This is a set that was exclusive to Hasbro Pulse, which means that no brick-and-mortar retailer will ever offer it, and no online shop will either (unless they order it from Hasbro Pulse and then resell it).

So about two years ago we got the Core class, which is mostly tiny versions of characters who already exist at a larger scale. Besides being an opening price point item, their purpose seems to be to interact with the large-scale characters like Omega Supreme, Scorponok, etc. In some ways this makes sense, since during G1, the city-base toys were so small that normal-sized Transformers couldn't fit on the little ramps and garages and things, so you were stuck using Scramble City mini-vehicles or Micromasters.

We've come full circle with this release, as Optimus Prime originally introduced the Core class assortment in 2021. Where the first version was styled to resemble the larger Prime toys on the market (like the Siege and Earthrise versions), this version is colored a little differently, and is meant to evoke Prime's G1 cartoon colors more strongly.

The new trailer piece is about 4.25" long, making the total vehicle length just over 5.5" in length. Weirdly, Prime's truck cab cannot connect to his own trailer without an adapter piece. The Core-class toy was designed with a peg hole in the right spot (you know, just in case), but the peg for the trailer is too fat to go there. Instead, you attach a grey "fifth wheel" piece to Prime's legs, and that's the part the trailer hooks up to. Super weird.

The rear gate for the trailer swings down, and can also stand on its own if you flip down the supports. Bumblebee can fit in the trailer in car mode, as can, probably, other Core-class vehicles like Hot Rod, Ironhide, etc. I haven't checked. The trailer is mostly grey, with light grey stripes (it's molded to accept the G1 toy colors, but it's painted like the G1 cartoon) and rear wheel hubs that are painted blue. The hubcaps are silver on Prime's cab, but not on the trailer, though, so they don't match each other.

Proportionately, the trailer is still slightly too short. But, it's not as weirdly short as Motormaster, so I guess that's something.

Prime uses white as as secondary color now, which means the side windows of the truck cab are white. In robot mode, his upper legs are white as well, but his smokestacks remain metallic silver. They changed up the deco this time—no more gunmetal on the front of the shins, new yellow lights for his pelvis, and a glossy grey for his face mask instead of silver. Not huge changes, certainly, but different from the first release.

Aside from his rifle, he's also got an energon axe that you can plug into one of his wrist-holes. It's made of blue plastic but painted glossy yellow.. Now we just need a souped-up version of Megatron with his energon flail. He can carry the trailer connector piece as a shield, according to the instructions, but this is silly-looking.

The trailer opens up as per G1, and it's shockingly more complete than even the Earthrise version! The artillery robot is on one foldign strut section instead of two, but they cheated and put the base on a hinge, so the base itself can serve as a strut and give him a bit more height. The robot is grey but painted blue, with a light blue window and a black radar dish and claw arm. (The claw does not open, but it's sculpted so that the inside of the claw functions as a peg-hole for Bumblebee's guns.)

The artillery robot can also plug to the outside of the trailer in two different spots for vehicle mode, sort of mirroring how the robot could poke through those square-shaped holes even when the trailer was closed up. Lots of thought was given to adding play value here. They didn't have to do it, but they did.

A little grey Roller is here, rolling freely on six wheels and 1.5" long, and has a gigantic five-millimeter peg-hole so you can plug in things like Prime's gun, or the entire artillery robot. Roller should never have been made a separate purchase necessary for Earthrise. This was the way to do it.. The inside of the trailer also has storage for Prime's axe, rifle, and Bumblebee's gun(s).

Bumblebee is the same mold as the toy that was our introduction to the world of Buzzworthy Bumblebee back in 2021. The box photos suggest they were going to sell us a yellow-and-black toy, but the final product uses yellow and dark grey, meant to evoke the G1 animation colors. His little fists are painted this time, too (they were unpainted yellow for the last release).

This is the same toy that a lot of people noticed resembled Bumblejumper/Bumper the first time around, especially the shape of the vehicle mode. With the toy being rereleased, it would have made sense to actually make it Bumper this time, with a head sculpt that reflected the poor, unsung 1984 version. But, name recognition won out, and he has been sold to us as Bumblebee yet again. I do hope Bumper does get a neo-G1 toy eventually, perhaps using the Earthrise Cliffjumper mold, because he's one of the blessed few characters to never get an official update by Hasbro. This toy sure comes close, though.

So this time, Bumblebee comes with two pistols. Bumblebee didn't have a gun as part of his character model, so the animators would often just make one up if the story required him to carry one. He's got his little round grey one (as seen in "More Than Meets the Eye" part 1) as well as his squared-off black one (he used this one in "The Insecticon Syndrome"). I love when they research stuff like this and get it accurate. One of these guns is described as a "stinger blaster" on the Hasbro Pulse web site.

The set sells for $39.99 and is still available as of this writing. This set wasn't absolutely vital, but it was a cool way of giving us a better Core-class version of Optimus, and opens the door for other, larger Core-class toys (like, for example, a Core-class version of Ultra Magnus might be kind of cool). I love all the extra bells and whistles, and Prime's trailer and accessories translate surprisingly well to Core-class format. Collecting these guys kind of reminds me of collecting the World's Smallest Transformers line (both the official and many of the unofficial toys), but something tells me that the Core-class assortment will eventually eclipse WST in the number of characters they cover.

Zob (finally able to drive the van again... it was a faulty valve stem, apparently)