Toy Review - OPTIMUS PRIMAL (Kingdom)

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Thanks, that's pretty good.

Is the bumb skirt as obvious in reallife as I think it is in photos? (I mean, like, VERY obvious)

[SharkyMcShark]

Thanks, that's pretty good.

Is the bumb skirt as obvious in reallife as I think it is in photos? (I mean, like, VERY obvious)

When the gorilla mode is posed on all fours (like in the first photo Gok posted above - sorry, at work with no figure to hand), it's not noticeable at all and flows completely in line with the figure.

When the gorilla mode is standing on its two hind legs (second photo Gok posted), it's noticeable, but not offensively so.

[Deano85]

I've never been a big beast wars fan, but this mini MP Gorilla is alot of fun.

[GoktimusPrime]

The thing that I hate about the bum skirt is... there's no reason for it. MP Arcee's look is hampered by an oversized collar, but that collar houses a large hinge used for transformation. Could it have been improved? Sure, but either way there's a practical reason for it. But this panel serves no other purpose other than to form the gorilla's crotch and abs. It just gets tucked away in robot mode. There is no reason why this panel couldn't have been sculpted to resemble the gorilla's crotch and abs.

So as such, Kingdom Optimus Primal is forced to transform into a gorilla with his bottom on backwards.


"Why didn't anyone tell me my Astrotrain was so big?"

[doublespy]

All of the Deluxe class plus BW characters in Kingdom Wave 1 have already had MP treatment. Even though sticking close to the source material has been a thing for Generations WfC, knowing TakTom, they would want to do something different. And for me personally, they've just got the right amount of difference.

Packaging:
I don't normally keep packaging but this time around I have to make an exception. Whoever was responsible for the packaging design deserves a lot of credit. These will definitely pop on the shelf. And the box arts.. are just plain gorgeous across the board for all of these Kingdom figures. The need for box art of both modes because of the less window space certainly helps imo. If they ever sell these arts on t-shirts or in prints, I might have to buy them all too.


Source TFW2005

Beast Mode:
I love the beast mode. The slightly stylized realism works great here. The sculpted fur details look great in person. And the head sculpt is absolutely fantastic.

When on all fours, the backpack piece covers the exposed robot bits quite nicely. And you can tell here the robot thighs are supposed to form part of the gorilla body, and the gorilla legs actually starts from the robot knees down.











The upright configuration works best when the gorilla legs are slightly bent forward imo, and the legs do differentiate themselves enough from robot mode.






What I love most about gorilla mode is the articulation. The head is on a three-axis joint that can rotate on two plains for either crouched down or upright position. The dedicated shoulder butterfly joints offer the extra range you need for a more natural knuckle walking or chest-beating pose. The lower legs have a limited outward rotation which also helps to get Primal into a more natural-looking stand. It's subtle, but it definitely helps. The up and down range in the head and the waist rotation even has the MP figure beat. He's just full of personality in various poses here in gorilla mode.






He looks great with the Maximals and Megatron.




Transformation:
Nothing surprising here. Follows pretty much the same logic as all the previous Primal figures that turned into a gorilla. But the simple engineering is executed quite well here.

'Bot mode:
I quite dig the aesthetics here that hopefully sets the tone for all CHUG style BW figures going forward: more mechanical details are added but the overall look isn't too far from the source material.






Articulation is still pretty great in 'bot mode. The foot piston mechanism works almost as well as it did on the MP figure, although a bit more limited. The head could use a bit of side to side tilt for more attitude and the he can't look up quite far. The sculpt on the upper thigh limits side to side rotation a bit, and it has slight paint scraping issue. But overall still decent for a main line Voyager figure. The integrated cannons are great, and effect parts would no doubt make him look awesome with weapons deployed.










Although Rattrap looks a bit on the small side, the Kingdom BW figures look great together.




Overall:
A great CHUG style update to the character. The expressiveness in both mode makes it such a fun figure. Kingdom took all that has been great from Siege and ER and fed it through the beast filter, and we've landed at possibly one of the best times of main line Transformers in the variety and quality on offer.

[Sutton]

Overall:
A great CHUG style update to the character. The expressiveness in both mode makes it such a fun figure. Kingdom took all that has been great from Siege and ER and fed it through the beast filter, and we've landed at possibly one of the best times of main line Transformers in the variety and quality on offer.

Great review of a great figure - this was enough to convince me to pick this guy up on sight, and then Primal was good enough in hand to make me go back and get the rest of the Beast Wars Kingdoms figures...

[snaketales]

The mutant mask can be wedged on by the shoulder cannons