Today I got a big box from www.jrstoyworld.com, with none other than the big guy himself; in fact, it came just as I was about to go online to see if he had been shipped yet. As usual, I don't have pics, but Remy's got a ton of them. Bottom line for the lazy, if you get one Transformer this year, it should be this one. A great toy, slightly hindered by gimmicks. One of the big attractions for GF Primus is the box (Or so I've heard), and it is beautiful. It's retro style box, that's great for storage and rather thick, so it can take a bit of a beating and still look good. On the front is a nice big picture, on the back, the art of all the Cybertron leaders and Primus in the background. Also, something that I like having, GF Primus comes with a bio card. I've got a nice small collection of them, this one is like Masterpiece Convoys. (His stats are NA for all, BTW) Okay, onto the toy itself. He comes in Robot mode, with about a dozen twist ties, and a dozen elastic bands keeping him secure, he's fairly easy to get out, and has the Chip Square, an Autobot Force chip (All silver, force code on the back), and 2 missles. He uses small batteries (included) on the Force Square, and requires 2 AA batteries that go on the right side of his waist. Since he comes in robot mode, I'll start there. This guy is a work of art, in that he's got a ton of detail work, I don't think anything is just a surface, they've got lines, etchings, just a ton of stuff, like Vector Prime) He's got a lot of color to him, but in a unified and rather symmetric form, and articulation of a super articulated figure. ankles (sort of), knees (Swivel and bend), double hips, waist, neck, double shoulders, (Swivel and bend) elbows, knuckles, mid finger, thumb. He doesn't have real feet, but he stands just fine on his hawklike feet. His shoulder cannons can rotate and swivel, so you can have them pointed up if you wish, or down to fire. In robot mode, he's well armed. He has double cannons on both forearms, that have a Force Chip gimmick to raise and extend them, shoulder cannons (That are really part of the back plates), and weapon clusters on his shins, and on the side of his legs, with missle pods, chain guns, and whatnot. Also on the legs are deployable crane arms, that have minicon ports on them. He has a very tiny amount of alt mode kibble on him, a bit of a rear "jacket tail" that hangs down behind him, and some of the rear plates behind his arms, but really, it flows very well, and looks real sharp. There's no Unicron planet kibble hanging off him with giant plates that get in the way. He reminds me of a combination of BWNeo Big Convoy and Unicron. (Yes, when it comes to me, I think everything revolves around Big Convoy. ) Transformation, unfortunately, requires the Force Square. A lot. However, transformation is very simple, very fast, and very easy, everything goes right together without fuss and snaps securely in place. In fact, he transforms very similarly to BWNeo Big Convoy Using the Force Square on the leg sockets like a crank to turn the outer shell around (Press in the missles/cities if you haven't). Put the legs together, spin the waist, fold in the feet, missle pods on the legs. Put the arms at the sides, use the force square to slide a lever to lower head, shoulders, chest plates Raise the cannons, and rotate the missle pods to the middle, rotate around and snap into the planet shell. bend at waist, bend at knees, lower half fits into the top half. Fold up knee plates, lower "jacket tail", Use the Force Square on the back to swing the top two planet plates into place. Done. Planet mode is small. I mean tiny. He's a sphere (An actual sphere too!) about 7 inches in diameter. He's studded with little cities, and cannons/spikes, and minicon ports. 9 minicon ports. 1 on each arm cannon, 4 around the North Pole Force Square port, one on each of the cranes, and one that is on the "jacket tail", which I consider in planet mode to be the "front". At the bottom, he's got four hard rubber stands. The only piece of robot mode showing at all is his fingers, the rest is invisible. You can use the force chip gimmick again to deploy the forearm guns, which are now just below his equator. Transdimensional mode is planet mode with the above mentioned forearm guns deployed, and using the Force Square on the North Pole socket to spread the top planet plates which also spring deploys his shoulder cannons. (Once again, like Big Convoy, his third mode is just alt mode with the major weapons showing. ) When the Force Square does this, if Primus has batteries, there's a sound effect, a kind of trilling space engine thing. A few notes. Once you plug in the Force Square, most of the operations can be carried out by hand. You don't have to crank the Force Square like a screwdriver to rotate the planet shell legs, just plug it in, and rotate by hand, use your thumb to move the north pole socket, etc. Each time you plug the Force Square into any socket, it lights up. This means that unless you remove the batteries, you can't store the Force Square in any socket. Unlike Unicon, Primus' eyes only light up when you use the Force Chip to raise the head, shoulder, and pectoral plates, with an accompanying sound effect. There is no button to light them up on their own, or just by plugging in the Force Square to the chest. The Force Square is just like a dead accessory for Force Chips, they snap in nice and secure, but don't do anything to the Force Square. (Guess all the Transformers were lied to, they didn't need to get them to waken Primus. ) Even here there's details, little detail "etch" work on the Square below the Force Chip ports. It would've been nice if there was a button, or it was wired so that when you plugged in the Force Square into his chest, his eyes would light up. It also would've been nice if the Force Square wasn't so integral, and that there was a storage space for it that wouldn't require removing the batteries or draining them. However, in planet mode, the North Pole Force Square Socket slides back and forth to deploy the Transdimensional mode, and there's enough space next to the socket to put the Force Square. While it doesn't fit securely, it is stable and someplace to put it. (Since if you lose it, you're screwed.) In planet mode, I am reminded of the Warworld, or some similar design with all those weapons. (Perhaps even a War TARDIS) IMHO, this is a far better figure than Unicron, so much so, it's not really a fair comparison. However, it's got some nicely detailed cities, and having read and looked around, looks like all the major TF cities are there. At any rate, this is a fantastic figure, and well worth every penny I paid to get him. If you're not inclined to get the Galaxy Force version, I don't blame you, but I would urge you to get the Cybertron version. This has pretty easily become one of my favorite Transformers ever.
About 4 pounds (I'm guessing), and he's very sturdy. Outside of doing something extreme, I can't see breaking him. Nothing feels flimsy or fragile. His spikes/cannons on his outer edges are soft plastic/rubberlike so they flex and bend instead of break. Also, most of his joints are pretty tight to, so there's no problem there either, and as mentioned, everything fits together well, fitting in just as it should and locking/snapping into place.
Haven't had the chance to open up my Primus yet (small box!), but noticed that the box depicts the 4 golden-colored Planet Force chips ... which don't ship with the figure. Out of curiosity, what figures DO they ship with, if any? -XCN-
There the force chips that come with, Scourge/Flame Convoy, Evac/Live Convoy, Ovveride/Nitro Convoy, and Metroplex/Megalo Convoy
Ah, makes sense. Was that true for the Cybertron toys as well? I finally got my Primus unattached from the box (which took a while, since I wanted to save some of the ties to repackage him for storage later). He's a shellformer in the truest sense of the word. He's also, as mentioned before, TINY -- or at least, a lot smaller than I expected him to be. But he's exceptionally detailed; I'm gonna need to find a map or two of the surface so I can figure out what's what. With the exception of the kick-ass back graphic, the box is pretty generic. The pose they have Primus in is rather unflattering to his legs (ooh look ... miles of flat white plastic). Would it have killed Takara to do a straight-on shot from the front? I guess they were trying to imitate the rendered pose. That said, the back poster thing is AWESOME. I actually recognized every figure except one (the guy to the right of Victory Saber). I pretty much agree with everything Pravus Prime said in his review, so I'll just fill in or re-emphasize things that he either didn't cover, or are important enough to repeat, starting with: The Chip Square is REQUIRED for almost every aspect of the transformation. There are probably ways to fudge some of the locking mechanisms (the first one to open the planet is pretty easy to pry open), but they're Not Fun. I suspect hacking the locks to rotate the planet quarters around the legs is ESPECIALLY unfun. So if you lose the Chip Square, you're screwed. Additionally, there are batteries included inside the Chip Square (2x A76 cells) that cause it to light up when inserted. So, while you COULD theoretically store it in one of the locks, you'd better take the batteries out first. Otherwise, there's no way to securely store it, as Pravus said. I have a pretty low opinion of gimmicks, and an even lower one of required gimmicks (ala Armada Prime's battery-operated trailer). I consider this particular gimmick, combined with the high price point, to be a ticking time bomb. To be fair, the Chip Square/Omega Lock is rather large and noticeable. You can even stand it on its tip. While he looks good in both modes, it's obvious to me that Primus was designed with an emphasis on the planet mode. Unlike Unicron, he's perfectly spherical (except for the giant swaths cut out for the cannons). The downside to this is that spheres roll without stands -- so four large rubber feet are permanently mounted on the underside. Unfortunately, they can't be retracted or folded away. Partially flat planet, or round planet with leg stands -- take your pick. Getting Primus to peg properly into planet mode is a little tricky. There's a groove in his heels that HAS to line up with the ridge on his head, or else he won't close up all the way. The mechanism that opens/closes the planet shell and releases the cannons has to be locked in all the way. The arms need to be lined up properly so the shell edges interlock. And so forth. The good news is that, once you've got him pegged together right, he's solid as a rock. No bits of crust falling off here. Transformation is fairly easy going both ways -- mostly because it's automated with the Chip Square. Raising the shoulder covers/chest plates/head in one swipe with the Chip Square requires a fair amount of force, and may be a bit difficult for kids. Both arm cannons are Force Chip triggered, but can be manually yanked out without any problem. I kind of wish there was another way to pop out the missile things on his legs other than pushing on the cities, because I'm afraid I'll wear off the paint. I think there was some complaining regarding drooping shoulder covers with the proto, but there's no such problem with mine. The fingers are fully articulated, and ridiculously long. The thumb is not -- it just swivels back and forth. Yes, Primus can flip the bird. The feet aren't really feet. They're hemispheres with toe points. They'll hold him up fine in a straight pose, but they're not so hot for leg articulation -- which is a shame, since he has the necessary knee/waist/torso joints. But he's solid as a rock when standing straight -- no wobbling here. There is a battery gimmick on the figure proper -- 2 AA's in the waist. As near as I can figure, all it does is flash the eyes and make firing noises when you raise his head/shoulder covers/etc. Not as annoying as it could've been, but nothing special. The shoulder cannons are a LOT shorter than I pictured them. They honestly look sawed-off. Primus has nothing on Fort Max, cannon-wise. They're a bit more impressive in transdimensional mode ... but then there's something a bit creepy about a half split-open planet with giant guns sticking out. Be glad you don't live on Cybertron -- quake insurance must be ridiculous. As you'd expect, there's a ridiculous amount of detailing on this figure, rivaling the stuff on Vector Prime. Half the fun is combing over the planet surface to figure out what's where. (Though you'd think someone would be suspicious of all the missing mass where the cannons go.) Planet kibble is handled pretty well, except for the tail piece -- it would've been perfect if they'd added another pivot to swivel it around and up flat against the back (ala Alt. Skids). Is it worth it to get this figure? Hell yes. Is it worth it to get him NOW? I can't answer that for you, but I'm not sorry I did. -XCN-
Is anyone else a little bothered that the peacefull planet former was the one that had more guns? I love the way primus looks, and each review or picture makes me want him more, but it bothers me a little that he has more gun barrels than his brother does.
Yep Nope Anyway I also got Primus in the mail yesterday, didnt really have time to take a really good look at him, took a few snapshots in robot mode (which is awesome BTW) but that's about it. Will throw in my 2 cents later today once I get a chance to sit down with him, but my initial impressions of the toy are very positive
I was curious, so I dug up my Armada Unicron for a quick comparison. Pravus Prime is right. There's NO contest. Even if you ignore the obvious faults (crappy planet mode, stubby arms, loin pieces falling off), there's much, MUCH less detailing on Unicron than Primus. Granted, Unicron isn't a real planet that a bunch of robots live and build cities on, but the lack of detail in robot mode is unsettling when compared to Primus. Really, Unicron has a grand total of two things over Primus: non-freakish-looking hands, and the cross-ring in planet mode (which I'm still shocked actually works in a realistic transformation scheme, without removing and reattaching). Other than that, Primus is a far, FAR superior figure. -- One small complaint: I mentioned that it takes a fair amount of force to lift the head/shoulder piece switch. I'm changing that to a LOT of force, EVERY single time. I really, REALLY can't see being able to lift the head/shoulder piece switch with four Force Chips jammed into the Chip Square -- you'd be limited to using the transparent cross piece for leverage, and that's BEGGING for breakage. -XCN-
Ok after finally getting a chance to play around and take pictures of this guy last night here are some brief thoughts on what I think of the figure. - Start with the box first. I know there are quite a few haters about how its “just a box” but I say to those people, it maybe “just a box” but hot damn its NICE! I have it sitting across the room and man you could stare at it for a long time. Its very well done and just a beautiful bonus. And for me its more then just a box or packaging and is really apart of the whole package deal. - Robot mode. Well you could probably sum this up in just one word “awesome”. Having seen the fig up close at Botcon last year I can say after finally being able to hold it and play around with it its much better then I had originally thought. The attention to detail is much more precise then on Unicron, and you really notice a LOT of attention to detail went into sculpting it. Not just that too I found they really put a lot of effort into the little things on him as well. His force chip gimmick on his arm cannons is nice and make the toy good for posing especially for battle poses against Unicron. As well as the Omega Lock on his chest is pretty neat as well especially if you have all of the “gold” keys from each of the different planets. The light up feature on the Omega Lock when you insert it into the numerous slots on his body are also very neat, especially on his chest. Speaking of which it’s a good thing I looked at the instructions wile transforming him as you do need the Omega Lock at a number of sports to twist and turn in order to actually TF the toy into planet mode. This gimmick I actually kinda liked although most will probably find it a bit annoying. As for the transformation itself he is MUCH easier then Unicron to TF back and forth which I also liked as admittingly I never liked spending a lot of time figuring out really complex TF sequences. Also liked his shoulder cannons which you can move up and down so wile taking pics they don’t get in the way. - Planet mode. When I initially saw the pics of his planet mode I was quite disappointed. Even when I first TF’d him into planet mode I was a little under-whelmed. But honestly after taking a closer look and had some time to let his planet mode sink in a bit I must say my initial reactions have change quite a bit. Wile I still do find its his only real downside his planet mode is actually quite something. Again the one thing you notice after really looking at it for a wile is again the attention to detail. Wile from a distance he does looks kinda awkward, when you take a closer look you really start to see some of the great detailing and thought they put into it with the cities and so forth as well as the “taint of Unicron”. So wile I feel his planet mode could have been done differently its defiantly well done overall and up close the detailing is just great. I guess for me its mostly just having these pre-conceived notions of what the planet Cybertron looks like that really prevents me from seeing it as Cybertron per say. As for his dimensional mode or whatever its called, I must say its not bad. It’s a nice bonus, and I find it looks a lot better in person then by the pictures so for many its really take it or leave it, either way it does not effect the toy that much so people who don’t like the gimmick don’t have to use it. For me though it’s a nice surprise bonus that I really ended up liking quite a bit and I think it works pretty well. Anyway those are my thoughts on the toy. Not necessarily the most articulate review but that’s what I think at any rate. Overall this toy rocks, and it rocks hard. I wouldn’t say its better then Unicron but its not worse either. I would say each has its own standout points and both toys are overall awesome. For me Primus’s stand out feature is the attention to detail they put into this toy, and its obvious that much thought and care was put into that aspect of the toy’s design. Wile it maybe not be the most overpowering mould ever released its nonetheless very well done and is a must have for any die hard TransFan.
My Takara Primus arrived this moring, and I have to say I am VERY impressed. I like the planet mode a lot, and the robot mode is very imposing looking, with SO much detail. I'll be spotting new details for ages. The only ting I didn;t like is to do with the packaging; the way that the missile launchers are secured means that one of the rubbery spikes on his soulders was bent. I do have slight reservations about needing the Chip Square to transform him; I can see a lot of kids losing it.
I can see that too, and it's like when you had a Fort Max without the head. I'm waiting for the Cybertron version, one for me and one for me 7-year-old nephew. Even odds he loses his Chip Square.
I'm surprised to see this revived. However, I had been thinking about posting an update. It's been a while, and Primus has really grown on me, one of the best TF's IMHO. I took down Unicron from his "perch" at the top of my entertainment center, and Primus has been there.
