Takara Tomy Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Leader Optimus Primal - Pictorial Review

We side step Studio Series release of ROTB and venture into the single release from Takara, of ROTB Leader Class Primal. 

In Package

I miss this kind of packaging. While I like the uniformity of the SS releases, I like the practical design use on this. 

Unlike Hasbro, Takara still maintain the use plastics on their releases. 

Full features of the toys can be seen at the front and the back of the box. 

Optimus Primal comes with a pair of blades and a pair of missiles. 

Alt Mode

First let's us see the alt mode. 

He comes in a mixture of grey, silver and black throughout his body, with green eyes. 

For those who had the previously released Kingdom Primal, you'd noticed the similarities. 

There's no kibble issue as you can see. But the hollow robot's under feet is quite annoying. 

The sculpt and detailing is well done, especially the textures on some parts of his body. 

Articulation wise, he actually quite poseable, especially if you compare him with the rest of SS beast characters. 

However one thing he is missing the stand on his two feet in alt mode (which to me is a really big miss) 

Size wise, I'd say he in scale in this mode (or really-really close) 

Apes together, strong

As far as aesthetic goes, he fits quite well with the SS lineup. So yeah, he can fill in the void for now.

It's okay, Primal

Robot Mode

Now, let's revisit his robot mode. 

Transformation wise, he follows the blueprint of a general Optimus Primal figure, like the Kingdom version. 

The black and grey/silver highlights fit the character well. Some of the parts with sculpted details can still be seen like his forearms and shoulder pads. 

Back view

Primal comes with face-change gimmick that was last being used on Super Megatron (if I'm not mistaken) .  You can choose between with and without mouth plate. 

The gimmick is quite easy but very practical. 

The detailing on his chest and face especially, are nicely done. 

There's no question about his articulation in robot mode. In addition to the standard range of movements, he also comes with butterfly joint at his shoulders and fingers articulation. 

Just like previous version of Primal, he comes with forearm missiles gimmick (which was not something he has in the movie) 

The 5mm port on his forearms, while a good addition, was done quite poorly in my opinion, protruding like that. 

His 2 blades are plastic grey with orange highlights and they can be attached together at the bottom of the handles. 

Slightly unrelated note, glad that they're not made out of soft, rubber plastic like the ones that comes with my 6" and 7" action figures. 

The 2 blades can be stored on his back, again, like previous Primals. 

His shoulder cannons can be flipped out from his back. The cannons used the push-missiles instead of using springs. 

While his design and aesthetic fits well with the lineup before, he's somewhat too big in robot mode. 

Right off the bat, if you're looking for a consistent and well-scaled display Primal with the Studio Series lineup, he ain't it. Aside from the size, the design is also not totally ROTB but feels like a mixture of ROTB and general Primal figure (especially the forearm cannons and the shoulder cannons) 

But as a figure, he's a good Primal. The overall quality is good and the joints are tight. The paint app is clean without any smudges. 

While SS Primal looks to be more accurate, if you don't need your Primal to be at the right scale, you really should look into him.