, I'm getting it.

Lol, I was thinking of the same thing to when I first saw that price and thought 40$ but Hey but that price mistake did have me going for a minute, lol. But it still looks like a good vehicle minus the not chrome rims.

Whoops, sorry about the price, and fixed.

After thinking about this for a minute its turning out to be a good move for Takara coming out with a decent Masterpiece Optimus and that's what it should be. I didn't care to much for previous mp primes so if Takara needs a vehicle like this to come out with a super posable toys like Mp soundwave but with even better legs them I'm all in. If this is an Mp Prime then it is so so so bought on site. I'm hype that they went with another rolling whell vehicle and a nice one at that. Hold on give me a minute to breathe, I got to much good things to say

This is great news for me as I love licenced cars/vehicles in transformers. Binaltech/Altenators, Alternity/GT etc are my dreams come true as far as Transformers are concerned.
I'll be on it like a car bonnet

Would make a nice alt mode for a MP Brawn or Trailbreaker

Did a little additional research and Takara Tomy showed off a remote controlled transforming FJ Cruiser that turned into an Optimus Prime earlier at the Tokyo Toy fair. That's probably what this is, updated the news post.

El Duque wrote:Did a little additional research and Takara Tomy showed off a remote controlled transforming FJ Cruiser that turned into an Optimus Prime earlier at the Tokyo Toy fair. That's probably what this is, updated the news post.

GAH! You beat me to it whilst I was trying to find that same thing

That looks terrible. The only reason Takara's making this an Optimus character is to actually sell some toys. If it was just some generic character, it wouldn't sell. OINO-Optimus in name only!

Dear lord is that thing hideous. I don't care that it's RC, thats just... no, just kill it, kill it with fire.

MINDVVIPE wrote:Dear lord is that thing hideous. I don't care that it's RC, thats just... no, just kill it, kill it with fire.

Agreed.....it's a ghastly abomination and i usually like ghastly and abominating things but this is too much. KILLIT!!!

Holy skewed proportions, Batman!

Even if it does transform automatically, I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole.

You guys know the old saying, " a face only a mother could love"?

Yeah, not even Primus would love this guy.

Oooooohhhhkay. I suppose I'm the only guy here who thinks this thing is completely awesome! Seriously, I would have killed all your mothers for something like this as a child! I wouldn't call it Optimus Prime of course, I'd call it something different. I dunno, like, Xorax The Mountain Trembler! He looks pretty well sized, and he transforms automatically! Of course it's going to look like crap, but consider the direction they may be taking Transformers in with something like this! I mean, what did we get before this that transformed on it's own? Jumpstarters and Battlechargers right? I mean I wouldn't buy this thing, (ok I MIGHT) but I'm sure there's going to be kids out there who would want two!

well that looks terrible. I don't have even the slightest interest in that thing.

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote: I mean, what did we get before this that transformed on it's own?

Wasn't Has/Tak, but I CANT be the only guy who remembers V-Bot. It was 10 times cooler than this, and it transformed automatically and did about 100 different things, and it was programmable and could play and dance to your MP3 music.
Just sayin, optimus mclongarms here aint so great.

Seriously not a fan. If you're not transforming it yourself, then how is this different from any other action figure out there?

BeastProwl wrote:

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote: I mean, what did we get before this that transformed on it's own?

Wasn't Has/Tak, but I CANT be the only guy who remembers V-Bot. It was 10 times cooler than this, and it transformed automatically and did about 100 different things, and it was programmable and could play and dance to your MP3 music.
Just sayin, optimus mclongarms here aint so great.

Had to google to refresh my memory and groaned the moment I saw it. I remember laughing and scoffing at this thing at Toys R Us back when it came out. This Optimus at least has some metal and does a far more complex transformation. I can duplicate the motions of that V-bot with rubber bands and a card board box, transformation included. Not to mention that there appears to be actual metal on this Optimus whereas I doubt even the screws on the v-bot will set off a metal detector.

I'll take this Optimus any day. They did a very passable job given the design they chose to go with and they kept the price reasonable for something that does more than behave like a simple Jumpstarter figure and actually won't melt in the sun after 15 minutes like most cheaply made, gizmo infused, flashy pieces of crap on the market today.

I'm definitely not sold on this figure, but I love the concept. I think that given time, just as with every other "new" type of action figure technology, Has/Tak will improve upon it and eventually come up with something that not only works, but also looks totally badass. It's only a matter of time and $.

That looks like it not only transforms by itself but has the ability to walk and do stuff.

It's kinda interesting, but it still looks fugly.

If you can drive it around, press a button and have it transform and stand up without needing any help then wow. Having said that, it needs to be prettier.

Prime's got moobs!

I still want to do the transformation myself. Although if you could do it yourself AND by remote control it might be good.

BeastProwl wrote:

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote: I mean, what did we get before this that transformed on it's own?

Wasn't Has/Tak, but I CANT be the only guy who remembers V-Bot. It was 10 times cooler than this, and it transformed automatically and did about 100 different things, and it was programmable and could play and dance to your MP3 music.
Just sayin, optimus mclongarms here aint so great.

You mean V-Bot the action figure, not V-bot the vacuum cleaner. Yes, he looks better.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Holy skewed proportions, Batman!
Even if it does transform automatically, I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole.

You don't need to touch it. It's remote control.

I think I'd need to be paid to have this on my shelves.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Holy skewed proportions, Batman!
Even if it does transform automatically, I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole.

You don't need to touch it. It's remote control.

I think I'd need to be paid to have this on my shelves.[/quote]

Which brings me to another point; automatic transformation kind of takes the fun out of a TF.

BTW, I value my sanity a little more. You can't pay be enough to have that on my shelves...not for longer than a few seconds, at least; just looking at it will make me want to fling it out the window.

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:Xorax The Mountain Trembler!

Damn it all, I kind of want it now.

V-Bot's got metal and is pretty hefty, I should know, considering I own one. I'm just saying, It looks better, transforms automatically, and does shit.

I'm by no means a fan of this design from an asthetic point of view.
but a thought accured to me. If its anything like one of these, I think it's looks could be pardoned.

But considering that cheap price tag, I very much doubt it does more than drive, transform, and walk. Maybe talk and throw a punch or shoot a missile ore something. What would be cool is if his chest had a litte matrix inside, and that was the charger port.

Overall, potential. But Im not getting my hopes up.

Price doesn't really seem to match with RC Prime. When Takara Tomy took Voyager scale Kenzan and Gekisomaru and stuck lights and sounds in them it bumped the price up from 4,200yen to 5,500yen. Just imagine what the pricing will be on a figure with a bunch of motors and a remote. Deluxe figures right now are just under 3,000yen. If RC Prime is under 10,000yen I'll be impressed.

Emerje

Any excitement I had towards this guy has totally vaporised after seeing those pics

I'm going to be positive here and say that it's a mock-up, only serving to show off the mechanics of the thing. The design will hopefully be adressed later.

Thanks to Autobase Aichi we have a couple of scans from Best Gear that shed some additional light on Takara Tomy's FJ Cruiser Optimus Prime. The figure is indeed the remote controlled vehicle that was displayed at the Tokyo Toy Show earlier this year. Check out the scans mirrored below:



Here's a closer look at the concept drawing from the second page courtesy of Twitter user DSK3:

I'd say they missed their concept art rather completely. It's a shame too, that art looks like a badass Prime where as the final product looks like the designers said "ehhh, close enough"

The sketch kinda reminds me of Armada Optimus Prime's first concept sketch.

Kudos to TT for trying something different. Does it look like it's going to be a great concept? Probably not, but they have to start somewhere!

That concept art though ... damn!

This may be the biggest disparity between concept art and final product yet. Interesting idea though and I'd still be keen to see it in action.

my reaction to seeing the concept art versus final model

Mkall wrote:I'd say they missed their concept art rather completely. It's a shame too, that art looks like a badass Prime where as the final product looks like the designers said "ehhh, close enough"

No kidding.

Ya know instead of a RC why not an actual figure

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Mkall wrote:I'd say they missed their concept art rather completely. It's a shame too, that art looks like a badass Prime where as the final product looks like the designers said "ehhh, close enough"

No kidding.

Artist: "This is how he should look like"
Boss: "Yeah, Looks great. But how would the Remote Control and Auto-Transformation gimmicks fit in?"
Artist: "...What?"
Boss: "Didn't get the memo? Right, I'll get you a new copy 'K? O, if you can redesign it to make everything work, that would be great..."

Mindmaster wrote:The sketch kinda reminds me of Armada Optimus Prime's first concept sketch.

Whoa. I WANT that as a toy! Even if it didn't transform, it would be totally badass. If Has/Tak never tackles it, I pray some third party will. I'd pay a lot of money for something that cool looking.

Anyway, back on topic. I still love the idea of these and have ever since I saw the original prototype video from the original's creator long before Has/Tak got involved so I'm glad to see they've gotten funding from a large company who is interested in pursuing it. I just hope sales numbers are high for these first versions once released so that Takara doesn't give up on the technology. Self-transforming RC Transformers toys would be AMAZING and I'm certain every kid would want one.

Venowtron wrote:Ya know instead of a RC why not an actual figure

You're right, they could have. And Headmasters might never have been created, nor Targetmasters, Weaponizers, Triplechangers, Botshots or any other number of innovative technological advancements or 'gimmicks' in Transformers throughout the years. Hell, why not revert back to brickformers and do away with articulation completely, particularly since it was something advanced by Beast Wars, which itself was a concept created out of the idea of having organic alt modes and therefore must be worthless?