Jupiter

Review by Optimal III

If there's such a thing as too many Primes, we haven't gotten to that point yet. So, I continue to welcome them into my collection, official & third-party. Alpha Pack was the new 3P high upon release, but it didn't take Planet X long to surpass him with their own video-game inspired figure. Behold the not-Roman god, Jupiter!

As usual for Planet X, Jupiter's box is a cubed view of his chest, sides, & back.

Additional contents consist of a tech spec card and instructions. They're mostly easy to follow, which I'll elaborate on later.

Jupiter is Planet X's take on Optimus Prime from Fall of Cybertron. I'm not sure why they went for this design over the one from War for Cybertron, but FoC Prime looks more imposing in my opinion, so it's no problem. As a Cybertronian truck, he's a brick, and that's a good thing, spot on to the game to boot.

He's solid front to back and clean. Nothing feels fiddly, hollow, or cheap. Everything stays in place nice & tight. Though all plastic, he's got a heft comparable to Alpha Pack and any of the larger Masterpiece figures.

He's mostly red & blue in alt mode, but some metallic silver & gray give him side stripes and windows on the cab section. Besides a lot of panel lines & sculpting, he's got a distinctive grill & bumper up front. That's where the pink lights begin, and there's more visible from the sides & behind. They pop like the glowing lighting effects seen in the games. Same goes for the translucent red in the easily rolled wheels.

From behind, you can also see tail lights and the four sets of exhausts.

For gimmicks, his path blaster can be mounted up top by tabbing into slots near the back of the cab. On mine, only one of the tabs fimrly sinks in, but I don't think it's a common issue. As is, it still firmly attaches.

You can also peg his melee weapons onto either side.

Here we have Jupiter next to the Takara Generations deluxe. The latter is good, but you can see how much more effort & substance Planet X put into their figure.

In robot mode, Jupiter continues to impress, and everything nice about alt mode carries over. What's new & visible are his upper legs, waist, feet, hands, & head. You also get a look at the innards of his upper body from the sides. Transformation is clever, but not difficult. The one part I initially struggled with is the forelegs. You must push the exhausts through the inside to the back of the legs, and the accordion hinges they're on are stiff like all the other joints. Takes some finessing, but doable.

Minor paint scrape aside, he's got a nice head sculpt that captures the likeness, with effective light-piping.

From the side & behind, his profile holds up. The front bumper set between the front wheels and shoulders on the back is the one visual detail very different from the game. Not a bad thing, but noteworthy.

In articulation, he's as poseable as his body shape allows, so that's plenty. His head sits on a ball joint. He has hinged/swivel shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, open/closed grip hands, a waist swivel, swivel hips, swivel thighs, hinged knees, and his feet tilt in all four directions.

The shoulders are a little weird, but that's by design. Otherwise, he's fully capable, which I'll show off with the weapons.

First & foremost is the path blaster, FoC's version of the laser rifle. Though he can handle it several ways, only one looks right. There's a peg on the bottom that can be folded down, so he can hold it. But his forearms & the gun are too bulky for a good grip.

He has a peg hole in each forearm, so you can go Megatron-style. Not bad, but he can do better.

Like the Generations figure, you can also plug it into one of his exhausts. Not bad when it's pointed up, but when pointed forward it looks too big.

The sweet spot is mounting it over either forearm. Fold the fist back in, fold the gun, and voila! It tabs in for a solid connection.

For melee weapons, you've got options. To start, you have a handle that can work as a club or spear.

Which can be enhanced with one...

...or two axe blades. Prime rocked this in WfC.

And he also has the sword he used in FoC's final battle against Megatron.

It can combine with the axe handle into a lance.

Again, the Generations figure is good for a $10-15-dollar toy, but Jupiter is so much more. It's like the difference between a big mac from McDonalds & a steak from a "reservation only" steak house.

As usual for higher-end Optimus Primes, his chest can also be opened for storing/removing the matrix. It's only big enough for his thumbs, but looks nice.

Which puts him in even or better standing with his 3P peers. They didn't skimp on the inside of his chest either.

Jupiter maintains the "wow" factor I first experienced from Planet X with Genesis. He's fun, impressive, satisfying, and lots of other good things. The High Moon games may not be everyone's cup of tea, but anyone who doesn't dislike them and appreciates Optimus Prime would do well to pick this guy up. At $105+, he's not too pricey. And for an extra $5, you can now get Charon, the Nemesis Prime-styled repaint. For $10 more, you can get Apollo. He's their FoC Ultra Magnus, but like the G1 toy, he's a white repaint with armor. Regardless, what he lacks in Masterpiece-size, he has in Masterpiece-quality.

I've got two more 3P Primes to look at as of this review, and there's another on the way, but for now, Jupiter truly is king.