TF Views

"Energon" Ultra Magnus: (robot/shuttle-transport)

Thanks again to BWProwl for pointing me in the right direction, and Lewis Brooks for helping set up the deal.

This review is going to ignore the rarity of the toy in question. Monetizing a hobby to the degree that factoriring ing rarity would require would be nearly impossible.

The rarity of this toy was due to a number of factors. Ultra Magnus was originally planned as a tail-end toy for the "Armada" line, meaning it would have had a low production run to begin with. It was instead released as part of the first wave of the "Energon" line...at the beginning of the Christmas season of 2003. I am pretty sure that none were even released in this area.

Ultra Magnus is a recolor of "Armada" Overloas. While that toy was mostly bright red with some black, (a friend of mine has compared it unfavourably to a fast-food toy), this toy is largely a mix of grey, blue and white.

The paint-work on this toy is exceptional to begin with. Even the difficult to apply white paint is smooth and even. This effect is even more striking when one considers the QC standards on current product.

The package/alternate mode is a shuttle-transport, (designed to carry "Armada" Jetfire). The cab of the vehicle can be removed. With or without the cab, The trailer can be attached to "Armada" Optimus Prime as a secondary trailer.

The robot mode is a bit blocky, but generally poseable. The cab of the truck becomes a removable head, similar to the old "Headmaster" toys. Connecting the head triggers a "transform noise sound-chip.

Ultra Magnus was packaged with a recolor of the "Armada" Requiem Minicons Team. The combined form of these Minicons does not fit well into Magnus' hands, but can be connected to the robots arms. This is the rarest of 3 US releases of these Minicons. It shares the flaws, (loosely connected parts and joints), of the other releases.

As noted above, Ultra Magnus is cast from a mold intended to be combined with "Armada" Jetfire and/or Optimus. Having at least one of those toys is not necessary for displaying Ultra Magnus, but it helps. (I have a Fan Club Astrotrain, a recolored head-swap of Jetfire.)

Grade: B Discounting the appeal this toy has due to rarity, it is a solid, though imperfect effort. It is worth owning a toy cast from the mold used, but there are more common variants.

Congrats on the find. I don't think I ever saw one of these in stores either.

andersonh1 wrote:Congrats on the find. I don't think I ever saw one of these in stores either.

Yeah, I just figured he was an online exclusive, myself.

Sounds pretty cool, though. This is the version of this guy I'd have gone with, if he'd ever appeared.

Nice review, Dom. I hope JT eventually gets one of these.

I disagree on the rarity and aftermarket price not factoring into reviews. Value is important when relevant. When I review a toy, I do take into account how much I paid for it, how much it originally retailed for, and how much the current going rate is, especially if it's not a toy currently available at retail. Obviously this wouldn't always apply, ie. I pay extra for a toy that's not available at retail in my country, and bitch about the price, where it's not a factor for others. But if I reviewed Metals Jaguar, and said he was average for a Deluxe and worth picking up, it wouldn't be a very balanced review (I do not own Metals Jaguar, but assume he 'is' average for a Beast-era Deluxe). Still, I agree on reviewing a toy on its own merits, just think that the cost is an important factor. Possibly this is due to our differing opinions on the pros and cons of scalping also - Last I recall, I balked at the inflation placed on toys removed from their regular retail markets by unscrupulous individuals, whereas you praised the way it changes the distribution model and puts desired items into the hands of those that desire them most.

While EnerMagnus was never released in New Zealand, he did make it to Australia. I lucked out and found one when I was over there during Energon, did really well with the exclusives in that trip, also found Universe Nemesis Prime and the Energon SWAT set. Already owned Overload and enjoyed him.

It's significant that this was the first TF with the now-standard transformation sound gimmick, that was a big draw at the time. His colours gel very well with the Powerlinx repaints of Jetfire and Armada Prime, both of which I own, although I purchased Jetfire semi-recently and have yet to get the other two out of storage. Their blues don't clash, it's neat and subdued.

I agree on the paint apps, though I do take issue with the inclusion of the Space Team repaints in lieu of the Street Speed Team. While the Space Team are a nifty set, and I dig the colours, they can't be held by Magnus in gun mode, and that makes them a failure of an accessory set. Especially given the Mini-Cons bumped him up to Ultra pricing, incidentally the only Ultra Magnus toy to ever be sold at the Ultra price point. Street Speed Team would've worked fine, albeit not as a handheld weapon. I don't really like the Street Speed Team a lot, though, and given the rarity of the toy, it's not as much of an issue as it would've been had they been properly released.

The Emergency Team would've been a better pairing, I feel.

I find it hard to monotize toys for the purposes of reviewing though. Monetizing implies a rational calculation that beg the question, "why buy toys at all?". And, in the case of a toy like Magnus, where the operational price is so wildly out of scale to the retail price, I just ignore it.

I agree that one should not waste money on toys, but factoring in price for a review of a toy that is sold largely on eBay is something I cannot quite bring myself to do.


I tend to think that the original Ultra Magnus would have been an Ultra at the current price-scale, but it was never actually sold as such.

I agree with you about the Rescue Team. They definitely would have made a better compliment to Magnus in terms of play value. But, the Space Team works conceptually.

Dom
-still needs to review "Universe" Jetfire.