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Dark purplish-blue legs, fists with curved thumbs (no ridge on hole), trailer innards, outriggers, and roller. Trailer has stickers inside on walls. Standard gun has lines on back inside of handle, as does standard hosepump base. Missles are black, and have a thinner shaft, and thinner bulges at the tip than do the black G2 missles. Why is that important? To tell between the G2 moldings, which we talk about later on. This is the standard prime unit, for which we will compare all other variations against.
 Of course, there are several possible variations even on the 'standard' Prime, dealing mostly with copyright stamping, as well as actual mold-changes to the cab (seperate from the major changes on the silver roller version, discussed below). That information is listed in the parts/accs changes later in the page. Other running-changes on the unit include the later introduction of fists with a thick ridge around them (to holdthe gun better, see also movie Prime). Conventional wisdom, at this time, suggests 4 standard Prime units (as described in the opening paragraph above) with minor changes spread across the run. These are to be counted seperate from the other units listed here, which came with their own particular mold changes (silver, blue, movie, Pepsi, etc). |
 Also thought of as one of the 'original', or 'Diaclone' Primes in some circles (as is the blue trailer; turns out they're both right). Unit comes with a gray roller, and gray missles. Instead of stickers on the inside, there are large metal plates affixed to the inside walls of the trailer. Easily seen from an outside pic of the trailer as well, as the molding of the sides was changed to allow the tabs to be made that hold these plates in. They appear as a set of 4 square holes; two above the sticker logo, and two below. The roller launcher on the trailer is gray as well (vs standard black). One last item on the trailer; the parts are not interchangeable with G1 Prime. :-) For example, if you snapped a trailer tab, and wanted to swap out an intact trailer bottom from standard Prime, it won't work. The molding is completely different in how the trailer sides attach and swivel with regards to the bottom. There are two versions of the trailer, identical in molding with the exception of the stamping on the hitchpin.
This is also the unit most commonly associated with the bloated hosepump base, bloated nozzle, and bloated handgun. Some things that people really don't know, or seem to get: this unit came with bloated blue fists for prime, versus the standard purple-blue (regular or ridged). It's easy to tell; they are a lighter color, bigger, (bigger shaft to allow a tight fit in the cab lights, which we will talk about later) and the thumb points straight out versus curling in.
Compare the dark blue colors between this trailer unit, and the standard unit. Either through the use of different plastics, or an actual color change, the hues of each unit are slightly different. The gray unit's dark blue is slightly darker than standard prime. Also, the obvious date/logo stamping on the trailer, which will either say Takara, and/or have a large 'T' in the trailer hitch (versus the standard Hasbro/Takara date stamp, and numberings up to 5 depending on version). Let's take a closer look at the cab: Again, you see darker colors. Also note that the chrome headlight pieces are molded slightly different; headlight holes are slightly larger; these accomodate the larger shaft of the bloated fists. Also, the chroming process used was different, which shows in the reflection of all the chrome pieces. Looking at the front of the cab, you will notice that the simulated holes in the front grill are of slightly different sizes between the units. Take a look at the smokestacks. In addition to being slightly thicker than standard Prime, look at the point where they connect to the arms. They're molded square, instead of round. Neeto, eh?
Continuing our look at the cab, the color of the legs are the same "slightly darker blue" of the trailer. Stand the cab in robot mode. Notice how the one foot sits forward more than the right? A molding problem that was corrected later on, which is why all Primes since this one stand straight and tall. Looking at the head, we see a different screw holding in the head compared to the standard Prime. A smaller screw, and one that sits up farther in the shaft. Also, the yellow of the eyes is sprayed on a little more haphazardly, and a shade more faded than, the standard Prime eyes. Somewhere, I have the image of the difference in grills, as well. Yes, there was a grill difference, too. :-) Seems like they tinkered with everything, huh? Now where did I put that scan... (Note from Joebot: "The leg joint parts on a solid inner grill bar G1 Prime are different from the "normal" split version. That is why almost all the original units are stripped out. It seems the teeth were a little bit too thin and angled too aggressive, so they would strip out instead of forcing the leg outward to the next position. Plus, the forearm arm holder peg tolerances are different. An original (or Diaclone) forearm won't match up properly to a second release fenderwell.")
Overall, this was the most radically altered of the Primes. If you want to complete a proper one, you have to pay attention to all the small details, lest you end up with standard Prime pieces mixed in. :-) |
 The main difference from the 'standard' Prime is the change in color on the trailer innards and the Roller. They are a light blue, lighter in color than the G2 blue (same color as one of the Pre-Tf trailers, but different molding). It appears to come with standard (non-bloated) accessories. Accept no substitutes! Some people try to "create" a blue G1 Prime by using G2 parts. It cannot be done without leaving a trace, most notably in the stickers on the outside of the trailer, which would have been poked or peeled back to allow someone to unscrew the inner trailer parts. If you have the correct trailer, it's easy to make sure you have the correct Roller; it will be the same blue color as the trailer innards. So don't let someone try to scam you with the G2 blue Roller.
There are two unconfirmed rumors regarding this unit; some people claim that a few of these blue units came with bloated accs (similar to the grey roller Prime, above) while others claim that the cab innards (the seats) are light blue like the trailer parts. Now I'll grant you, it would seem to make sense, considering the color of the bloated fists matches fairly well with the light color of the trailer, but...:-) I have yet to see any original units come like this. The untampered ones I've seen all seem to have standard accs, and standard (dark blue/purple, like the legs) cab innards. Best guess? That parts have been swapped out on the secondary market to create these (but it's always open for debate, like most things in life. :-)
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This is not a Diaclone; nor is this the fake. This is a real Prime trailer, with a 'supercharged' Roller launcher.
 This trailer has caused quite an uproar for fans of the Prime mold, as it isn't a mold that is commonly seen. It was difficult to place it in the american section initially, as there were so few to go around. The trailer comes in two types: metal-plated, and paper-sided (similar to the difference between the gray Roller and standard versions). Type 2, excepting the color, seems identical in-mold to the photoshoot Prime, seen in the very-first TF catalogs, the Type 1 is similar (some say identical) to the VSX trailer in Japan.
Type 1: Metal Plated
For tons more info on these trailer, including detailed pics of both types, click here! There was so much, we simply *had* to give it a seperate page :-) Well, what did you expect? Chopped liver? |
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Same as the standard G1 Prime, but it came with a pack of Pepsi stickers. Yeah, that's pretty much it. You can tell a loose Pepsi prime trailer by the small Pepsi stickers on it. :-) Hehe. The Canadian version of this has the Pepsi logo all the way across the trailer, completely replacing the standard logo. Of course, that's not an American variant, so I won't mention it here, no matter how cool I think it was. :-)
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Yay! They re-released the original Optimus Prime, in his original mold...or did they? As always, the engineers were hard at work making slight changes to annoy the masses. The obvious differences were the colors, of course. We had the legs of prime and the trailer innards in a nice blue color (darker than G1 blue) as well as a dark purple color. Compared to each other, molding was identical; just a color change. (Well, that technically is a fib; Zob states that "I've been examining my G1 Prime cab, G2 Prime cab, and Magnus cabs. It seems the G2 Prime does not have the ratcheting knees of the other two toys; you can see the slit in the plastic going up the upper legs in the other two toys where the upper legs wrap around the knee tab. The slits are there so the plastic can bend slightly when the ratcheting joint does its click-click business. G2 Prime's got no slits.") The color change applied across the board, from cab legs, head, seats and fists, to trailer innards and outriggings. Compared to G1 Prime, though...
 For starters, they added a cool voicebox, and equipped it with two missle launchers (that Prime can hold, in lieu of his gun) that fired large red missles. Further, Zobovor states, "You also didn't mention that the G2 Prime's head isn't screwed on at all--it's glued in place. (Which means you can't just break his neck-tab to give him some head articulation, darnit!)" Take a close look at the black missles. Remember way back at the top that I told you to take notice of the slightly larger shaft? They fit tightly in the G2 trailer launcher, and too tightly in a G1 trailer. They changed the molding. By the same token, G1 missles don't stay in the G2 trailer launchers at all; they just fall out. So contrary to popular belief, they are NOT interchangeable. Also, look at the hosepump base, and the the gun...ALSO a thicker shaft!
There were three other 'G2 Primes' released in the line, but not of the same mold: Hero Prime (Sureshot), a small articulated figure that fired plastic missles; Gobot Prime, a small red ferrari (mentioned in the Autobot section of the site along with his other variants) and our favorite, Laser Optimus Prime (also known as Optimus Octane, remade as Scourge in the RID line). |
 Yay! A reissued Prime in G1 colors. :-) First reissued in Japan (see Primes around the World section) he came over to the states as his good old self. A blend of G1 and G2 moldings, major changes include the shortened smokestacks, as well as extended-shaft missles (easy to tell these apart from G1 and G2). :-) Unit also comes with a silver roller (not gray, and note that the trailer is standard, not metal-plated).
 Interesting details: The trailer is the easiest to open of all the Primes. Door swings open smoothest. Stamping on the bottom indicates the use of the G2 mold, though they obviously tweaked it so the parts match up better. The holes on the launchers are slotted instead of round, to hold the modified missles. The hosepump base and nozzle are seemingly made to G2 standards (in terms of mold-indents, shaft-size, and smoothness). The cab has unslotted, non-ratcheting legs...and has, of all things, a rubsign INDENT on the headplate. :-) Overall fluid transform, and smooth (not loose) ratching in the arms. Note that the silver Roller is painted, not molded. This should (hopefully) keep people from trying to swap Rollers between the reissue and metal trailers.
One interesting thing to pop up on ebay recently was an all-clear Prime. We're waiting to see if this is a test-shot, a 'lunchtime special', or a possible future release. Why is it listed here? Find out! |
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Normally, this wouldn't get a listing here, but it's obviously meant to be the G2 Lazer Prime...or in this case, a mini-version of it. Released in the Armada line, this toy is a recolor from the mini-Scourge from RID (Scourge himself being a recolor of the G2 Lazer Prime as well...).
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