Magnus Armor
Following the death of the admired Autobot warrior Ultra Magnus in the early days of the war, Chief Justice Tyrest designed the Magnus Armor to keep his legend alive. It is an integrated suit of armor worn by a series of Autobots, each load bearers with sparks that allow their bodies to handle extensive physical augmentation, secretly chosen by Tyrest to take on the role of Ultra Magnus and serve as the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord.
The armor is equipped with a recall switch so that upon the death of one Ultra Magnus, it would be returned to Tyrest so he could find a new enforcer capable and worthy of donning it. The armor also comes with a neural interface. If the bearer acts "out of sorts", the armor won't respond.
| Magnus Armor bearers | |||
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Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Disappointed with Minimus Ambus's performance as Ultra Magnus, Tyrest stripped Minimus of the Magnus Armor, intending to retire the role in favour of his new enforcer, Star Saber. The Divided Self Following Tyrest's defeat, Minimus retrieved the armor and back aboard the Lost Light, Ratchet helped him put it back on. The Sound of Breaking Glass
On a quantum duplicate of the Lost Light, after its version of Minimus Ambus was torn from the Magnus Armor by the Decepticon Justice Division, Rewind was found hiding inside the armor's remains by the crew of the "other" Lost Light. slaughterhouse
Brainstorm later defeated Ultra Magnus by using a weapon designed to separate the Magnus Armor from Ambus's body. The Custom-Made Now
A protoform made of Scraplets briefly took over the armor when it was set loose inside Magnus' quarters, resulting in 'Magnus' trying to give Megatron a big, warm hug, among other things. The protoform was soon extricated and the armor returned to its original wearer. Silent Light Minimus then spent some time fumigating it. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
The Magnus Armor was damaged in an explosion after the crew of the Lost Light staged a mutiny against Rodimus and his supporters and abandoned them on the Necroworld. How Bright Their Frail Deeds It was eventually superseded by Brainstorm's "Maximus Ambus" armor, a massively upscaled version of the original suit designed to push Minimus's load-bearing capabilities to the limit. At Close of Day
In the aftermath of Team Rodimus's trip to the Functionist Universe, Minimus's mental state meant he was unable to get the armor to properly respond to him, causing it to lock up entirely. Some manipulation from Rodimus got Minimus back to his old self, and the armor worked again. After Megatron (A Dissolution Epilogue)
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Magnus Armor was worn by Primal Vanguard member Delta Magnus. After Delta fell in battle, Autobot leaders assigned other warriors to wear the armor to continue the illusion that he was still alive. (Sounds familiar.) After the sixth wearer of the armor died and the original armor was lost, Delta Magnus's buggy drone partner Powerdrive was selected as the seventh and built into what remained of it as a single, integrated robot. Masterpiece Delta Magnus bio
Notes
- The Magnus Armor is a nod to the original Ultra Magnus toy where, due to its origin as a Diaclone "Powered Convoy", its trailer combined with the albino Primealike cab to form a "super robot".
- Ultra Magnus's outer form was also shown to be a suit of armor in Dreamwave's "Revelation", though there the inner robot resembled his original toy and represented the same character.
- In Megatron Origin #3 a similar white robot was seen alongside an Orion Pax-like bot at Bumper and Fastback's funeral, suggesting that something like the Magnus Armor may have existed in IDW continuity before the original Ultra Magnus's death; the same series also saw Sentinel Prime power himself up with the Apex Armor.
