Price Point: 24.99 (Ultra)
Affiliation: Autobot
Ever since the prototype pictures of Armada Overload hit the net, fans have been clamorring for him to be repainted and released as Ultra Magnus as they felt the mold suited the character well. Hasbro heard the cries and has not only made a beautiful recolf Overload in Energon Ultra Magnus, but also thrown in a nice repaint of the Space Team But is it worth the Ultra Price? Read on....
Packaging is quite good for MOST of the box. I say most as the back shows not Ultra Magnus and the Space Team, but Armada Overload and the Street Speed Team. Suffice to say, its really lazy on Hasbro's party. The card art is just Armada Overload's recolored with Magnus colors but it still looks great
Here's his bio stats:
Force - 8
Intelligence - 7
Speed - 7
Endurence - 9
Rank - 8
Courage - 9
Fireblast - 10
Skill - 8
The colors on Magnus are simply fantastic as they help to bring out the detail that Overload lacked with his mainly brick red scheme.
Since this is a repaint, Ill just make notes of what's new/improved compared to the Armada version
Vecihle Mode - While both the orginal Ultra Magnus and RID incarnation are car carriers, Energon Magnus is a shuttle carrier. The cab of the vecihle(his minicon Knock Out) is all white while the rest of the carrier is a mix og drak blue, black grey and little tinges of red and white on top. Overall he looks alot better than Overload ever did as the new paint apps highlight some of the pipes and creases on the vecihle (kind of like PL Cyclonus except its not on the entire vecihle). On the other hand, the VM mode has gotten complaints for being a non descriptant object and truth be told, its not hard to see why. Still there are worse alt modes 3/5
Transformation - Very easy. 2.5/5
Robot Mode - He may be a repaint, but that doesn't fix what was Overload's biggest problem: he's still a brick! His legs can move up and down, although they are not full motion and his arms and feet can move up and down. Not excatly the pinnacle of articulation
Overload's second problem in many fan's eyes was he was too dull as he had red and not much else. Energon Magnus fixes that as now blue is the primary color but there is a healthy mix of other colors as white, grey and red are all over the place. He looks alot more appealing but unfortunatly he's just as fun as his Armada incarnation in terms of possability. He gets points for a great paint job. 3.25/5
Minicons - Ultra Magnus comes with four minicons: Knock Out(his personal Minicon and a redeco of Rollout) who's mostly white with a little black detailing here and there.
He also comes with a new redeco of the Space team. They come with separate instructions which refer to their Armada names so no new names for them. Astroscope is colored primarly grey with blue being the seconday color and orange being used for detailing. Skyblast is primarly black with blue being used to detail his feet. He alos has some oragne and yellow on the underbelly of his cockpit (used to represent re entry perhaps?). Payload is now primarly grey with red detailing. When all three are combined, they form the Requiem Blaster. With the mixes of grey and black prevalient thoughout, it could be called the Dark Blaster as it very much plays the part of a dark version of the orginal Requiem Blaster
Gimmicks - He still has his great G1 transform sound. The panels on his arms fold up and reveal molded in missles, a very cool feature. he alos comes with two missles that fit into his feet and cn be launched. Interesting to note that his instructions for some reason detail his combinability with Armada Prime. However, he's in Energon now so I'm not evaluating that. Oh I guess being a brick counts as a gimmick? 2.75/5
Overall Ultra Magnus and the Space Team are a very nice set and worth the 24.99 price tag...if you're into new schemes. If you are someone who loves possability and will hate a figure that has next to none, well think hard before buying as Ultra Magnus is great for display, but not much else. Still, he's a nice buy as I returned my Armada Overload the first day I got him yet love Energon Ultra Magnus. 3.75/5
Reviewer | Behold, Galvatron! |
Date | December 19th 2003 |
Score | (7 out of 10) |
Reads | 8794 |
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