Siege. I own both, but only because CW UM came out first. I have no attachment to the IDW interpretation of the character. It's not a bad figure by any means, but to me he's more of a glorified mech suit than an actual Transformer. Albino Prime in armor has a special place in my heart since my late cousin had him as a kid and I would play with him. Eventually I picked up the G1 reissue of him when they came out in the early 2000s. I'm actually hoping we get a recolor/retool of ER OP into a proper G1 UM with functional car carrying trailer, but Siege UM works just fine for the time being.

 

To clarify, what I meant by saying that Siege Magnus updated the toy's approach is that it did the same thing as the original toy, but better

 

Siege. IDW Magnus isn't Ultra Magnus to me. Just some cheap rip off imitation fanfic version of him. You cannot believe how fast I got rid of the CW one the moment I put eyes on the Siege version.

 

 

Combiner Wars (despite having some issues with it) - in particular the Japanese Legends deco.

Siege Ultra Magnus is the most disappointing figure I've actually purchased in a long, long time. It really only looks good from straight on. The Ultra Butt is just a tragedy (I can't believe I'd never caught that in pictures), the alt mode is super gappy and his articulation can't get out of the way of his own bulk. He's got some particularly nasty UHPS (the insides of the shoulder pillars are really glaringly obvious). His proportions are also off becuase his armor only makes bracelets instead of giving him complete new forearms with new hands and the thighs are too short.

...my copy was also riddled with incredibly loose joints.

 

It depends on what you like. I prefer the MTMTE design of the CW figure. I’ve also never cared for the partsforming “white Prime in armor” concept for UM. Transforming the Siege figure isn’t very pleasant to me compared to the “all-in-one package” of the CW version. I also like that you can actually put vehicles in the CW figure’s car carrier mode which you can’t really do with the Siege figure.

The Siege figure does have better-feeling plastic quality and a bit more articulation.

I prefer CW overall but it comes down to what you care about more. As you can already see from replies in this thread, your view on the IDW version of the character may drive your judgement lol.

 

I like both and thanks to IDW, they count as two separate characters with Siege Magnus being the original Magnus.

That said, I did pick up the third party cab for CW Magnus because I don't like tiny Transformers and worse, Transformers with facial hair. Only thing is, one of the smokestacks on the 3P cab broke not long after though at least it's only €20 Or so on EBay, so I took off the other one. It looks fine without them but I know they're missing.

Didn't stop me throwing Minimus Ambus into the bin. I like him as a character but no tiny, hairy faced robots for me. If you think I was unkind, had I gotten the Takara version with Alpha Trion, I'd have repeatedly jumped on the Slagger as I think he represents everything wrong with G1. A horrible design and a horrible cliche of a character.

I haven't customised in a while, but I had started customising Clocker as Minimus.

I like both toys though Siege does suffer with his unimpressive trailer. I'd love a retool with RID Magnus' head since he has the vehicle mode.

 

I doubt it would ever happen, but I'd be willing to pay Commander price for a fully functioning, Earthmode G1 Magnus with no compromise. Basically, as you say, an ER Optimus (or something extremely similar) with a full armor set that turns into the exact G1 alt mode.

As it stands, Siege is good enough for me, though the inner robot is a bit compromised to fit the RID alt mode. I like that homage, but it would have been better off doing something more G1 to actually transform the arms into the side of the cab, rather than having them just hanging off the back and using a huge backpack part for the front of the cab.

 

I have Siege Magnus - but I still keep the Comber Wars one because of the IDW aesthetics. If I City Commander armored Magnus I'd still keep because I for one, love that look to FP figures. I have the DIA Commander for Delta Magnus.

As I've said before, the only way I'd pick up another Magnus is he have to be able to actually carry cars - and I mean 4 deluxe at least.

 

I'm a huge fan of both. Siege is easily my favorite robot mode, but CW kills it as the car carrier.

 

I think 3 is probably more realistic (1 inside, 2 on top) ~ any "armor trailer" is probably going to need some storage inside for some of the robot bits   isn't that how both G1 and Cr/RiD'01 did it?

but I also 100% agree, my biggest gripe of both CW and Siege is their alt modes are far too tiny.

 

Legends Ultra Magnus unless they decide to do a good one in WFC (Seige with its awful RID vehicle mode doesn't count).

 

Siege for now, been wanting a cab robot trailer armor Magnus like this since 2006 and finally got it(I have City Commander too but prefer Siege Magnus).

 

I picked up the Perfect Effect Core addon. Mainly for the cab. It worked very well. So I will say the add-on and the trailer for the CW ultra Magnus for me.

 

Seige Ultra Magnus, simply because CW Magnus is hollow as hell and can't gold his weapons. I was very disappointed with the CW figure

 

CW for vehicle mode, Siege for robot mode.

 

No doubts about it... CW Ultramagnus with kbb33013




Size is compatible with POTP OptimusPrime...

 

I need to find me this kit for CW Magnus!!!!! I love the CW version and didn't need the siege version. I just got the Netflix Magnus and it looks pretty decent. It's all about which you prefer!!

 

As I've said, they're two different characters.

Though I'd take some weird overlap.

One of my crackpot ideas for PotP Optimus redeco was to redeco Orion Pax as Minimus Ambus and the combined mode as white Prime.

It certainly muddies things up that Magnus as a white Optimus was ALWAYS a budget restriction.

I know I've relayed this many times but the plan for TFTM in 1986 was to get COMPLETELY AWAY from Diaclone molds and go with characters that were designed as ROBOTS FIRST (likely based on research that showed kids were more into the robot modes and car interest was waning as collectors aged).

The TFTM cast ALL received original futuristic designs INCLUDING Ultra Magnus.

As near as I can tell, Hasbro chickened out on the cost of a design accurate Ultra Magnus and asked the designers to replace his design with Powered Convoy to save money.

They did EXACTLY THAT and the early trailers show Magnus in Powered Convoy colors.

Still, the animators couldn't resist reusing Magnus' original design and used it (minus facial hair) as Orion Pax in Season 2, which was being developed alongside TFTM.

(So Orion Pax is technically a Magnus retool.)

But the Orion Pax design was always meant for Magnus (plus a beard; the lack of beard makes Pax look a bit derpy). And since no color scheme was ever finalized, my head canon is that pre-Ultra Magnus upgrade, his original form should be bearded Orion Pax in Ambus' color scheme. (Which conflicts with Dion or Funpub's Magnum but would be a cool nod to design lore.)

 

I have both on my shelf. I thought about selling one and keeping one but I couldn't decide which one to keep so I kept them both.

In my head cannon, they are separate characters. Siege is THE Ultra Magnus and CW I call Ambus. Like how Ginrai is not Optimus Prime.

 

Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus, hands down. I don’t care for the small white Prime concept, and the all-in-one style of CW Ultra Magnus is perfect. Add in the IDW style robot mode and the Earth vehicle mode, and it’s hands down a better figure. The inclusion of Minimus Ambus is the cherry on top.