Primal
Prime
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Optimal Optimus. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Optimal Optimus here.)
Primal Prime's color
scheme is meant to mimic that of the original Optimus
Prime's, and it does that very well. The whites, reds, and blues definitely
give a nostalgia effect. I personally like this color scheme a bit better
than Optimal Optimus', mainly because red, white, and blue seem to go better
with a leader than orange, maroon, and silver. Especially cool is the use
of transparent plastic for Primal Prime's "blast-off" plates. It allows
you to see the arms underneath without actually taking the armor off. Very
nice indeed. Most of the beast chest is also transparent, allowing it to
light up as well when the electronics were activated. Cool! The color of
the light was not change in this toy, though, and the green eyes in beast
mode don't fit in well with the color scheme of the rest of Primal Prime,
which is a minor letdown. There is a slight mold change made you Primal
Prime's large gun; a separate button has been added to the back of the
gun that activates just the electronics. This way, you don't have to fire
the weapons if you want to activate the electronics. Definitely a nice
touch. You'd think, though, that since Hasbro did that, and since this
is a BEAST MACHINES figure, that they'd remold the Beast Wars Maximal symbol
on Primal Prime's shoulders into a Beast Machines Maximal one, but Hasbro
didn't do that. This loses whatever connection to Beast Machines the Primal
Prime toy had, and makes it definitely seem like a Beast Wars toy. They
even kept the old Beast Wars Maximal rub symbol under Primal Prime's beast
chest, for crying out loud! Other than this, however, Primal Prime retains
all the positives and negatives of the original Optimal Optimus mold.
I like Primal Prime
better than Optimal Optimus overall, not only because of the improved color
scheme, but also because of the added feature with the missle cannons.
I'd recommend Primal Prime over Optimal Optimus, but if you already have
Optimal Optimus, unless you're a completist, I'd pass on Primal Prime.
He's really different enough from his predecessor to warrant spending another
$30 bucks on one.
Review by Beastbot