Ultra Magnus (Energon)

The name or term "Ultra Magnus" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Ultra Magnus (disambiguation).

Ultra Magnus is an Autobot from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Oh, he CAN deal with that now.

Battle-hardened veteran Ultra Magnus is a wise and powerful leader. His natural effectiveness as a leader is enhanced by the constant counsel of his binary-bonded Mini-Con partner Knock Out. As a leader, he prefers to concentrate on the here-and-now, and has little patience for mystical mumbo-jumbo.

Fiction

Universe toy bio

Ultra Magnus was a promising young Autobot, but then his best friend Treadshot joined Megatron's Decepticons in the Second Great War. Since that day, Magnus had been consumed with hunting down his former friend and beating six kinds of hell out of him, even to the point of disobeying direct orders.

His Mini-Con partner was Over-Run; lord knows how he viewed the whole affair. Ultra Magnus's Universe toy bio

Ask Vector Prime

Ultra Magnus was eventually severely injured in a fight with Treadshot. As a result, he was completely rebuilt, wielding a new body based on Rhinox's blueprints for Overload. His new form was exponentially more powerful than his old, and he could even combine with some of Optimus Prime's bodies. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/23

Timelines

After serving with distinction in the Armada War and the Powerlinx Battles, Ultra Magnus was given command of the half-finished Autobot flagship Iron Hope during the Unicron Singularity crisis. Magnus sent the Eclipse, the Valiant, the Azusa, the Spanner, the DieCast, and the Longbow to search the galaxy for ancient Autobot colony worlds. While en route to the Delta Crateris system, he received a distress signal from Longrack, the Spanner's commander. Over Ironhide's objections, he maintained their course. A second call for aid was also denied, as the Iron Hope had come under Decepticon attack. After ordering his troops to their battle stations, Magnus leapt into battle against the raiders himself. Force of Habit

Toys

Energon

I totally bought one at Target, I swear.

• Ultra Magnus (Ultra, 2004)

• Accessories: 2 missiles

Energon Ultra Magnus is a redeco of Armada Overload, transforming into a weapons trailer/aircraft launcher with spring-loaded missiles. His robot-mode shoulders have flip-open panels to reveal non-firing missile racks. He came with Knock Out, who forms the robot mode's head and central torso, and activates electronic sounds when he is plugged into the robot mode's chest socket. Ultra Magnus also came with a redeco of the Space Mini-Con Team. He has a third "weapon mode" that can plug onto the back of the Armada Optimus Prime super-robot mode, or the Prime trailer's "base" mode.

Magnus, Rapid Run, and Treadbolt were all produced in smaller numbers than the rest of the normal retail Energon line, and were only available in the initial shipments. However, while Rapid Run and Treadbolt were fairly easy to acquire, Magnus' shipment saw a very limited release, quickly replaced with the second assortment in the U.S., making him hard to come by. Magnus later showed up in much larger numbers in Australia, Canada, and some European markets; in the United Kingdom in particular, he actually shelfwarmed so badly that he could be found well into 2006.

He was made available in Japan as a Toy's Dream Project exclusive "USA Edition" with the box altered via a grayscale sticker, reflecting the Space Team's addition (see below for more).

• More information on Ultra Magnus at TFU.info

Transformers: Armada mold: Overload
Version 1: Hasbro: Armada Overload Energon Overload Ultra Magnus Ultra Magnus (different pack-in Mini-Cons, canceled) Takara: Legends of the Microns MC-14 Ultra Magnus MC-XX Ultra Magnus Special Clear Version TV Magazine: Legends of the Microns Tokubetsu Ultra Magnus Sonokong: Eunha Yeongung: Cybertron MC-14 Ultra Magnus Version 2: 3H Productions: Universe (2003) Sentinel Maximus

Universe (2003)

Hey, remember me? Well, I'm me.

• Ultra Magnus with Over-Run vs. Treadshot with Nightbeat (Battle in a Box, 2004)

• Accessories: Left & right smokestacks

Universe Ultra Magnus is a redeco of the Super-Con (aka Deluxe) version of Armada Optimus Prime, transforming into a long-nosed tractor-trailer cab of made-up model. Attaching a Mini-Con to the Powerlinx plug on his back activates a double-fisted "punching" gimmick. His smokestacks can be removed from his forearms, but don't really do anything if you do so, so why bother?

Magnus was available only in a Universe "Battle in a Box" set with his Mini-Con partner Over-Run, and the Decepticon-allied pairing of Treadshot and his Mini-Con partner Nightbeat. The set was available only at "market six" stores like Kohl's, at the same time as the Smokescreen/Ransack set.

This toy was also repurposed as a body for Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus.

• More information on Ultra Magnus at TFU.info

Transformers: Armada mold: Optimus Prime (Super-Con)
Hasbro: Armada Optimus Prime Nemesis Prime Universe (2003) Ultra Magnus Cybertron Optimus Prime Universe (2008) Optimus Prime (Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys) Takara: Legends of the Microns MC-06 STD Convoy TV Magazine: Legends of the Microns Crystal Convoy Scourge

Notes

Sadly unreleased.

• According to designer Aaron Archer (posting as Orson on the TFW2005 forums), any Ultra Magnus influence on the original Overload mold was Takara's doing—Hasbro was responsible for the head and surface details. Archer personally wasn't interested in revisiting Magnus as he liked the Robots in Disguise version of the character. Guess he changed his mind!
• Ultra Magnus was an "eleventh-hour" addition to the early Energon line, likely originally intended to be a "Unicron Battles" "Powerlinx" redeco of Overload in Armada, with a highly accelerated production cycle. Along with Treadbolt and Rapid Run, who were similar repurposed additions, he was reportedly produced at only 10,000 pieces, low for a normal mass-retail release. As such, photography for the toy in its proper colors could not be done in time, so Overload's photos were used for the box-back, along with those of the original Street Speed Team rather than the Space Team.
• Magnus was originally going to be packed with new-character redecos of the Street Speed Mini-Con Team named "Brakedown", "Clocker", and "Override", but they were replaced with same-character redecos of the Space Mini-Con Team presumably at the last possible minute. The redecoed Street Speed Team members were displayed at OTFCC 2003, and leaked packaged samples of Ultra Magnus that have made it out into the secondary market contain the Street Speed Mini-Cons in their intended colors (see also the image to the right), and the final release version still lists them on both sides of the packaging, although the back of the box shows them in the original Armada Street Speed Team's colors (as well as Ultra Magnus in Armada Overload's colors). The Japanese "USA Edition" release (in minimally modified Hasbro packaging) still lists the Street Speed Team on the front of the box, but covers the portion on the back that depicts the Street Speed Mini-Cons with a grayscale sticker depicting the Space Team, whereas the European packaging lists and depicts the Space Team (albeit still in their Armada colors). A popular fan-theory posits that this change was due to the redecoed Street Speed Team's (intentional) resemblance to Japanese-market exclusive Super Stunt Team redecoes (just with the colors rotated between the three of them), but if that were the case, it seems that it would have been a lot easier on Hasbro's part to simply stick with the intended sculpts and change their colors rather than go through the process of replacing the sculpts themselves. Exactly why the change to the Space Team was made has yet to be determined, especially given Magnus's inability to hold their combined form.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Ultra Magnus (ウルトラマグナス Urutora Magunasu)