BEAST
MACHINES: TOY REVIEW
Name: OPTIMUS PRIMAL
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Maximal Commander
Beast Mode: Robot Gorilla
Average Price: 24 AUD
BEAST MODE
Height: 97mm
Points of Articulation: 18
Wow... there was only one twist-tie to undo before
taking this sucker out of the bubble. One of the most striking features
of this toy is the arms - they're huge! The sculpting is a bizzare mix
of mechanical and organic parts. It kinda looks like a cyborg gorilla that
has had its skin ripped off, leaving behind a combination of servos, metal
bones and muscle fibres.
The primary colour of this toy is a very dark, almost
black metallic brown. Translucent blue parts accent the head, chest, belly,
forearms, hands, legs and feet. Some gold colours also accent the shoulders,
chest, face and back. The eyes are translucent green. All the translucent
parts illuminate under a light source. On the left shoulder is an orange
Maximal insignia.
The instructions recommend opening up the back panel and
pulling it back and forth to activate the toy's gimmick. This isn't necessary,
simply pinch the shoulders and the gimmick works (without needing to make
a huge gaping hole in the back!). The gimmick basically makes the arms
move out, the chest opens slightly, revealing the spark crystal, and the
mouth opens wide.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Open the back panel and fold in the beast head. Close the
panel (mine doesn't seem to close in all the way though). Unlock arms from
shoulders, swing them forward and clip them together to form robot hip
and legs (similar to Silverbolt).
Unclip beast hips and move out legs. Fold torso in half, revealing robot
head. Bring the beast legs towards the sides of the torso, and clip them
into the shoulders, forming robot arms.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13.5cm
Points of Articulation: 17
The general sculpting and colour scheme of this mode
is fundamentally the same as that of the beast mode. This toy represents
the first Maximal leader to make a full departure from the "Optimus Prime"
look as seen in previous Optimus Primal toys, Lio
Convoy and Big Convoy. It also
has a very, as Ben Yee coined it, "techno-organic" look due to the very
rounded nature of the moulding. The overall shape is stocky, yet quite
well proportioned, from an anthropomorphic point of view. Unlike previous
Optimus Primals, this toy's arms aren't too long. The appendages are proportioned
like that of a human body. Even the head is not incredibly tiny in proportion
to the rest of the body, a feature that most Transformers have had since
1984. In fact, other than the astoundingly stout torso, the only other
things out of proportion would be the oversized hands and slightly oversized
feet. Not that it irritates me though.
The only downside to this toy is the gimmick: the right
arm has a spring in the shoulder which allows it to hurl a small translucent
green plastic shuriken (which is charmingly mispelt as "shurikin" on the
Tech Specs). Why does this gimmick suck? Because the toy doesn't throw
the shuriken across, it throws it down... so... instead of throwing it
towards a would-be enemy, it simply looks like someone throwing something
down on the ground violently. Like a child throwing a glass bottle down
on the ground really hard to see how it shatters.
SPARK CRYSTAL LOCATION
In the chest in beast mode.
OVERALL
Although the nostalgic Optimus Prime look is gone, it is
nice to see Optimus Primal getting his own original look too. I'd congratulate
him... but he's only a toy.
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