He might've been a better soldier... just not a better leader. I always thought that was the intention.
Ok, fair enough. Optimus Prime did not decrease in size, mass or appearance because the matrix was not responsible for his upgraded body. Optimus prime, in the cartoon, was built by alpha trion, essentially as a house for the matrix. We aren't disagreeing on the hot rod thing. It recognizes him as the rightful successor to Prime right away. Had he have held it any longer, one could assume he would have become Rodimus Prime.
Personally if I pick up one of the white prime repaints and it doesn't have armour I just use it as hate plague armour prime, Ultra Magnus need to have armour, I don’t mind if inside that armour is a repaint of prime, white or other wise as long as it has the armour. No reason or logic to that really its just how it was and how I like it so.
ds: That reminds me of something I've wondered about for a long time. Has Magnus ever fired his dinky shoulder missiles in any Transformers fiction, comic or cartoon? I can't remember a single instance. Another thought - Hot Rod was upgraded; Magnus wasn't, Prime may or may not have been, when they took the Matrix. Have we considered who else was near Hot Rod, with proven reformatting abilities, when he acquired the Matrix? That's right, folks. Unicron! The Matrix needed somebody big and tough. It got Hot Rod. So it just tapped into Unicron's reformatting equipment and bam! Rodimus Prime. Hey, it could have happened.
He used his shoulder missile one time in Dweller from the Depths. He also used it once again in Dreamwave's G1 volume 2 when he shot Grimlock in the face. Those are the instances I recall.
Ultra Magnus also fired one shoulder missile in Season 3's "Killing Jar" at his cell bars, to no effect.
Prime meant he wasn't worthy at the time. Obviously he was worthy or else he wouldn't have been able to wield the Matrix and use it against the Hate Plague.
I much rather prefer UM with armour than without, but I can see why Hasbro does the white repaints. For the few white Primes I have, I just call them "Magnus." and I would call the Titanium version "Ultra Magnus," if I had him (which should be very soon). I believe the whole "Prime" thing was a leadership designation when a bot was chosen to carry the Matrix. IIRC, in the Marvel comics there was a ceremony conducted by past Primes to inaugerate the new one, sort of like a presidency.
