Thursday, April 3, 2014
Review: Takara Generations Ultra Magnus
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Takara Tomy |
| Figure Number: | 11 |
| Origin Series: | Transformers: Fall of Cybertron |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 13cm tall |
| Original Price: | 3,129 yen |
| Packaging: |
Much like Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime, the generations deluxe releases from Takara shares the same design which is a rehash of their Hasbro counterpart with minor alterations such as putting the Takara Tomy logo as well as Japanese characters all over the packaging. One particular difference with this and hasbro's packaging in terms of the character art is that Ultra Magnus is in a lighter shade of blue.
| Details - Vehicle Mode: |
As you all know (or not), the Fall of Cybertron Magnus is a retool/repaint of Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime, thus, making his Alt mode a completely identical mold. IMO, Magnus features a more visually appealing alt mode than Prime, as he has more painted parts such as the headlights of his alt mode for example. The inclusion of more than 1 shade of blue also makes it a more decent looking vehicle than Prime's as it eliminates the blandness of the color.
| Details - Robot Mode: |
As with robot mode, Magnus completely gives the same silhouette as that of Prime's although for a slight difference, Magnus' smokestacks are to be left unfolded in bot mode (as opposed to Prime) so that his signature "tower" shoulders remain intact.
The biggest difference is that being a retool, Ultra Magnus gets a completely new head sculpt which looks pretty badass that looks like an updated G1 head; the face itself looks stern and check out his mighty chin, such a sir. One thing that kind of left me disappointed with Takara's rendition is that they chose to make his eyes blue instead of Red or Orange like on what is promoted on the character art of the packaging.
Much like his vehicle mode, I seriously think that his Bot mode looks pretty lively with all the additional paint apps done to this guy. At first, I really thought that the Hasbro version was way better in tems of color, but while I was taking pictures of this guy, I kinda realized how neat the Takara version really was. Looking majestic in a more G1 accurate color scheme, Ultra Magnus looks ridiculously cool in his rightful "unique" silhouette, although the difference in the blue paint between his head, torso and legs does kind of look off in a way at times.
On a minor note, Hasbro's Magnus was notorious for having loose hips, unfortunately, Takara wasn't able to make his hip joints as tight as how they did it with their Prime release, thus, making this release have quite loose hip joints as well. (though not as bad as the Hasbro release's case)
| Accessories: |
To make the release sell for people who do not like retools, the release of FoC Magnus came with more than just a Cybertronian blaster; it was a Cybertronian sword that looks similar to the ones Optimus used in the final battle of the game.
To make things even more interesting, you can dismantle the sword and then combine it with the gun to form an even larger sword that can cleave out the evil forces of the Decepticons. A truly, neat little and welcomed additional to the set.
Of course, the accessories (both as individuals and combined) can be attached to the vehicle mode as well.
Additionally, you can choose to store his sword on his back, which looks pretty badass if you ask me.
| Articulation Points: |
I'll just be showing pictures here for some joint testing as the only thing worth noting here is that the new head is slightly less moveable than the Optimus Prime head in terms of looking up and when going sideways since his mighty chin is being an obstacle when trying to rotate using a full 360. Other than the head, everything else is the same with FoC Optimus and you can just read his review if you want a more detailed discussion on the mold's articulation.
| Poseability: |
Everything Prime does, Magnus can as well (except a full look up lol). But as compensation for that minor change in articulation, Magnus gets bigger variety of play in terms of his entire package thanks his additional sword.
Additionally, the combined form can be wielded in different manners if you are to remove the hilt, making it wielding like Strider Hiryu's cypher (lol) and also as an advanced cybertronian fire arm.
Magnus proves a lot more fun as he can even grip the sword with his two hands on selected poses. Posing him around with other Aligned continuity characters also work pretty well.
| Final Thoughts: |
As I've stated above, my entire view on this release changed when I was taking the pictures, but yeah, mold wise, I think he's a very satisfying retool and the new accessory makes it a better pick if you just want 1 version of the mold. Color wise, I seriously think it's up to a personal preference if you want him to have a more G1-ish color or in a darker tone of blue. Would I recommend it? Yes, mold wise, I really think this suits Magnus better than Prime despite being a more flawed release (loose joints and more limited neck movement) and despite a lot of people not liking the mold, I personally like it for some reason haha.
Once again, as with most of my Transformers stuff, I got a hand on this around a year ago thanks to Omniclone. :D
I give this Sir a good 4 out of 5.
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