Probably Shockwave.
Shockwave was one of the choices and I suspect his "super mode" probably informed the Siege Leader we got.
Anyway Unknown Evil was Deathsaurus
Now, remind me, that Bludgeon/Ruckus set is supposed to be available through Amazon as well as Pulse, right?
Yes
I recall a lot of people who voted for Optimus Primal saying, in hindsight, that they wouldn't have voted for him had they known about the Evolution gimmick beforehand, after seeing the less than stellar Optimal Optimus toy that resulted from his winning the fan vote.
Thing is as soon as I heard what the PotP Leader class gimmick was, I knew that's what they'd do for Primal. It just makes sense. I mean... I know it's technically Optimus Prime's spark he's carrying in BW, but it looks a hell of a lot like the Matrix and in my mind the Optimal Optimus body is what Primal would have had if he'd gotten a proper "Prime" upgrade anyway so... I really wasn't sure what people were expecting.
Honestly? I have the toy. It's the Optimus Primal in my collection and I kinda love it.
ZacWilliam, missed it on Pulse driving home...
A small Optimus Primal that had a properly painted face and didn't turn into a giant slab.
Being able to turn into all four of Optimal Optimus's original modes would have been nice, since being a quad-changer was Optimal Optimus's whole thing.
Oh, and having a torso stable enough to not come apart at the slightest action while actually playing with the toy would have also been nice.
And I know I'm being picky with this one, but... the chest cockpit being the correct color of orange would have looked so much better (the gray cockpit really only looks good for the Throne of the Primes redeco version).
I actually tried to correct the last one, myself, by getting the official decal sheet from Ocean that had stickers to change the cockpit to orange, but when I tried to apply those stickers to the figure, they disintegrated in my fingers upon peeling them off the sheet.
Oh, and having a torso stable enough to not come apart at the slightest action while actually playing with the toy would have also been nice.
And I know I'm being picky with this one, but... the chest cockpit being the correct color of orange would have looked so much better (the gray cockpit really only looks good for the Throne of the Primes redeco version).
I actually tried to correct the last one, myself, by getting the official decal sheet from Ocean that had stickers to change the cockpit to orange, but when I tried to apply those stickers to the figure, they disintegrated in my fingers upon peeling them off the sheet.
The draw of the figure was Optimal Optimus
To me the Optimus Primal figure gave the figure a surfboard as an homage to TM Primal, and he's a pretty ok "Cybertronian" mode Primal. I donno. I don't get the hate. We ended up with a proper update of Optimus Primal for Kingdom anyway.
To me the importance of the Optimal Optimus form isn't that he's a quad changer, it's that it's Primal's form when his spark is merged with a Prime's. Which, incidentally, made it the perfect form to focus on for a PotP figure meant to depict Primal as a Prime.
Maybe I got lucky with tolerances but mine is pretty solid.
It's in the eye of the beholder. So it's all good. Personally the cockpit colour isn't anywhere near a deal breaker.
Look.
None of these complaints are invalid. They just don't bother me.
My take on it? Optimus Primal takes in the spark of a Prime that looks a lot like the Matrix and becomes Optimal Optimus so it made all the sense in the world to focus a toy on the Optimal design for him as "the next Prime."
So when it wasn't what people expected it's just like... this was the obvious direction. Like... maybe a smaller Primal in gorilla form that wears a bigger gorilla that is the Optimal body as armour... maybe?
I'm just fine with what we got though.
The whole Primal vote just seemed steeped in fandom negativity though so...
Just give it the Premium Finish treatment. It doesn't need much.
It's not that people didn't want it to be Optimal Optimus, It's that people wanted it to be able to do all the things that the original could do, to be an update that was as good (if not better than) the original toy, even if that meant it being a little smaller to fit in the Leader Class price assortment.
The original toy existed before season 3 of the cartoon did, meaning it was created independently of the show's in-universe origin story. Hasbro made the toy on their own, then the show had to come up with its own explanation for it afterward.
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I love Beast Wars, but I always felt that Primal was the least interesting, most boring, and all around worst possible option for the poll. Of course, I also responded to a question about who should be the 20th anniversary figure that would become MP-1 with, "anyone other than Optimus Prime," so I might be a bit outside mainstream thought here.
My top choices were Megatron, Deathsaurus, and Star Saber. I also would have been OK with Ultra Magnus, Thunderwing, Arcee, or Shockwave. I know a lot of people talked about Hound, but I had no interest in him. Primal was dead last in my rankings.
In hindsight, knowing the gimmick, I definitely would have reorganized my standings. Megatron into Galvatron would have still been my top choice. Star Saber, Magnus, and Thunderwing would have been the next tier. I would have been curious about Arcee or Shockwave, but neither stood out to me. I still would have really wanted a Deathsaurus, but I don't think the Evolution gimmick would have been a great fit, though maybe they could have done something interesting with his beast partners. Hound and Primal were still the least interesting choices, even if Primal was admittedly a good fit for the gimmick.
With even more hindsight, after getting HasLab Deathsaurus and Star Saber, plus Kingdom Magnus... well, I still would've really liked a Megatron that evolved into Galvatron. After that though, I think Thunderwing is the option on the list that would have had the most lasting appeal. I'd imagine the small figure being the inner robot, with the evolved form being his shell. That's something that would have still been part of the core collection in my primary display case today. I actually really wish he had won, now. And I say that as someone who really disliked the Marvel comics.
My top choices were Megatron, Deathsaurus, and Star Saber. I also would have been OK with Ultra Magnus, Thunderwing, Arcee, or Shockwave. I know a lot of people talked about Hound, but I had no interest in him. Primal was dead last in my rankings.
In hindsight, knowing the gimmick, I definitely would have reorganized my standings. Megatron into Galvatron would have still been my top choice. Star Saber, Magnus, and Thunderwing would have been the next tier. I would have been curious about Arcee or Shockwave, but neither stood out to me. I still would have really wanted a Deathsaurus, but I don't think the Evolution gimmick would have been a great fit, though maybe they could have done something interesting with his beast partners. Hound and Primal were still the least interesting choices, even if Primal was admittedly a good fit for the gimmick.
With even more hindsight, after getting HasLab Deathsaurus and Star Saber, plus Kingdom Magnus... well, I still would've really liked a Megatron that evolved into Galvatron. After that though, I think Thunderwing is the option on the list that would have had the most lasting appeal. I'd imagine the small figure being the inner robot, with the evolved form being his shell. That's something that would have still been part of the core collection in my primary display case today. I actually really wish he had won, now. And I say that as someone who really disliked the Marvel comics.
"Arceus Prima"
Anyway, I think Arcee and Ultra Magnus were my initial votes, and then I went to Primal when they fell out in the later rounds.
I was voting more on "Who deserves to be a Prime?" than any sort of toy gimmick.
Judging from the artwork used in the poll, it might have instead been a Megatron that evolved into Super Megatron instead of Galvatron. Years later, Takara would give us their own take on Super Megatron that not only doubled as Ultra Megatron, but also tripled as the newly created Megatron Omega.
As for Thunderwing, since the Evolution gimmick wasn't yet known at the time, most probably assumed that he would just be a mere retool of Titans Return Sky Shadow, which may have deterred some from voting for him.
As for Thunderwing, since the Evolution gimmick wasn't yet known at the time, most probably assumed that he would just be a mere retool of Titans Return Sky Shadow, which may have deterred some from voting for him.
So like, is this a remold of the Legacy Lio Convoy we got before? Or something new for the anniversary?
It's a retool of the Legacy mold to give it the anime lion face.
With some repainted parts (gold mane, possibly white faceplate and abs)?
And when that toy was released I was eleven, the internet was something my parents used, and I was first introduced to the form via Beasties when Optimus Primal got it after taking in the Spark of Optimus Prime in a very Matrix-y looking container.
I don't think I saw the toy for another couple of months. Canada wasn't exactly known for the best distribution. I think Canadian Walmarts are still waiting on their RiD Scourges
Point is that, to me (and I've only ever defended the PotP toy from my perspective), this form of Primal was specifically a very special upgrade he got because he took in Prime's spark. That episode is lodged in my brain as one of the more important episodes of TF tv, and as such the importance of why he got the upgrade always seemed more important to me than his quad-changer status.
'cause I never had that original toy. It was big, expensive, and a character my parents had bought three times already (four if you consider they thought Optimus Prime and Primal were the same guy).
My longing for a version of that form wasn't based on the fact that he could awkwardly form a car made out of robot monkey parts. It was based on being the body that Primal got when he held Optimus Prime's spark.
Later on in uni I gained some more appreciation for it when I binged Beast Machines. Which was primarily concerned with the jet mode.
So when PotP Optimal Optimus came along...
1 he fit the theme
2 he allowed me to get a version of this design without breaking the bank on an aftermarket figure in good condition
3 he did everything I needed him to do (robot, gorilla, jet) plus a little extra (a fun Cybertronian mode Primal)
I'm not saying you're wrong for feeling like it didn't meet your expectations. I'm just saying I'm not wrong either.
What we get out of these characters and designs is ultimately personal and context dependent. It's the Ultra Magnus issue. Do you value him as a functional car carrier or do you want the figure to focus on the armour up gimmick? There's no right answer. Just whatever about the design/character resonates with you.
For me what resonated with the Optimal Optimus design was satisfactorily represented by the PotP toy.
The funny part is... I didn't even vote for Primal. I wanted Star Sabre, and had to pay crowd funding prices to eventually get him.
Primal wasn't even on my backup list (I wouldn't have minded a Hound W). Yet when the toy came out I was like "hey this is pretty good" only to find out later that everyone who apparently did vote for Primal hated it and assumed Hasbro was personally slighting them for "ruining" their fan poll.