Older Transformers fans will know that Optimus Prime turns into a truck and chief antagonist Megatron turns into a pistol. Like all long-running franchises, though, the Transformers have evolved their characters through the decades, so much so that Megatron now morphs into all sorts of battle-themed vehicles like tanks and star fighters. And with the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 2-in-1 Optimus Prime Blaster, the leader of the Autobots can now turn into a handheld weapon.
That’s right, the cybernetic alien Japanese fans know as Convoy now has a blaster alt-mode that can shoot out Nerf darts at enemies across schoolgrounds and offices alike. How the heck you gonna stop Megatron with foam darts? We have no idea, but you can now annoy your friends, children, and everyone else in your life with an Optimus Prime that shoots those pesky foam darts their way.
The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 2-in-1 Optimus Prime Blaster isn’t just a regular Nerf blaster. Instead, it has a robot mode, so you can enjoy the Boss-Bot in all his traditional robot glory. Granted, it’s been modified a bit to make the shapeshifting from robot to blaster a bit easier (for instance, they removed the wheels on the back of his arms), but it still retains a tight resemblance to the most popular Transformers character. Basically, you can use it to play robot on the tabletop if you’re in the mood to goof around.
Of course, what makes this special is the robot’s ability to transform into a functional blaster. The transformation takes 13 steps, which should be easy enough for kids to figure out and learn, so they can play in robot or blaster mode any time they want. Does it look kind of weird as a blaster? Yes. Then again, a lot of Nerf’s blaster are intentionally designed for that strange aesthetic that really makes them look like toys and this one’s no different.
The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 2-in-1 Optimus Prime Blaster comes with a targeting scope to help you line up shots, as well as two standard Nerf darts for battling anyone in your way. No word on the priming mechanism for the blaster, but we doubt it’s going to be one of the more advanced ones, so don’t expect much accuracy or firing distance when using this thing. The whole appeal here is that you’ve got an Optimus Prime robot that turns into a functional blaster and back.
Along with the blaster, Hasbro also announced four other Transformers toys for the upcoming Rise of the Beasts 2 movie. Two are robots, namely Bumblebee and Optimus Primal, that can turn into wearable masks (kid-sized, of course), so your kids can walk around looking like an absolute dork. Just kidding, kids wearing toy masks are cool. It’s when you wear one that we worry. The other two toys are Smash Changers, which are 9-inch action figures of Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal that performs their transformation every time you smash them. Yep, sounds like fun.
The Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 2-in-1 Optimus Prime Blaster comes out on April, priced at $19.99.