Product Line / Transformers Generations – War for Cybertron: Kingdom
Scale & Class / Voyager Class Transformers Figure
Manufacturer / Hasbro & Takara Tomy
Release Date / 2020
Appearances / Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom
You can somewhat look at the Tramsformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy as an attempt at the greatest hits of the original Generation One story extending all the way to the far future of Beast Wars. Kingdom, the third part of this trilogy, is their spin on the Maximal-Predacon conflict, adding multiverse hijinks to the already complicated time travel elements. And when you say Maximals, you cannot get away without Hasbro and Takara Tomy dropping an Optimus Primal figure. In fact, they have done several mainline Optimus Primal figures since the original Beast Wars. But I believe this one from Kingdom is arguably better than most, and is a good alternative to the more expensive Masterpiece version.
Kingdom Optimus Primal is your standard Voyager class figure, albeit a bit smaller. It can also come as a little stocky thanks to the proportions being on the more muscular side, but it works overall for a character based on a primate. Speaking of which, the humanoid-to-humanoid transformation can come across as there’s not much going on, but it is this accuracy to the on-screen model that collectors really appreciate. In fact, it also maximizes (see what I did there?) the articulation, which is very important for a character who primarily uses melee combat. Optimus Primal comes with several weapons, including two shoulder cannons, and forearm blasters with a clever pop out mechanism. There are also two Cyber Blades that can be stored at the back in both robot or beast modes. Speaking of the beast mode, Optimus Primal’s “fur” is done with very intricate sculpt work and looks quite convincing as a primate, if not for the several robot bits that stick out, which are totally fine in my book.
