Mystery of the Ultra Magnus
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 See, without "the" in the title, this could have been about any Ultra Magnus. | ||||||
| "Mystery of the Ultra Magnus" | ||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS, Studio Gallop | |||||
| Airdate | March 30, 2002 | |||||
| Written by | Tom Wyner | |||||
| Director | Osamu Sekita | |||||
| Animation studio | Studio Gallop | |||||
Clips about Magnus?
Megatron's not Galvatron?!
In the wrong order!
Synopsis
Deep underwater in the Megastar, Megatron complains that their more recent attempts to destroy the Autobots would have succeeded if it weren't for Ultra Magnus, and Scourge points out that Magnus has both helped and hindered the Autobots. Megatron decides to look back at Magnus' actions, starting with his arrival on Earth and interference at the oil refinery. After reviewing the footage, Megatron notes that Magnus didn't identify himself to the other Autobots, which Scourge suggests was to maintain the element of surprise. They continue to review Magnus' actions—disabling the Autobot brothers and once again fighting the Decepticons.
As Megatron observes, back then they expected Magnus and Optimus to join forces, but as the footage shows, this didn't happen, and Magnus attacked Optimus. He complains once more that Magnus always easily defeats Optimus whilst the Decepticons always fail in the same task, and dismisses Scourge's excuse that Magnus keeps interfering.
They continue reviewing the fight between Magnus and Optimus, along with the subsequent rescue by the Autobot brothers and Prime's recuperation on the island. Sky-Byte suggests they could use the fact that Optimus and Ultra Magnus are brothers in some way, but Megatron points out they learned this quite a while ago, and they need to get rid of the pair for good.
They resume viewing the footage with the arrival of Megatron and the Decepticons on the island and subsequent "strategic withdrawal" under fire from Omega Prime. Megatron observes that even after they left, hostility remained between Magnus and the other Autobots, and wonders why. He also recalls a later battle in which he was easily beating the Autobot brothers until Ultra Magnus turned up and was able to call on some new energy and super-charge the three brothers.
Having reviewed all of the footage, Megatron demands his troops tell him how to defeat the Autobots. When they're unable to, he informs them that the Matrix is the key, and to defeat the Autobots they have got to get hold of it.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Predacons |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
"Fool! We learned that a long time ago! Perhaps the MIND PROBE will improve your memory."
- —Megatron is a kind and encouraging leader (in some alternate reality).
Notes
Animation or technical errors
- This episode is, presumably, supposed to be titled "The Mystery of Ultra Magnus", but apparently someone copy-pasted a "the" into the wrong place for the title card, or something. It wasn't the first time that Robots in Disguise suffered from a typo'd title card, but this error was not corrected on the R2 DVDs (although the correct title was listed on the packaging).
Continuity errors
- As the 35th episode of the series, this episode is seriously out of chronological order. Megatron has become Galvatron by this stage, and would have very little reason to be interested in Ultra Magnus when Fortress Maximus is stomping around. Logically, it ought to fall somewhere between "The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus" and "Fortress Maximus".
Transformers references
- Megatron makes reference to working for a council.
Trivia
- This episode replaces the original Car Robots clip show, "Gelshark's Blues", in the Robots in Disguise line-up. Like the previous two clip-shows in the series, "Hope for the Future" and "Lessons of the Past", it is totally different from its Car Robots counterpart, but while those two episodes had a basic similarity of subject matter to the Car Robots episodes, this one has anything but. Whereas "Gelshark's Blues" featured Sky-Byte sadly ruminating on the super-charging of the Autobot Brothers, the emergence of Fortress Maximus and Megatron's transformation into Galvatron, "Mystery of the Ultra Magnus" does away with this wholesale, and is largely a retelling of "Ultra Magnus" and "Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion!", creating an entirely new story that sees Megatron study the early adventures of Ultra Magnus (despite the continuity error that ensues, as noted above).
- Before it aired, online sources listed the title of this episode as "A Clip Show".
- Indicative of the screwed-up airing on Robots in Disguise, this episode was the last of the series to air on United States television.
- It has nothing to do with Dion.
Home video releases
- DVD
2005 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Three-Disc Box Set: Part 2 of 2 (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Season Two (Maximum Entertainment)
2007 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise — Ultimate Collection (Maximum Entertainment)
