Optimus Primal changed early on in the development of the Beast Wars Transformers toy line from a bat to a gorilla. This toy is one of the best examples of the best a Beast Wars Transformers toy can offer. It includes great molding, cool weapons, action features, a nice transformation and posability. It was also the first of the ultra line of Beast Wars Transformers toys, larger toys usually not released until the later part of the year.
As a side note, it is interesting to note that early on in the development of the Beast Wars Transformers series, Optimus Primal was going to have four transforms. The bat, gorilla and two separate robot modes. Animation constraints prevented this, but it is interesting that both Optimus Primal toys were nice enough to be considered for the series.
Beast Mode:
In beast mode, Optimus Primal is a gorilla. The coloring of this mode is primarily black and grey. The best mode's eyes are blue. In this form, Optimus Primal resembles a gorilla, and Kenner made a definite strong effort to mold as many curved and fur lines as possible to instill the "organic" look into this toy. The arms are probably the biggest give away to the true nature of this gorilla. A tiny bit of robot parts kind of stick out from the arms. Plus, the beast mode forearms are rather blocky (since they store weapons). Pulling a lever in the back of the beast mode makes Optimus Primal thump his chest with both arms, one after the other.
Transformation:
Optimus Primal's transformation is rather simple, but involves several steps. The lower body twists around and the robot feet fold down. His beast mode head folds down to his chest, revealing the robot head. The beast mode's face flips around to form the robotic chest. The upper arms of the beast mode fold up to form "shoulder pads". The head has the "mutant head" feature that several first year Beast Wars Transformers toys included. The robot head very much resembles that of the original Transformer Optimus Prime. It is fairly detailed and nicely molded. The head can turn around to reveal the "mutant head", an insectoid looking face.
Robot Mode:
The robot mode of Optimus Primal is nicely proportioned. His arms, chest and legs all make him appear to be very muscular. Though most of his "gorilla" self still shows in this mode, there are several robotic bits visible. His chest, head, upper arms, lower waist, upper legs and feet are all robotic in nature. The "hydraulic mechanism" look of his ankles is very nicely done and his robot head is very well molded.
There are several options one can use in playing with the robot mode. Pressing the grey button on his back flips up two shoulder mounted missile launchers (which really do fire the missiles). He may also store two extra missiles in a compartment behind his head. From this compartment are two swords which can be placed into his hands as hand held weapons. The swords are very neatly crafted with good detail. The grooves and curve of the sword adds to its "dangerous look". These are the same swords that Optimus Primal used in the first season of the Beast Wars Transformers television show.
Using the lever that moves his arms in beast mode moves his arms here allowing him to swing his swords to and fro, as if he was having a sword fight. If one places both weapons in one hand (one at each end) and reset the arm (with the use of a switch on the upper arm), the arm can twirl and use the weapons to slice and dice!
The weaponry does not cease here. Flipping up the top of his lower right arm reveals a mace. The mace is very threatening looking. It looks like a skull with spikes sticking out of it. A very nice piece of the toy, but scary for a Maximal leader. The aforementioned "twirling/spinning" action can be used with this toy in his hand as well. The skull mace connects to the mace by a rope so the swinging effect looks great. Flipping up the top of his lower left arm, his lower left arm flips back and a dual barrelled cannon is revealed. Although the television show portrays Optimus Primal with this cannon sticking out of his wrist while he still maintains use of his hand, this toy shoves the hand back. The missiles that fit into his shoulder mounted cannons can also fit into these barrels.
In this mode, Optimus Primal has fourteen points of articulation. With his bristling weaponry, nice molding and neat gimmicks, this toy is easily one of the best out there. A+
