So how many repaints did the original toy get?

 

Afaik the only redeco was Apelinq for Botcon. On the one hand I'd totally cave and pick one up, but it'll look whack af on my Wreckers shelf when Apelinq is almost as tall as Primal Prime lol

 

Only that one?

Damn.

I do remember that there was a run of figures where Primal and Megs switched their chrome colors, so I wonder if TA will do the same, or if that would be too obscure of a reference.  

 

Back in stock at ShowZ if anyone is still looking. I just picked one up! I didn't even know this was a thing and randomly stumbled on to him on Saturday after seeing @Sixo video on it and immediately got one. I thought Transart only made legend scale so I never came into their TFW threads

TransArt Skateboard Gorilla Beast Wars Transmetal Optimus Primal

 

What reasoning is this? It's madness I tell you. You owe it to yourself (as a BW fan) to buy the TransArt TM Primal... j/k. I hope you don't regret NOT buying this when it's still reasonably priced.
I have two and love them, they are WAY bigger than the original. Such a handsome bot mode face compared to the toy... a He-man Gorilla! My kids dig it too.

 

I 2nd this.
Sure, the original was so close to the animation, as was the transformation... which I why TransArt's is as well.
But it is BY FAR a superior product!
While it may not meet some's criteria for MP because it lacks Die-Cast, it IS Masterpiece!
I just ordered 2 Cheetors (which should ship this week), and once funds replenish, I'll be getting a 2nd one of these as well!!!

 

die-cast construction is a lost art during the Beast Wars era.

 

In fact, it's literally Transmetal Primal who says this...

That means TransArt Transmetal Optimus is even MORE the masterpiece. Such attention to detail!

 

Honestly this is such a great rendition of Transmetal Primal that it’s easily one of my top 5 MP style Transformers of 2020.

 

Just saw this thread floated back up the board, and saw the comment, have to agree. He looks great! I really love the look of the blue transmetal paint. Can't wait for Cheetor to come out!

 

Been waiting for an Emgo review of this guy, but I'm guessing he's not getting this line.

 

Here’s my Hot Take:

TransArt's Beast Wars are THE best BW figures

They are such perfect representations of the toys/animation from our childhoods memories that casual observers accuse them of being overpriced knock-offs (even though they very-much-so aren’t), but when compared side-by side with their 1997 counterparts everyone can see how goofy our original toys looked.

Their transformations are simple enough to be done by a child, and are more akin to a calming fidget toy than a puzzle (even the Kingdom figures are quite complex). Admittedly this credit is due to the screen accuracy of the original Transmetal designs but Takara probably won’t make MPs (scale & detail) of these designs for another decade.

They are releasing figures at a very impressive pace (5 months between figures during the pandemic).

They are brought to us by fans willing to risk investment and legal action (like all 3Ps) to produce awesome figures that probably aren’t extraordinarily lucrative

but I'm not bagging on Takara's MPs at all (besides their release schedule), I have them all and they are absolutely incredible. Takara Season 1 MPs are definitely more impressive engineering achievements, no denying that. I just love how much the TransArt BWs capture the spirit of the OG toys with the additional scale & detail of MPs.

 

I agree whole-heartedly. When I first saw it, I was thinking it was a scaled up version of the original toy. Then I got it in hand and looked at some of the original toy pics and it's not that at all. I had conflated the look of the show and toy in my memory. This looks like what I remember the toy and the show looking like, so it's a perfect win win in my mind.

 

Primal is such a great figure. If you like TM beast wars this is a must

 

Cheers for all the positive people chipping in here about this guy and this line. Primal is on his way now and Cheetor is all paid up! Really excited about getting them and more from Trans Art.

 

Still hoping for a Transmutate reissue with the new pieces as well.

 

How do you think the chrome will hold up over time?

 

No way to tell.

I have some originals that are still pristine, and others ala TM Rattrap, have have any chrome left at all.

 

No one knows for sure as only time will tell. I have both Japanese TM and Original USA TM. TransMetal Rattrap (US version) flaked like nobody's business. Japanese TM Rampage flaked like mad as well (this was painfully expensive). Don't even get me started about Gold Plastic Syndrome on some of the other BW toys I had.
Best advice I can give you is if you buy these, you buy these to ENJOY and Play/Display or whatever you want to do with them to bring you joy. I wouldn't uses these as an "investment" too much.

 

I got this guy in over the weekend and I'm actually a bit conflicted about it.

On the one hand it's a good solid MP-scale TM Op, but on the other hand, it's basically an upscaled near-exact copy of the original toy.

I don't really know what I expected, especially after getting it in hand. I guess I never got that 'MP moment' from the transformation, there wasn't anything particularly new or innovative about the figure. I kinda think even Hasbro would make some changes to the transformation if they were to re-release the figure. Though after looking at the Kingdom Primal, maybe not, lol.

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from getting this guy, he's a perfect fit next to MP Primal and PE Beast Gorira.