Vector Prime is an odd space ship TF - I've heard it compared to both a Vorlon ship from Babylon 5 and Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator. What we have is a wedge shape with 2 clear green/blue triangular wings at the rear. Very odd looking. The ship is covered with detailing - lots of cogs - and the colours - mainly grey with some brown - work well to present an image of something that is very old..... He has Minicon plugs on either side of him plus a plug on the top which is recessed into the body in the shape of his Minicon. A trigger in front of the cabin windows - same colour as the wings - fires a missile out the nose of the toy - same colour as the wings again. The Planet Key gimmick in this mode produces a sound - I've played it but don't remember what it is ! Vector Prime possesses a unique Planet Key - the same clear green/blue as the wings & missile. It's shaped like a cog and sprayed silver on the front with a brown back. The front has five circular holes unpainted showing the planet key symbols painted on the rear of the key. In descending order of size they are Earth, Speed Planet, Beast Planet, Giant Planet and Cybertron.
He comes with Roots - a big Minicon jet/gun. See the separate Roots/Safeguard review.
An easy Transformation - the legs fold out the back from under him, the nose cone fold under his back, the arm pull away from the sides. Pose shoulder pads, and wings, and slide the wrist panels back, then turn the head round. Easy.
The robot mode is very imposing - together with his sword which is hidden in one side of his nose cone - it makes him look like a medieval knight. Throw in the wings posed at the right angle and he starts to look a bit angelic too ! Then on top of that we get what looks like the Death Star's main cannon embedded in his chest above the Planet Key socket which means the Key can be inserted and used as body armour. More of the brown is revealed - head, forearms, upper legs and feet. Lots of posability, no complaints there (apart from the lack of a waist) The Minicon ports have ended up mounted on the outside of the forearms so top marks there - good for mounting any Minicon - but especially Roots - as a weapon. Planet Key gimmick produces a noise when attached in this mode, you get a noise when moving his arm up and down, and a different noise moving the arm up and down with the force chip attached. Can you tell that sound gimmicks aren't a favourite of mine ?
As looks go this is *very* different. But it works in both modes, you get a great robot and a good Minicon. And there's so much more to this toy than the Starscream which released with him that comes at the same price point. Well worth having, very recommended.
Vector Prime and Roots were released as Galaxy Force toy GC-03
Vector Prime was also available in a VS pack exclusive to Toys R Us in both the US and the UK. While painted the same this version uses a slightly more rigid form of the green/blue clear plastic.
In case the name has confused you - and it might - this is the repainted version of Vector Prime that appeared in the Cybertron range. Brown becomes a little darker, white/grey becomes gold and clear green/blue becomes clear orange - including the key which regains the silver paint from the original version.
This colour scheme doesn't do it for me, and like any Transformer fan I'm wary of a toy moulded in gold coloured plastic as they can suffer from Gold Plastic Syndrome and break.
Good name and mould marriage here produces a decent toy,
It's sort of a dark, stealth version of Vector Prime. It works for me, especially in vehicle mode.