Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (167) - Bootleg Leader AOE Optimus Prime

This bootleg that costs $32.25 approx. arrived last night... After a good experience with the bootleg Evasion OP, I had high expectations of this Leader Class bootleg... but I think this high expectations actually caused me to have a higher level of disappointment... The box size seemed to be about that of the authentic one... the graphic design is heavily based on the authentic one too...



Back of the box... Looks familiar too right? Hahahahaha....



The robot comes with the 2 feet (ball joint ones) dropped off "unattached" to the ankles... sigh... and also comes with one free extra small screw that drops from the robot from nownere... "nice"... Here's the raw, un-restored OP!!! Many of the important joints (for posing) are quite loose, waist joint is overly tight; broke and glue back the 2 protruding points at the end of the front window shelter (chromed) on my first transformation; and all the 2 pins used in the bootleg tend to slide and drop out when you are not noticing them while transforming... hmmmm... Foresee tedious work to work out this bootleg... The only consolation is that there seems no simplification of parts, and the "head-flying off" gimmick is retained... hahahahaha... Oh, the chrome parts are there too....



The back still retains the sword holding gimmick... The plastic quality is somewhat similar to that of the bootleg Evasion OP's (they are of different KO companies, which is quite better than the KO undersize 1st Edition OP...



A closer look at the head... Yes, there is light piping...



The inner shoulder joints (blue parts) are assembled wrongly (left-right mixed up), hence the whole arms can't stay at shoulder position properly...



The thumb is still movable... but the red part of the arms seem to have gaps...



The inner thighs still retains the cavity-covering flap gimmick! Nice... Was worried the KO company might sacrifice this to cut cost... However, one MAJOR problem: The knee-to-thigh rotation joints are molded improperly and can't fit properly, causing the lower leg to pop out when rotating... And stress marks are already forming at the peg piece... Need to analyze and trim accordingly... sigh...



An here is the truck mode... Nice... No visible additional gaps other than those that belong to the original design's... Though it takes a lot of fiddling and observational analysis to see which parts need to tweak and place properly... Needs to trim eventually...



Looking at the bottom of the truck...



Sadly, the wheels are fastened using screws, not the flat head rivets... I thought I can just loosen the screws but the wheel shafts are too short, and so are the screws, so they tend to wobble and get stuck if forced to roll... Need to work on this...



And here's a comparison picture of this and the KO undersize 1st Edition OP in truck mode... The 1st Edition is slightly smaller, or rather, shorter at the back...



And the comparison in robot mode...



Overall, still a good piece especially if you intend to use it more for display than play...