Heritage Auctions was consigned some interesting preproduction material
Three concept drawings, all featuring a new Optimus Prime concept from 1990 (given lead time, he would have likely been planned for late 91 or 92 release). All seem to build on the idea of a transforming Optimus Prime integrated with his trailer with large wheel elements and a Gatling type cannon (which seems to have been more finalized given its appearance on multiple pages).
I get the feeling that the gimmick would have been some sort of rotation gimmick, that rolling the gears/shields would then cause the barrels on the cannons to rotate as well. The Powermaster-derived version seemed to be fairly far along, and I get some “Star Convoy” vibes from it
Three concept drawings, all featuring a new Optimus Prime concept from 1990 (given lead time, he would have likely been planned for late 91 or 92 release). All seem to build on the idea of a transforming Optimus Prime integrated with his trailer with large wheel elements and a Gatling type cannon (which seems to have been more finalized given its appearance on multiple pages).
I get the feeling that the gimmick would have been some sort of rotation gimmick, that rolling the gears/shields would then cause the barrels on the cannons to rotate as well. The Powermaster-derived version seemed to be fairly far along, and I get some “Star Convoy” vibes from it
