TRANSFORMERS: The Characters Of Generation 1 - ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS:  Revisiting the Characters of Generation 1

    "Consistency is victory." - Ultra Magnus, 1986.

AUTOBOT

Name - ULTRA MAGNUS

Function - City Commander

Series Debut - 1986 / Wave 3

Sub-Group - None

BACKGROUND...

    Ultra Magnus possesses all the qualities of a great leader!  He is intelligent, courageous, an excellent strategist, and a powerful fighter!  However, for all these wonderful abilities, he humbly sees himself as a soldier.  He feels more comfortable in the position of a soldier - obediently following the orders of Optimus Prime.

    Long ago, when Optimus Prime's crew headed into space to find new sources of power for their dying planet, Ultra Magnus stayed on Cybertron.  Unfortunately, contact was lost with the Autobot team and they were declared missing-in-action.  In Prime's absence, Autobots remaining on Cybertron often looked to Magnus for guidance.  By the Earthen year of 2005, contact had been re-established and soon Magnus found himself serving on Earth with that same group of Autobots that had been declared lost so long ago.  

    By this time, the evil Decepticons had finally succeeded in taking over Cybertron.  In an attempt to strike back and push the Decepticons off the planet, Optimus Prime established secret bases on 2 of Cybertron's moons.  Overseeing the moon's operations himself, Optimus entrusted Ultra Magnus with command of the recently built Autobot City on Earth.

    When the Decepticons attempted a full-scale assault to destroy the City, Ultra Magnus bravely led his troops again Megatron's destructive onslaught.  The Autobots fought hard, but eventually the City fell. Thankfully, Optimus Prime arrived with reinforcements and turned the battle though it ultimately cost Prime his life.  

    Before his death, Optimus entrusted the Autobot Matrix of Leadership into Ultra Magnus' care.  Magnus refused the offer at first, his humility telling him he wasn't worthy of the honor.  But Prime believed in him and knew he would do his best to lead the Autobots.  With that, Magnus accepted the Matrix.

    The new Decepticon leader, Galvatron, was relentless in his pursuit of the Matrix.  Driven by the task Unicron had sent him on to destroy it, and privately to obtain it to free him of his servitude to the giant planet-eater.  Galvatron tracked Ultra Magnus to the Junk Planet, destroyed him, and claimed the Matrix for himself.

    The planet's inhabitants - the Junkions, teamed up with the Autobots and somehow repaired Magnus, who then led a brave attack on Unicron himself.  During the fight with Unicron, the Autobot Hot Rod wrestled the Matrix from Galvatron and opened it - transforming him into Rodimus Prime.  He then defeated both Galvatron and Unicron.

    As the Autobots returned to Cybertron, Ultra Magnus happily took his place of Second-in-Command under the leadership of Rodimus Prime.  He did his best to help and guide the inexperienced new leader in his unexpected role.

    Ultra Magnus is a loyal Autobot who will always do his best to rise to whatever challenge comes his way! 

MY THOUGHTS...

    I remember getting Ultra Magnus for Christmas 1986!  I was familiar with the figure because most of my friends already had him.  I really liked the figure and character, but unfortunately this was a time of change at Hasbro.  They were starting some cost-cutting and my Ultra Magnus is one of the one's that got the short end of the stick.  

    The Ultra Magnus figures my friends owned had rubber tires that rolled nice and smooth.  MY Magnus, on the other hand, had hard plastic tires that rattled loudly when rolled on a flat surface.  Their Magnus' also had more paint apps while mine was missing some.  Most obvious here was the head.  My helmet was straight blue plastic - it was missing the silver painted antennas and the face plate.  I can't recall, but I think the cab of the semi also had plastic parts vs metal and no plastic "windows".

    At the time, I didn't realize it was Hasbro doing some cost-cutting.  I thought I had a factory defect at first!?!?  Regardless, Magnus was still an awesome figure and I really enjoyed having him in my collection!  I used a silver paint pen on the helmet... that helped the look!

    I thought the Ultra Magnus character was great!  While Optimus Prime seemed like the "Dad" of the Autobot team, Ultra Magnus seemed like the cool uncle!  Magnus got robbed though!  While Arcee, Hot Rod, Springer, Blurr, and Kup all had Cybertronian forms, Ultra Magnus did not.  There needed to be an episode that explained why he had an Earth-mode compared to the others under his command.

    Ultra Magnus here is represented in robot mode by the Heroes of Cybertron PVC series figure.  I really like the cartoon-accurate look of this figure.  Though I do wish he had his rifle in this version.  The vehicle mode is represented by the Hot Wheels truck that was released in 2025.  They really nailed this look of his car-carrier mode.

I took this picture right after Christmas 1986... showing off all the Transformers I got.  Ultra Magnus is in the group!

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original Tech-Spec.)