The Original 1986 Ultra Magnus Toy
Now, as a collector, I'm not fond of blind boxes, for the basic reason that I want to know what I buying. If you're not a kinder egg, you'd best be bloody cheap. So, I don't pretend to understand the logic of a blind box leader class transformer. Hasbro did several of these as tie-in for their recent Netflix cartoons, labelled as Spoiler Packs, the first of which we’re talking about today. I doubt that I'm alone in thinking that there was little to actually spoil, but you do you. The spoiler was not so much the toy, as the coded messages on the packaging. However, my example came loose with some inexplicable minicons, but minus some blast effects and energon cubes. As such, I'm not gonna talk about the bits I don't have, and just do my usual ramble about the toy and character, while taking a passing shot at Hasbro business practices.
The 2015 Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus Toy
Who is Ultra Magnus? Well, he's a character made famous by the 1986 Transformers film, and is basically a well-meaning chap that kept making bad calls, but he's had numerous reinterpretations over the years. The original toy is notable for being basically Optimus Prime with a new and combining trailer, effectively pre-empting the Powermaster version by at least two years. Toy accuracy was not great for this version, with the "white Optimus" mode being completely disregarded in fiction. Then Dreamwave comics happened, with some fanfare, and Magnus quickly became the goto for Prime repaints that didn't feature the inner-robot-armour gimmick. Mind you, more worthy successors did occur, often revamping the relationship between him and Optimus, such as the ones in the 2000ish RID line and Animated. Probably the most memorable one is the More Than Meets The Eye IDW comic version, whom had difficulties adjusting to peacetime, was actually a SPOILER, and was currently REDACTED. I remember people being upset at this plot twist in a kinda Star Wars way, but you'd have to be a real Purple Monkey Dishwasher to be holding a grudge about that today. That version got a toy though, an actual spoiler in toy form, rather than a regular toy in a spoiler box, and its pretty good. It doesn't hold its weapons well, but its got the trailer transformation and what is technically an inner robot. This was the only Magnus I really needed, because I liked REDACTED SPOILER, but the Siege version would still eventually find its way into my collection.
That's 400 odd words of context, am I nearing a point? Well, the Siege mould was the first toy to properly do the inner robot thing, and which latter toys have yet to implement as well. There was a concurrent "Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime" remould that I love dearly, but I will admit suffers outside of super mode, and the Kingdom retool is lukewarm at best. But lets put a pin in that for now, and talk about the vehicle form first. This evokes the RID 2000 version in the front end and overall appearance. It also draws on the G1 toy for the back-end and rockets, while pre-empting the Galaxy Upgrade retool by having its leg guns. Its a melange of homages then, something uncommon these days and the premium paint job is definitely helping the Siege grimdark grunge motif. Play value is aided by the fact he's got five weapons and numerous 5mm ports, so he can be a big rolling battlewagon of doom. The effect is slightly undermined by the feet which are unhelpfully angled, and the open structure revealing other sins. I should probably also mention that it's not really a functional car carrier unless you decide to entomb some micromasters or the minicons that were somehow included with mine. Mind you, it's a very detailed sculpt, and benefits from the premium paint job. All red areas are now paint over grey plastic, with some nice transition between colours. While this feels like faint praise, the flaws are made up for by the visuals.
You can detach the front third for a "truck cab", but its not hugely good by itself. No matter how ya spin it, the arms are very noticeable. So, let's take a brief moment to acknowledge Battlefield Rung exists and ask why he's here? And why is he that colour? The consensus is that he's probably standing in for Alpha Trion whom did the whole ghost/A.I mentor thing in the cartoon. It's a perfectly fine toy, although the colours don't really work with Magnus. Tangent over. The cab transforms into the "non-ultra" Magnus robot mode, most of it being telegraphed by exposed robot bits, although there is one legitimately clever aspect to it. The front bumper slides up a rail onto the back, having previously rotated the waist into position and lock the rail together. It helps clean things up a lot. The resulting robot is a stocky Optimus-look-alike, not actually the same as the concurrent Optimus toy, no retooling here, but hitting similar design queues in white. It's proportions and heavy-duty joint design are a direct result of the Magnus armour, and let's be real here, you probably won't keep him like this. However, Siege era robot modes were of a high standard, and you don't lack for play value. There are a total of nine 5mm ports, and ankle tilts, which is plenty. It's just a shame that the armour parts have nowt to do just now, and while you don't really need a base mode for this character, an opportunity was missed.
The main event, the full robot mode, is where the toy shines. Not that it lacks charm otherwise, but this is what the designers had to get right, and they knew it. Ultra Magnus is a massive great chonker of a chap, with loads of detail, a nice head sculpt, and some more clever touches when armouring up. The top and side panels of the carrier origami down dramatically to form the boots and torso. It's great, if slightly let down by those angled feet again. Posability is unaffected above the waist, but the toy tends towards an 'A' stance. Again, I feel I am either damning or excusing the toy with faint praise, but Ultra Magnus is one of those big dudes whom doesn't really call for ninja poses, while what he does do is nothing to apologise for. Ultra Magnus does however commit very strongly to the whole Siege play pattern, with sixteen 5mm ports, and five weapon accessories, of which 3 have their own ports. Ultra Magnus will happily kill you to death, even before getting weaponizers involved.
My point? Well, the Siege Ultra Magnus mould is a pretty good toy from a pretty good line. I don't think it's quite good enough to replace the Combiner Wars version in my collection, but each is doing rather different things, so I don't feel bad about having both. Having the spoiler box version is a boon to the experience, but I doubt you'd suffer if you went for another. But this all pales next to the following piece of trivia. While Ultra Magnus held the position of Autobot leader in at least two continuities, this toy and its iterations lack Autobot badges. In fact, the super mode of each has but one, and it adorns his mighty butt plate.
Ultra Magnus' tramp stamp is something that exists....
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