An Optimus Prime in LEGO? Yes, and it will be in G1 version!

An Optimus Prime in LEGO? Yes

It is now confirmed: the LEGO set of Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots and protagonist of the Transformer saga, both of the animated series of the 80s and of the new film franchise started in 2007 by director Michael Bay is coming!



It is LEGO itself that announces the arrival of the leader of the Autobots with a Tweet:

Begin the epic build. #LEGO #Transformers #OptimusPrime pic.twitter.com/rjdQbdej43

- LEGO (@LEGO_Group) May 11, 2022




It is reasonable to think that it will be a LEGO Creator Expert set with Adults Welcome 18+ packaging and it is also assumed that Optimus Prime could be based on the next Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , the new film whose release has been postponed to 2023 (we talked about the film in our article).

Table of contents.

The licensing issue The set: voices and hypothesis A little history User creations: Andrea Chiapella

The license issue.

The license to produce toys with Transformer as a subject has been held by HASBRO for a long time. HASBRO also owns Kree-O, a brick-based construction toy brand just like LEGO.


(
HASBRO has been no longer producing Kree-O sets dedicated to Transformers for some years now, so there are two options. The first (and most likely) is certainly more profitable to sell or grant the license to LEGO (against a large payment, of course) than to leave it "to languish" unnecessarily in a drawer. The second, perhaps less likely, is that the license expired and therefore LEGO took over. So if what until some time ago was considered a taboo by LEGO (producing sets on the basis of competing / contemporary licenses held by competitors) could suggest that the new LEGO set # 10302 Optimus Prime could be fake news, it seems that that the issue of concurrent licensing should no longer be a concern for us enthusiasts. In the last few months we have in fact witnessed a contemporaneity of first sets between LEGO and MEGA Collabs (Mattel) for the Fender guitar model

The new film.

The director of the new film is Steven Caple Jr, who posted the end of filming on his social profiles and at the same time revealing that in the new film the commander of the Autobots will return, when he turns into a truck, to the look he had in G1, the American animated series that aired in the 1980s.

That's a wrap https://t.co/ltrnYmzRgT

- Steven Caple Jr. (@stevencapleJR) October 20, 2021






(Photo Credit: mikeshouts.com)

The set: rumors and hypotheses.

The indiscretions we managed to intercept say that not only the model of the LEGO set # 10302 Optimus Prime will be able to transform from truck to robot and vice versa without having to disassemble it, but it will also be equipped with important accessories such as the jetpack that allows Optimus to lare and blaster rifle to fire at enemies, the Ion Blaster, Energon's sword, the Command Matrix and Energon's cubes, all complemented by the iconic Star Wars UCS set-style information plate with statistics of Optimus Prime like those that could be found on the back of Hasbro boxes.



(Credit photo: Warren Manser)



(Credit photo: amazon.it)

Speaking of truck-robot-machine transformation, have you seen what an incredible product ROBOSEN has developed? We told you about it in our article!

As for the arrival date on the shelves, the date of June 1st should be confirmed: we'll see!

A bit of history.

In 2007, toy brand Hasbro saw and experienced an epic revival of the Transformer franchise thanks to the live-action film adaptation of the dedicated animated series to the Transformers. The battle between the alien robots that transform vehicles and split into two sides between good and bad (with humans helping the good) was a true blockbuster, guaranteed by the personal touch of the great director Michael Bay. Several sequels later, however (three more by Michael Bay himself), expectations and box office numbers dropped. In 2018, Allspark Pictures (the HASBRO film company) restarted the Transformers cinematic timeline with Bumblebee, dedicated to the young Autobot scout and whose plot is set in the 1980s. The film was directed by Travis Knight, who purposely changed the look of the robots back to their original versions of the G1. This reboot restored critical confidence in the franchise, enough for a sequel to be approved. Just in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, being set in 1994, we will see what will be the new appearance of Optimus Prime, which abandons the appearance of a Peterbilt and Western Star motor



( Credit photo: hendrickmotorsports.com)



(Credit photo: northamerica.daimlertruck.com)

to return to the more traditional look seen in the G1 series, just like it we saw next to Bumblebee



(Credit photo: mikeshouts.com)

The creations of users: Andrea Chiapella.

From the community of fans and AFOLs have already arrived several MOCs (My Own Creation - original creations designed by enthusiasts). Among these, among the best we certainly find the huge one of his friend Andrea Chiapella (anchifez), who designed and built various MOCs of as many mecha protagonists of the many Japanese cartoons with which many of us grew up. You can find and see them all in his Flickr album.



(Credit photo: Andrea Chiapella)