Another year, another G1 Optimus Prime review...yet I'm not even close to completing the reviews of this mold...darn...and Maz just highlighted a Yugoslavian Optimus Prime he just uncovered...arrgh....
A bit of background as a refresher, Plasticos IGA was the Mexican company, licensed to manufacture and market Transformers toys in Mexico and Central America during Generation 1.
Anyhow, if you think the French Red Feet Optimus Prime looks kinda different (if you're so used to the traditional blue ones), wait till you see this Mexican one...
pretty similar with the standard G1 OP box...
...until you zoom in and realize it's not your standard Hasbro logo...in its place the IGA logo
Made in Mexico, under license of Hasbro Bradley for Plasticos IGA S.A
Apparently, in the earlier releases, some of the paint used in the toy had levels of lead. Later releases were safety tested and affixed the safety sticker...
non toxic but please don't eat me...
Removing from box...
notice the cab's different?
full accessories, instruction manual missing though...
Have you identify the difference? Look closer...again...
It is not only missing the silver stickers on the front portion of the cab, its color red is of different shades...duller in comparison to the reddish vibrant red at the die-cast area. A common feature for Mexican Primes...
Seems to be different shades of blue as well...roller in darker blue than the parts on the trailer. My earlier thought was they should be similar but unsure if the seller had switched parts or otherwise...but after some internet research, found out that there were dark and light blue versions, in addition to a mixture of both as well. A real horror story for completist of this piece.
Everything else tested and confirmed in good working condition - missiles fitted nicely, firing mechanism worked well too...
same old same old Prime??
In robot mode...seems like the standard G1 Optimus Prime or so it seems?
Arrghhh....what the heck happened to your eyes??
Apparently, these are typical paint job from IGA...failed QC!! Someone must have been sleeping on the job...with such quality churned out, it's a relief that the company has ceased manufacturing Transformers...it's no wonder then, that this Mexican piece is also known as the Red Eyes Optimus Prime. He must be crying out, bleeding...haha...
*Updates : to clarify slight inaccuracy in my post, as pointed out by a fellow American collector...
"The early releases of IGA Prime did in fact come with silver factory stickers around the cab and had yellow eyes, like the Hasbro Prime. Here's the interesting part, what really happened, Plasticos IGA exported their remaining stock to Europe and UK. Why? Because Transformers were simply not selling well in Mexico. ……..So, in Mexico, they didn't give a rat-bats about safety standards, but since Europe and UK had to meet the safety standards, they had to make some adjustments to the toys. This is the reason why there's a "red eye" Prime and the "no silver band" Prime. So basically the silver factory sticker around the die-cast area on the cab had to be removed in order to re-paint over the original paint that contained lead. The same goes with the eyes, it had to be re-painted over the yellow eyes which contained lead. After those adjustment were done, that's when the label "SAFETY TESTED NON TOXIC-1989" were applied on the boxes, ready to be sold in UK and Europe. Prime isn't the only one that went through these adjustments, it is also commonly found on other characters with the "bleeding" eyes. Basically, any painted area containing lead, had to be fixed to meet the safety standards of UK and Europe market."
Now, for a comparison review of both the French and Mexican Primes...Based on my own collection and my many reviews (alas, still many more to go), there are significant variations here and there in both cab and trailer; and to a certain extent, even accessories vary but by and large, it is the same G1 Optimus Prime given that it is from the same mold anyway...
Mexican OP : "mind the Autobot sticker on my right arm, probably missing from too much play"
French Prime spots a darker blue similar to most of the Primes I have. Light blue Prime is rare (still not owning one yet until probably... now?) provided this light blue Mexican Prime falls into that category...
One part rarely being reviewed for variation is the inner part of the leg. Additional piece of protruding steel in the Mexican Prime which is not present in the French one, not sure if leg support is further enhanced with this...coz' I still can't get either Prime to stand on one leg...
In 5-steps transformation, you have them in alternate / vehicle mode :
clear stickers difference on front portion of cab
color variations
with and without rubsign
Trailers should be the same..right? Err...yes and no, for the matter of fact...
trailer colors similar except the leg stand piece - different blue
Zooming closer...everything's in the fine print...
Similarity : the word "Japan" blocked out since it is not the country of manufacture in both trailers with copyrighted Takara 1980, 1982.
Difference : the "Made in France" reinforced the country of manufacture for French Prime. Also, the 'T' in the lynch-pin hole varies and if my understanding is correct, both "T" and "T2" imprints indicates a very early trailer mold, presumingly late 1984 or early 1985 releases. My pre-rub "Bloated Fist" Prime however, does not possess any "T", maybe a replicate of the pre-Transformers Diaclone mold era...
Optimus Primes : "roll out"
Now for a review of their boxes...conceptually, they both possess the same boxart. Text language wise, one's in English and another, mostly in Spanish...baffling for a French and Mexican Prime huh? Diversity at play here...haha...
Both boxes have definitely seen better days...wear and tear over the years
"iMas De Lo Que Ves! literally means More than what you see ie. More than meets the eye"
I find the Mexican Prime box resembles the "Error Box" pre-rub Optimus Prime though not in its entirety. You'll find only one noticeable feature which is there is no white borders on the 3 inset photos in top left corner of box front, above the window panel.
"Error box" Prime (credit : TFsource.com)
Similarity : artwork at the back of both boxes.
Difference : no tech specs bar (hence, no decoder is included) and robot points on the Mexican box. The description of Optimus Prime, its function as a Commander and all text (except the word "Transformers") is in Spanish. No wording of "Optimus Prime" in the red bar, just plain "Autobot".
Regardless of whether it has red feet or red eyes,..
...it is still Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots!
Looks the same, feels the same but no necessarily the same...sounds familiar huh? Please click below for all my earlier reviews of this same mold G1 Optimus Prime :
Sure, there's plenty of such reviews being done prior to mine but none can replace the joy of owning and self-reviewing one. Anyhow, I'm not really done yet...non-Hasbro one coming soon...to be continued.
