Ultra Magnus Does Not Live Up to His Name

The big bot who bridged the gap between Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime finally got a make over. So how does Ultra Magnus stack up next to other figures?

This new version of Ultra Magnus is based on the Fall of Cybertron video game, featuring the classic colors that anyone who grew up in the 80’s remembers, but with the modern look of Transformers today. The figure shares parts with the FoC Optimus and is an easy bot to transform. The vehicle mode is a Cybertroninan truck which looks rather imposing, but is on the small side, while the bot mode captures the classic look of the character with a mix of a modern design. He also comes with a blaster and sword. Both weapons can be held or stored on the figure, but they can also be combined. The instruction sheet that comes with the figure is not that clear on combining the weapons so I had to go online to see how everything fit together. It makes a very fun weapon but might be too much for this bot to handle, standing slightly taller than the figure itself.

If you are a collector looking for a Hasbro made version of the character from the game this figure meets that need, but if you are looking for a figure to fit in with the Generations line Ultra Magnus misses the mark. He does not look that bad next to Rodimus, but when you mix him in with any others he is way too small. In the cartoon he towers over most of the other bots, but this version is substantially smaller than most of the deluxe class figures. He has the right colors and the right details, but no matter how you pose him, he will turn out to be a place holder until something better comes along for many collectors.