Primal Prime

Primal Prime is aMaximalfrom theBeast Machinesportion of theGeneration 1continuity family.

"Non-Optimus-Prime-toy-into-Optimus-Prime" repaint #765.

Primal Primeis, essentially, the LivingMatrix.Born from theVok's fusion of theirknowledge,detritus left aboard theArk,and life-giving energies from theMatrix of Leadership,Primal Prime possesses great power and understanding. He is literally an army of one, able to assume multiplealternate modes,all of which are armed, deadly, and mobile. He is a conglomeration ofPrimes,assembled into a single, mighty force for good.

However, though he has the presence and conviction of a Prime, he is still technically a newborn. What memories he has are but faint shadows of those long departed. Though he can converse with the departed spark ofAlpha Trion,leads Cybertron's finest, and is looked up to by evenformer Autobot leaders,he worries that he is too detached, too gullible, to lead his troops sufficiently. These crushing doubts are seemingly his only weakness.

Fiction

3H comics

Hope Quickstrike didn't leave a... present in there.

After theBeast Wars,sensing the approach of a new enemy, theVokreanimatedTigerhawk's binary spark and used it to grantTransmetalbodies toTigatronandAirazor.Traveling to Earth themselves, the Vok used theOptimal Optimus control suit,theTransmetal driver,and theMatrix of Leadershiphidden withinOptimus Primeto create their new emissary: Primal Prime. This new hero's spark, wisdom, and power would all be donated by the Matrix itself.Primeval Dawn Part 1Primeval Dawn IIPrimal Prime met the newly recreated Tigatron and Airazor, warning themdarkness would be comingand that he would be responsible for it. Nevertheless, the Maximals still decided to follow Primal Prime and went in search of more comrades to help their cause.

Primal Prime carried the Matrix of Leadership into battle withTarantulas(whose apparent Vok-caused death had all been a ruse allowing him to steal their power) and his minions. In a tragically decisive battle, Tarantulas tore open Primal Prime's chest and removed the Matrix, gloating about the beginning of the "End of Days". Airazor bemoaned the fact that, by separating the Matrix from Optimus Prime and containing it within Primal Prime, the Vok had dissolved "the primal forces that bound it to a leader-born", making it vulnerable to Tarantulas's goals.Primeval Dawn Part 2

I'm gonna Vok you UP.

The shock of the Matrix's forcible removal sent Primal Prime into a sort of limbo, with the Maximals assuming his synapse network had been burned out. While in limbo, Primal Prime communed with the Vok, who divulged their origins as theSwarmand said they were "of the source, of the core, forever committed to the safeguard of The Plan." The Vok then went on to merge with Primal Prime using him as a vessel, a pure font of energy to rival the Matrix itself. The newly Vok-empowered Primal Prime emerged behind Tigatron and prepared to go into battle.Primeval Dawn Part 3

After arriving on Cybertron through a transwarp portal fromEarth's past, Primal Prime and his entourage of Beast Wars rejects were suddenly under attack fromVehicon drones.TheWreckerssquadron commanderApelinqintervened, inoculating Primal Prime and his team fromMegatron's virus, moments before Apelinq was attacked byMirageand the two vanished into that same transwarp portal. Primal Prime took command of the remaining Wreckers, which thanks to Megatron was basically just their bossRodimus,and formed a new version of the Wreckers out of his crew. He thought Rodimus might object to being usurped but found the veteran Wrecker was oddly fine; Primal himself felt a kinship with Rodimus, like they'd met before.Apelinq's War JournalsApelinq later came back.

Smush smush smush.

Later in theBattle for the Sparks,the Wreckers rescuedOptimus PrimalandNightscreamfrom attacking Vehicons. After Apelinq and Optimus Primal caught up on theirforgotten history together,Primal and Nightscream accompanied the Wreckers on their visit to theOracle,where other small groups had also been summoned. Unbeknownst to Primal Prime, the Oracle was actually a tool of theQuintessons,but despite this deception,Vector Sigmawas able to break through the Oracle shell program and give Primal Prime a genuine order.

Primal Prime and his Wreckers were to travel off-planet. After Rodimus sought outArcee,and while being joined byCyclonus,Skywarp,andRotorbolt,the Wreckers fought their way through an army of Vehicons to secure anAutobotshuttle. Succeeding, they left Cybertron for their mysterious destination.Departure

Shortly after liftoff, the Wreckers detected a stowaway on board.Devcon,a former bounty hunter andImperial Peace Marshal,had started tearing up the place and bullying everyone who crossed his path. Primal Prime, Apelinq, and Rodimus managed to settle him down, but Devcon still begrudged the Wreckers for harboring Predacons and former Decepticons amongst their ranks.

Suddenly, their shuttle was sabotaged from within, and to Primal Prime's horror, Packrat detonated the back half of the ship, removing the Wreckers in the front half of the shuttle from risk, but killing Sonar, Spittor, and theDeployers.Primal Prime had separated Packrat and prepared their injured for repairs when he received a call inside his mind fromAlpha Trion,warning him of a traitor amongst their ranks.

Upon landing onArcha Nine,Primal Prime formed a scout team composed of Ramulus, Apelinq, himself, and their new medic-botCatSCAN.In the woods, they found themselves surrounded by the natives, and after a misunderstanding, they were introduced to the natives' Transformer guardians,GlyphandTap-Out.The pair had been stranded on Archa Nine for several hundred years and now watched over theAkalouthansand the mysterious artifact they worshiped, theDivine Light.Suspecting the object was what the Oracle had sent them after, Primal Prime retired to Glyph's library, allowing the event Alpha Trion had warned him of to come to pass. Wishing to steal the Divine Light, Cyclonus damaged Rotorbolt, killed Packrat, and was about to escape Archa Nine with the object when Primal Prime and the others returned to find him. After mocking them for their inability to function as a team, thus allowing him to steal the artifact easily, Cyclonus left. Primal Prime hung his head in shame, knowing he had failed.Betrayal

In the aftermath of their betrayal on Archa Nine, Primal Prime retreated into himself and the Matrix. Ultimately, Primal Prime decided that the Oracle chose him for a purpose, and that he should have faith in himself and in his team, no matter what had transpired. Gathering the Wreckers, he told them to prepare to leave Archa Nine immediately, for he had been given a new destination during his communion with Primus. However, Apelinq's skepticism continued to nurture, and the others had growing doubts of their own.

It's just like G1, but with giant monkey fists.

They traveled to an icy planet ten systems away, and Primal Prime ordered Apelinq, Rodimus, Arcee, and Ramulus to follow him quickly outside, while Apelinq protested their hastiness. Apelinq's worries were, for the moment, unwarranted, as the sole inhabitant of the planet seemed to be the excommunicated QuintessonAl-badur.Though the Wreckers eyed him uneasily, he was willing to tell them the history of the Quintessons' attempts to use Vector Sigma to enslave the Transformers race. When Al-badur revealed that the Oracle itself was a Quintesson creation devised to control Vector Sigma, Primal Prime was taken aback. Had they been led astray this whole time?

However, for Apelinq, the pieces now fit together, and he recounted how the real Vector Sigma had broken through the Oracle shell program, giving them a real mission. Primal Prime was reassured during the brief moment before the Sharkticons attacked. Though the Sharkticons were armed with strange (yet somehow familiar) technology, they were eventually overtaken by the Wreckers. With Al-badur, the Wreckers left once again, but this time for Cybertron.Disclosure

During the Wreckers' transit to Cybertron, Alpha Trion once again contacted Primal Prime through his Spark. Primal Prime was fraught with confusion, worried that if the Oracle were truly a Quintesson creation, if that meant Optimus Primal and histechnorganicswere a horrible misstep. Alpha Trion reassured him; Primus worked in mysterious ways. However, before Alpha Trion could finish the warning he intended to deliver, Primal Prime's contact with him was interrupted, and Primal Prime awoke. After arriving in orbit above the newly reformatted Cybertron and finding a full-scale Quintesson invasion, Primal Prime ordered his troops to concentrate only on Cryotek, the real threat. Taking Apelinq, Ramulus,Tigatron,and Al-badur with him, Primal Prime leapt from the still-airborne shuttle into the battle below.

But their subterranean attack on the Predacon gangster, grown to intimidating size and power by the Divine Light, was costly. Primal Prime had sacrificed himself, taking a fatal hit that was intended for Apelinq. With two of the Wreckers' most powerful disposed of, leaving only Devcon,Tigatron,Ramulus, and the Quintesson, all hope seemed lost.

Suddenly, a glowing titan formed before them, from the combined bodies of Apelinq and Primal Prime into a single powerful entity:Sentinel Maximus.Wreckers: Finale Part II

A year later, Primal Prime was one of several Transformers from all eras and all realities across themultiversesuggested byAlpha TrionforOptimus Primalto recruit into hisChildren of Primus.Optimus Primal decided to pluckRhinoxandDepth Chargeback from death instead.Homecoming

Wings Universe

They got a nice frame and everything!

The product of alien science and the Matrix of Leadership, Primal Prime was born at the end of the Beast Wars, possessed of the wisdom and memories of the Matrix's previous bearers. Prime came to command the Wreckers during a Quintesson invasion of Cybertron, but subsequently went off the radar, his activities classified by theHigh Council.BotCon 2014 Primal Prime's bio

When Primal Prime returned to the public eye, his celebrity status caused him to become the focus of constant public adulation, something the humble Maximal disliked. Prime also came to develop an antagonistic relationship withGinrai,the brash commander of theCybertronian Knights,and argued with him over the Knights' recruitment of amoral ex-Wrecker Devcon. Eventually, Cybertron's great sageAlpha Trizerdecreed that the Wreckers were to be reformed, with the new mission of protecting Cybertron's interests across the galaxy. Primal Prime accepted this task, and set out with his new team aboard theRodimus Major.He invitedFlareupto join the Wreckers, but Ginrai had already recruited her into the Knights.Apelinq's personal logs

TheRodimus Majorand its crew, while nearing theDark Nebulato check in on a colony ofPredacons,disappeared into a spatial anomaly.Primal Prime's customization class bookletJust before the ship fell in, Primal Prime orderedFireflight,the only crewmember with an FTL-capable alt-mode, to return at top speed to Cybertron with their logs.Apelinq's personal logs

An image ofBlackarachniaand Primal Prime (presumably taken during the Quintesson invasion), hung in the headquarters of the Cybertronian Knights in2984.Hoist the Flag

TransTech

The Convoy badge on his chest keeps him from being deported.

Hailing fromPrimax 700.0 Beta,Primal Prime surprised theTranscendent Technomorphsupon arriving inAxiom Nexusas his incursion was initially thought to be a rare instance fromPrimax 509.28 Epsilon.Rook - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/06/04He became a member of theConvoy.Andromedamistakenly reported him to be from Primax 509.28 Epsilon,Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/05/21a misconception which was corrected byCheetorin an interview withRook.Rook - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/06/04

On the morning of theWaruderinvasion of Cybertron, Primal Prime was amongst the many offworlders in Axiom Nexus's Under City. He kept company withRamulusandTap-Out.Cybertron's Most Wanted

Toys

Beast Machines

Primal Prime saves his gorilla mode for very special occasions to which you are not invited.

• Primal Prime(Super Class,2000)
  • Accessories:Gun, 4 missiles

Primal Prime, a red and blueretoolandrecolorofOptimal Optimus,was available in limited quantities of 10,000. Like Optimal Optimus, Primal Prime featured electronics and four transformations—robot,ape,jet, and armored transport. It came with four missiles, two of which stored on its legs. Its forearms featured blast-away armor plates that could also be pegged to its upper arms. The red and blue colors are designed to make him look more likeOptimus Prime.

The mold previously fired its nipple cannons and lit up lights in its head simultaneously. Primal Prime was retooled to have separate triggers for the lights and missiles, so as to avoid kids (or adults) shooting themselves in the face. There are other minor molding differences, such as explanatory arrows on the inside of his shoulders (indicating which holes are peg-holes instead of screw-holes).

In November 2000, this toy was released without changes (save some stickers slapped on the box) as aToys "R" Usexclusive in Japan, making him the onlyBeast Machines-related product the country received until2004'sBeast Wars Returns.

• More information on Primal Prime at TFU.info

Titanium Series

An unreleased toy of a 3H Wrecker? How could this happen???

• Primal Prime(6-inch Cybertron Heroes, unreleased)

Titanium SeriesPrimal Prime was to (naturally) be a redeco of theOptimal Optimustoy. Unfortunately the line was canceled and there are no plans to release any new figures, including Primal Prime. Primal Prime was listed as a co-sell on Titanium Grimlock's packaging, but never saw a release of its own.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Timelines

I traded in two of my modes for this surfboard and these magic beans!

• Primal Prime(BotCon 2014customization class toy)
  • Accessories:"Surfeblade," blade, "laser-guidedincendiary missile",Wreckers key

Primal Prime is a redeco ofTransformers: Beast Wars 10th AnniversaryDeluxe ClassOptimus Primalwhich could be assembled and painted while inBotCon 2014's customization classes or bought separately unpainted. Primal Prime comes with a hoverboard with two5 mm postsat the base, allowing him to ride it in his gorilla mode, or hold it in robot mode via the 5mm posts on his robot palms/gorilla feet. When aCyber Keyis inserted at the rear of the board, a spring-loaded extending blade deploys, and a trigger is revealed to allow one to use the spring-loaded missile launcher at the tip. Though it is not intended to be removed, the blade can be popped off and held in Primal's hand thanks to his posable thumbs. The customization classes included a sticker sheet for Primal Prime as well, with a number of optional sticker choices for customization.

This mold wasredecoedintoCybertronOptimus Primeand BotCon 2014Apelinq.

• More information onTimelinesPrimal Prime at TFU.info

Notes

I got yer pose!

• Primal Prime really takes the whole "amalgamated Matrix bearers" thing to heart. In "Departure"he borrows iconic poses from bothOptimus Prime(his "main event" leap in "End of the Road!") andUltra Magnus(his dramatic pointing inThe Transformers: The Movie). He may be conspiring withRamulus,however, who helps set up the first homage by paraphrasingThunderpunch's line.
• The apocalypse that Primal Prime foresees in "Primeval Dawn Part 2"is theUniverse War.He says it will be his fault, and that's technically true. TheWreckers' failure to stopCryotekfrom obtaining theDivine Lightresults in Primus's powers being online long enough to attract the attention ofUnicron.
• Transformers: A Visual Historycontainsan unused Primal Prime-esque decofor thePower of the PrimesEvolution Optimal Optimustoy, possibly a preliminary idea for theThrone of the Primesrelease.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Primal Prime(プライマルプライムPuraimaru Puraimu)

References