Japanese Transformers Prime Battle Shield Optimus Prime with Arms Microns O.P. A, Pral G, Sais G, Jayz G

(I’m very confused as to the names of these Arms Microns in their secondary versions.  I saw the above names a few places, so I’m going with them.  Why TakaraTomy couldn’t give these guys their own names is beyond me.)

Box:  The boxes for the Voyager toys are the same shape as the US versions, though this one is quite a bit larger.  All the text and pictures are changed from the U.S. version.

Arms Micron O.P. A

Kit:  The kits are fairly easy to assemble, and so far the stickers seem to be staying on well.  The plastic is higher quality than the Kabaya kits.  They have no paint apps and are perfect for customizers to paint up for a more elaborate look.  Each Arms Micron includes something like a spark crystal, but I’m not sure if that is the intent of it.  A sticker goes on before the outer translucent plastic to form it.  They look nice, but I had some problems getting the crystal to stay in on some of them.  Might need a little glue.

Weapon Mode:  O.P. A is a repaint of O.P. that came with the original Voyager Optimus Prime.  This is still one of my favorite Arms Microns.  I like the coloring more on this one since there is more contrast between the plastic and stickers, the stickers don’t vanish at certain angles.

Robot Mode:  I still think his robot mode looks like a three-legged Centaur, but I like it.

Arms Micron Jayz G

Kit:  See above for details on the kit.

Weapon Mode:  There seem to be a lot of swords in the Arms Micron line.  This is another great one.  I love the way the crystal sits right in the hilt where it should be.  The only drawback is there is an extra handle sticking out of the side of the blade, but it’s not a huge problem.

Robot Mode:  Very cool robot mode, definitely one of the nicer ones.

Arms Micron Sais G

Kit:  See above for details on the kit.

Weapon Mode:  Sais G is a double bladed ax.  Unfortunately, the blade is not the classic shape you’d expect and it has extra handles sticking out at angles from the bottom (both of these things enable it to combine into the shield).  As a result, it doesn’t really look like a double bladed ax at all.  Definitely one of the more disappointing weapon modes.

Robot Mode:  What the weapon mode lacks, is more than made up for by the robot.  Sais G is unique among the Arms Microns released so far in that he has his own weapon, a shoulder mounted cannon.  (In fairness, there happens to be a handle there, so they put a sticker on the end to make it look like a gun barrel, but it still looks good.)  He’s a pretty good size, though he is very blocky.

Arms Micron Pral G

Kit:  See above for details on the kit.

Weapon Mode:  Pral G is a spear.  Under whelmed?  Me too.  It’s not bad, but a spear isn’t a great weapon for a Transformer, in my opinion.  It does look good, just not terribly useful.

Robot Mode:  Pral G is probably the best robot mode of the three Microns that make up the shield.  He’s nicely proportioned and stands up well.  His arms are a little short, but that’s not a huge deal.

Arms Micron Cosmotector Battle Shield (Jayz G, Sais G, & Pral G)

Battle Shield Mode:  To be honest, I much prefer the super weapons to the shield.  It’s cool looking, and I think I like this gold version better than the upcoming single packed versions.  (No idea what it will look like when it is released with individual toys.)  But it is too big to be used by any deluxe toy, where the weapons can pretty much be used on any toy.  I might like it more if they did all three toys in the same color.  I’m not sure why they did three different colors rather than pick one gold color (Jayz G’s if I were picking) and do them all the same.

Battle Shield Optimus Prime (Based on Transformers Prime Voyager Optimus Prime)

(No Stickers)

(With Stickers)

(With Weapon)

(Comparison – USA [right], AM-01 Japanese [left] and Battle Shield Japanese [right])

Vehicle Mode:  There are no mold changes that I can find between the original Japanese Voyager Optimus Prime and the Battle Shield Optimus Prime.  There are some color changes evident in vehicle mode, notably the silver parts are now gray, and the side of the cab is now red.  Black parts have also been changed to a dark gray.

(No Stickers)

(With Stickers)

(With Stickers, O.P. A, & Sword)

(With Stickers & Jayz G)

 (With Stickers & Sais G)

 (With Stickers & Pral G)

 (With Stickers & Cosmotector)

(Comparison – USA [right], AM-01 Japanese [left] and Battle Shield Japanese [right])

Robot Mode:  This is the first time the sword that came with the USA version of Voyager Optimus Prime has been released in Japan.  As you can see from the pictures, he has an overall darker coloring than the USA of first Japanese version.

Overall:  What’s most notable about this figure is what is missing.  All info to come out about this toy said that it came with a paper trailer.  Unfortunately, where I bought mine this was apparently not the case.  That really sucks.  Otherwise it’s a pretty nice toy, the dark color scheme looks great.

For more thoughts on this mold, see my review of the original here.

Thanks for reading!