34 Optimus Primes
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1. God Ginrai (1988, reissued in 2002): Known as Powermaster Optimus Prime in the United States and Europe, in Japan, this toy was released as Prime's imitator, the often-drunk and abusive Ginrai (oh, those wacky Japanese) in the Masterforce series. Ginrai was different than the release we had here in the U.S. in several small ways I won't go into, and had Godbomber, a second trailer that changed into a drone robot or combined with his super mode to form an even bigger uber-powered-up form. Flash forward to a few years ago, when they reissued God Ginrai (as the larger mode is known). I always wanted Powermaster Prime as a kid, so I jumped at the chance to own the Japanese edition. Of course, they later ended up importing the reissue in the U.S. as Prime, complete with the second trailer. At least I have the nifty-looking Japanese box…
2. Cybertron Optimus Prime 2005): I really do like this guy, the biggest incarnation of Prime from the Cybertron series, mainly because he's a very cool-looking hybrid of elements from God Ginrai, Star Convoy, and Fire Convoy. However, his bigass cannons and even biggerass wings make him a pain to display because his footprint on the shelf is so huge. The cannons and wings are tucked behind the guys beside him.
3. Universe Optimus Prime (Spychanger) (2005): This one has an interesting history, because this toy wasn't actually designed to be Optimus Prime, and yet it was based on another Optimus Prime toy. See, when Hasbro imported Takara's Car Robots line (known as Robots in Disguise over here) in 2001, in addition to recoloring a bunch of older stuff, they decided to produce a handful of new molds. These new molds were all Spychangers, little guys with vehicle modes the size of Hot Wheels cars, complete with free-rolling axles. One of the four new Spychangers was of Scourge, who was a recolor of Generation 2's Laser Optimus Prime(who I'm going to talk about later). Spychanger Scourge followed the same design as the larger toy, but at a much smaller size. Then, a year or two later, Hasbro recolored the Spychanger as Prime himself. Weird, neh?
4. 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime (2004): The “ultimate” Optimus Prime, this was released in 2004 as a celebration of 20 years of Transformers. If you haven't seen this by now, you must have been living under a rock. It's big, it's poseable, and it's got die-cast to please the whiny fanboys who think everything should be just like 1984 allover again. Oh, and he has a light-up Matrix in his chest. Hasbro re-released this toy in brighter, cheesier colors for their Classics line last year.
5. World's Smallest Optimus Prime (2004): Just as the name implies, this is a very scaled-down version of the original Prime toy. Takara put out a couple of waves of these blind-packed micro-figures, although several of the later figures are hard to find. In particular, this is the “anime colors” version from the second series. I find that he looks nice standing on the shoulder of the large anniversary edition.
6. Armada Optimus Prime (Super) (2002): Big and saddled with a gimmick that not only eats your wallet but destroys most of his articulation, Armada Prime has a bad reputation with collectors and fanboys. That said, it's not an awful toy, but it has its limitations and is a brick from the waist down. The gimmick is actually kind of clever. The trailer is motorized and has an infrared receiver. The cab, in turn, has an IR transmitter in it. When you transform the cab into its small robot mode, it sends a signal that makes the trailer unfold into its base mode (which is one of the better Prime trailer-bases, ranking up there with the original version's). When you transform the smaller robot into its section of Prime's super mode, it sends another signal telling the trailer to transform itself into the super mode's legs. This combination scheme has led to many fans giving this the undignified name of "Super Pants Prime”.
7. Fire Convoy (2000): Known as Optimus Prime when Hasbro brought it to the U.S. under the Robots in Disguise line, this is the original Japanese release. Why is it significant that it's the Japanese version? Well, in the first place, the voice chip yells in Japanese instead of English. A toy that yells in Japanese instead of our stupid inferior gaijin tongue is immediately superior to one that doesn't. Secondly, Fire Convoy's plastic is sparkly and metallic, where Prime's is dull. Third, Prime has huge (and tacky) Autobot insignia on his vehicle mode's sides. And hey, I had this for a year before we knew it was going to be imported.
8. Beast Wars Optimus Primal (Gorilla) (1995): The most famous version of Primal as an ape, and the source of the horrible “TRUKK NOT MUNKY” meme. By the by, Primal isn't the same guy as Optimus Prime; think of him as a sort of descendant or something. Anyway, it's a big ape with enough weapons that he should have been named Optimus Postal instead.
9. Movie Optimus Prime (2007): In general I'm not a big fan of the 2007 movie's design stylings, at least not as toys. While the “greebly nanotech skeleton covered with strips of dismembered vehicle” look works on the screen, it doesn't translate well to three-dimensional objects. The largest version of Prime, however, is an exception, mainly because it doesn't go completely into the movie's design turf, and ends up being an interesting hybrid of it and traditional blocky mecha styles.
10. Energon Optimus Prime (2004): Called “Fatimus” by some fans and “Megazord Prime” by others, Energon Prime is something of an oddity. The usual Optimus Prime theme is that his trailer half becomes a base, then combines with the cab-robot to form his super mode. Energon Prime is unique in that the trailer's “base” form is a garage for four drone vehicles that form the limbs of the super mode. It actually looks more like something out of one of Takara's Brave/Yuusha series (but then, the Energon line in general had something of a Brave-y feel). You can barely see him here, which is probably a good thing.
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The Chef
Now With Even More Optimus Prime!
The shelf has recently expanded with the addition of two new Primes and two more Primals (up on the upper left of the
picture) dug out of the boxes - what with having to expand things to the top of the case, I had room to add them. They don't really fit in color-wise (which is why the other four aren't up there, too), but I suppose it's okay. At least it's not the huge (and orange) Optimal Optimus up there. The two new-but-not-really-new guys are:
Beast Wars Transmetal Optimus Primal: Well, he has the standard Optimus helmet, but thanks to the Transmetal "inside out" design stylings, he's also got an ape's mug and a bulging Arnoldesque chest. Overall, it's a very cool toy, even discounting the fact that his hoverboard mode is doofy and his gun looks like Darkwing Duck should be carrying it around. At least on mine, the blue chrome has held up fairly well, considering this toy is getting close to ten years old.
Beast Machines Optimus Primal (Deluxe: On the surface, the blue and black color scheme isn't too un-Optimusy, but I'm not very fond of the toy. Nothing really locks into place in either ape or robot mode. His gimmick is that if you pull his arm back and place his energy shuriken thing in his hand, he's supposed to throw it. It never works right. To make things worse, in gorilla mode, the shuriken stores in his shoulder and makes him look like someone set him on fire.
The two new guys are:
First Strike Optimus Prime: The new guy in the center. This is actually a repaint of the movie midsized Prime, in a sort of G1 Prime color scheme. I passed on the original version because I already have about six movie Primes with the flame job. It's a pretty good toy, even if it has a big backpack in robot mode and the truck mode's sleeper section is completely wrong.
Cyber Slammer Optimus Prime: Up on top, beside World's Smallest Prime. His silver truck grill seems to catch the light and cause all kinds of glare no matter what I do. Cyber Slammers are one of the movie line's tie-ins for little kids. Specifically, these are chibi little versions of movie characters with a sort of "pop and go" action...you push down on the robot torso, compacting it into car mode. Then it zooms off, automatically popping up into a robot on wheels. For the old-time fans, these are very much the descendants of the Throttlebots or Battlechargers.
The Chef
Now With Angry Drunks, Too!
I finally got around to buying a frame for my Neil Kaplan autograph, and added it to the shrine. Some of the fellow TVGA denizens (I'm not sure if it was John, Jen, or Dylan, but it's kind of thing that would be Jen's idea) got it for me at MTAC 2007, since I was stranded in the wilds of central Virginia and couldn't make it. The autograph reads, "So, too busy to meet Optimus Prime?", which is moderately amusing, considering I was indeed too busy teaching high school yard apes the finer points of literature.
For those who don't know, Neil Kaplan was the voice of Optimus Prime in Robots in Disguise, the American dub of Car Robots. While Mr. Kaplan did a good job with it, it was the only year he played the character and in fact the only time in the past 24 years that anyone other than Peter Cullen or Garry Chalk did the voice of Optimus. He jokingly refers to himself as "the George Lazenby of Optimus Primes". And he doesn't like being called an angry drunk, apparently.
The Chef
So you folks had better get cracking.
The Maitre d'
The first one's free
The Chef
If the first is free, so are the others.
The Maitre d'
Screw that.
The Chef
None taken.
Your next post will be "you don't control my brain". This is because I put that thought into your head just now.