Hello and a very good day to all, next in my review is MP-22 Ultra magnus! Man oh man, was really happy when I got him and flashes of his dialog in "Transformers:The Movie" came into my mind. ( and of course his death scene ). Really happy that the Masterpiece series decided to make him and I am very impress with him.
Ultra Magnus first came into the Transformers in G1 in the movie itself where he was in charge of defending Autobot city. He transforms in to a car-carrying trailer with rocket launchers on either sides. He is stronger than your average Autobot and has every reason to lead them after prime's death, but he still feels that he is just a soldier. He prefers following orders than giving them.
Here are some pictures that I've taken from the internet and some print screens from my computer.
Here is the bot himself and I feel that is is one of the better designed robot in the G1 Transformers series. His shoulder canons looks very awesome especially when you are 8 years old :) but he rarely uses them.
In the movie we get one small glimpse of his trailer mode for about 2 seconds, then he went robot form all they way.
I think every G1 transformers fan will remember this scene...... its a sad day indeed....... sigh..... The script writer really got balls to include this scene into the movie and devastate all the kids who watch this movie in the 80's
Optimus pass the Matrix of leadership to Ultra Magnus for him to lead the Autobots, but Magnus just feels that he is just a soldier. Prime dropped the Matrix just before he died, it was picked up by Hotrod and he gave the Matrix to Ultra Magnus who stores it in his chest.
Ultimately, Ultra Magnus was killed on the planet of Junckions when he failed to open the matrix during Galvatron's assault on them.
He was literally blown to bits... I was really shocked when I first saw the movie.... 2 Autobot leader deaths in a movie..... and countless other..... I mean, how much can a kid take?
But don't worry, he was revived by the Junckions in the movie later on, but died again in the Transformers Headmasters series.
OK, enough Autobot deaths in my blog, now we go straight to the awesome figure. MP-22 Ultra Magnus comes in the usual Masterpiece series black box. He is the Cycbertron city commander.
And here we have the back of the box
Here are some pictures of him holding the matrix and standing beside MP-10. Bad news is that he DOES NOT COME WITH THE MATRIX OF LEADERSHIP!
He he is out of the box. He comes in his robot mode like the other leader class MPs
He does have quite a few accessories: a Blaster, 2 extra fists, a changeable faceplate, Spike and Daniel.
MP 22's collector card is quite different from the other MPs. I kind of prefer the old design but this is a nice change of view...... not a big issue. Still, the artwork is still amazing.
At the back of the card is his stats and he does have high scores across most of the board except his speed and firepower.
He also comes with the usual instruction manual, and he also have his own coin as well :)
Here is a closer look at his collector's coin. Looks ok, at least he does not have any spelling error.
He comes with a blaster with fairly nice designs and details. Almost similar to his weapon in the movie, just a bit shorter.
I manage to get some images for his weapon via print screens in my computer. As you can see, his weapon is slightly bigger and longer in the movie,but the color is about there ,concept and design is there. Still a great effort by TAKARA
We'll have a quick look at Spike and Daniel figure. Their scale and uniform is quite ok, but I don't really know the reason why TAKARA refuse to paint all their human faces. Is it because they are too small? Another thing is that Daniel's hips are quite Kardasian-like and I don't know why.
Here they are with teenage Spike and I do agree regarding their scale.
Their articulations are the same, limited but just enough to have them do the driving pose.
Here they are with Ultra Magnus.
Next we move on to the big guy himself! First impression, HE IS HUGE! He is really tall and bulky compare to other MPs and he is the tallest to date I think? no?
He is a little to bulky to me personally, I guess he hit the gym after the movie, but if he is a little thinner, he will look slightly better. As for G1 accuracy, I think there is no doubt about it, he is as G1 as you can get. The color is spot on, there are die-cast here and there (finally!), his joints are nice and tight, a little wear and tear over his forearm (I heard most people has this issue) , slightly heavier at the lower half of his body.
Side view is fairly ok.... well, all that trailer has to go somewhere.
Back view is the killer really. Fro the front he looks very very nice, but at the back, he ahs this flap over his buttocks, which bothers a lot of collectors (including me ) the legs does not look too good from the back either, but the butt flap.......
Officially in robot mode, you put the flap down.
I prefer to put it up like this and he just needs another hinge to make the flap fold around the back to hide the entire panel, I mean, that part is actually the top part of his cab, and it will have little effect when he transforms into his cab and trailer. Just some nit-picks, but.... oh Takara, one more hinge.....
There are some pictures I got from the internet which shows a collecter did indeed make another hinge for the flap and it folds in nicely. Wonder who make that? its simple but it does make a whole lot of difference to the figure.
As I said, it is the top part of his cab, you would not even know its there.
As for his face, I've got no complains. I think its very well done, very accurate. Even the part where he has these 2 blue panels which connects to his white antenna is done accurately. He even have some diecast over his head and antenna as well. Nicely done!
Here we can see some nice detailing too over the back of his head.
A fun part for MP-22 is that you can actually open up his face, which reveals a white prime's head similar to his G1 toy, where he is a white color optimus with armor. Looks a bit creepy, but still, good effort.
After you've have taken out the face, you just have to white plastic seen on this picture to give him the shouting face expression.
Nicely done as well.
His head does turn 360 degrees.
Some head tilting up and down. Range of movements is quite fine with me. no complains here.
And here we have his awesome shoulder canons that I always wonder why he does not use it more often.
His rockets can be detach from his rocket launchers, but it does not have a spring mechanism to shoot it..... bummer.....
A closer look at his rockets. Nice details all around.
His rockets can be rotate all around, facing any directions you like.
Arms can rotate full 360 degrees.
Minimal shoulder abductions, you can detach his shoulder joints just a bit to give him more range of movements.
Elbow joint is almost a 90 degree, and they do have some nice ratchet joints here.
Swivel joint over the biceps.
Details over his fist and fingers are also top notch.
Just that it is a shame they have limited articulations.
His index finger can move individually but this is as much as it can go. He cannot really point.
His thumb is static and 3 other fingers move together as a single unit.
Here you can see the groove in his palm to insert his weapon.
He holds his weapon very firmly and I'm very happy that they made the improvements since MP-20
His fists can he pulled out to make way for his extra fists.
I can almost hear him say
" ARGGHHHH! why you pulled out my fists!"
Well, the extra fists are actually static fists, which has a groove at the middle for him to hold the Matrix, either from MP-9 or MP-10.
" DAMN YOU Optimus! You gave me a broken Matrix! IT WONT OPEN!"
" YOU GAME ME A FAULTY MATRIX!"
I'm quite sure these words cross his mind just before he was blown to pieces LOL
Here is another print screen from my laptop on how he store his Matrix in the movie. The reason is that Takara went to all the trouble to do an exact representation on how his chest opens and how he stores the Matrix! This really amazes me and love the attention to details.
Same sequence in MP-22
The details in his chest compartment is very nicely done and the matrix does fit nicely!
And now I know why Takara took this photo and put it at the back of MP-22's box.
Optimus:" Ultra Magnus, my old friend, its because of you that many people will buy more of my clones, making me even richer! Bahahahaha! They need to have the matrix! My matrix!"
Moving on, here we can see the extend of his hip abductions.
Oh, by the way, he DOES NOT have any waist swivel. Yup, not even minimal due to his transformation.
What a blow to a MP figure, another major complains from fans.
Hip extension is limited, about 30 degrees.
He does have more hip flexion, about 60 degrees.
His knees too is unable to bend all they way......
He does have some toe swivel.
Next we have a look at his alternate mode. One word to describe it. Perfect! I dont't have any complains or nit-picks for his alternate mode. It is just pure awesomeness.
His Truck mode is very very nicely designed, he has rubber wheels! and all them roll nicely. His front cab can turn side to side pretty much like MP-10. Details all over his alternate mode is gorgeous.
Front view of his cab. Spike and Daniel can actually sit inside once you've ope up the top panels.
Top view of his alternate mode.
You have 2 options to place his rocket launchers: at either side of his or in the front. Personally I prefer the sides, which coincides with G1.
The back of his trailer can be lower down to form a ramp for other MP cars to come aboard.
the upper deck of his trailer can be lower down as a gimmick for the cars to move up.
He can store up to 4 MP cars which I think its a very cool feature.
Here he is side by side with MP-10 and they are pretty much the same size.
Length is also somewhat the same.
Another cool feature of MP-22 is that his cab can also detach from his trailer
He is identical to MP-10's cab and I'm really impress by this.
Length is almost the same
Some difference is that MP-10's back part is bulkier
Top view.
Both of their trailers side to side.
Transform and roll out!
With his limited articulations, he still can do some basic poses. Not too bad.
Here he is with some 3rd party transformers.
He is almost as tall as Uranos! Well, Sigma-L is well, small as expected.
Here's another print screen for scaling purposes. Ultra Magnus is slightly higher that optimus, and not very bulky.
Here he is with MP-10 and MP-8. He is taller than MP-10 more than expected. Even MP-8 is dwarf by his side.
Here is with Smokescreen and Wheeljack.
Well, as expected, MP-21 is well, small.
Optimus:" Lets go Ultra Magnus...... Lets hunt some Decepticons."
Here's a picture from the net. G1 toy Ultra Magnus is a G1 Optimus figure inserted into his trailer.
Not a bad figure at that time. Probably they cannot figure it out how to transform his cab and trailer.
Really happy that I got to see the masterpiece series.
Cons: Limited articulations, ugly butt, no matrix, slightly out of scale, a little too bulky.
