As well as being the largest BW toy he has the most modes - four - and he's the only BW toy to have electronics.
His Beast mode is once again an Ape. The design of the chest and head are quite similar to the Transmetal mega version but are this time molded in orange plastic as is the hands, feet, waist and robot gun. His upper legs, forearms, wings and blast shields round the forearms are grey. He's carrying a brown missile firing back pack. His upper arms are purple chrome and his shoulders and lower legs are blue chrome. He bends at the ankle, knee - odd joint here, it bends where it leaves the lower leg and again into the upper leg allowing you to contract the legs legs in beast mode. He bends at the hip and his legs fold to the sides. He turns at the waist but not at the beast head. His shoulders - arm and shoulder are quite close together in this mode - move back & forth, he's got a low bicep rotational joint above the elbow that bends, his wrists rotate and bend in & out and his thumb folds to the sides.
As I said above he's carrying a backpack. This can fold over the neck so the two clear missiles (there's a spare on each leg) are pointing out over each shoulder - this reveals a cockpit on his back. If you pull back on the rear of the back pack a little then the missiles glow red and the beast eyes glow yellow. Pulling back right the way causes the missiles to fire. Having consulted with the instructions I see there's a second way to do this: slide the lever halfway down the backpack to one side. The back pack separates in two allowing just the missile launcher to fold over the shoulders. The lights and missiles are then fired by pullin back on a tab on the back of the missile section but this is even more hair trigger than the other way I explained about.
I mentioned he had blast shields on his forearms - these cover three sides of the arm and on the fourth side (the front) there's a trigger that shoots them off. To remmount them the out shields need pushing into the centre section which in turn is then clipped into the back of the arm.
TF to Ground mode (Ground Assaul Mode in the instructions: Fold the missiles up over his shoulders. Uncouple the cockpit from his back by pulling up slightly then pull/fold it down onto the beast's bottom. Fold the missile section back and then rotate through 180 degrees so the missiles are pointing down. Pull the blue shoulder pads away from the body at the front - they and the arms will swing out to the sides. Fold the chest panel up from the bottom, fold the wheels out from under the chest and fold the head back under the chest panel - this is about the only point you'll see the energon chip rubsign under the head. Fold the shoulders back in locking them back onto the struts that hold the chest armour in place. Swing the arms round so the they point upwards. Extend the legs as far as possible straight under the beast and lock together at the lower legs. Fold the side panels on the legs forward exposing the wheels. Place on wheels at front & back and fold the feet at the ankle so the front of the foot is furthest back. Swing the entire gun/cockpit section through 180 degrees so it no faces the other way. Fold the cockpit down a bit but keep it level and facing forward. Fold the forearms in so it locks onto the front wheel
Ground Assault Mode is .... well it just about works. It rolls freely, it's got big guns and it's got an opening cockpit. But compared to the other modes it does look a little bit like an odd afterthought.
TF (from ground mode) to Air Mode: Unlock the beast arms from the wheels and straighten out. Pull the arms to the sides. Turn the fists so the back of the hand faces up. Fold down the wings on the upper arms. Fold the wheels back under the beast chest and the beast head out. Open the shoulders up, fold the chest in and lock back in place. Raise the cockpit up and forward a bit.
Hypersonic Attack Mode: Well it looks slightly more like a plane than the ground vehicle looked like a tank, and less like an afterthought. Here it's easiest to get at the cockpit and find you can open it up. It's far too big for a Zoids pilot but I wonder if you could fit a Diaclone man in it ?
TF (from Air mode) to Robot Mode: Flatten the feet up and stand on the feet. Fold the cockpit up and swing the backpack through 180 degrees so the missiles point down. Pull the shoulders out from the front again, fold the wheels out onto the beast chest, fold the beast head down into the beast chest and close the chest up. Bring the shoulders back to lock them back into place, but just before you do rotate each of them towards you 180 degrees raising them up a couple of cm. Then lock them in. Split the wheel on the beast chest in two and fold to the sides. Fold the cannon assembly back into the newly raised shoulder blades. Rotate 180 degrees at the waist. Fold back the wheel panels on the lower legs. Fold the cockpit up to lock on the robot chest. Turn the lower arm so the unshielded part faces forward. Turn the hands so the side of the hand is out to the side. Then fold the thumb so it's facing forward and in opposition to the other fingers. Unpeg the gun from the backpack and hold in the hand - there's a peg on the wrist that fits into the rear of the gun to help you. Finally pull forward and up on the back of the grey panel on the missile pack which folds forward with the robot head appearing and locks into place.
Resulting robot has all the articulation of the beast mode plus some shrugging shoulders and a turning head. When you activate the light gimmick the eyes in the robot head glow green. The head is the only new piece in this mode and is a Prime head with a mouth molded in orange with some blue paint on top. Personally I'm a traditionalist when it comes to Prime heads - blue with a face plate - and the head here looks particularly glaring due to the orange.
Overall: 10 out of 10 for effort. Very good beast and robot, OK jet and sort of OK ground mode. Nit picking there's the colours on the head and if I'm honest the rest of the toy as well - the blue on the legs makes you think of Optimus Prime but the orange is just wrong. Making the chest, cockpit shoulders & upper arms Prime red, and the rest of the orange blue would improve the look of the toy.....
This version of the toy also features a modification - the lights are now powered by a button on the back pack and not by the missile trigger. This improves matters somewhat especially if you're looking headlong at the missiles when they light up and accidentally go off ! This modification *may* be present on the Japanese Optimal Optimus if my memory serves me right.