Maketoys Battle Tanker

Maketoys Battle Tanker is the upgrade trailer to enhance Hasbro's Reveal the Shield Prime and Takara's United Optimus Prime. This set provides a much needed trailer for the standalone toy and gives the Autobot leader some powerful enhancements that increase his size and stature.

The new units provide a great boost for the truck and robot mode that pays homage to the the G2 Laser Prime.

I never had these toys as a kid, the figures never struck a chord with me as most were inaccurate representations of their animated counterparts with articulation that could rival most hardwood trees and bricks.

But enough about my childhood biases, lets talk about the set. In this case I'll be covering both the original and the KO (Knock Off) version as well as a KO add-on kit that enhances Optimus to resemble his Shattered Glass doppelganger.

Original: Right, KO: Left.

While the standard G2 Prime is not a bad toy by itself, the head sculpt leaves much to be desired and the size seems underwhelming. Other than that the articulation is very well done and the engineering is quite innovative.

RTS Prime Details:

Unmodified RTS  Prime.

Comparison RTS and United Prime.

The Battle Tanker is loaded with weapons, a light up gimmick, a new head sculpt for Prime, double barrel cannons, missile pods and a bonus sword for Generations Drift. (A figure I do not currently own).

Head Swap:

When completely assembled the Alt mode displays a formidable tanker truck paying homage to the  G2 toy. The colour palette seems to work best with the United Prime. 

Battle Tanker Alt Mode:

Without the additional armour the new head takes some getting used to as at first it looks disproportionate to Optimus' body.

Fortunately the KO I bought also came with a proper head so there was no need to use the derpy melon that it came with.

Original RTS Prime with Tanker parts, before head swap...


...and after. The proportions change quite a bit after adding on the extra armour bits. Prime goes from being a Deluxe class to a comparable Voyager with the added feet and arm extensions.

And he's quite poseable.

With the basics covered it's time to upgrade with an extra KO set.

To boot the extra kit beefs up Optimus' physique even more and adds some bonus features to the figure.

Now he looks more like the Shattered Glass version of Nemesis.

All in all these kits make for a striking figure and adds a little more bang to your Prime.