Micronus Prime [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

It's no secret — I love Mini-Cons. Mini-Cons, Micromasters, Battle Masters, Titan Masters, Prime Masters, BotBots… the damn site is named after a Micromaster Base, k? Micronus Prime is where the Mini-Cons began, after all. That's right — they are his Cybertronian descendants, and today we're looking at his most recent toy.

One of The Thirteen Primes highlighted in the current Transformers Generations: Age of the Primes line, Micronus Prime is one awesome toy that's right up my alley. You might ask yourself why such a little guy has a new toy in the Deluxe Class release. Well, that's because he comes with a really cool transforming exo-suit. It's taking a lot for me not to just type "this toy is awesome" over and over again.

Micronus Prime himself is a short, stout little Mini-Con with a good amount of articulation in a mix of translucent and opaque greens and blues. He transforms into a disk that resembles the Mini-Con storage panels from the Transformers Armada cartoon or the data disks characters like Eject and Ratbat turned into in the Fall of Cybertron toy line. These disk modes pop up all over Transformers history — and I always love them. And now that I’m thinking about it, this also feels a bit like the disk alt modes from Robots in Disguise 2015. I liked those too.

Clearly non-descript disk alt modes are my thing.

But the similarities don’t stop there. There's a lot of old toy DNA here, and this post is probably going to go down as the epitome of me comparing new toys to old toys. But that’s what you come to Zone Base for — right? (Unless you're an Amazon seller or someone looking for a firewall, in which case… sorry this keeps happening to you.)

In his disk mode, Micronus Prime fits snugly inside the chest of his exo-suit. It closes up tight, almost completely hiding the little pilot. The exo-suit itself is a pleasant mix of greens, silver, and black. The included Chimera Stone fits onto its chest or Micronus’s back. The suit is nicely detailed and articulated — I’m fond of the gun-barrel hands.

There's strong Pretender shell energy here, with a bit of Transformers Prime Apex Armor influence as well. The armor can be disassembled and connected to other Transformers figures, similar to Siege Weaponizers and their contemporaries. In a further bit of neatness, the armor also transforms into a one-wheeled bike vehicle Micronus can ride. Translucent pilot + power suit + vehicle mode = full-on Microman / Micronauts vibes. This toy’s practically a pocket history of Transformers.

This toy is truly wonderful. I’m honestly having a hard time being critical of it. The closest thing to a flaw I’ve found is that Micronus didn’t fully close into disc mode on mine — even straight out of the package. Not the end of the world, though. I'd also love just a little more paint on the exo-suit to bring out the sculpted detail. And the one-wheeled bike can’t stand up on its own. (I even tried using the Chimera Stone as a kickstand. It did not work.)

But that’s basically it. The positives absolutely outweigh the nitpicks. This thing hits so many of my collecting sweet spots at once. I’m really hoping this mold sees multiple colors and multiple characters — it deserves it. And while I was writing this, I realized the bike mode can kind of be arranged into something vaguely similar to Revenge of the Fallen Demolishor. Probably coincidence, but neat all the same.