Optimus Primal (1996 Ultra)

Height: 15 cm (top of beast mode head); 20.5cm (top of robot mode head)

Articulation: 16 total points - Ball joint neck; 4 points each arm: universal shoulder, upper arm swivel, hinge elbow; swivel waist; 3 points each leg: ball joint hip, hinge knee, hinge ankle.

Colors: Molded black, white, blue, red, grey; Painted grey, black, red, blue.

Accessories: Mace, missiles x4, swords x2

Gallery: 25 images.

Author: ExVee



Destiny had greater things in store for Optimus Primal than simply being captain of a modest exploration vessel. Fate is particularly cruel to those who bear the name "Optimus" and seems to find them Megatrons with which to forever struggle against. Over the course of many years, Optimus Primal would prevail again and again over Megatron, saving time, space, and Cybertronian civilization more than a few times in the process. Though he was no stranger to risking the ultimate sacrifice to accomplish his mission, he would finally give up his life to restore the consumed population to a conquered Cybertron.

But, fate is indeed cruel. Primus himself could not let Optimus rest, and chose him among all the sparks that ever were or would be to lead the multidimensional fight against Unicron and his corrupted Transformer minions. After an abrupt end to the reality-spanning war, Optimus has moved on to parts unknown, but surely will rise to the task if needed again.

Also, he occasionally gets summoned to someplace where everyone speaks Japanese, numerous variations of the Generation 1 era, and at least once became the spiritual advisor to an Optimus Prime from a probably-unrelated timeline. Busy monkey!

"Sometimes crazy works."


Beast Mode

I guess if you want to get technical he's an ape, not a monkey. Stupid biology... For whatever failings the first two years worth of Beast Wars product might have had, Kenner did hit on some pretty good details sometimes. Optimus Primal is actually pretty accurate in stance and general proportion to real gorillas. Though possibly things like his ripped chest and sculpted six-pack abs are a tad exaggerated. Other installments in wacky anatomy include his five-digit feet, but lacking anything resembling a "thumb". It's much closer in appearance to a human foot in an open-toe shoe.

It's also worth hitting upon once more the fact that for the first season of the show, Mainframe played pretty fast and loose with a lot of the character designs. In every case the toy designs came first, but for better or worse they would be (sometimes very) liberally interpreted. To this end, Primal is considerably different between toy and show, where he was pretty anthropomorphized. For one example, the toy really can't stand upright on just the legs. Even when you can convince it to balance this way, the head and neck have no articulation, so he'll be gazing to the sky the whole time. Ironically, the successor to this toy, Transmetal Optimus Primal would have the opposite problem, able to stand erect, and lacking neck articulation to knuckle-drag. Le sigh.

It's an unfortunate truth that some losses are incurred to satisfy the toy's robot mode. The arms and legs have clear spillover of robot elements, very visible from contrasting coloration and sometimes inconsistent texturing. You have to give the designers credit, though, for that on the whole you get largely uninterrupted ape here. On the other hand, the beast mode has a lack of useful poseability. As noted, there's nothing for the head or neck. The arms and legs are well-articulated, but mostly have to stay where they are to support the body. Some of the robot mode gimmickry can be executed in this mode, and while an ape with big shoulder cannons really does sound cool, it's totally not what anybody is going for here. But hey, you have a mildly-passable monkey ape statue...


Transformation

Although nothing of early Beast Wars was remotely complicated by the standards set down by that which would follow, Optimus is among the more simple of non-automated transformations. Possibly the act of having to pull down and simultaneously flip the gorilla face for a robot chestplate is the most complex task laid upon you by the toy.


Robot Mode

As a first year Beast Wars toy, Primal is possessed of the Mutant Head feature. In this case, a mask that resembles a highly stylized bat face, a reference to the beast mode of the first Optimus Primal toy, obviously. To reveal the robot face you have to swivel the mutant mask around the head on a joint just slightly tighter than the neck joint itself, so the entire head is going to try to go with. It's among the poorer executions of this gimmick, which are usually much more trivial to get out of the way. Of course being on a simple hinge, the mask is easily done away with if you so choose.

The relatively simple transformation does give the toy not only solidity in robot mode, but also retains a good array of articulation. Though a bit limited by today's standards, it was practically a model in its day. The way the feet fold up for transformation even gave it a manner of ankle articulation, supporting more poses than it's average contemporary.

But the real feature of this toy in robot mode is a wide assortment of gimmicks that keep this toy on many fans' top ten lists even a decade later. Pushing the grey button on the lower back releases a pair of missile launchers on a spring. The right forearm houses one of the most awesome Transformer accessories of all time, and if you release the catch on the left forearm, it unfolds into a shotgun-styled double missile launcher. But while Optimus has a respectable arsenal integrated into his body, an equal focus is placed on melee weaponry. While the details of that will be handled in the Accessories section, it ties in to the gimmickry.

In a pretty inventive move, Optimus is well-geared to combat, and I mean that fairly literally. A system of gears connects the shoulders and pre-elbow swivels on both arms to a lever fixed in the middle of the toy's back. By manipulating the lever you can cause the arms to wave about and swing different close combat implements made of surprisingly hard plastic around in probably really dangerous arcs. More cleverness is found in a small switch on either arm, which when slid to one position or the other changes the gear connections, so instead of swinging at the shoulders, the swivels now rotate. This can be done in combinations for separate types of movement. It's also workable in beast mode and can theoretically give you a chest-beating action feature if you set the arms up in the right positions.

Clearly the comparative simplicity of the transformation is simply a way to allow much more complicated and downright fun engineering to be incorporated into the toy. Whether he's blowing you away with high explosive firepower or beating you senseless up close and personal, this Optimus is a total fighting machine.


Accessories

-Mace

It's really probably more correctly a Morning Star, the difference being whether it has knob-like projections, or true spikes. But whatever you want to call it, it is pure awesome. Instead of being some simple, boring ball with spikes on it, this accessory is designed to look like a screaming skull ringed with spikes. And this weapon is used by the leader of the good guys. Hard. Core.

While this is a weapon with a cord, and thus meant to be swung freely by the toy's ingenious limb-flailing action, it is possible to have this held in the storage configuration as a short, heavy club. No matter how you take it, it's still gonna be a screaming spiked skull flying at you. And since it uses a 5mm peg, this weapon can be borrowed by a great many other Transformers.

-Swords

Optimus comes with a pair of extremely curved blade swords. Molded in one piece from slightly flexible blue plastic, they're probably a danger of injury if you're careless with the arm-swinging action. They can be both held in one hand if you choose, freeing the other to either be a shotgun or hold the mace. When not in use they can plug into the back under the shoulder cannons.

-Missiles

The missiles are intercompatible between shoulder and forearm launchers. Two missiles can be stored in slots behind the robot head, while another pair are intended to live in the shoulder cannons. Notable is that all releases after the initial American version have greatly simplified missiles lacking almost all the surface detailing of the originals. This is true even to the most recent uses of this mold in the Beast Wars Tenth Anniversary versions. Japan ruins everything.


Things to Look For When Buying Loose

This toy has few integral body parts that can be easily removed or lost. Look for the shoulderpads and the flaps that cover the shoulder launchers in beast mode. The gorilla face can also come off, but this is pretty obvious in any kind of photography. All of the loose accessories are designed to store completely out of sight in beast mode, and are generally hard to make out in robot mode. If you don't see them in someone's sales photos, be sure to ask - and don't forget the Mutant mask!



Closing Remarks

Perhaps not as popular a mid-90's Optimus toy as Laser Optimus Prime, Optimus Primal has gained quite a fandom, and a well-deserved one at that. Plus, thanks to Takara there are a number of alternate versions, including mostly clear and colorless plastic, clear-red "Burning", nigh-impossible to get contest-prize versions in solid gold, blue, and red and grey, remolded Anniversary version, and heavily painted "Telemocha DX" versions, not to mention Hasbro's Transformers Universe recolor in 2003.

No matter what flavor you choose, you get a toy whose only possible flaw is an unposeable beast mode, which was fairly endemic of the line in general back then. In anybody's book that should be a winning score, and even by today's standards, Optimus Primal (in any color or remold) is Excellent.

A fully complete example in the original colors can get a bit pricey, but more recent alternatives exist that might nab you a better deal if you're not dedicated to these specific colors. And I'll tell you what, for as many bodies as Optimus went through, this is still the image that comes to mind when I think of the character.

-ExVee