In Defense of Octavia Prime’s ‘Plain’ Look

We’re reaching the point where the fancier frames are getting Primed now. Octavia is one of those fancy frames. She’s brightly coloured, dances around and has a cool gimmick. Compared to earlier frames, Octavia has a lot going for her. However, it seems that a lot of people think her Prime isn’t very fancy. In fact, I’ve seen quite a few people complain that Octavia Prime is very plain, unlike previous Primes.

While Octavia Prime certainly doesn’t need some random yellow Volt to defend her, I still kinda want to talk about this.

Octavia Prime is fancy enough.

I mean, how much can you really do to change Octavia up? She is already a dancing, twirling, electrical beauty. A musical mistress who lures you in and kills you with a heavy beat. The difference is that Octavia Prime’s model isn’t vastly different compared to her normal model. There’s definitely extra layers and the like, but there’s no fancy clothes or anything like that.

But Octavia Prime doesn’t really need too many extra layers. Normal Octavia is lithe. Actually, I take it back, she’s a complete stick. Her legs in particular basically are sticks! That being said, Octavia does have a lot of details, but they are much smaller and more discreet. So adding tons of extra details onto her Prime doesn’t make much sense either.

We’ve actually got a bit of a lore reason for this too.

Funnily enough, we’ve actually SEEN Octavia during Orokin times. Coming up to Octavia’s release, a small comic was revealed. In the comic “What Remains”, we listen to an Archimedean, an Orokin scientist. She is suffering from some form of amnesia, and is requesting to be turned into a Cephalon to protect her memories. At the end of the comic, we see Octavia and some Dax soldiers, who escort the Archimedian away.

“What Remains” is set during the Orokin era, during or just after the Sentient wars. All the other Warframes in the comics are Primed variants, meaning the Octavia has to be as well.

While this is a minor thing (and the Warframes are not that well detailed), it’s a potential side explanation as to why Octavia isn’t as over the top as previous Primes.

She’s still over the top though.

Just because Octavia Prime doesn’t have a fancy hat like Limbo, doesn’t mean she’s not fancy in her own ways. Sure, there’s no Mesa-like ass-less chaps, but Octavia’s fanciness isn’t based on clothes. She’s covered in glowing lines and golden trim. And the laser patterns on her arm dance and vibrate with the music Octavia generates. I mean, the only thing that isn’t very fancy about Octavia Prime is her Resonator. It kinda just looks like an Orokin tire. But it’s still pretty fucking fancy and laced in gold.

Frankly, if they’d added anything more to Octavia Prime, she probably would have looked too over the top. While, yes, Octavia Prime doesn’t have a lot of fancy additions, she’s still miles better than earlier Primes.

If you want to complain about someone being plain, just turn to old Frost Prime. Poor guy is still incredibly basic, after all these years. Octavia Prime on the other hand looks great.