So it's week 4 of Wreckers month! (WRECKERS MONTH!!!) and this week I'm reviewing someone who isn't a Wrecker in the IDW'verse but he has been a Wrecker on at least two different occasions. It's not a perfect solution but its the best I've got dang it!
So this weeks subject is Combiner Wars leader class Ultra Magnus. He is heavily influenced by his IDW incarnation, even to the point where he comes with a tiny Minimus Ambus. If you don't know why this is a big thing you really need to look into Ultra magnus/Minimus Ambus. The basics of it is, tiny robot wears a set of armour handed down to create an "immortal lawman". Think along the lines of the "dread pirate Roberts" and if you don't know who that is we're going to fall out.
What this basically means for the toy is that we have two figures to review. One main robot and one smaller robot. If only I'd done reviews like this before.
Ultra Magnus transforms from a futuristic transport truck into a robot. He comes in the "proper" Magnus colours of red, white and blue, I say proper colours as Magnus is usually just Optimus Prime painted white and blue.
It's a nice even split between all of the colours and it doesn't feel like one dominates over the rest. He's covered in some nice sculpted detail most of which is a drawn directly from MTMTE.
What this basically means for the toy is that we have two figures to review. One main robot and one smaller robot. If only I'd done reviews like this before.
Ultra Magnus transforms from a futuristic transport truck into a robot. He comes in the "proper" Magnus colours of red, white and blue, I say proper colours as Magnus is usually just Optimus Prime painted white and blue.
It's a nice even split between all of the colours and it doesn't feel like one dominates over the rest. He's covered in some nice sculpted detail most of which is a drawn directly from MTMTE.
As a transport truck Magnus isn't bad, let's face it, it's not the mosrt exciting vehicle mode out there. The cab is on a joint so it's movable and that brings some fun to it. It isn't removable (well it is if you unscrew one screw) and it certainly doesn't transform. It looks like a perfect upgrade of that classic Powered Convoy look. You can still transport Autobots on it but he doesn't have a lot of space for it. He wont carry Voyager class on the bottom rack for instance.
He might carry Deluxe class guys well but I don't have any at the moment. I do have a good selection of legends. You can fit about 4 or so Legends. I'm guessing you can fit a deluxe class on each level. I kind of wish you could fit more on there but then he'd be huge (and expensive).
Quick edit! Since writing the review I managed to get hold of a deluxe, you'd get two on there. It's not perfect but it's pretty cool. You can also mount "other things" on him.
EXTRA EDIT! Now I own three Deluxes and you can fit two on there quite easily. You have to move Minimus out of the way though.
He has some peg holes so you can store his weapons securly. He has peg holes at the front so you can store the missile launchers where they should be stored and some rear holes to store his guns.
The only real problem I have with this mode is the rear ramp.
I remember being a "Tiny Stu" and playing with my G1 Magnus and being able to lower that top deck and you could wheel an Autobot up the ramps and then lift the arms back up. Now you can still do that but the arms don't sit low enough for it to be a smooth roll. Oh no. What a shame...
It's a solid enough alt mode and it's cool that he still has the car transporting ability even if it is a little limited in what he can carry.
He has some peg holes so you can store his weapons securly. He has peg holes at the front so you can store the missile launchers where they should be stored and some rear holes to store his guns.
The only real problem I have with this mode is the rear ramp.
I remember being a "Tiny Stu" and playing with my G1 Magnus and being able to lower that top deck and you could wheel an Autobot up the ramps and then lift the arms back up. Now you can still do that but the arms don't sit low enough for it to be a smooth roll. Oh no. What a shame...
It's a solid enough alt mode and it's cool that he still has the car transporting ability even if it is a little limited in what he can carry.
Robot mode is a thing of robotic beauty. He's chunky in all the right places. Magnus should always be a big guy, ALWAYS! Ahem. Excuse me.
Taking into consideration aforementioned chunkyness he's got some decent articulation, his arms have a good selection of joints and if you remove the missile launchers from his shoulders you get even more clearance.
I feel I have to mention something about the arms and how they work. Much like the original G1 Magnus the "car racks" of the top level would slide up and stick in place. Now "Tiny Stu" remembers how his Magnus arms broke and stopped being able to hold themselves in place. He had freakishly long arms, just like Terry Jones in Monty Pythons Meaning of Life.
Taking into consideration aforementioned chunkyness he's got some decent articulation, his arms have a good selection of joints and if you remove the missile launchers from his shoulders you get even more clearance.
I feel I have to mention something about the arms and how they work. Much like the original G1 Magnus the "car racks" of the top level would slide up and stick in place. Now "Tiny Stu" remembers how his Magnus arms broke and stopped being able to hold themselves in place. He had freakishly long arms, just like Terry Jones in Monty Pythons Meaning of Life.
"I wonder where that fish did go?"
CW Magnus does a similar thing but the parts that hold the arms in place are a lot better but for comedy value (or refreshing that childhood trauma) you can make them long again. I still have the fear of them sliding one day and them not staying in place but that's a subconscious childhood fear that wont leave me any time soon.
He doesn't have a waist joint which I can only awesome was a parts count thing. There's plenty of space and there's even a hint that it might have been planned. Ignoring the waist the hips and knees are pretty standard, the feet are where I have a problem. There big and clunky and support him well but they're molded so he has an "A" stance and because of how they transform they don't have any articualtion apart from a back and forth hinge. You can get some decent poses out of him, mostly standing, walking and sitting (so he can steal your wife to be's seat, don't ask).
The head is only on a simple rotation joint but there is a very good reason for that (more on that when I talk about Minimus).
This is going to be a weird complaint/discussion, hands and wrists.
I have a weird problem with this figure.
This is something that didn't bother me through all the previews, official pictures, in hand pictures , on the shelf, in the trolley, at the checkout, in the car and even about 3 days into owning him.
The blue forearm pieces don't fully cover the white wrists. I noticed this and now I can't un-notice it. It's really made the figure look worse but it is something I can fix. One quick visit to Toyhax/reprolabels site will fix it right up. They do a label to cover the centre and I'll be able to sort something out for what white is left on there.
Magnus doesn't have wrist swivels either. It's not a massive problem but it does mean he can't hold his hammer properly.
CW Magnus does a similar thing but the parts that hold the arms in place are a lot better but for comedy value (or refreshing that childhood trauma) you can make them long again. I still have the fear of them sliding one day and them not staying in place but that's a subconscious childhood fear that wont leave me any time soon.
He doesn't have a waist joint which I can only awesome was a parts count thing. There's plenty of space and there's even a hint that it might have been planned. Ignoring the waist the hips and knees are pretty standard, the feet are where I have a problem. There big and clunky and support him well but they're molded so he has an "A" stance and because of how they transform they don't have any articualtion apart from a back and forth hinge. You can get some decent poses out of him, mostly standing, walking and sitting (so he can steal your wife to be's seat, don't ask).
The head is only on a simple rotation joint but there is a very good reason for that (more on that when I talk about Minimus).
This is going to be a weird complaint/discussion, hands and wrists.
I have a weird problem with this figure.
This is something that didn't bother me through all the previews, official pictures, in hand pictures , on the shelf, in the trolley, at the checkout, in the car and even about 3 days into owning him.
The blue forearm pieces don't fully cover the white wrists. I noticed this and now I can't un-notice it. It's really made the figure look worse but it is something I can fix. One quick visit to Toyhax/reprolabels site will fix it right up. They do a label to cover the centre and I'll be able to sort something out for what white is left on there.
Magnus doesn't have wrist swivels either. It's not a massive problem but it does mean he can't hold his hammer properly.
Now seems like the best time to talk about his weapons. Magnus comea with two black guns and his shoulder mounted missile launchers.
Seperatly these weapons are pretty good, Magnus doesn't hold them very well this is more down to his hands, they don't grip all to well.
The two guns plug into each other and the missile launchers peg into the top to form a Magnus hammer in a nice little nod towards Animated Ultra Magnus and his weapon of choice. It's a cool little addition but its not something I like. The bottom, or best gun as I like to call it, looks to much like a gun to be a hammer handle. You can always not plug the main gun into the bottom, it works well enough and it gives Ultra Magnus a nice little one handed warhammer. It looks OK, I don't really use it to much. I do like how they've designed the weapon to slide onto the blue armour parts for extra stability.
Seperatly these weapons are pretty good, Magnus doesn't hold them very well this is more down to his hands, they don't grip all to well.
The two guns plug into each other and the missile launchers peg into the top to form a Magnus hammer in a nice little nod towards Animated Ultra Magnus and his weapon of choice. It's a cool little addition but its not something I like. The bottom, or best gun as I like to call it, looks to much like a gun to be a hammer handle. You can always not plug the main gun into the bottom, it works well enough and it gives Ultra Magnus a nice little one handed warhammer. It looks OK, I don't really use it to much. I do like how they've designed the weapon to slide onto the blue armour parts for extra stability.
Ghal Maraz eat your heart out!
Lets talk about everyones favourite loadbearer Minimus Ambus.
I'm going to get this out of the way first.
He.
Is.
Tiny.
Lets talk about everyones favourite loadbearer Minimus Ambus.
I'm going to get this out of the way first.
He.
Is.
Tiny.
Even after seeing all of the pictures I really wasn't prepared for how small he is. He's almost half the size of a Legends class figure.
He's molded in white plastic and has some nice paint apps picked out in 2 different shades of green. He has some nicely sculpted detail, including his classic moustache.
His tiny car mode does one thing I really like, the car doesn't have any wheels on it. They designed him to look like a hover car instead of using extra parts for wheels or sculpting fake wheels on him. It's a cool little idea, sculpted wheels would've looked bad and moving wheels would've been extra parts to mess with.
Robot mode isn't anything to special, he's got very basic articulation balljoints at the shoulders, hips and jointed knees.
Robot mode isn't anything to special, he's got very basic articulation balljoints at the shoulders, hips and jointed knees.
Minimus Interacts with Magnus in a couple of ways, the car slots into a little gap in the trailer but he really comes into his own when combined with Ultra Magnus's robot mode.
In the comics Minimus wears the Magnus armour, for the toy he pilots it, Gundam style.
The cab opens up and reveals some nice sculpted detail. It's all switches, monitors and a big seat. It's a cool idea but it really needed those details picked out.
In the comics Minimus wears the Magnus armour, for the toy he pilots it, Gundam style.
The cab opens up and reveals some nice sculpted detail. It's all switches, monitors and a big seat. It's a cool idea but it really needed those details picked out.
I can see why they didn't, it would've been an extra expense and one you wouldn't really see. Toyhax/Reprolabels took the oppourtnity to make some labels for it. I'm beginning to think this review should've been sponsered by them LOL (it's not). It's a cool little gimmick and I'm glad they included it.
All in all I really like this figure, it's a really good representation of the MTMTE version of Ultra Magnus, there are a few things I'm not happy with, the hammer, the hands, THE WRISTS! THE WHITTENED WRISTS! THEY HAUNT MY DREAMS WITH THEIR WHITENESS!!! THE WHITE, IT NEVER ENDS.... THEY STALK ME..... Why wont they leave me alone?!
All in all I really like this figure, it's a really good representation of the MTMTE version of Ultra Magnus, there are a few things I'm not happy with, the hammer, the hands, THE WRISTS! THE WHITTENED WRISTS! THEY HAUNT MY DREAMS WITH THEIR WHITENESS!!! THE WHITE, IT NEVER ENDS.... THEY STALK ME..... Why wont they leave me alone?!
Stu "Darkageis" Murray is a founding member of The Old Oilhouse, a lifelong transformers nut and collector of Sentai and Kamen rider in most of it's forms.
He sometimes takes epic trips and tells tales of these sagas often.
When not watching people in spandex fight each other he paints miniatures, go HERE to take a look.
He sometimes takes epic trips and tells tales of these sagas often.
When not watching people in spandex fight each other he paints miniatures, go HERE to take a look.
