I'm going to spend the holidays with my parents next week, and going through my extensive Beast Wars collection I left with them is something I am very much looking forward to...that and my RiD and Armada collections (though there are few figures from either of those lines I care much for nowadays...Armada Megatron/Galvatron being 1 huge exception...such an outstanding figure).

 

I don't mind simple transformations. I don't like the cheap feeling plastic.

 

How does double shoulder missiles look?

 

For more pics, click on the image above

Robot Mode: Let’s look at the positive sides first. Ultra Magnus is a gorgeously designed robot. Closely resembling his Animated predecessor, he easily adapts the look to the Prime aesthetic. The head looks very cool and the sculpting looks very nice overall. The paint job looks good overall, though it’s very, very blue. Some more paint details would definitely have been nice, as the Cyberverse version of Magnus actually looks more detailed than the much bigger Voyager figure.

Ultra Magnus suffers from worse than a few missing paint apps, though. First off, there is the way the shoulders are designed. Magnus’ massive arms hang off two comparatively tiny ball joints that, while giving him lots of shoulder articulation, are not strong enough to support the massive weapon he also comes with. Second, the shoulders are attached to a swivelling piece of the chest that is easily pushed out of place every time you touch Ultra Magnus’ rather large backpack (basically the entire driver’s cabin of the truck mode). So posing him without pushing parts of his chest out of place isn’t easy.

Finally, there is the giant weapon Magnus comes with. As has come to be the norm for Ultra Magnus toys, it’s a giant battle hammer. It also doubles as a rifle. But while it’s not quite as clunky as most of the other Voyager figure light-up weapons in the Prime toyline, it’s not exactly an elegant weapon, either. I’d have much preferred an up-scaled version of the hammer Cyberverse Magnus came with. At least you can lock the weapon in hammer mode, something most of the other weapons are incapable of. Anyway, the weapon looks good as a hammer, but as a rifle you basically have the head of the hammer flopping around loosely on top of it. Magnus can hold the weapon in either hand, mount it on either forearm, or store it on his back. He also has a big missile he can attach to either forearm or his back.

Finally, the entire toy, while good-looking, feels... cheap. I can’t exactly say what it is, but on the whole Magnus feels fragile. So bottom line: a nice robot for putting on your shelf, but I can’t help but feel that actually playing with it will cause it to go to pieces sooner rather than later.

Alternate Mode: After a very simple transformation that’s almost identical to the one of the Cyberverse figure, Ultra Magnus becomes a semi-truck with a flatbed on which you can mount his big weapon as a kind of rig / crane thing. There are at least three different ways you can configure the weapon on the back of the truck, either pointing backwards as a crane or forward as a weapon (plugged into the roof of the driver’s cabin).

There is little else to write here. Sadly the attachment points for the weapon on the back of the truck are set up so that you can only use one of them to plug in the weapon, never both. Not sure if that is intentional or a design error, but it causes the weapon on the back to be rather unstable. Anyway, Ultra Magnus’ vehicle mode is solid, but little more than that.

Remarks: Ultra Magnus has yet to appear in the Prime TV series, but he played a part in both the Exodus novel and the War for Cybertron video games. There is some speculation that he might yet appear in the series, given that his robot mode has several “faked” parts such as wheels in his feet and on his shoulders, which only make sense if there is an actual animation model with such parts. So far, though, no concrete information on any TV appearances by Prime Ultra Magnus.

As a toy Ultra Magnus is basically just an upscaled version of the Cyberverse figure. But while rather weak ball-jointed shoulders don’t matter that much in a smaller figure, this and other design details drag this figure down quite a bit. Ultra Magnus look gorgeous and really cool, but he needs better shoulders, a better chest design, and a better weapon. Also, a few more paint apps wouldn’t have hurt, either. So bottom line: not a bad figure, but not a particularly good one, either.

Rating: C+

 

I posted this in the Prime thread, but I just want to add in here too:
After observing my Prime Voyager UMagnus, I noticed the Magnus white ear antenna stick out from the blue mask. I thought that was funny:

 

^ Everything I know is a lie.

 

Pros: 1) Nice looking figure
2) Easy transformation
3) Fits in the TF Prime continuity just fine

Cons: 1) Weak upper arms
2) Easy transformation (not a typo)
3) Could have had more paint apps

Overall, a decent, but not perfect figure for a Powerizer.

 

Got this guy for my birthday a while back. He does feel a little cheaper than other recent figs, and he is certainly lighter as well, but holy crud does he look good. His head sculpt is definitely one of the best in recent times. He's definitely lacking in foot articulation, plus mine has some really nasty stress marks in his wrists. I really do like his simple transformation, but his alt mode is a little lacking, mainly due to the feet sticking out of the back, and the fact that there's no really good way to store the weapons (Or at least, not one that I've found yet). Taking the batteries out of the hammer is definitely one of the first things you'll want to do, unless you're absolutely infatuated with the Powerizing gimmick.

I'm certainly enjoying him, but those stress marks are really scaring me.

 

Wonder why there are two molds for Ultra Magnus?

There's this mold - that seems to be wholly inaccurate to the new trailer & the new re-mold of RID Optimus Prime that looks just like the trailer, screencap, comic book cover & packaging art...

 

I'm very content with this mold. Probably not going to pick up the others.

 

Just picked this up (because it JUST came to Canada) and I'm quite happy with it. Downside is the simple transformation, but the hammer more then makes up for that. What a kickass weapon, and I love the way he can pose with it. Alt mode is nice, though I wish they'd covered up the legs more. Overall I'm happy with him.

 

The only reason I can think of is that the someone on the design team liked Magnus a lot and since there was a spot open in the respective voyager waves, decided to put Magnus in there. For kids it's a new character, for adults it's a new mold of a character with high brand recognition that hasn't had a new figure made in a while that wasn't an Optimus retool.

Also the new Platinum Edition Magnus matches the comic art you attached moreso than the upcoming Beast Hunters voyager edition.

 

I suspect youre right on...but Animated wasnt that long ago and this character design certainly references his TF Animated appearance.

I havent picked mine up since a couple days after I bought it....just for shock value, I put it next to Human Alliance Jazz which retailed for approximately the same price...holy sh--...Magnus looks like an upsized scout compared to Jazz in terms of engineering, attention to detail, parts count, size, etc...

 

In all fairness though HA Jazz make most figures look bad.

 

Thing is, HA Jazz was designed at a time where there was a seemingly higher r/d budget and more dev team. IMO Transformers toys reached a high point from 2008-2010 when it came to design and engineering. The last toys of that consistent quality was the Transformers Prime 1st Edition assortment.

 

After seeing that last picture, I really want a FE Ultra magnus.. as in, FE Prime, retooled into Ultra magnus rather than PRiD Prime retooled into Ultra Magnus.

 

anyone wonder why he looks different on the show? the show model has the tower shoulders that look all geewun-ny, and the paint scheme is totally different. he looks cool on both accounts. I love this version of the toy!

 

yeah, definitely agree with that.... Personally I find the ROTF movie's toy line seems to have the best engineering and thought (except for one thing I've found that's good in the recent toys: folding panels ala deluxe prime ratchet or vehicon legs, that's definitely a very good improvement), but the complexity makes them less for kids 5+ (what they are labelled for).

Prime toys, however, seems to have better balance as kids' toys in terms of engineering and ease of transform IMO.

 

I love this mold. No doubt I will pick up Beast Hunters Magnus, as I am a whore for Ultra Magnus, but to me this is the definitive Prime Magnus.

 

I'll prolly grab the CVC mold - but I'm hoping for a 2nd CVC based on the actual show model.