Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus

Presenting the Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus.

He is not to be confused with the Transformers Prime Ultra Magnus which we reviewed back in October of last year - seems just like yesterday, oh how time flies.

Ultra Magnus: The hammer wielding leader of the Wreckers is back this time literally with a Hammer and his trademark huge shoulder pauldrons (Pads :) ).  Alpha Trion in the Ultra Magnus wiki describes him as: "Daring, strategically ingenious, and courageous to the point of recklessness, Ultra Magnus hammers back the Decepticon forces — literally"

In Transformers Prime, Ultra Magnus both commands and demands respect (the Autobots have to call him "Sir") and he is the second-in-command of Optimus Prime. He takes over leadership of the Autobots when Prime is "killed" following the destruction of the Omega Lock - which we talked about when we blogged about Dr. Wu's Sky Breaker / Star Saber. He leads the Autobots in a charge on Darkmount and nearly gets all of them killed as his ass is handed to him by Megatron. The timely revival and reconstruction of Optimus Prime through the efforts of Smokescreen saves them all.

After that, Ultra Magnus returns command of the Autobots to Optimus Prime and decides to takes the now defunct Forge of Solus Prime Hammer as his primary weapon declaring that the hammer should be put to "practical use".  Though even with the mighty Hammer, Ultra Magnus fails to take down Predaking.


Ultra Magnus - the baby-blue bad-ass Hammer wielding Autobot's blister card simply reads "The Elite Autobot Special Forces Commander is ready to bring the battle to the Predacons with the Mighty Forge of Solus Battle Hammer!"

Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus also comes with Chapter 16 of the Beast Hunters story-line which reads:
"Ultra Magnus sees the massive Predacon coming from a mile away. He doesn't know who the big dragon is, and he doesn't care. All he knows is that the dragons are dangerous, and must be defeated. 

He converts to robot mode and leaps into the air, bringing the Forge of Solus around in a shattering blow that would destroy a lesser robot. Grimwing takes the blow, and is only momentarily fazed. 

The battle is short, violent, and never in doubt. It ends with Ultra Magnus on the ground, disarmed and barely functional. Grimwing stands over him. "Pathetic," he says. "I hoped to learn something from you, but this new race of Cybertronians must all be liars and savages." He leans down to look into the optics of his Autobot opponent, "Be warned. This world is in grave danger from my fellow Predacons. I will restrain them. You and your fellows stay out of my way or be destroyed." And then he is gone, leaving Ultra Magnus dented and smoking in the dust."

Ultra Magnus's blister card lists his stats at:

• Strength - 10 - Yeah he's a big boy alright!
• Intelligence - 8
• Speed - 5 - so slow
• Endurance - 9
• Rank - 9 - answers only to Optimus Prime - but receives sass from Wheeljack and Ratchet. 
• Courage - 10 
• Fireblast - 9 - Hmmm. Somehow I expected more from someone wielding a Hammer with the power of a neutron star inside. 
• Skill - 6 - well he does have his ass handed to him by a lot of people. 

Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus transforms into a truck that's quite similar to the form of Optimus Prime and quite a deviation from his original truck mode in Transformers Prime.  Both Ultra Magnus' wings and Hammer can be attached at his back.

What's to like about the TF Prime Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus?

To be perfectly honest I'm still trying to figure out what.

Not that I really liked the previous Transformers Prime Ultra Magnus - though I have to admit he grows on you - you gotta like a figure that stands with such a proud chest.

The Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus actually shares a lot of flaws with his older counterpart which we'll discuss later.

I suppose that if you're a purist who liked the G1 Ultra Magnus a lot - which I'm sure a lot of us are, then you'll appreciate the new chest piece which is a nod to the G1 Ultra Magnus and the shoulder-pauldrons which Ultra Magnus has always been known for. Even his head - what with the silver "horns" - is a nod in the direction of the G1 Ultra Magnus.

And although the wings are stubby, I do like the fact that he can have a "cape" that drapes over Ultra Magnus' shoulders and attaches to him:

And happily Ultra Magnus can dual grip the Forge of Solus Prime Hammer:

What's NOT to like about the TF Prime Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus?

The Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus suffers the same plague/benefit that the Transformers Prime Ultra Magnus suffers/benefits from: Ball joints.

Both are quite top-heavy, so despite the fact that the ball  joints allow for incredible articulation, the joints cannot carry the Ultra Magnus' weight. Happily this is easy to correct with enough wedging in the joints. 

In my opinion the greatest loss and difference between the Transformers Prime Ultra Magnus and the Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus is the loss of one of my favorite Transformer abilities - the ability to twist at the hip. The Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus has a solid lower torso.

Anyone else notice the empty inner legs?

And let's move to the Elephant in the room: That's a really sucky looking Forge of Solus Battle Hammer. It's so small that it's hardly intimidating, and it actually just makes Ultra Magnus look like he's going out to play Polo rather than like he's going out to war.

It's nice though that the Hammer can be stored on his back and that Ultra Magnus can actually reach the Hammer's hilt.

Speaking of reaching, the Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus' upper torso movement is severly hamepered by those ludicrously large shoulder pauldrons, especially if you add the push-launched missiles. They look horrible. 

Happily there is news that Dr. Wu will soon be making a more menacing looking hammer for Ultra Magnus. I do indeed look forward to it. 

So which Ultra Magnus do you prefer?

This particular Transformers Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus was procured from Toy Kingdom in Megamall here in the Philippines for PhP 1,499.75 (Roughly US$ 34). Ultra Magnus is available on Amazon for US$36.29 (Roughly PhP 1,596.76 plus shipping). 

Hammer Time!