Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 5, 2009 14:02:41 GMT
Optimus Prime
Having recently tackled Powermaster Optimus and made comparisons to the original Optimus Prime I thought it only fair to come back and review this toy. Optimus Prime starts life as Diaclone Battle Convoy and effectively Optimus Prime is a western port of this toy with a few minor tweaks.
Optimus Prime is a square cabbed red truck towing a silver/grey trailer. The front of the truck and the truck's flatbed are metal and the windows on the cab are clear. The front of the truck folds down - not to store the robot's fists in but to house two Diaclone drivers. Three were supplied with the Diaclone version (a red one, a green one & a blue one) but you get none here as per all the other Diaclone toys imported to the west. Chrome is used on the hubcaps, exhaust pipes and fuel tanks. The trailer rest on a short thick peg at the back of the flatbed.
The trailer features a fold down rear door which is just the right size for the Diaclone/Autobot cars to roll up, but it's real value is revealed when transformed: Take the trailer and fold the supporting legs underneath out to the sides. Fold down the rear of the trailer to form a ramp then split the roof of the trailer down the middle folding out to the sides. This revealed base mode can then be towed, left free standing or even stood up on the rear of the trailer. The base mode is packed with features: It contains a six wheeled car - Roller - with room for 4 Diaclone figures. Roller comes in a variety of colours - silver or one of two shades of blue on the original version. The car can be fired out of the base and down the ramp at the rear using a trigger at the cab end of the base. The launcher isn't that well spring powered on the original western version but the Japanese one is astonishing - good enough to fire Roller as a missile ! The launcher can be fired while the trailer is in truck mode propelling Roller Knight Rider style out the back of the vehicle. Roller has a 5mm peg hole in the back which can be used to carry either Optimus Prime's gun or the base of a refueling pipe which is linked by a plastic tube to a nozzle with a sub standard size 3 1/2 mm peg - so Prime can't hold it and neither can any other TF I can think of. Very odd. There's three 5mm peg holes in the base, one to the side presumably for the gun and a pair alongside Roller's launcher - which makes me think the peg on the oil nozzle is wrongly sized. On each of the panels formed from the folded out sides of the trailer there's a seat alongside the launcher which will each take a Diaclone figure.
On top of the launcher is an arm, hinged at the base, in the middle and at the top. Mounted on a rotational joint at the top of the arm is a cockpit - moulded in blue with a clear lift up canopy - that can accommodate a further Diaclone figure. To one side of the cockpit is a radar dish that folds upwards to deploy it. The radar dish rotates at it's base courtesy of a wheel projecting from the back of the cockpit. The radar dish also has a round hole dead centre of it's rear just slightly too small to take the nozzle for the oil pipe. Folded under the other side of the cockpit is a claw arm with a ball joint at it's base. Yes that's right a ball joint. The first TF toy with a ball joint isn't a Cyberjet or some other G2 toy, it's Optimus Prime. The joint is open at the back allowing the arm to be swung up from under the cockpit. There's a folding joint halfway along and the arm ends in a claw. Either side of the cockpit is a missile launcher - neutered on the western version. The cockpit's support arm can be folded through the square holes on the front or top of the trailer allowing the cockpit to be deployed when the trailer is in truck mode giving Optimus' truck mode some firepower.
To transform the cab into robot mode: Fold the sides of the cab - above the wheels, but bellow the stripe and either side of the grill 90 degrees out to the sides. Fold the back of the cab out to the sides & forward. Fold the head up on to the top of the cab. Fold the flatbed down to become the legs and fold the feet out. Push his hands into the holes where the headlights would be.
Optimus Prime's robot mode is an early benchmark for articulation that wouldn't be exceeded for a long time. His knees bend, his shoulders turn & fold back, the arms swivel above the elbows then bend at the elbow and the hands turn as a result of their peg in design. The only real improvement you could ask for would be hips bending forward and a head that turns. The colour scheme is iconic - he's the original big red robot with chromed upper legs and blue lower legs, feet, hands & head. The hands have 5mm peg holes allowing him to hold his rifle or the base end of the oil pipe.
Really the original Optimus Prime sets the mark so high that for years Transformers would struggle to top it - some might argue they never have. Spot on vehicle mode, action feature packed base mode - and it's a base mode that looks like it works - and the best robot in the line for some considerable time. If you've never owned one then make the effort and track a reissue down.
Optimus Prime is a variation hunter nightmare:
The guns & oil pipe parts come in short or long variations.
The missiles are either grey or a longer black
The colour of the cockpit & launcher varies from dark bluye with silver to light blue with black to dark blue with black.
Roller is either silver, light blue or dark blue - does this correspond to the colour variations above ?
The ramp at the back of the trailer have different size attachments
And then we have the really odd stuff like an Optimus with red feet or the Italian version moulded all in plastic. Worse is to come with Prime's descendants - see bellow !
Optimus Prime was issued in the UK & US in 1984. He was reissued in the UK as the gold boxed Classics Optimus Prime c1990. A third UK reissue occured when limited numbers of the 2000 Japanese reissue were sold in the UK through stores such as The Entertainer & Bentalls.
He was offered as a limited promotional version in the USA & Canada sporting Pepsi stickers - the stickers vary between the two countries - and also offered as a mail away in 1986. His first US reissue was in 2003 with shortened exhaust pipes and longer missiles - this was a Toys R Us exclusive which was also sold in Toys R Us stores in the UK. A second US re-release with some new extras is listed bellow.
Having previously been released as a Diaclone toy, Optimus Prime was first available in Japan in 1985 as Transformers toy 01 Convoy which also appeared in the giftsets VS-X (with Megatron) and Good Bye Convoy (with Red Alert & Mirage) where his windows were moulded in clear blue plastic. He was reissued in 2001 - including a variant with gold chrome which was offered as a lucky draw prize, then shortly afterwards as New Year Convoy - see bellow. His next reissue was as TF Collection #0 which included an additional orange Energon axe that plugged into the fist socket and most recently as TF Encore toy 01.
Generation 2 Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime returned in Generation 2 sporting a new black trailer, an electronic voicebox that mounted on nthe front of the trailer or Prime's robot mode back and a pair of missile launchers that could be hand held or mounted on the sides of the voicebox. Colours for the cab and the robot are similar to the original but some sport legs rendered in purple.
JAFCON Black Convoy
This variant on the 2000 Convoy reissue rendered the entire toy - save the silver chrome - in black.
This version of Optimus Prime was sold at the JAFCON convention in Japan. It has been said that a limited number found their way into the stock of the Japanese 2000 reissue sold in the UK.........
New Year Convoy
New Year Convoy is broadly the original Optimus Prime/Convoy toy but with clear blue windows. He comes with both versions of the robot's gun and a matrix - whih can sit in the robot's chest - mounted on a Necklace.
Also included in the box is a repainted version of Action Master Optimus Prime in colours more closely matching those seen in the cartoon series. The figure's head turn, it's arms turn at the shoulders, it has ball jointed hips and bending knees. This is the only Action Master figure ever released in Japan, but the trailer from the original Action Master Optimus Prime was repainted & sold as a Microman toy in 2000.
Completing the package we have a sheet of Autobot stickers in various sizes and an Autobot symbol mouse mat.
Transformers Collection #9 Starscream
So what's a Starscream toy doing in a review of Optimus Prime ? Well in amongst the accessories for this Anime coloured version of Starscream was a small Megatron gun for him to hold. Also included was a modified Optimus Prime fist to hold the same weapon. So if you want your Optimus Prime to fire Megatron, as he allegedly does in the cartoon, then you need to buy this toy.
Seriously though, a decent extra add on, which would have been nice bundled in with the TF Collection Prime - detailed above.
Pepsi Optimus Prime
Pepsi Optimus Prime is a homage to the original promotional Pepsi Prime detailed above. This version features an Optimus cab painted in the familiar Pepsi livery of wavey red, white & blue stripes. The original trailer is gone replaced by a new one which can support a bottle of Pepsi tanker style or can carry three cans of Pepsi mounted upright. The trailer has a 5mm peg hole on the bottom for mounting Optimus' gun in.
A version was later sold in the US at Botcon 2007 and through the Hasbro website.
Music Legend Convoy
This version of Optimus Prime uses the cab/robot repainted in white with a new white trailer. The top of the trailer folds back revealing two speakers allowing the trailer to be used as an I-Pod docking station. The robot features a new head sculpt that can turn.
It's odd that a white version of Convoy/Optimus Prime *isn't* called Ultra Magnus ! However the white colour was used to more closely match the I-Pods
Music Label Optimus Prime
This second release of the I-Pod figure & trailer is redone in original Optimus Prime colours.
Music Label Exile Convoy
A third limited edition version of the I-Pod toy repaints the Prime version turning the blue of the robot & grey of the trailer into red and making the striped round the cab, the robot faceplate & some panels on the legs yellow.
Not the most attractive Prime toy ever.
25th Anniversary Optimus Prime
The 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime takes the previous TF Collection release (with short exhaust pipes) and adds in some new stuff - a voicebox stand, a reprint of Marvel Transformers #1 and a DVD of More Than Meets The Eye, the opening story of the Transformers cartoon, thus uniting the three Transformers media - toy, comic & cartoon - in one box.
Ultra Magnus
Possibly the most famous resuse of the Optimus Prime mould is Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus takes the Optimus Prime cab, recolours it white, and pairs it with a new trailer. The robot is essentially the same, but with a new gun with a 5mm peg handle halfway along one side and a larger handle at the end of the other. The trailer is the reason for buying the toy. Gone is the transforming base to be replaced by a chunky Car Transporter with a red base, pale blue upper deck supports and a white upper deck. The front of the upper deck ends in a pair of missile launchers, setting a standard for arming Prime trailer modes followed on the Powermaster & Generation 2 versions. The rear of the trailer features a paid of fold down white doors which turn into a ramp onto the lower deck. The back of the upper deck is supported on two white posts which can be folded in allowing the upper deck to bend in the middle to load cars onto it. The trailer should be able to hold four standard sized Autobot cars. The top of the upper deck can be elevated at the rear to form a portable launch vehicle for Silverbolt, the Aerialbot commander - this is pictured on the back of the Japanese box alongside two other alt modes which are so scraping the bottom of the barrel that they're not in the instructions so I won't talk about them.
Like Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus was originally designed as a Diaclone toy - in this case Diaclone Powered Convoy. In addition to the 2 Diaclone figures that can ride in the cab there's an additional piece (later to become the Super Robot Chest piece) that can be used as Spaceship for one Diaclone figure. This combines with what will become the Super robot helmet to give the Spaceship a pair of twin guns and can in turn be locked onto the front of the lower deck as a gun emplacement. Powered Convoy also came with a little Roller esque car that could hold one Diaclone figure and take the robot's gun in a 5mm peg hole at the rear ala Roller. This car/robot has not appeared in Transformers.
The truck's real purpose can be found when transformed: Remove the missile launchers. Fold the supports for the upper deck in, then push the upper deck forward so the front of it projects through the front of the truck and the back half of the upper deck retracts in on itself. Pivot the lower deck up at the back so the top of the lower deck locks against the fold down ramp to form the front of the Super Robot. Separate each half of the upper deck and fold the front support back and to the sides till it locks in place and forms a shoulder. Remove the trailer hitch and attach to the front of the Super Robot as a waist piece. Attach the chest shield to the front of the robot, the larger robot fists to the end of the arms then remove the missile launchers from the top of the arms and plug into the side of the arms. Take the cab, folding the flatbed down under the cab. Transform the cab so the head sticks up but the rest of the cab is still in vehicle mode. Plug the cab into the back of the Super robot with the fists locking onto the posts that held the trailer hitch in place. Finally place the large robot helmet in place. Plug a missile launcher into each shoulder. Put the gun into a hand to be held by the larger handle.
Ultra Magnus super robot mode is a little bit of a brick where his body is concerned with no articulation in the waist or legs. The arms however turn at the shoulders, rotate above the elbow which bends and also have the ability to lengthen/shorten from the shoulder to the elbow by varying how much of the upper arm sticks out the top of the shoulder. Magnus has a couple of prominent features: He's the largest Diaclone originated Transformer that can roll along on his feet (see also Skids, Jazz, Prowl et al, Sunstreaker & Wheeljack) He's also the first Transformer with a Minicon port - his wrists form part of the upper car deck in trailer mode and are held together by a 5mm peg with a hole down the middle.
When I was younger I couldn't see the point of Ultra Magnus - he's Optimus Prime with a new trailer. Now I've got one I think he's great - the combined robot is great fun and the first Super Robot mode for the line - to be followed by Powermaster Prime and many others.
Ultra Magnus was sold in the UK & US during 1986 & 1987. He's Japanese Transformers toy C-69 and was one of the first toys top be reissued in 2000 in Japan and 2002 in the US & UK with elongated missiles.
Fred's Variations Quest goes to town on Ultra Magnus:Painted & unpainted faces, rubber & plastic wheels, clear plastic vs no windows..... and that's before it gets really, *really* silly.
Pre-Movie Ultra Magnus
Based on the Diaclone Powered Convoy which appears in an early test shot for the 1986 Movie, this version of Ultra Magnus has dark blue cab, silver for red, red for the body's light blue, dark blue for the chest armour & trailer light blue, black for white this version and a red super robot head.
Matrix Glow Ultra Magnus
Matrix Glow, my bottom. Well more another bit of my anatomy really as all three colours of plastic in the trailer are cast in a clear yellow which, and lets be honest here, looks like wee wee. Completing the image is a metal cab cast in yellow.
Why is the question I'm asking.
Possible Future Repaints
You know they'll be another Optimus Repaint at some time and although the Jafcon Black Convoy has existed for sometime there's never been a proper Evil Convoy\Nemesis Prime\Scourge toy so a black Prime - maybe with metallic teal blue stripes might be in order.
As for the Magnus version of the mould..... well how about repainting the blue of the trailer red, the white blue and issuing it with a traditionally Convoy coloured Optimus Cab as a powered up Optimus Prime with an additional Super Robot head based on the Prime head sculpt ? With a black version to follow perhaps
Having recently tackled Powermaster Optimus and made comparisons to the original Optimus Prime I thought it only fair to come back and review this toy. Optimus Prime starts life as Diaclone Battle Convoy and effectively Optimus Prime is a western port of this toy with a few minor tweaks.
Optimus Prime is a square cabbed red truck towing a silver/grey trailer. The front of the truck and the truck's flatbed are metal and the windows on the cab are clear. The front of the truck folds down - not to store the robot's fists in but to house two Diaclone drivers. Three were supplied with the Diaclone version (a red one, a green one & a blue one) but you get none here as per all the other Diaclone toys imported to the west. Chrome is used on the hubcaps, exhaust pipes and fuel tanks. The trailer rest on a short thick peg at the back of the flatbed.
The trailer features a fold down rear door which is just the right size for the Diaclone/Autobot cars to roll up, but it's real value is revealed when transformed: Take the trailer and fold the supporting legs underneath out to the sides. Fold down the rear of the trailer to form a ramp then split the roof of the trailer down the middle folding out to the sides. This revealed base mode can then be towed, left free standing or even stood up on the rear of the trailer. The base mode is packed with features: It contains a six wheeled car - Roller - with room for 4 Diaclone figures. Roller comes in a variety of colours - silver or one of two shades of blue on the original version. The car can be fired out of the base and down the ramp at the rear using a trigger at the cab end of the base. The launcher isn't that well spring powered on the original western version but the Japanese one is astonishing - good enough to fire Roller as a missile ! The launcher can be fired while the trailer is in truck mode propelling Roller Knight Rider style out the back of the vehicle. Roller has a 5mm peg hole in the back which can be used to carry either Optimus Prime's gun or the base of a refueling pipe which is linked by a plastic tube to a nozzle with a sub standard size 3 1/2 mm peg - so Prime can't hold it and neither can any other TF I can think of. Very odd. There's three 5mm peg holes in the base, one to the side presumably for the gun and a pair alongside Roller's launcher - which makes me think the peg on the oil nozzle is wrongly sized. On each of the panels formed from the folded out sides of the trailer there's a seat alongside the launcher which will each take a Diaclone figure.
On top of the launcher is an arm, hinged at the base, in the middle and at the top. Mounted on a rotational joint at the top of the arm is a cockpit - moulded in blue with a clear lift up canopy - that can accommodate a further Diaclone figure. To one side of the cockpit is a radar dish that folds upwards to deploy it. The radar dish rotates at it's base courtesy of a wheel projecting from the back of the cockpit. The radar dish also has a round hole dead centre of it's rear just slightly too small to take the nozzle for the oil pipe. Folded under the other side of the cockpit is a claw arm with a ball joint at it's base. Yes that's right a ball joint. The first TF toy with a ball joint isn't a Cyberjet or some other G2 toy, it's Optimus Prime. The joint is open at the back allowing the arm to be swung up from under the cockpit. There's a folding joint halfway along and the arm ends in a claw. Either side of the cockpit is a missile launcher - neutered on the western version. The cockpit's support arm can be folded through the square holes on the front or top of the trailer allowing the cockpit to be deployed when the trailer is in truck mode giving Optimus' truck mode some firepower.
To transform the cab into robot mode: Fold the sides of the cab - above the wheels, but bellow the stripe and either side of the grill 90 degrees out to the sides. Fold the back of the cab out to the sides & forward. Fold the head up on to the top of the cab. Fold the flatbed down to become the legs and fold the feet out. Push his hands into the holes where the headlights would be.
Optimus Prime's robot mode is an early benchmark for articulation that wouldn't be exceeded for a long time. His knees bend, his shoulders turn & fold back, the arms swivel above the elbows then bend at the elbow and the hands turn as a result of their peg in design. The only real improvement you could ask for would be hips bending forward and a head that turns. The colour scheme is iconic - he's the original big red robot with chromed upper legs and blue lower legs, feet, hands & head. The hands have 5mm peg holes allowing him to hold his rifle or the base end of the oil pipe.
Really the original Optimus Prime sets the mark so high that for years Transformers would struggle to top it - some might argue they never have. Spot on vehicle mode, action feature packed base mode - and it's a base mode that looks like it works - and the best robot in the line for some considerable time. If you've never owned one then make the effort and track a reissue down.
Optimus Prime is a variation hunter nightmare:
The guns & oil pipe parts come in short or long variations.
The missiles are either grey or a longer black
The colour of the cockpit & launcher varies from dark bluye with silver to light blue with black to dark blue with black.
Roller is either silver, light blue or dark blue - does this correspond to the colour variations above ?
The ramp at the back of the trailer have different size attachments
And then we have the really odd stuff like an Optimus with red feet or the Italian version moulded all in plastic. Worse is to come with Prime's descendants - see bellow !
Optimus Prime was issued in the UK & US in 1984. He was reissued in the UK as the gold boxed Classics Optimus Prime c1990. A third UK reissue occured when limited numbers of the 2000 Japanese reissue were sold in the UK through stores such as The Entertainer & Bentalls.
He was offered as a limited promotional version in the USA & Canada sporting Pepsi stickers - the stickers vary between the two countries - and also offered as a mail away in 1986. His first US reissue was in 2003 with shortened exhaust pipes and longer missiles - this was a Toys R Us exclusive which was also sold in Toys R Us stores in the UK. A second US re-release with some new extras is listed bellow.
Having previously been released as a Diaclone toy, Optimus Prime was first available in Japan in 1985 as Transformers toy 01 Convoy which also appeared in the giftsets VS-X (with Megatron) and Good Bye Convoy (with Red Alert & Mirage) where his windows were moulded in clear blue plastic. He was reissued in 2001 - including a variant with gold chrome which was offered as a lucky draw prize, then shortly afterwards as New Year Convoy - see bellow. His next reissue was as TF Collection #0 which included an additional orange Energon axe that plugged into the fist socket and most recently as TF Encore toy 01.
Generation 2 Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime returned in Generation 2 sporting a new black trailer, an electronic voicebox that mounted on nthe front of the trailer or Prime's robot mode back and a pair of missile launchers that could be hand held or mounted on the sides of the voicebox. Colours for the cab and the robot are similar to the original but some sport legs rendered in purple.
JAFCON Black Convoy
This variant on the 2000 Convoy reissue rendered the entire toy - save the silver chrome - in black.
This version of Optimus Prime was sold at the JAFCON convention in Japan. It has been said that a limited number found their way into the stock of the Japanese 2000 reissue sold in the UK.........
New Year Convoy
New Year Convoy is broadly the original Optimus Prime/Convoy toy but with clear blue windows. He comes with both versions of the robot's gun and a matrix - whih can sit in the robot's chest - mounted on a Necklace.
Also included in the box is a repainted version of Action Master Optimus Prime in colours more closely matching those seen in the cartoon series. The figure's head turn, it's arms turn at the shoulders, it has ball jointed hips and bending knees. This is the only Action Master figure ever released in Japan, but the trailer from the original Action Master Optimus Prime was repainted & sold as a Microman toy in 2000.
Completing the package we have a sheet of Autobot stickers in various sizes and an Autobot symbol mouse mat.
Transformers Collection #9 Starscream
So what's a Starscream toy doing in a review of Optimus Prime ? Well in amongst the accessories for this Anime coloured version of Starscream was a small Megatron gun for him to hold. Also included was a modified Optimus Prime fist to hold the same weapon. So if you want your Optimus Prime to fire Megatron, as he allegedly does in the cartoon, then you need to buy this toy.
Seriously though, a decent extra add on, which would have been nice bundled in with the TF Collection Prime - detailed above.
Pepsi Optimus Prime
Pepsi Optimus Prime is a homage to the original promotional Pepsi Prime detailed above. This version features an Optimus cab painted in the familiar Pepsi livery of wavey red, white & blue stripes. The original trailer is gone replaced by a new one which can support a bottle of Pepsi tanker style or can carry three cans of Pepsi mounted upright. The trailer has a 5mm peg hole on the bottom for mounting Optimus' gun in.
A version was later sold in the US at Botcon 2007 and through the Hasbro website.
Music Legend Convoy
This version of Optimus Prime uses the cab/robot repainted in white with a new white trailer. The top of the trailer folds back revealing two speakers allowing the trailer to be used as an I-Pod docking station. The robot features a new head sculpt that can turn.
It's odd that a white version of Convoy/Optimus Prime *isn't* called Ultra Magnus ! However the white colour was used to more closely match the I-Pods
Music Label Optimus Prime
This second release of the I-Pod figure & trailer is redone in original Optimus Prime colours.
Music Label Exile Convoy
A third limited edition version of the I-Pod toy repaints the Prime version turning the blue of the robot & grey of the trailer into red and making the striped round the cab, the robot faceplate & some panels on the legs yellow.
Not the most attractive Prime toy ever.
25th Anniversary Optimus Prime
The 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime takes the previous TF Collection release (with short exhaust pipes) and adds in some new stuff - a voicebox stand, a reprint of Marvel Transformers #1 and a DVD of More Than Meets The Eye, the opening story of the Transformers cartoon, thus uniting the three Transformers media - toy, comic & cartoon - in one box.
Ultra Magnus
Possibly the most famous resuse of the Optimus Prime mould is Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus takes the Optimus Prime cab, recolours it white, and pairs it with a new trailer. The robot is essentially the same, but with a new gun with a 5mm peg handle halfway along one side and a larger handle at the end of the other. The trailer is the reason for buying the toy. Gone is the transforming base to be replaced by a chunky Car Transporter with a red base, pale blue upper deck supports and a white upper deck. The front of the upper deck ends in a pair of missile launchers, setting a standard for arming Prime trailer modes followed on the Powermaster & Generation 2 versions. The rear of the trailer features a paid of fold down white doors which turn into a ramp onto the lower deck. The back of the upper deck is supported on two white posts which can be folded in allowing the upper deck to bend in the middle to load cars onto it. The trailer should be able to hold four standard sized Autobot cars. The top of the upper deck can be elevated at the rear to form a portable launch vehicle for Silverbolt, the Aerialbot commander - this is pictured on the back of the Japanese box alongside two other alt modes which are so scraping the bottom of the barrel that they're not in the instructions so I won't talk about them.
Like Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus was originally designed as a Diaclone toy - in this case Diaclone Powered Convoy. In addition to the 2 Diaclone figures that can ride in the cab there's an additional piece (later to become the Super Robot Chest piece) that can be used as Spaceship for one Diaclone figure. This combines with what will become the Super robot helmet to give the Spaceship a pair of twin guns and can in turn be locked onto the front of the lower deck as a gun emplacement. Powered Convoy also came with a little Roller esque car that could hold one Diaclone figure and take the robot's gun in a 5mm peg hole at the rear ala Roller. This car/robot has not appeared in Transformers.
The truck's real purpose can be found when transformed: Remove the missile launchers. Fold the supports for the upper deck in, then push the upper deck forward so the front of it projects through the front of the truck and the back half of the upper deck retracts in on itself. Pivot the lower deck up at the back so the top of the lower deck locks against the fold down ramp to form the front of the Super Robot. Separate each half of the upper deck and fold the front support back and to the sides till it locks in place and forms a shoulder. Remove the trailer hitch and attach to the front of the Super Robot as a waist piece. Attach the chest shield to the front of the robot, the larger robot fists to the end of the arms then remove the missile launchers from the top of the arms and plug into the side of the arms. Take the cab, folding the flatbed down under the cab. Transform the cab so the head sticks up but the rest of the cab is still in vehicle mode. Plug the cab into the back of the Super robot with the fists locking onto the posts that held the trailer hitch in place. Finally place the large robot helmet in place. Plug a missile launcher into each shoulder. Put the gun into a hand to be held by the larger handle.
Ultra Magnus super robot mode is a little bit of a brick where his body is concerned with no articulation in the waist or legs. The arms however turn at the shoulders, rotate above the elbow which bends and also have the ability to lengthen/shorten from the shoulder to the elbow by varying how much of the upper arm sticks out the top of the shoulder. Magnus has a couple of prominent features: He's the largest Diaclone originated Transformer that can roll along on his feet (see also Skids, Jazz, Prowl et al, Sunstreaker & Wheeljack) He's also the first Transformer with a Minicon port - his wrists form part of the upper car deck in trailer mode and are held together by a 5mm peg with a hole down the middle.
When I was younger I couldn't see the point of Ultra Magnus - he's Optimus Prime with a new trailer. Now I've got one I think he's great - the combined robot is great fun and the first Super Robot mode for the line - to be followed by Powermaster Prime and many others.
Ultra Magnus was sold in the UK & US during 1986 & 1987. He's Japanese Transformers toy C-69 and was one of the first toys top be reissued in 2000 in Japan and 2002 in the US & UK with elongated missiles.
Fred's Variations Quest goes to town on Ultra Magnus:Painted & unpainted faces, rubber & plastic wheels, clear plastic vs no windows..... and that's before it gets really, *really* silly.
Pre-Movie Ultra Magnus
Based on the Diaclone Powered Convoy which appears in an early test shot for the 1986 Movie, this version of Ultra Magnus has dark blue cab, silver for red, red for the body's light blue, dark blue for the chest armour & trailer light blue, black for white this version and a red super robot head.
Matrix Glow Ultra Magnus
Matrix Glow, my bottom. Well more another bit of my anatomy really as all three colours of plastic in the trailer are cast in a clear yellow which, and lets be honest here, looks like wee wee. Completing the image is a metal cab cast in yellow.
Why is the question I'm asking.
Possible Future Repaints
You know they'll be another Optimus Repaint at some time and although the Jafcon Black Convoy has existed for sometime there's never been a proper Evil Convoy\Nemesis Prime\Scourge toy so a black Prime - maybe with metallic teal blue stripes might be in order.
As for the Magnus version of the mould..... well how about repainting the blue of the trailer red, the white blue and issuing it with a traditionally Convoy coloured Optimus Cab as a powered up Optimus Prime with an additional Super Robot head based on the Prime head sculpt ? With a black version to follow perhaps
