Video Review of Transformers Power of the Primes Leader Optimal Optimus with Optimus Primal

I'm not sure why, but after watching that video all of the hollow areas on Optimal Optimus really bother me. I know why they are there, monies. And it's not like other figures don't have it. But it really bothers me on him..

Rodimus Knight wrote:Now that being said, I don't care about Jazz, I want my freaking 2nd wavers to show up!

This why we can't have wave 2 people!

They gotta start over. More wave 1 cases are on their way!

I'm not completely sold on the Optimal gorilla form, but the Optimus Primal figure looks fantastic, I can't wait until I get my hands on one! On a side note, I love that piano version of Jablonsky's Autobot theme in the video.

o.supreme wrote:Also, Will *exclusives* such as Nemesis Prime, Wreck-Gar, Counter Punch & repugnus get releases by , or will these perhaps be excusives for thenm as well, or not released at all?

Unless I'm totally forgetting it, Japan isn't getting the exclusive Studio Series Thundercracker in another line that's basically Hasbro's same figures, though they're putting a bit more effort into the packaging. That might mean exclusives aren't part of the sharing deal.

I could see Nemesis Prime showing up on Takara Tomy Mall or TRU Japan as a "USA Edition", but not the others.

Emerje

While the Optimal Optimus figure looks rather good for what it is and what they had to work with, and with the gimmick integrated as well, the vehicle mode for Primal by himself is absolutely lazy.

So far only Hot Rod/Nemesis Hot Rod (Rodimus Cron?) has a competent vehicle mode by himself, not even Optimus Prime can claim that fame.

I was already pretty sure that the black figure serves no purpose for combining, but this picture confirms it. After seeing this, I am SO tempted to just punch out that pin and have two Optimals on display.

Lucky Logician wrote:I was already pretty sure that the black figure serves no purpose for combining, but this picture confirms it. After seeing this, I am SO tempted to just punch out that pin and have two Optimals on display.

Hey, maybe a 3P company will make a kit that will conect the head/chest to the rest of the large Primal and gorila parts for the Small Primal.

Emerje wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Also, Will *exclusives* such as Nemesis Prime, Wreck-Gar, Counter Punch & repugnus get releases by , or will these perhaps be excusives for thenm as well, or not released at all?

Unless I'm totally forgetting it, Japan isn't getting the exclusive Studio Series Thundercracker in another line that's basically Hasbro's same figures, though they're putting a bit more effort into the packaging. That might mean exclusives aren't part of the sharing deal.

Yup, Studio Series Thundercracker is skipped by TakaraTomy, resulted in their numbering being off by one starting with Jazz.

Wreck-Gar, Counterpunch, Repugnus and Blast Off (shame on you for forgetting him!) will have to find a proper outlet, but Nemesis Prime is a global Amazon exclusive, which may include Japan.

to be honest would anybody have noticed it if it wasnt pointed out?
because at first all i see is a black square with a white autobot logo and 4 microscopic white dots
and the square is already pretty tiny to begin with

MAGA versions will be the most COLLECTIBLE!

ZeroWolf wrote:As for wave saturation, living in the UK, we get one or two max. So shopping online is normally my default anyway. Welcome to how tf fans in the UK feel.

While I do live in the States.... I feel like I'm slowly forced to shop online for figures too... between strange distribution patterns (at target) or lack of product at all (walmart). My biggest gripe about online shopping is trying to get single units at MSRP... they're either wave/cases (BBTS/EE/TFSource) or sold out instantly and jacked up (Amazon).

I do miss the actual hunt... but it's just no fun any more, or cheap (gas). Although Toys R Us usually left me more disappointed more often.... they would occasionally surprise me with things I didn't even know existed. For the post part they were to sold distributor of the Power Rangers Legacy System, or NECA/McFarlane figures. Target is starting to get into some of that with their "geek corner". Never thought I'd see the day that Nendroids were sold at mass-retail in the US.

Back on topic: I'm curious if we'll see Predaking at brick and mortar. Toys R Us seemed to be the only store I ever (rarely) saw them. Target had the Combiner War boxsets online though... I wonder if they'd done better on the shelf? (But that *is* a lot of real-estate to take up).

While he may have many flaws and I'm sure most purists will be glad to 'skip' on him I still think that Optimus Primal/Optimal Optimus has better display options and p;ay value than previous Leader Evolution. However it's clear this guy would have been better with a big wheel to fill out his back and allow for his missing ground vehicle mode. On the more positive side, his two robot modes are, sacrifices made for gimmick aside, rather spot on all things considered, safe for a distinctly less metallic palette.

This is going to be a Leader class I'm sure many will pass on and I can't blame them as he certainly lose value without the nostalgia factor. That and I can't really imagine the kids will like him due to his coloration and a lack of understanding and attachment to Beast Wars.

And to you angry Star Saber fans; trust me guys, if we all had known about the line gimmick for Leaders he would have gotten 100% of the fan vote and no one would be mad. While I do find this is an interesting concept of a figure I would have certainly preferred some form for Primal without the gimmick in the long run as it would have made for a more solid toy.

But hey...he still seem quite fun. Haters gonna hate.

Is the 'official' line up for the Elita-1 combiner Novastar, Moondancer, Jazz & Wreck Gar?

Leaving Starscream with Dreadwind, Blackwing, Blast-Off (shuttle) & ???

There is no official line up for Starscream, Elita 1 or Inferno. Just mix and match per your imagination

ZeroWolf wrote:There is no official line up for Starscream, Elita 1 or Inferno. Just mix and match per your imagination

ah yes I forgot about Inferno

Con limbs
Dreadwind
Blackwing
Blast-Off (Shuttle)
Counterpunch !?! (can switch between the two sides) buy two everyone

Bot limbs
Jazz
Moondancer
Novastar
Wreck Gar
Counterpunch !?! (can switch between the two sides) buy two everyone
Repugnus

8 limbs only 5 Bots

Lucky Logician wrote:I was already pretty sure that the black figure serves no purpose for combining, but this picture confirms it. After seeing this, I am SO tempted to just punch out that pin and have two Optimals on display.

You lose the jet mode doing that since the connection point is on the inner Primal, unless there was a second one somewhere in there I missed.

I was hopeful on Primal, but yeah after seeing the video, I'm disappointed. I'll still get him since his combined Robot mode looks good, but the rest is pretty awful.

Twitchythe3rd wrote:You lose the jet mode doing that since the connection point is on the inner Primal, unless there was a second one somewhere in there I missed.

This toy is already missing the 'tank' mode, so losing the 'jet' mode is no big deal to me.

Lucky Logician wrote:

Twitchythe3rd wrote:You lose the jet mode doing that since the connection point is on the inner Primal, unless there was a second one somewhere in there I missed.

This toy is already missing the 'tank' mode, so losing the 'jet' mode is no big deal to me.

Then what's the point of him being Optimal Optimus if he loses both of the two modes that made that body form of his so special? Gorilla mode was nothing to sneeze at. Primal barely even used it.

Sabrblade wrote:Then what's the point of him being Optimal Optimus if he loses both of the two modes that made that body form of his so special? Gorilla mode was nothing to sneeze at. Primal barely even used it.

Honestly, you do make a good point. That being said, I guess what I want to express is extreme disappointment with the 'evolution' gimmick in a character I loved growing up and was looking forward to a new toy of.

Hot Rod and Orion Pax become an essential part of the chest of the larger figure. Optimus Primal literally becomes backpack kibble. There has been a lot of great and fun engineering in transformers the past few years. Optimal Optimus just feels like he was created overnight.

Other POTP toys give me play mechanics I don't get in prior versions of the same characters. The POTP Optimal Optimus is strictly worse that the original BW toy that I already own. He loses the tank mode and only gains a half gray/half black surfboard.

Well I'm not completely sure how doable an 'Optimus Primal to Optimal Optimus' was on the basis that, unlike the previous two figures, his forms have two completely different color schemes. The only want he could have worked better was if one form had been compromised in its look/color palette, which you'll note that for all the flaws of the figure this is not something to fault this one: the color and shape of both robot modes are, backpack parts aside, completely spot-on.

Skritz wrote:Well I'm not completely sure how doable an 'Optimus Primal to Optimal Optimus' was on the basis that, unlike the previous two figures, his forms have two completely different color schemes. The only want he could have worked better was if one form had been compromised in its look/color palette, which you'll note that for all the flaws of the figure this is not something to fault this one: the color and shape of both robot modes are, backpack parts aside, completely spot-on.

I understand and agree with your point. I just wish that the black robot could collapse inside of the orange robot's chest cavity or something.

The looks of them are amazingly spot on... which is why I'm okay separating the two of them. Optimal Optimus can still transform between robot and gorilla. Optimus Primal can just sit there and pretend to be a pre-BW version in robot mode.

Honest opinion from me?

This figure is why I’m upset Star Saber didn’t win the poll. Dude is literally perfect for the line’s leader gimmick yet the oust him and shoehorn Primal into something he shouldn’t have been in. Voyager figure that goes from cartoon-like bot to gorilla, sure, but not this guy.

I'm a Beast Wars fan. Heck, I've got Rhinox on my voicemail, for crying out loud. I follow Garry Chalk on Facebook. I watched Duck Tales and immediately recognized David Kaye playing Scrooge's ghost butler.

That all said--if I knew that the line's gimmick was going to be what it is, I would have been campaigning HARD for Star Saber. Not because I have a lot of love for the figure (though I do have a semi-working minus guns and weapons version of the G1 toy), but because it FITS the gimmick so well.

Optimus Primal doesn't, and (I think this is important) when they said Optimus Primal, I doubt most of the audience was thinking about a new Optimal Optimus toy. We wanted our freaking monkey bot.

Shame to hear that Optimus Primal isn't as good as he could have been, but I'm likely to still get him since it's an accessible version of a character that I've wanted in my collection for a while. Besides, I love me some Beast Wars and I'll take whatever Beast Wars toys I can get.

Also, I posted this in the toy haul thread, but Cindersaur showed up in the mail today and I figured I'd share his Amalgamous Prime card.

Yeah well, when we voted we didn't know about the gimmick. And probably neither did Hasbro at the time.

BombshellDaBug wrote:Shame to hear that Optimus Primal isn't as good as he could have been, but I'm likely to still get him since it's an accessible version of a character that I've wanted in my collection for a while. Besides, I love me some Beast Wars and I'll take whatever Beast Wars toys I can get.

Also, I posted this in the toy haul thread, but Cindersaur showed up in the mail today and I figured I'd share his Amalgamous Prime card.

Fucking hilarious! Cindersaur-Inferno custom when?

after seeing that review, while i still think he looks fun, i also feels like he doesn't get as much love from the designers, compared to another figures from this line. guess this is what happens, when a hardcore g1 fans designer, who even consider BW as obscure, forced to make BW character because he unexpectedly won the vote.

Upcoming Takara listings for POTP in November

Well, color me surprised with Unicronus being a standard release.

May has come and gone and none of the exclusive figures we were hoping to get for May Mayhem were released and most are still not revealed. For those keeping tabs, the exclusives that have yet to be revealed officially are Repugnus, Counterpunch and shuttle Blastoff.

While we still have no images of Repugnus, we do have some new info courtesy of a new Amazon listing.

It statues the following:

Special Edition Titans Return Repugnus and Titan Master Dastard
Features a Deluxe Class Repugnus figure with premium deco
Also comes with a special edition Prime Master figure, Solus Prime
Comes in special edition packaging; celebrate the Prime Wars Trilogy with this collectible set
Includes Deluxe Class Repugnus figure, Titan Master Dastard figure, special edition Solus Prime Prime Master figure, 2 accessories, and instructions.

The big take away from this is that Repugnus will be a headmaster and not a combiner. This means Hasbro will be completing the 3 monsterbots with them using the same gimick. It also seems he will be released in a similar packaging as Titans Return Arcee. The reason he is still part of Power of the Primes, at least somewhat, is because he does include the Prime Master Solus Prime. Like the Megatronus figure that will come with Blastoff, this is a special edition version of Solus Prime, so probably with clear plastic. Feel free to speculate as well.

Wonder which Beastformer this dastard will be based on this time (if the trend continues, that is).

Sabrblade wrote:Wonder which Beastformer this dastard will be based on this time (if the trend continues, that is).

When taking colors and allegiance into account, possibly Goldar (no, not that one) aka Ferocious Tiger, or the Laser Beast Brown Lion. As an aside, Black Panther/Jaguar is a Destron ally, and Scope Cougar in Legends had Toraizer's body.

It's always possible (and likely) they'll just use the already available Repugnus Titan Master.

Lore Keeper wrote:It's always possible (and likely) they'll just use the already available Repugnus Titan Master.

That's actually pretty unlikely, based on the way Hasbro does things. The Repugnus TM is molded along with his bug-suit, just as whatever body this new Repugnus is based on (my money is on Doublecross again) will be molded along with the TM for that figure. So to just use the pre-existing TM would mean, pretty much, throwing away one Titan Master and one Titan Master-accessory per Repugnus made. Much more economical to just make another new face for the Doublecross mold, and maybe switch out a part or two on that mold's partner TM to make it resemble a particular Battle Beast (or whatever what they should be called).

Qwan wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:It's always possible (and likely) they'll just use the already available Repugnus Titan Master.

That's actually pretty unlikely, based on the way Hasbro does things. The Repugnus TM is molded along with his bug-suit, just as whatever body this new Repugnus is based on (my money is on Doublecross again) will be molded along with the TM for that figure. So to just use the pre-existing TM would mean, pretty much, throwing away one Titan Master and one Titan Master-accessory per Repugnus made. Much more economical to just make another new face for the Doublecross mold, and maybe switch out a part or two on that mold's partner TM to make it resemble a particular Battle Beast (or whatever what they should be called).

My money is also on Doublecross, more specifically the Grotusque mold, with a new bug head, and maybe retool the arms/hands a little bit. Can't wait, then Repgunus can join my ever growing "I'm gonna shoot you with myself" club. Old photo below, I was going to update it a few times, but Hasbro keeps putting out either new mini weapons of figures I have, or figures of mini weapons I have. Guess I'll wait for Repugnus then get the crew together for an update.

I was hoping this would come with one of the unaccounted for Prime Masters, it makes me even more worried that they won't happen at all. Regardless, Twinferno is still fairly common at brick-and-mortar stores in my area, so I've been toying with the idea of adding the Monsterbots to my collection for a while. I can just pick up a discounted Twinferno from my local toy shop, get Repugnus when he's out, then rob a couple of banks to get Grotusque actually the Ebay prices for Grotusque are surprisingly okay for an older exclusive, so it might just be doable.

So a exclusive solus prime eh? I have to wonder what thought goes into deciding which prime master is put into these sets

So glad Repugnus is staying a TR figure to keep the trio the same. I would have still bought him as a combiner, but I wouldn't have been happy with the lost potential.

Emerje

Dastard: dishonorable or despicable person.
Ya know this is an Autobot right? That definition doesn't fit an Autobot at all. That name would work better for Swindle's headmaster (if he had one).

With that said, I can't wait for this figure. I LOVE REPUGNUS! My favorite of the 3.

It fits if in his character bio he upset the cons so switched sides to stay alive

Aimless Misfire wrote:Dastard: dishonorable or despicable person.
Ya know this is an Autobot right? That definition doesn't fit an Autobot at all. That name would work better for Swindle's headmaster (if he had one).

Not every Autobot is a model citizen. Blades, Whirl, Flame, even Repugnus himself are all downright despicable and/or dishonorable.

Aimless Misfire wrote:Dastard: dishonorable or despicable person.
Ya know this is an Autobot right? That definition doesn't fit an Autobot at all. That name would work better for Swindle's headmaster (if he had one).

With that said, I can't wait for this figure. I LOVE REPUGNUS! My favorite of the 3.

eh, pretty much the whole monsterbots trio are far from righteous. If anything, they are more lawless and more violent than the dinobots on the battlefield.

bacem wrote:

Aimless Misfire wrote:Dastard: dishonorable or despicable person.
Ya know this is an Autobot right? That definition doesn't fit an Autobot at all. That name would work better for Swindle's headmaster (if he had one).

With that said, I can't wait for this figure. I LOVE REPUGNUS! My favorite of the 3.

eh, pretty much the whole monsterbots trio are far from righteous. If anything, they are more lawless and more violent than the dinobots on the battlefield.

Repugnus takes the cake in that aspect. He's in fact been kicked out on multiple occasions, only to be asked back for jobs so dirty regular Autobots wouldn't go near them. Even better, the dirtier the job, the more Repugnus revels in it. So the name for the Titan Master definitely fits.

Kind of feels like Wreckgar got left out of having a little guy packaged with him.

Thank god. It has a Titan Master. They did it effing right.

Now. Just do these with Titan Masters, and my level of respect will increase tenfold: Springer, Sandstorm and Cyclonus. Just... Please. Please make everything match!

(P.S. They could do those three and then, like, a G2-Shuttle Blast Off, and a few other missing pieces. If they put Special Edition Prime Masters with each, we could get Special versions of each to hang out with the Pretender Armors. That would BLOW MY EFFING MIND. )

I don't know...we got really good springer and sandstorm figures just a few years ago...wait...it was four years ago

ZeroWolf wrote:I don't know...we got really good springer and sandstorm figures just a few years ago...wait...it was four years ago

They were GREAT figures. I'm still VERY fond of Sandstorm. But they don't match... And that keeps me up at night.

DecepticonFinishline wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:I don't know...we got really good springer and sandstorm figures just a few years ago...wait...it was four years ago

They were GREAT figures. I'm still VERY fond of Sandstorm. But they don't match... And that keeps me up at night.

Just pretend that the reason that the other Triple Changers are all Headmasters while Springer and Sandstorm aren't is because Springer decapitated them all with his sword (but left Sandstorm's head alone).

DecepticonFinishline wrote:Thank god. It has a Titan Master. They did it effing right.

Now. Just do these with Titan Masters, and my level of respect will increase tenfold: Springer, Sandstorm and Cyclonus. Just... Please. Please make everything match!

(P.S. They could do those three and then, like, a G2-Shuttle Blast Off, and a few other missing pieces. If they put Special Edition Prime Masters with each, we could get Special versions of each to hang out with the Pretender Armors. That would BLOW MY EFFING MIND. )

Better idea: make Triple Changers that match Sprimger and Sandstorm. Octane and Blitwing are cool toys, but to be honest I am most enjoying Megatron and Scourge from those molds. Broadside only gets a Passable plane mode if you use the Fan Mode, abd that... thing... Astrotrain turns into is NOT a Train. Hasbro knows how to do it, the Classics toy is beautiful if not a tad too small, and the G1 toy transforms nicely between the two. But this?