TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Sir Auros' review of: Optimus Primal

Name: Optimus Primal
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Maximal Commander
Sub-Group: NA

Move over King Kong, Optimus Primal is ready to rock! The heroic leader has biogenetically re-engineered his body structure into a gargantuan gorilla! Cybernetically fused musculature has enhanced strength to super-powered levels. Shoulder-mounted, mega-blast missile cannons launch devastating attacks upon foolish Predacon invaders. When they force him to fight, they force him to win!


There's a reason why the Optimus Primal mold has been reused for the Universe line of figures while Megatron was last used in a Dinosaur-themed offering four years ago. It's a good mold and it's much better than his counterpart in the first Beast Wars series of figures. This is one of the Beast Wars figures I really have a fondness for as a good figure and feel it can stand up in any line as a good figure.

Alternate Mode:
He's a gorilla, and unlike Megatron, he's actually colored more or less the same way an actual gorilla would be colored. Of course, we don't know what dinosaurs were actually colored like, but purple? Primal's also articulated in such a way that he can actually be posed like a real gorilla and doesn't resemble a lumbering, outdated misconception of his beast mode. There's not a lot to his beast mode either though, so don't expect a whole lot of fun out of it. As a replica of a gorilla, it works though and is on par with any of the other, good figures from its series.

Robot Mode:
Shoulder-mounted missile launchers that come up with the flip of a button, twin scimitars, and a flail that's shaped like some spikey, screaming skull. I love this robot mode. Transformers need weapons, and Optimus Primal has everything one could as for in that department. The missile launchers are especially cool and look really good on the figure. There's also quite the decent amount of articulation on this figure without a whole lot of ball and socket joints. Just good engineering. Not entirely show-accurate as the facemask is more like G1 Prime's than the visible mouth version featured in the show, but that's not really an issue for me as the show was designed after the figures and strayed far from the techspecs anyway.

Transformation: 6 Nothing really worth noting here, just an average transformation that isn't very hard.
Durability: 9 Like BW Megatron, this figure is made of high-quality plastic and isn't likely to break easily.
Fun: 9 Unlike BW Megatron, this figure is actually fun. Moreso in robot mode, but the beast mode is at least decent.
Price: 7 I got it when it first came out and it was decent ($15), but it's going for a bit much on ebay nowadays. I'd recommend the currently available Universe repaint. It's the same mold and the colorscheme is actually decent, unlike much of the other Universe offerings.
Overall: 8 Definitely among my favorite BW figures and worthy of standing up with any other incarnation of an Optimus Prime.