Here-here-here we go! So he's finally here! Reviewing for you! If you know the words, you can join in to! Get your hands together, if you wanna clap! As we take you through this review rap! Huh! T! F! Transformers! He's the leader of the bunch! You know him well! He's finally back, to kick some tail! His Maximal Gun can fire in spurts! If he shoots ya, it's gonna hurt! He's bigger, faster, and stronger, too! He's the first member, of the TF crew! Huh! T! F! Transformers! T! F! Transformers are here!
Here is Optimus Primal in his gorilla mode. In a time where people want to reject humanity and embrace monke, this guy looks absolutely beautiful and makes for one of the biggest reasons I was excited for Kingdom. After all of the Geewun vehicle modes we've seen constantly, it's so refreshing to see organic beast modes. The anatomy looks great, the fur/hair sculpting looks natural, and the face, while not cartoon accurate, captures the look he should have as a real gorilla. Honestly, while I get that many would want a more cartoon-accurate version of Optimus Primal, I think that the realistic appearance works because he's at least different from the Masterpiece guy. You can have Optimus Primal either on a knuckle-dragging position or on his legs, which allows you to make him stand up like he usually does in the show and pose him a bit. His head can look down somewhat (but not all the way because of the chest and chin bumping into each other), and his legs don't really pose that well because of the flap and the lack of knees. Either way, it's enough to get him in a chest-beating pose.
Here is Optimus Primal next to his Maximals Cheetor and Rattrap. I think the scale between the Voyager and Deluxe works mostly well. Rattrap being the smallest of the three is good, though he still looks like a big rat next to them. And with the way the character mannerisms work between these three, you can have Optimus Primal berate Rattrap for being Rattrap while Cheetor messes around with the little rodent.
Transformation may seem like you're just turning a humanoid shape into a humanoid shape, but what works in the favor of Optimus Primal are things like the waist swivel, the feet for the robot mode, the shoulder pads, the chest and back hinging in their spots, and the head swap by virtue of you pulling a part of the chest that can then be swiveled to give you the Optimus Primal head. It's not the most mind-blowing transformation, but it works in the favor of this guy because of what he does with his steps. And for the robot mode, I'm very happy to see an Optimus-related character not be a been-there-done-that block truck. Primal has all of the character-specific details on him, from the white and red highlights to the exposed pistons on his lower legs and ankles, the chest piece having a somewhat-Matrix homage, and the crotch plate, even if it looks a little more like Sid from Ice Age than it did on prior toys. He doesn't have any major kibble discrepancies apart from his back where it's mostly just folded up gorilla hide. I guess the only complaint is how weird the chest looks, but I'm still happy with how he turned out.
Headsculpt looks great for Optimus Primal, and while I wish the blue would be a little more metallic, what I like about this guy are the Primal-specific details such as the antennae (even if they're a little shorter), the red eyes, and the exposed mouth. I wouldn't mind getting a Primal with the mouthplate extended like on the old toy and as seen from time to time in Beast Wars, but I prefer the exposed mouth because it feels more like him. The articulation is the same as with nearly every WFC figure in the line, but I'd be careful with his hips because the white paint is likely to chip off if it clashes with the waist. On the plus side, you can bend him at two points at the knees if you want, and he's got articulated fingers! Even the ankles pose as you'd want them to because they're not compromised.
I love the display options he has, whether you want him with the swords brandished in his hands or with his arm cannons and shoulder cannons deployed. These can also come to life with some effect pieces. I feel Primal can also go for a flight stand if you want to have him use his prime jets.
In terms of reuses, this is the Netflix version from Wave 3. If you can't tell, he's just a desaturated version of the regular figure, but much like with Rattrap, it's not really that noticeable thanks to how dark the colors on Optimus Primal already are. It's easier to tell with the darker red, but it's barely any different. Unless you can't find the regular figure in-stores, you don't need this.
And here is Nemesis Primal! He's a much shinier shade of black than Optimus, he has the typical Nemesis Prime/Motormaster purple, silver, and teal, but two things I love about this reuse are the badass mouthplated head and the blood-red swords. Sure, it's weird to have a black Transformer be repainted into a black Transformer, but unlike most Bumblebee repaints, he makes it work better.
And after that, we'd get two Takara repaints in time for Japan's one-year-late Beast Wars anniversary line and Rise of the Beasts. This is the Beast Wars Again line, evoking a time when he was once called just Convoy and depicts him in toon-accurate colors. It helps the head and swords pop more, but otherwise, this is only recommended on clearance
And this is the Burning figure cast in clear red plastic as based on when he and Lio Convoy decided to rip off Dragon Ball and become super glowy and anime shonenified. I think it'd be cool if Primal had his mouthplate because the 24 karat golden lips is a bit odd. Oh, and he was also part of some complicated deal where he and Studio Series Nemesis Prime (Bumblebee movie repaint) would only be available if customers got some ticket anc could only wait until April 1, 2024. Great.
Let's compare him to the prior versions of the guy. Honestly, while Optimus Primal's older toys (the 1996 figure with the 10th-anniversary tooling and Robotmasters versions) hold up better than nearly every G1 toy, and at least with the original Primal the toy has nice chunky plastic, gimmicks, and articulation, he was a little too big to go with the other Beast Wars guys. The Robotmasters version is decent yet was too small and was pretty much a budget version of the Ultra toy yet somehow more expensive for being an import. Speaking of, Masterpiece Optimus Primal is still the best figure in terms of cartoon-accuracy. He's got the right design cues and looks like he stepped out of the cartoon. Many will think that figure is going to make the Kingdom one trash, but let's be real: we're comparing a $32 dollar toy next to a $100-ish toy. While the MP one is better in quality, that doesn't mean the Kingdom one is totally inferior because it ain't a cheap piece of crap! Remember that and don't make that foolish thought like Baltmatrix did in his 3P War Within Megatron.
And here he is next to his fellow Maximals, Cheetor and Rattrap. Once again, the scale between the three works as well here as it did in Beast Mode. I'm also surprised that we got 3 of the main five in the first wave as with the Studio Series MV1 Autobots. Wave 2's Dinobot looks to be amazing and I can't wait for Rhinox!
And here is Optimus Primal in-between two versions of his predecessor. I was honestly expecting Hasbro to try and make an extremely further G1 accurate version of Prime, because we all know how clingy they are with that crusty take of Transformers, but what surprised me is the fact that instead of yet another cube truck, we got a gorilla! He's shorter than both of them but it works for Primal because he wouldn't be as tall as either of them. I think both Siege and Earthrise Primes are good toys, though I still stand that Earthrise Prime feels a little undercooked than I'd like; Primal stands out among the two and I greatly appreciate it because I don't really care for getting another G1 Prime too soon unless you count the Core Class guy.
With the poseable fingers on his hands, you can have him posed opening the Matrix and lighting our darkest hour! How cool is that? And this won't be the only time you'll see this Matrix accessory in this review.
And let's bring in Paleotrex for one more pic because if he gives you his face, you can recreate Optimus Primal's old skull mace weapon from the original toy. It doesn't come with a chain, but I think it still looks great. But in short, Optimus Primal is just prime. He's a breath of fresh air not seen in the Generations line since Thrilling 30 if you ignore POTP's inclusion of Optimal Optimus, and one I'm super in love with because I'm not really interested in buying yet another G1 Optimus Prime figure anytime soon. I want Earthrise to be my final main G1 Prime, and that's that. Optimus Primal is a one-and-done figure for me in terms of getting the character on my shelf, and I feel he's already good as he is. Sure, he might use at least one little additional part of him to make him more complete, but I'm happy with how he turned out nonetheless.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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