Optimus Primal (Robot & Gorilla) Defender Version 06 – Brutal Fang

When Blokees previewed Defender Version 06 – Brutal Fang, I was overjoyed. Not just because we were getting more Defender Versions (though that was definitely a factor), but because they were finally dipping into Beast Wars. And while there’s hardly anything Transformers-related that I actively dislike, Beast Wars holds a very special place in my heart. It’s almost like a beloved family member I always get excited to visit… and a little depressed to leave.

Today we’re looking at Optimus Primal from Brutal Fang — which I constantly confuse with Wild Fang, and that’s mildly frustrating.

Optimus Primal is available in a few variations in this wave. There’s the beast mode (gorilla) kit and three robot mode versions. Standard, which is what I picked up, is your typical Primal. Then there are two chase versions: Special Galaxy Type, which features a metallic deco with more show-accurate paint detail, and Special Armor Type, which builds on the Galaxy version and includes his forearm blasters, cyber-swords, and Mutant Head.

The Mutant Head gimmick on the original Beast Wars toys was either a mask or alternate head that functioned like a battle mode. Often, redecos would use the Mutant Head as the primary head sculpt. For example, Blackarachnia is a redeco of Tarantulas but uses his Mutant Head. The fact that Blokees included Mutant Heads here brings out a level of giddiness I didn’t know I still had.

Standard Optimus Primal is great on his own. Defender Versions are already pretty irresistible, but the Beast Wars designs translate especially well into this format. I’m reminded of Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors’ Strongest Decisive Battle on the Game Boy Color. The proportions of the Beast Defender Version kits line up shockingly well with the sprites from that game.

And now I can’t stop thinking… what if more of the Beast Wars cast makes it into Defender Version?

Primal comes equipped with his back-mounted cannons. They flip over his shoulders for attack mode or angle backward to form his Prime Jets. His deco leans more toy-based than the other versions. The faceplate is painted solid in traditional Optimus fashion.

The beast mode kit represents his gorilla form and does a solid job. Interestingly, beast mode uses joints more commonly found in Galaxy Version kits for the gorilla elbows, giving him better range in a quadruped stance. I did manage to mix up the upper arm and lower thigh pieces at one point, so pay attention during assembly.

Both kits result in sturdy mini figures of the classic character in robot and beast form. Defender Version is highly articulated, so you can get a wide range of poses out of him.

It’s genuinely great to see Blokees expanding into Beast Wars, and of course I want more. The entire time I’ve been typing this, I’ve been thinking about the dinosaurs from Beast Wars Neo… and oddballs like the bat and gator Optimus vs. Megatron two-pack.

That would be just Prime.

Optimus Primal Robot [Classic Class]

During Christmas last year, the beast mode companion to today’s post played the narrator in our Christmas Carol production. That’s ironic, because the robot mode kit of that same guy was one of the presents the Mrs. got me for Christmas. A neat bit of synchronicity, and a much-appreciated gift. These larger Blokees model kits are an absolute pleasure, and I really like having a small pile of them waiting in my backlog.

Optimus Primal’s robot mode wasn’t seen much in Rise of the Beasts, which honestly makes today’s kit even more fun. It lets us get a better look at the Maximal leader. Frankly, his robot mode isn’t all that dissimilar from his classic gorilla design. It’s a little more techno-organic, a little more live-action movie dark and gritty, but it’s mostly classic Optimus Primal. Really, a simple repaint in classic colors and he’d make a solid, ultra-serious update of the original toy. And yeah, I’m into that.

Building this kit was fun, though slightly more challenging than some of the other larger Blokees kits I’ve put together. There are a few smaller parts that took a moment to get just right — specifically a set of pins that insert into his knees to hold everything together. It’s not hard, exactly… but I’ve got big fingers. It was just awkward enough that my bent tweezers didn’t really help either. The first one took a few tries. The second went right in. I guess my fingers retained a little muscle memory.

His shoulders were a little odd as well. They use the normal jointing you expect from a Blokees kit - actually, like the Megatron we talked about a few weeks ago, he’s got the upper torso of a Shining Version at his core. That said, my Primal’s upper arms didn’t want to stay connected at first. I’d snap them on and they’d pop right back off. After a few cycles of snapping them on, them popping off, me cussing, and putting them back on, they finally stayed put. Weird, but fine. Blokees kits are made from a pleasantly softer material than a lot of other model kits, so I’m guessing the joint stretched just enough after a few tries.

Once assembled, Optimus Primal is a solid robot mode figure loaded with articulation. He shares the mostly inky black color scheme of his beast mode kit, but there’s silver detailing here and there, along with green glowing parts like his eyes and the Maximal symbol on his chest. My copy’s battery was apparently dead, so I’ll swap that out eventually. CVS keeps sending me those $4–$5 off coupons, so I’ll probably score one cheap… maybe even free.

Optimus comes with two alternate faces. One has the mouthplate like the one I’m using in the photos, and the other has the plate open enough to show his mouth, just like in the original cartoon. You can swap them out anytime, and combined with his articulation and the choice between open hands or closed fists, you can get a surprisingly expressive Optimus.

He also comes with the twin scimitars that his first two toys had. In the movie, he mostly wielded them combined as a double blade, so you might have thought he had a spear - but nope, they split apart and can be used individually. I’ve always really liked these swords, so of course this makes me a little giddy. As usual, there’s an included display stand with whooshing energy effects. Those work great in a display case, though they’re a little less practical around the base.

This is a great kit of Optimus Primal, just like the beast mode version was. And really… that’s just Prime.

Optimus Primal Beast [Classic Class]

Megatron was as dead as a door-nail. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am about to relate. I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what exactly is so dead about a door-nail. Death and suffering meant nothing to the grumpy one. Punishment and enslavement were the credo of his ilk. Yet on one Christmas Eve… as the fleshlings called it… while in his chamber, the grumpy one heard a voice.

“I am here tonight to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.”

I've been sitting on this kit from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts far too long — at least a year — and I assembled it one night during my Thanksgiving holiday break. I am so glad I did, because it was so fun to do. One thing that makes these model kits so enjoyable is watching the process come together. You just have a bunch of parts, and one by one, it assembles into this nice action figure once everything is all done. Some kits are more involved than others, some more difficult as well. Blokees are known to be easy builds, but their larger kits are much more involved than the blind-box releases we usually look at here on the site. Honestly, I assumed Optimus here would just be a few parts based on his beast mode, and was happy to be wrong.

This is a Classic Class, which seems to be the naming system used for the larger Blokees kits from the movies, as opposed to the Action Class used for kits like G1 Soundwave. It's a much nicer and larger figure once completed. Of course they don't transform, so this is Optimus Primal in his beast mode, with another kit that represents the robot mode also available. One thing that really stands out is the light in his head that lights up his eyes and mouth. I find that very neat, and really like the green glow it casts. The light is activated by shaking Optimus and turns off on its own. Thankfully, instructions for changing its battery were included, as I’m sure it’ll burn through it fast with that activation method.

One thing I noticed is the plastic used in this kit is a little softer than what you'd find in a Flame Toys or Bandai kit. When I'd clip a part off the sprue with my nippers, it was a clean cut. There wasn't much cleanup required on the part itself. I'm not sure if that was due to the softer material... but I liked it. It reminded me a little of the vinyl model kits companies like Screamin put out in the 90's. I saw a Jason Voorhees kit of theirs at Toylanta a few years back, still sealed in its box. Considering those things were made of vinyl, I still wonder if it was melted into one giant lump inside that box. Fortunately, Optimus isn't made of vinyl, but that softer plastic makes it impossible not to compare.

Speaking of the plastic, Optimus is all one color aside from the green light in his head. Before anyone scoffs about that, it's true to his movie appearance, which this kit is based on. In fact, the sculpting is pretty on par with his CGI model. It's really sharp looking, and the black color has an inky tone I found really nice. If it was just a standard black color, the details of the sculpt would get easily lost and the whole thing would just look cheap.

Optimus is very well articulated once assembled. He can stand on his rear legs or walk on his knuckles like a real gorilla. Even his mouth opens, which shows off more of that wonderful green light! There are 3 sets of interchangeable hands as well: closed fists for punching, a variation of those fists with his thumb splayed out for a more natural look when walking on all fours, and a nice open-palmed set to give more expression in poses where you can see him talking. In fact, the entire thing is so expressive, you can really see him narrating a story.

I didn't include his base in the pictures, but there's a nice one included for display purposes, complete with decals and swoosh effects. Overall this is a really nice model kit that becomes a high-quality action figure once assembled. It's a very faithful version of Optimus Primal in beast mode as he appeared in Rise of the Beasts, and I'm sure it could recreate a number of his scenes. Admittedly, I find it impossible to take any fault with a Blokees product... but this one is really good. I kind of regret taking so long to build him, but pretty glad I did it on Thanksgiving. Almost made for a perfect analogy for the holiday, you know.

Optimus Primal w/Skullcruncher (Beast Combiners/Beast Alliance)

Getting back to Beast Alliance, Optimus Primal is the weird one of the bunch. The only Beast Combiner so far to be a Maximal main robot and a Decepticon partner. However this works out for one gnarly looking combined form that grew on me really fast. Skullcruncher returns from his Beast Battle Master toy, and his crocodile beast mode paired with Optimus Primal makes me draw mental comparisons to the original Beast Wars 2 pack. Just wish Primal had his bat alt form. Primal does resemble his original Beast Wars design a lot, however. Like the Beast Weaponizer toy, he's made from an earlier design for the movie. They've gave him Transmetal colors this time and that just makes me want an Apelinq from this mold now. 

Unfortunately, Optimus's mold isn't as great as his Beast Weaponizer toy. Beast Combiner main bots are more simple figures and there's just no ignoring it here. He's arguably more simpler than a Beast Changer figure and it's a little disappointing. Really though, you got the figure for the gimmick. Skullcruncher combines with Optimus just like all the other Beast Combiners including the tail becoming a melee weapon and an appendage folding out to become a gun. Obviously they all follow a similar template to allow for interchangeability between figures, so this is all pretty standard fair. Yet the vision of crocodile armor on simian robot mode is just so bizarre... this just might be the most original Beast Wars feeling toy of the new Rise of the Beasts toys. Not just because of the two beasts, but the overall look of the toy. He looks like Beast Wars box art and I freaking dig it.

Optimus Primal (Beast Battle Masters)

It's not secret that I love partner figures, it's said in every post about them. These Beast Battle Masters are a fun addition to the Rise of the Beasts toy line and an easy sell for me as a fan of Battle Masters and partner figures in general. Optimus Primal is another repeating character from this series. Like I said, I'd rather them all be new characters, but it doesn't bother me too much. Optimus is pretty neat. As a Beast Battle Master, he turns from beast to gun. The gorilla form is simple, but pretty good. There's a surprising bit of articulation for such a small and simple little figure. 

Optimus transforms into a pretty large blaster. It can be held by all 5mm compatible Transformers and obviously is a part of Beast Alliance. There's not really any information about the toy, but I like to think it shoots large electrical blasts. Primal's ape mode was inspired by King Kong, so it's only natural that Kong's lightening abilities be reflected in this gun mode. I'm obviously thinking too much about a silly little toy of a gorilla that turns into a gun... but that's fun to do. I really like how these are making me think alot about other things. Rise of the Beasts has some great toys, and this is another one.

Optimus Primal with Arrowstripe (Beast Weaponizers/Beast Alliance)

Beast Weaponizers are my favorite part of the Beast Alliance sub-line.  When Rise of the Beasts toys were first getting leaked out on news sties, this particular set was one of the first I saw and was instantly hooked. Beast Weaponizers are a two-pack of a traditional Transformers figure with a Beast Battle Master partner. However it's not specifically stated if partners are Beast Battle Masters or Beast Weaponizers. I tend to think that the set itself is called Beast Weaponizers and the partners are Beast Battle Masters, so that's how I'll be referring to them from here on out. If I'm wrong, I'll correct that in the future.

In this specific set, Arrowstripe is the Beast Battle Master. Not just that, but a new character! Arrowstripe is a cleverly named white tiger that converts into a crossbow. This crossbow can held by most 5mm compatible Transformers. Most Beast Alliance toys can also be mounted via ports on their arms and bodies as well. It's a fun gimmick that hearkens back to Armada. Some of these are even Mini-Con port compatible... which I've noticed on some newer toys as well. Arrowstripe is made from a different plastic grade than the individual Beast Battle Masters and isn't as articulated. That's likely a cost cutting measure as the set was only $16. I didn't mind it too much, but it's worth pointing out.

Optimus Primal is the set's main figure and a pretty nice toy all around. These Beast Weaponizer figures are similar to a Core Class Transformers toy. However they're to scale with the Beast Changers for some nice uniformity. The Beast Combiners (I'll cover them too, don't worry) main figures are to similar scale as well. However they're more simple. I appreciate that everything is to similar scale in Beast Alliance, even though there's some differences in the toys themselves. I'm actually really impressed with Optimus Primal here. This is a fairly nice little figure. Thanks to his beast mode, Primal has some pretty decent articulation. While his colors match the movie, his sculpt is classic Beast Wars. Like some of the Cheetor toys, I'm sure this is due to design changes during production. 

Optimus transforms into his gorilla form pretty easily. Admittedly the beast mode is a lot more simpler than I'd like it to be. On all fours it isn't terribly impressive as the beast mode head will look straight down. Standing upright looks pretty good. With some additional color this would be a nicer toy, but once again, movie. Still, it's pretty decent. I like this one a lot and it's definitely my favorite of the Beast Alliance toys so far. Actually, I think the Beast Weaponizers overall are my favorite part of Beast Alliance. I'm not including the stand alone Beast Battle Changers in that as they belong to the Rise of the Beasts line overall. It's a weird distinction to make, but I'm trying to be specific to keep confusion down. Optimus Primal with Arrowstripe is probably the best set overall in the Beast Alliance toys, which is probably why it's a little harder to get than others. Fortunately the Mrs ordered me one off Amazon right away when they first showed up. This is a solid showing and is pretty recommended. Especially if you're a Beast Wars fan as it's a good little figure of the classic Primal.

Petit Beast Era

With the upcoming Rise of the Beasts movie bringing a much more mainstream attention to my beloved beast warriors, extra love for them has been out in force to reintroduce them to the world. I love it. Something I wasn't expecting was the characters featured in the preschool stuff. But here we are, and here is Optimus Primal as a toddler toy released in 2022 (yes it's 2023 now, but I wrote this in advance). There's another BW toy in the Classic Transformers Heroes Team line for smaller children of Alligator Megatron. I've always had a lot of love for that initial BW 2 pack. I hope to find it soon.

It probably goes without saying that Optimus here is a very simple toy. Meant for small, much younger children and not middle aged robot nerds (but here we are). Transformation is a simple pulling the toy into robot to beast modes and vice versa. There's no articulation as it's basically a larger, more simplified Turbo Changer. The transformation is the toy more than the figure itself. Like Turbo Changers, it makes a good figit toy, perfect for little ones to play with. The simple, cute sculpt makes Primal friendly and approachable. He's hard not to like, unless you're an asshole.

I really wanted this toy because as big fan of Beast Wars, and also tend to like oddball things like this. It also reminds me a bit of the Real Figure Transmetals Optimus Primal toy from 1999. That was something I wanted a whole lot back then and was super happy to get. Little weird things like that were a little harder to get back then. This toy is a lot simpler than that one, and bigger. Really, it's not that similar. But it does remind me of that figure for some reason. Sometimes things just stroke the heart in a certain way. I don't know if that's a good thing, but here we are.

Bios: Optimus Primal

"Peace is the absence of conflict and the presence of justice."

Function: Starship Captain

A veteran of the last Great War that resulted in the defeat of the Predacon forces, Optimus Primal embodies many of the Maximal philosophical ideals. He is a heroic figure whose ability for self sacrifice knows no bounds. While he understands that war and conflict are sad realities of his existence, he has made it a point to study the historical and scientific records of past generations. He believes it is the balance that his idol, the original Optimus Primal, maintained throughout his long service. While Optimus Primal has a vast understanding of standard battle protocols, he sometimes utilizes unconventional, yet creative tactics to succeed in his missions. In vehicle mode, his boosters allow the ability to move at speeds of up to 350 mph for short bursts. While in robot mode, the boosters can become forward deployed missile launchers capable of locking onto two targets independently. The boosters can also be used for flight in robot mode. While always battle ready, he believes his current mission of exploration aboard the Axalon is symbolic of the Maximal goals of peace and harmony in the galaxy.

Strength: 10 Intelligence: 9 Speed: 9 Endurance: 10

Rank: 10 Courage: 10 Fireblast: 7 Skill: 9

Bios: Optimus Primal

 

"We will win if we believe in ourselves and our unity."

After his ultimate sacrifice to defeat Megatron, in which he became part of the core of Cybertron itself, Optimus Primal rose to the level of a mythic legend among the grateful populace of Cybertron. Now as the battle against the ancient monster planet known as Unicron has begun once again, Primus himself has called Optimus Primal to be brought back into action to help in the fight for the very survival of Cybertron. Optimus Primal represents a uniquely powerful fusion of the Maximal Forces' advanced technology with the raw power of their mighty Autobot ancestors. In this supercharged form Optimus Primal possesses unmatched strength among the techno-organic populace of Cybertron. His weaponry has also been upgraded significantly: He wields an impressive array of both long range and melee weapons including twin battle blades that can cut through solid rock, a vanadium steel reinforced mace, left arm retractable double barreled plasma cannon, and twin independently targetable shoulder mounted missile launchers. Rear mounted jets give him flight capability. Energy receptors allow him to absorb much of the damage from energy-based attacks and re-channel it back at his enemies. Intelligence, experience, passion and skill are all crucial parts of what makes Optimus Primal a born leader of the Autobot cause. Serves as an inspiration to help others find their own strength to keep fighting despite the odds. 

Strength:10 Intelligence:10 Speed:8 Endurance:10 Rank:10 Courage:10 Firepower:8 Skill:10

The Master of Oil

 

While looking at my Nemesis Primal figure, I found myself wondering why he wasn't Oilmaster? Let me rewind a little and bring my train of thought up to that opening question. Legacy Iguanus was previewed by Hasbro. Like other Pretender updates before it, Iguanus's robot mode is based on his Pretender shell with inner robot alt mode while ignoring the inner robot mode. It's a fun happy medium if they're not making a full Pretender style toy. The toy is a Core Class figure, a size class I do like a lot. Leading me to hope other Pretender updates in that scale happen.

I like Pretenders quite a bit. Always have, they're just fun. As time went on after their release and information became more readily available, the unmade Pretender shells became more common knowledge. They were certainly cool and as things work, the gorilla one became a character in E-Hobby comics. He was named after Oilmaster, a popular fan blogger. I always found that super cool. That's one of the things I've always enjoyed about E-Hobby toys. The inclusion of the greater Transformers universe. 

More time went on and in 2015 Oilmaster was made as part of that year's BotCon Exclusive set. A brand new shell and the Legend Swerve mold was used to create the character. After all this time it finally existed! I do wish to eventually acquire the BotCon/TFCC Pretenders. They are some of the coolest things that came from the Fun Publications era. 

So here it is some time later after that. Every so often I proudly look at my recent Walmart vintage Transformers toys. You know, the ones that come in 'vintage' packaging? I really like them. The recent Beast Wars ones are a particular strong source of emotion. I loved Beast Wars and that whole time era. I honestly miss it. That first gorilla Optimus Primal toy has always been a stand out Transformer toy for me. Sometimes I find myself imagining exclusive figures if I was in the position to create them. I can easily see myself pitching that toy mold as the toy that would become Oilmaster. 

Then we get to that Nemesis Primal figure. He came in the 'Worlds Collide' Buzzworthy Bumblebee boxed set exclusive to Target. One of the reasons I like store exclusive Transformers is that they're essentially the modern day equivalent of BotCon exclusives. They're also pretty neat. The Worlds Collide set pretty much was an old BotCon exclusive box set in execution and certainly felt like one. Nemesis Primal was an alternate universe evil clone of Optimus Primal made from the Kingdom version of Optimus Primal. When the set was initially previewed, I took it as a throwback to Galvatron Lio Convoy/ Galva Convoy initially and thought it looked like the old Kabaya model kit. Which is pretty much is/does. However with Iguanus making the rounds and getting me all excited... I guess you can see what I was thinking in that opening question.

Bat Vs Gator

Beast Wars began airing 24 years ago. I would say it's hard to believe, but no, definitely has been a long time since then. Do I miss it? Hells yeah I do. Still one of the closest to my heart parts of Transformers, Beast Wars was just special. Looking back at it now, man I really loved that initial Optimus Primal vs Megatron 2 pack. Prior to the show, when the line was essentially Generation 3 with the original characters returning with a new team, this was a set of the classic leaders in animal forms. I was never bothered by the change, though slightly confused by the new team names initially.

Not long after the launch the story was straightened out and the cast was a Next Generation type crew, the two pack was pretty much left in the dust. The new Primal and Megatron toys were larger figures with different alt modes and new characters with throwback names. Still, I've always really liked this set.

The initial basic class toys of Beast Wars had a spring based auto transformation. It was something I thought was pretty cool at the time and don't mind now. The beast modes were pretty good looking, Megatron's alligator worked out better as Primals legs were just folded up against his body. Still the bat looked pretty decent and Optimus had a Batman inspired robot mode. The robot modes were fairly articulated. At the time I would have been happy if Transformers would have just been that size... and I probably would still be now. I liked it, gnaw meen brah?

Riding Primal Waves

Despite everything that's come out since, I still view Optimus Primal toys from Beast Wars to be some of the best Transformers ever made. I'm still just as impressed as I was back then when I play with one now. The look, the stature, the play value. Just great figures. I'm also admiring the weirdness of some of the toys. Transmetal Optimus Primal's vehicle form is a hover board. That's just silly. Though seeing a gorilla fly through the air on a rocket powered hover board while wielding giant maces? Ok, that's still silly, but that's also pretty great.

I think a mistake a lot of people make when considering Transformers is adding in realism. Which... uh... is completely out the window on arrival. Alien robots hiding among Earth by disusing themselves as vehicles is far fetched, but what kind of disguise is a robot dinosaur, a ufo? It's silly, it's fun, just turn off your mind a little. Beast Wars... hey look a gorilla is fighting a dinosaur. It's fantasy and not far removed from the time that TMNT ruled the toy shelves. A surfing gorilla wasn't that unheard of. It's admittedly firmly rooted in it's time and that's ok with me.

Ridin' into the Crumplezone

 

I've been talking about Cybertron lately, and frankly that's a good thing. Cybertron and it's other Unicron Trilogy series were pretty great. They had solid toys with fun gimmicks and a great story line. It was a pretty great time to be a Transformers fan and pretty much the last of the old ways before the movies came along and everything seemingly changed forever (though, it does look like things are slowly reverting).

Crumplezone was always pared with his partner Ransack in the cartoon. They were the standard pair of bozos and Crumplezone was pretty much the typical big dumb guy. Though his toy was hardly typical, in fact it was really cool! Crumplezone's vehicle mode was some sort of rocket powered sci fi race car owing to his home planet of Velocitron (a planet based on race culture), or as noted on his Cyber Planet Key, The Speed Planet.

In robot mode, Crumplezone has a big upper body with long lanky arms. The rocket boosters from his vehicle mode flip over his shoulder with sound effects to fire missiles when activated by his Cyber Planet Key. I really wish he came with some sort of melee weapon and I can really see the brute clobbering somebody with something. With a mix of dark and light green colors, Crumplezone is a really good looking toy.

Remember how I just talked about his flip over the shoulder rocket launchers a minute ago? Well, here's the first part of why I chose to talk about this particular toy today. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, I'm thinking about Halloween. Crumplezone is something of a ghost story of mine. When the toy came out, I lived in an apartment that just always had something weird going on like it was cursed or something. Outlets shorted out, the ceiling leaked once, my PS2 literally died for no apparent reason one night and a week later it's replacement had to be returned after also dying. Really nice apartment, but there was just always something wrong.

My toy room at the time was decked out with various bookshelves that I'd store the bulk of my toys on. I had Crumplezone in a good spot so I could see him (he was new and I liked him!), I'd keep his missile launchers in the locked in position as over his shoulder would cause him to fall over. There was no extra storage for his key, I'd put it in it's port, but not enough to trigger the launchers. With those keys you really had to jam them in to hit the sweet spot, so it worked out usually. At random times, those damn launchers would just flip over and the deploying sound effect would BLARE. Like I said, I didn't have the key in far enough to trigger anything. The catch wasn't super strong obviously, but man when it happened out of nowhere...

When the time for a repaint came, by some magic, Crumplezone also got a hefty remold. Dark Crumplezone didn't just have new colors, but also new parts! Now more angular with attached fins that made the car look more menacing with a Frankenstein-ish looking robot mode! This might be the other Halloween inspired reason I felt like talking about him, he's a monster! This is without a doubt my favorite version of the toy as it's just gorgeous to look at. The colors and lightening/tribal decals make for one mean looking toy, not to mention the more sharp boxy parts are great! They took a good looking toy and made it 100% better.

The toy mold got one more use as a BotCon exclusive in 2006. Part of the "Dawn of Future's Past" box set, the original version of the mold was made into a Cybertronian version of Optimus Primal! With a new head and the classic Primal deco, I was surprised by how well this came out. Easily my favorite of the Fun Publications era of exclusives, the box set was themed as the Beast Wars characters right before the start of the show. It's not just my favorite of their work because of how much I love Beast Wars (maybe a little bit), but man they did a really great job! The toys looked amazing and were really imaginative uses of prior existing molds.

It's almost bittersweet though, just as I've said above that Cybertron was the last hurrah of the old ways before the movies. And even though this was only Fun Pub's second BotCon, it was the last one that felt like BotCon to me. While I don't bemoan the movies (I enjoy them, actually) or all the money and attention they brought to the brand. I do miss the older times before them and before everything changed. Not just scope, the overall vibe of Transformers and the Transformers fandom itself hasn't been the same since. Change is the nature of all things, even the theme of the brand, but sometimes you can't help but to wish some things stayed the same.

Bat vs Gator

I've always loved the bat Optimus and crocodile Megatron toys. Always wished they got more of a spotlight than they did.

Universe Optimus Primal

We will win if we believe in ourselves and our unity.

After his ultimate sacrifice to defeat Megatron, in which he became part of the core of Cybertron itself, Optimus Primal rose to the level of a mythic legend among the grateful populace of Cybertron. Now as the battle against the ancient monster planet known as Unicron has begun once again, Primus himself has called Optimus Primal to be brought back into action to help in the fight for the very survival of Cybertron. Optimus Primal represents a uniquely powerful fusion of the Maximal Forces' advanced technology with the raw power of their mighty Autobot ancestors. In this supercharged form Optimus Primal possesses unmatched strength among the techno-organic populace of Cybertron. His weaponry has also been upgraded significantly: He wields an impressive array of both long range and melee weapons including twin battle blades that can cut through solid rock, a vanadium steel reinforced mace, left arm retractable double barreled plasma cannon, and twin indepently targetable shoulder mounted missile launchers. Rear mounted jets give him flight capability. Energy receptors allow him to absorb much of the damage from energy-based attacks and rechannel it back at his enemies. Intelligence, experience, passion and skill are all crucial parts of what makes Optimus Primal a born leader of the Autobot cause. Serves as an inspiration to help others find their own strength to keep fighting despite the odds.

Optimus Primal (bat)

The Maximals and I have no choice but to stop Megatron and his Predacon minions before they destroy us all! Freedom may be the right of all sentient beings, but to protect the greater good we must vanquish to Earth from these evil Predacon creatures! It won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is!

King of Kong

I guess Hasbro decided to make this years SDCC exclusives the freaking bomb or something, because, in addition to that amazing Bumblebee set I talked about last week, they unveiled this amazing thing today. Just look at that thing, that's amazing. They've taken the POTP Optimal Optimus, colored him like BW season one Primal and gave him a throne to display all his Primemasters on as well as a magic mace to use them with (because Gauntlets are so last week) and most importantly, a freaking crown. I really want this, and once again the crushing reality of the online sales of these exclusives are usually sold out within minutes insuring a busy working professional like myself to miss out. Sucks, but I guess that's the trade off. That's really awesome though, I mean... MAN THAT'S AWESOME.

Hey Hasbro, you know you could send me some review copies right?

You know, I actually like your stuff right?

Right?

Optimal Optimus

Optimal Optimus a wise and compassionate Maximal commander developed his trademark valor and heroism during his role in the Beast Wars. Exposure to a nebulous entity reconfigured him into the ultimate four - mode Transmetal, Optimal Optimus reactive smart missile cannons are functional and all modes of operation. In hypersonic attack mode he has upgraded Cybertronian "air guardian" jet technology equipped with scramjet modules specialized for unmatched velocity. In armored ground-assault mode, he transgresses all terrain and overcomes all opposition. Battle-reactive blast shields supply him with an impenetrable defense, making Optimal Optimus the most potent threat ever to face-off against Megatron and his Predacons.

Transmetals Optimus and Megatron

This is a fun one. Subscribing to the G2 commercial train of thought (without the rap, unfortunately) Optimus and Megatron bash around in a setting full of gray desk organizers and sell their action features. I know it's mainly a past it's primal thing, but I really liked this style of commercial for toys. Outright show kids playing with the toys acting out a big ass whooping. The 90's had it's own vibe in general in media presentation, but man it really shows in older commercials.

Things I would have really liked volume 1 million

This could have happened.

So, concept art for unused Optimus Primal in TF5 has seeped out recently and now I'm longing for what could have been. Man, I want Beast Wars back so very much.