Onyx Prime [Age of the Primes/Leader Class]

Closing out our spooky celebrations for the year is the Lord of the Beasts himself, Onyx Prime! Onyx Prime is the first Transformer with a beast mode and all other beast formed ones are his spiritual descendants. He is in tune with the creature of the natural and world and those in the spirit realm. With the power Primus granted to him with the Triptych Mask, he's able to cast his spirit across vast distance to communicate with the dreams of beings far away. Even the afterlife! Despite his inherent spookiness, Onyx Prime is very friendly and kind hearted. You can't always judge someone by their appearance, it's just that for him everyday is Halloween.

I picked up Onyx Prime a few weeks ago. Happy to see my local stores restocking in the first time in forever. However, not just happy to see something new, but happy as I've been looking forward to this particular toy. You've got to admit, he's got one neat design. In robot mode, Onyx stands tall and beastly. He's got big pointy wings that match pointy armor full of creature flavored details. If you noticed the chest armor looks like hooves, we'll get to that a little later. Speaking of hooves, check out the legs. He outright has big ole hooves with legs similar to an animal that would have hooves. Hooves. Technically that's called digitigrade, but I'll call it backwards knees. Because that's how you'd know what I'm talking about. Robot mode is pretty large and nicely articulated. You might notice his hands open up. That's both due to beast mode and goes along with his accessories.

That Triptych Mask I mentioned earlier combines with a pole to form a big spear... or staff if you so fancy. It's also a rather big arrow for a bow that's formed from his tail. With those articulated hands he can hold these weapons and draw that really big arrow. I wasn't initially aware of the bow and arrow, it just somehow escaped my attention. Remember that chest armor that looks like hooves? I talked about it last paragraph, and said hooves a million times, how could you forget? What if I told you they actually were hooves? THEY ARE! *no shit* Folding those down and some adjustments here and there will reward you with Onyx Primes first alt mode- a winged centaur! This is a pretty cool form that you wouldn't expect normally. It really fits with that bow and big ass arrow!

From here, with a few more twists and folds you'll find the third mode. A winged dragon monster type creature! This beast mode is super gnarly with six legs and those giant wings that have been prominent in every mode. I'm very fond of its head with horns and opening mouth. The colors of Onyx Prime really shine in every mode... but make for one interesting beast mode. A mixture of black, copper, brown, with silver and gold highlights creates a figure seemingly out of some old Dungeons & Dragons source book. This is one cool toy that I had a great time playing around with. His transformations and overall design really brought back memories of older Beast Era toys. Not just because of the beast mode, but the actual transformation schemes and overall design and look of the toy. If not for the newer engineering, I'd almost swear this was an older unused design Hasbro had sitting around in the vaults. He'd have made an excellent Transmythics toy!

I didn't expect to like Onyx Prime as much as I did. He's a very cool toy with a design right out of my dream journal. I've always thought of leader class figures as more nicer size class when it comes to standard retail Transformers. With this toy, that thought process feels proven. Onyx Prime is a big and ornate beastly bot with fantasy looks and modes whom is a pleasure to hold. Looking like something you'd find sculpted at a museum, he's got a mythic air to him. That's freaking neat. His dangerous looks and supernatural powers give way to a friendly robot who paved the path for animalistic Transformers that came after him. Truly one of those toys that just doesn't come around often enough.