Anyone remember Ultra Magus from G1? He had a white Prime cab and a bulky, yet great looking trailer? Never did find him anywhere, would look great in me and my fiancee's collection. Anyway, after over ten years of never being redone, Ultra Magus was released for RID and he's big, very, very big. And has a very annoying flaw.
Truck mode: Sweeeeeet!!!! Wow, they really went all out for his truck mode here. The cab looks amazing, all those sharp angles and mini guns just under the windows, excellent design. The front spoiler is a blue and gold look with a large Autobot symbol on the front, very fetching indeed.
Since this mode is a car carrier as well, then the trailer is designed to hold some cars. And it does that very well. It can hold up to three deluxe Autobots, and with Blue Bolts, Magus's very big three-in-one gun, attached then a car can be held quite well. The trailer itself is grey with some blue underneath and a medium sized, for this range, Autobot symbol. The trailer inside is blue and it looks very well thought out.
Unlike his older G1 counterpart, who was cool, Magus actually looks lower, making him appear streamlined, which is strange to see in a truck mode. He looks great in this mode and is a lot of fun, and the added car carrying makes him good for an assault battle. Oh, his colours in all are white and blue with a little red, some black and his blue and gold spoiler and some silver for his front grate, that's his cab, his trailer is grey and blue. It looks excellent, really does.
Robot mode: Now this is where it's all gone wrong. His transformation is a little tricky, for kids it would be a nightmare. And then when he is transformed, the weight on his back from his battery pack makes him fall over! His robot mode is so annoying, making him stand is a joke. His guns are nice though and if you can get him to stand for longer than a few seconds, then he does look ready for battle. Oh, and because of his transformation, he's mostly legs. A very leggy warrior indeed, he could trip someone up just by walking. Not a great mode and the colours seem a little off, pity.
Ultra Magus is a good toy in truck mode, an excellent toy, he's just terrible in robot mode and that makes him less appealing in my opinion. His sounds are dull as well, so he's not worth having unless you're really wanting-
Omega Prime: Join Magus and Prime together and you get this behemoth of a robot. It's easy enough to combine them, other than those stupid hands, which seem to enjoy coming off too easily, and he looks great. But again that weight on the back strikes, Omega Prime is very unsteady and unless you have him on a very flat surface, then he'll just keep falling over.
A good idea, let down by those un-needed extra features. Such a shame, not perfect, but big, very big. He's at least 14 inches standing, about the size of a new born baby. Same weight as well I think, maybe heavier. So unless you really, really want Omega Prime, I would think first before buying Ultra Magus and Prime, it is up to you though. Just have fun though with Magus's truck mode, that alone is well worth the price.
| Reviewer | Tony Neil Watt |
| Date | May 11th 2003 |
| Score |  (6 out of 10) |
| Reads | 9450 |
Back to Reviews Index
|
