Like Megatron, there have been dozens of versions of Optimus Prime created in the Transformer toyline over the years. One of my favorites has always been the Powermaster version, because of the sheer number of weapons and bulky power it has. So, when I finally decided to give my Cuboyd Autobots their leader I went with this version first. Like G2 Megatron, I had to widen the chest so the original arm joints were removed and reattached after some epoxy work. The head took about as much work as Jazz's head did, with so many bits and pieces to put on (face mask, nose, brow, antenna, "mohawk", side flares). The lower legs were widened a bit more to match the feet and wheels were added. Finally, the two shoulder cannons/smoke stacks were scratch built using some round and rectangular pieces of Stikfas sprue bits. I had most of him done just before we were hit by a massive ice storm on Dec. 30th, 2006. After that, we were waiting for power and doing a lot of work on the basement, so I didn't get him painted until almost a week later. I even went so far as to create a little transformed Hi-Q "figure" in scale on a whim.

I'm quite happy with the final result. I still think that red is a royal pain to paint with acrylics, but I think the coats I used worked out nicely. The only thing I would have changed would be the angle of his face mask. It didn't need to be quite so steep to the center, and makes him look a bit like he's squinting. However, he's still a fine addition to the Autobot ranks!