Classics Magnus and Skywarp were released with the tagline "Battle for Autobot City". As shown in Transformers: The Movie, we are first introduced to Ultra Magnus when the Decepticons use an Autobot shuttle to slip past the city's defenses and blitz the city. It thus makes sense to use the Autobot City tagline for a Magnus release. The irony comes from Skywarp's inclusion in the set. Having just rewatched the first half of the movie via YouTube, I noticed that almost every Decepticon from the first 2 seasons makes an appearance during the battle except Skywarp (and Buzzsaw and the Stunticons and the Combaticons). We see Skywarp take the pilot's seat in the shuttle after Ratchet and Ironhide fall. The next time we see him, he's being thrown out of Astrotrain alongside Thundercracker and the Insecticons. Interestingly, the original teaser trailer for the movie does show Skywarp and Thundercracker flying through the city attacking a differently-colored Magnus & friends. Those scenes, however, were not included in the movie's final release. So why include Skywarp in a "Battle for Autobot City" set? Why not use Thundercracker instead?
Skywarp is arguably the more popular Starscream repaint, not to mention it's a good contrasting figure for the all white Ultra Magnus. Hell, a friend of mine bought the set just for Skywarp and seeing how many people wanted to sell the Magnus from the set afterwards, it seems like it was the primary figure of the set for fans. And aside from that, it was the only battle where the two could have met, since we never saw Magnus before the movie and never saw Skywarp after. I suppose the same could be said for Thundercracker though.
Wow, I was thinking about the title earlier today and considered starting a thread. I thought about it from a different angle. I loved Ultra Magnus because of his design, reputation as a great warrior and at least to me he helped to fill the void after prime died. As much as I love Magnus, he was pretty much MIA during the battle. I saw him barking out orders but I did not see him delivering punishing blows like prime did. He has the power, discipline, strength and courage but not the heart to lead. I was so disappointed when he couldn’t open the matrix. RID Magnus’ desire to lead (despite he’s jealousy) is trait that I wish was present in G1 Ultra Magnus. I believe they titled it Battle for Autobot City because Magnus is the City Commander.
Yeah, it is named for that battle, although the bio on the box makes it sound like it refers to a more generic battle not the big battle.
Come to think of it, Magnus was pretty AWOL for most of the battle too! After he tells Perceptor to tell Blaster to tell Prime to send help, he's gone until Prime's final moments. There is a point in the battle where you can imagine Skywarp being involved. After Prime speeds into the city, he rams through Thrust and Shrapnel (as Blitzwing gets away) before transforming. During his aerial maneuver, Prime guns down Ramjet, Thundercracker, and Soundwave. Prime lands and shots at some unidentified Decepticons before pivoting and shooting Kickback and Dirge. Given that he encounters Megatron later, and given that Devastator is probably still dealing with the Dinobots, there are very few candidates for Prime's unidentified targets: Skywarp, Starscream, Bombshell, Astrotrain, and Reflector. Given the rest of Prime's targets (jets, Insecticons, and Soundwave), I like to think Skywarp and Bombshell get injured there. Interestingly, Skywarp and Thundercracker get thrown out of Astrotrain despite not being overly damaged. None of the Insecticons are able to stand up, let alone fight back. Skywarp and Thundercracker are in much better shape than Megatron and still get the boot. I guess it sucks to have been released in 1984. ;-)
Maybe they named the set this way to represent a battle we haven't seen? What about a Classics Autobo City Battle?
Magnus was the Cities command element. He didn't have to fight. I'd like to think he sat in the breakroom and read Sun Tsu's The Art Of War... And while Skywarps inclusion in the set was rather random, I don't think it's really correct to define it as ironic.
In one of the previews for the TFs Movie that was not shown in the final release, Megs and the Cons are attacking a different Autobot City, it looks like Skywarp takes a direct hit, which is why I always believed why Skywarp was tossed from Astrotrain.
Its pretty obvious there was some big Magnus/Skywarp fight happening the same time Prime and Megatron were fighting. Of course all the attention went to Prime...
I always heard of the discussion of why Bombshell was tossed from Astrotrain when no one saw him get busted up. I now have the answer to that... While Springer is lobbing missiles at Devastator, one of the better things he had to do that night of course, one of the salvos that land near Dev's feet, which send Starscream and Megatron scrambling also lands right in front of Bombshell, sending him hurtling offscreen. I was pleased when I saw it, because I knew it probably f'ed him up good, and I could always make the word pun on how Bombshell was messed up by 'shrapnel'. At that point I realized my life was sadder for it.
I <3 the "Battle for Autobot City" tagline. Best idea for a 2-pack ever. I like to imagine that Magnus and Skywarp battled at some point during the epic assault. Also it does seem like Skywarp is the more popular of the two. Personally I split a pack with some dude (he got Magnus I got Skywarp).
I guess since you don't see either of them during the battle itself, they were fighting...maybe this set is kinda giving more to add to the story we already know. The stories that haven't been told yet.....
