Transformers Toy Review: “What Is Invalid Innovation? JD-01 Miniature Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime”

Last Updated on September 24, 2025 by xmiaonline.com

Today I’m bringing you a review of the JD-01, a downsized version of the classic 1.0 Voyager-class Optimus Prime. In recent years, most KO products with similar model numbers have focused on recreating current popular releases, but the manufacturer of the JD-01 has gone against the trend by revisiting the official Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime from over a decade ago. They’ve added new accessories, refined some details, and even shrunk the scale. While we’ve seen plenty of oversized versions, downsized ones are relatively rare. How does this toy perform? Let’s dive into the review and find out.

The toy comes in a plain cardboard box with just the JD-01 label and no additional information. Its low-key presentation could rival that of the MD004. This type of packaging also suggests the manufacturer is primarily targeting the online e-commerce market, having all but abandoned the offline retail sector.

The box contents include the main Optimus Prime figure, the roof section, a small black gun, a large sword, a shield, a pair of alternate hands, a display base, and an instruction manual. This downsized version features a color scheme closer to the original Japanese release, with extensive use of electroplated metallic paint on the body.

The head sculpt of this Optimus Prime retains the original official design, with the blue helmet fully covered in metallic paint. The eyes, crest, and faceplate also feature light blue and silver paint applications. However, the mold precision for the head seems somewhat lacking, giving it a slightly “soft” or less defined appearance.

The mold for this Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime features large vehicle shell panels on the sides of the arms. By today’s standards, this design isn’t particularly sophisticated, but it’s exactly these panels that give the figure its distinctive look. The chest windows are made of blue transparent plastic, while the waist, skirt armor, and thigh sections use silver metallic paint. The lower legs also feature extensive blue metallic paint coverage, giving the entire downsized Optimus Prime a surprisingly refined appearance.

From today’s perspective, the backpack design on the Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime isn’t particularly outstanding, but the way the back and wheels are stored likely influenced many subsequent official and third-party Optimus Prime designs. I’m sure you can think of several figures with backpacks similar to this Classic 1.0 version—off the top of my mind are Earthrise Optimus Prime and the Cube 1.0 mini Optimus.

The head can rotate horizontally, and the arms can swing vertically and lift to nearly 90 degrees. The upper arms feature swivel joints, the elbows can bend slightly beyond 90 degrees, and the wrists can rotate. The legs can move forward and sideways about 90 degrees, and backward about 60 degrees. The leg swivel joint has been modified on this downsized version—while the original had the swivel at the knees, the JD-01 moves it to the thighs, which better matches modern toy design preferences. The knees can bend far beyond 90 degrees, the feet can pivot backward for ground contact, and the front section of the feet adds 左右 pivoting for better stability. Overall, the JD-01 improves upon the original Classic 1.0’s articulation setup, bringing it more in line with current standard Classics-style figures—more than capable of handling most standard poses.

The roof section design on the Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime is quite distinctive—through transformation, it becomes this large gun. This kind of weapon accessory that integrates so seamlessly with the vehicle mode is something we’ve rarely seen in Classics-line toys below Leader Class in the years since.

When transformed into this “board” shape, it can be directly mounted on Optimus Prime’s back, giving the impression that he’s carrying a shield.

This small gun is also a weapon from the original version, but the JD-01 doesn’t feature any paint on it and has omitted the transformation mechanism for the laser sight. On the original, the laser sight could be folded in during transformation, but the JD-01 removes this function entirely, instead creating the laser sight and gun body as a single molded piece. Personally, I find this quite frustrating—considering they included so many accessories, they could have easily added one or two extra parts for this detail. It’s unclear why they chose to omit this feature.

When the small black gun isn’t in use, it can be stored together with the large red gun on the back—another play feature carried over from the original mold.

Official Transformers toys rarely include alternate hands, but the JD-01 keeps the original circular hands while changing the wrist structure to a plug-in design and adding a pair of open-hand grips. Innovation is always welcome, but you shouldn’t forget the basics in the process. Unfortunately, the wrist pegs on my copy feel noticeably loose—barely noticeable when not holding accessories, but as soon as you attach anything, they easily fall off with minimal handling, greatly affecting the play experience. While the intention to add alternate hands is good, if the fundamentals aren’t done well, the final result might be worse than not adding them at all.

This large sword is an all-new accessory included with the JD-01. Made from transparent plastic, it fits perfectly in the figure’s hands in terms of scale. When not in use, the sword can also be stored on Optimus Prime’s back via a simple plug-in mechanism.

I’m not really sure what the design intention was behind this shield-like accessory. After some experimentation, I found that in this square configuration it can be used like a shield. However, because of the “door panels” on the sides of Optimus Prime’s arms, you have to adjust their position to attach the shield, which results in a rather awkward appearance.

The shield features two claw-like appendages that can be flipped out from underneath, but the joint for this mechanism is extremely loose, making it nearly impossible to hold the “claw” form properly in the figure’s hands.

The “claws” can combine with the large sword to form an upgraded weapon that the figure can hold. I’m not sure if this design was inspired by Thunderwing or not. But as I mentioned earlier, due to the door panels on the sides of the arms, you need to adjust them to a relatively comfortable position before attaching the weapon. And because the wrists are too loose, the hands holding the sword tend to fall off easily, which greatly impacts the play experience.

If you don’t want to adjust the door panels, you can also connect the claw’s handle directly to the hand. I’ve photographed both holding methods so you can see which one looks better.

After some extensive experimentation, I’ve found that the most suitable use for this shield-like accessory is to attach it to Optimus Prime’s back as a sort of flight backpack. With the flight backpack mounted, you can still attach both the large red gun and the small black gun. Unfortunately, the instruction manual doesn’t clearly explain what this accessory is actually for, so figuring it out took quite a bit of trial and error. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them in the comments section.

The transformation process for the Classic 1.0 Optimus Prime isn’t particularly difficult. The JD-01 retains the original design while adding a hidden latch on the legs. This modification doesn’t affect the figure’s appearance in robot mode and still serves its intended purpose during transformation—this is what I would call effective innovation.

Optimus Prime’s vehicle mode is this distinctive truck cab, with an overall shape nearly identical to the Classic 1.0 original. The JD-01 version has some minor paint issues on the headlights—missing paint in some areas and slight paint overflow in others—but these aren’t major problems. The most noticeable issue is that the gap between the roof section and the main body is somewhat excessive, which appears to be a common flaw that can’t be adjusted.

In this mold, both of the included weapons can fully participate in the transformation and integrate perfectly into the vehicle mode. I really appreciate this kind of design—after all, a Transformer’s weapons should come from its own body. Whether it’s arms transforming into weapons, pulling weapons from certain parts of the body, or having weapons pop out from the arms like in the live-action movie Optimus Prime, these are important characteristics that define Transformers. Unfortunately, many later toys simply stick a weapon on top of the roof—purely “storing for the sake of storing,” just going through the motions to complete the task. This kind of design where weapons actually participate in the transformation is becoming increasingly rare.

This JD-01 Optimus Prime preserves the classic mold design while optimizing the articulation according to modern standards and adding extra accessories. The overall impression is quite refined, though the loose wrist joints significantly impact the play experience. As a budget KO figure, it performs reasonably well compared to others in the same price range—certainly among the better KO offerings.

You might want to compare it with similar-priced options like the Daban 9913 Optimus, MPH Optimus, or even the official Core Class Optimus to evaluate the cost-performance ratio. I personally picked this up recently after noticing it on sale on e-commerce platforms. If you’re interested, it’s worth keeping an eye on—while it’s certainly inexpensive, it still works well for experiencing the mold, casual play, or display purposes.

That wraps up today’s review—thanks for watching!If you have any opinions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section. I read every single one, and your support is my greatest motivation.

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