If SS86 Ultra Magnus had cartoon accurate proportions, he’d be a brick with arms. Tall, not wide. A tall rectangle. His animation model reflects this. Me personally, if I’m shopping for a brick, I’ll go to Home Depot and use a Sharpie to draw an Autobot symbol on it.
The thing is it’s supposed to be Magnus from the 86 movie, that’s the point of the line, so that brick-like build would have been accurate. I think the figure is phenomenal (Magnus is the bot I actively collect) but it feels more like a great mainline commander instead of fitting for an 86 accurate movie display
I actually love Siege Ultra Magnus's robot mode, including the more stock proportions. My issue with him was the half-assed vehicle mode that was a pain to put together. Ultra Mammoth is my personal favorite among these, but the most fun to play with is the Fall of Cybertron one.
Imo SS86 absolutely belongs in Holy Grail (I'd even argue it's better than MP-22) but other than that I don't have any major disagreements with the list; love God Magnus but I admit he's not that great of a standalone figure, and even though I have zero attachment to the IDW designs, CW Magnus is still a great Magnus.
This is exactly the list I’ve been wanting to see as I’ve had this yearning to obtain several Ultra Magnuses (Magni?) to pair up with various Optimus Primes I own across continuities as I await the upcoming HasLab Omega Prime.
As a Unicron trilogy kid i'm a sucker for upgrading the base robot into a super robot but for the sake of show accuracy i'd say the Magnus toys that go from vehicle to super robot mode are the better picks
Laser ultra magnus was in stock at robot kingdom for $100 for soooooo long and i always told myself I'd get it later until 1 day it was gone. It still pains me to this day 💔
I guess it's just the Weekend of Ultra Magnus. First TJ makes a tier list for all major Magnus toys and tomorrow Chris Mcfeely makes an updated basics on Ultra Magnus and I'm all here for it. Ultra Magnus has always been my favorite Autobot since the 86 movie. I will die on the hill that Magnus was the one that should've been chosen by the Matrix, not Hotrod. And I've liked Magnus in pretty much every other show he's appeared in (except War for Cybertron Siege, he sucked there). My main collection Ultra Magnus is the Siege figure because I tragically missed out on the 86 Ultra Magnus.
TBH, I really like the basic white Prime colors. I think it's striking to have a minimalist color scheme, sometimes. My fav is the Japanese (Henkei? United?) Classics Prime mold. The white there is bright and clean.
I'd say that the problem with Siege Magnus is that between how far back the leg armour goes and the big block bumper on his butt, your leg articulation is heavily limited, while the inner robot is in contest with energon for fattest prime. I'd say that, thus far the best "complete" Magnus would be fansproject's City Commander, with second going to the Perfect Effect upgrade to CW Magnus
For me, the biggest problem with TFP Beast Hunters Magnus is the chest, which in the show is a big sunshade that slides down over the front windows during transformation. As such, he doesn't have any windows on the front of the truck mode, which looks super dumb.
30:07 this is my number one fun pub figure to obtain. I have the deluxe sg prime to pair up with it so it would be perfect for me to obtain. And more to the point of the skull head. It’s just supposed to be he’s evil as shit. Since he’s worse than sg prime which is already basically the Lich King of Transformers.
if memory serves, the SG Magnus head was actually a Hasbro creation, already on the rts Laser Prime Sprue. possibly intended for a Toxitron release that never materialized. and funpub just used it for the sake of using it. also, in addition to the big platinum edition Magnus, you also missed the 2 Prime Cyberverse Magnuses, and Bot Shot Ultra Magnus
Yeah, that's correct. Considering it's a traditionally Autobot body that's been given a scary-looking headsculpt and therefore they wouldn't have to make a new head for it themselves, I can't blame them for pouncing on it.
Ultra Mammoth is such a fantastic pun, if nothing else, and the color scheme really does look good. I liked the Combiner Wars one a lot when it came out -- especially for its inclusion of Minimus -- though I cooled on it a bit overtime, especially compared to the more slavishly G1 versions that followed (even loving IDW Magnus). My main beef with him is how he can't hold his weapons well. Studio Series is pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned, though he might be just a little too largely proportioned overall. RiD Magnus is... definitely average. He's a glorified booster for Prime, for sure, especially with Fire Convoy being that good. But the upcoming Haslab looks to overall improve it. Animated Magnus is absolutely fantastic. One of the best to bear the name. I really like the first Prime Magnus there, long before he showed up on the show, a lot more than the second version that was a Prime retool. I've always REALLY liked that Fall of Cybertron Ultra Magnus, even if it's incredibly tiny. I only ever saw the Energon Ultra Magnus once in the wild and I always regretted not picking it up, because I think it works, in a pretty unique way. But I always liked Overload more than most to begin with.
Combiners wars is my favorite i like the seige version too for masterpiece I love the delta magnus version. Never got the 86 version it seems way too big . I always wanted to get the prime version but haven't yet same with the animated version. Love the shattered glass version too
I ended up picking up a loose Mp ultramagnus at a convention for 100$, and i am shocked how good he is... Articulations a bit jank, but everything else he does is borderline perfect...
I feel like it isn't a hot take that RID Magnus is a pretty bad toy on it's own. It's the prototype to energon wing saber in that respect. I do however appreciate the radical design change for Magnus, and THAT is where he becomes top tier for me.
I think you left out Hasbro Transformers Platinum Edition Ultra Magnus 30th Anniversary Collection (No. 3 of 30). Others are Bot Shot Ultra Magnus (BP010) and Ultra Magnus pen
Where would rid 2001 ultra magnus rank in this list? Update: wait I see now it now. Well at least he didn't put at bargain bin. That would have sucked.
So... personal opinion on Ultra Magnus... I do not like the white Optimus Prime repaints. I would generally throw them all in Flea Market, if I'm judging the mold as an Ultra Magnus specifically. I just don't think the white repaints are very interesting. The white just washes out whatever detail the mold has and it's just boring to look at. Not only that, but I know Ultra Magnus from the cartoon and he never appears without his armor. That's more so a thing in the comics and if you like those comics, that's fine it just isn't my thing. If I'm going to see Ultra Magnus without the armor I prefer Minimus Ambus over white Optimus Prime because at least Minimus Ambus is an interesting design that does something different. There are a few exceptions however. If they add more color so it's not just all white and then the blue face plate, then it can actually look good. It needs some color to break up all that white. You can't just have blue on his face plate as the only color on the figure. The War Within mold and the Armada mold I'll bump up to Bargain Bin because they're still ultimately just White Optimus Primes but they are doing something with the color to break up the white and at least trying to look more interesting. So I'm giving them some credit for effort even if I still don't like it. Retail release I would put the G2 Laser Rod Ultra Magnus, SG Ultra Magnus, Ultra Mammoth. Again they're doing something more with the colors to look more like a proper Ultra Magnus instead of just boring white repaints. They need to be at least retooled before I'm going to bump them up to Premium Price. The FoC Ultra Magnus and Prime Ultra Magnus I would put in Premium Price because they're actually retools not just straight repaints. That FoC design actually suits Magnus better than it does Prime even though that's not what he looks like in the game. And they did a lot of retooling on Prime Optimus Prime to give him those tall shoulders he's known for so that's really high premium. I still kind of wish the other Ultra Magnus that was an actual new mold was the design in the show but CGI budgets. The retool version is still a really good Ultra Magnus. I think I'd put the Armada Overload repaint here too even though that's just a straight repaint because apperently Overload was actually called Ultra Magnus in Japan and was always intended to be this character so the mold just works in these colors better than his original colors. Also it's not an Optimus Prime mold for once. I did think about putting G1 in Holy Grail but the more I thought about it... I kind of think he belongs in Premium with Siege/Earthrise/Kingdom. It's that White Optimus Prime that's killing it for me. As for the ones that are entirely new molds from the ground up, I'd judge them on an entirely different metric cause I already think higher of them to start with. Holy Grail: RID leader, Combiner Wars, Studio Series Premium Price: Masterpiece it's still a good figure but honestly I think Masterpiece have gotten over priced for what they're offering and Studio Series pretty much does the same thing but at a more affordable price. Retail Release: Prime and Animated, there's nothing wrong with them I'm just not a fan of the art style. They have some weird body proportions. Bargain Bin: Titanium and RID Basic. One's just not a good figure and the other... I really don't care for the RID design when it can't do the combiner thing. So essentially no repaint is good enough to be Holy Grail and no new mold is bad enough to be Flea Market. At least as far as my taste in Ultra Magnus goes when I'm comparing them to other Ultra Magnus. Speaking of your Discount link... I gave my dad a list of Christmas items using your link. No idea what I've actually getting off that list but it's mostly stuff I've been looking for in store anyway but can never find and my memory is so bad I've actually completely forgotten what was on that list in the first place. There were like 7 things on there and at least one he pointed out that I didn't notice was a pre-order that actually won't be out till next year so it's really 6 things.
CW Magnus is number one in my book. Gives you an all-in-one transformation, the irreducible Minimus Ambus (so you can still do the armor thing), and still works with a lot of post-Prime Wars stuff when put on display with them.
Funny how this pops up the same time as Chris McFeely's redo of his The Basics on Ultra Magnus :P
If SS86 Ultra Magnus had cartoon accurate proportions, he’d be a brick with arms. Tall, not wide. A tall rectangle. His animation model reflects this. Me personally, if I’m shopping for a brick, I’ll go to Home Depot and use a Sharpie to draw an Autobot symbol on it.
The thing is it’s supposed to be Magnus from the 86 movie, that’s the point of the line, so that brick-like build would have been accurate.
I think the figure is phenomenal (Magnus is the bot I actively collect) but it feels more like a great mainline commander instead of fitting for an 86 accurate movie display
I actually love Siege Ultra Magnus's robot mode, including the more stock proportions. My issue with him was the half-assed vehicle mode that was a pain to put together. Ultra Mammoth is my personal favorite among these, but the most fun to play with is the Fall of Cybertron one.
Imo SS86 absolutely belongs in Holy Grail (I'd even argue it's better than MP-22) but other than that I don't have any major disagreements with the list; love God Magnus but I admit he's not that great of a standalone figure, and even though I have zero attachment to the IDW designs, CW Magnus is still a great Magnus.
This is exactly the list I’ve been wanting to see as I’ve had this yearning to obtain several Ultra Magnuses (Magni?) to pair up with various Optimus Primes I own across continuities as I await the upcoming HasLab Omega Prime.
As a Unicron trilogy kid i'm a sucker for upgrading the base robot into a super robot but for the sake of show accuracy i'd say the Magnus toys that go from vehicle to super robot mode are the better picks
Laser ultra magnus was in stock at robot kingdom for $100 for soooooo long and i always told myself I'd get it later until 1 day it was gone. It still pains me to this day 💔
I guess it's just the Weekend of Ultra Magnus. First TJ makes a tier list for all major Magnus toys and tomorrow Chris Mcfeely makes an updated basics on Ultra Magnus and I'm all here for it. Ultra Magnus has always been my favorite Autobot since the 86 movie. I will die on the hill that Magnus was the one that should've been chosen by the Matrix, not Hotrod. And I've liked Magnus in pretty much every other show he's appeared in (except War for Cybertron Siege, he sucked there). My main collection Ultra Magnus is the Siege figure because I tragically missed out on the 86 Ultra Magnus.
Shattered glass optimus ripped off his face
The Ultra Magnus I have is the RID 2001figure. I hope Haslab's version improves on its flaws
TBH, I really like the basic white Prime colors. I think it's striking to have a minimalist color scheme, sometimes. My fav is the Japanese (Henkei? United?) Classics Prime mold. The white there is bright and clean.
I'd say that the problem with Siege Magnus is that between how far back the leg armour goes and the big block bumper on his butt, your leg articulation is heavily limited, while the inner robot is in contest with energon for fattest prime.
I'd say that, thus far the best "complete" Magnus would be fansproject's City Commander, with second going to the Perfect Effect upgrade to CW Magnus
For me, the biggest problem with TFP Beast Hunters Magnus is the chest, which in the show is a big sunshade that slides down over the front windows during transformation.
As such, he doesn't have any windows on the front of the truck mode, which looks super dumb.
30:07 this is my number one fun pub figure to obtain. I have the deluxe sg prime to pair up with it so it would be perfect for me to obtain.
And more to the point of the skull head. It’s just supposed to be he’s evil as shit. Since he’s worse than sg prime which is already basically the Lich King of Transformers.
if memory serves, the SG Magnus head was actually a Hasbro creation, already on the rts Laser Prime Sprue. possibly intended for a Toxitron release that never materialized. and funpub just used it for the sake of using it.
also, in addition to the big platinum edition Magnus, you also missed the 2 Prime Cyberverse Magnuses, and Bot Shot Ultra Magnus
Yeah, that's correct. Considering it's a traditionally Autobot body that's been given a scary-looking headsculpt and therefore they wouldn't have to make a new head for it themselves, I can't blame them for pouncing on it.
Whats your take on Fan Toys FM-02 Margh? A better MP imo
I always seemed to miss out on Magnus figures, so I got the CW version when I could. Quite happy with it, even now.
Magnus tier list and Basics video about Magnus at the same day?
Cool video. Keep up the grind!
I find it funny that you didn't wait for the HasLabd RiD Ultra Magnus.
Ultra Mammoth is such a fantastic pun, if nothing else, and the color scheme really does look good.
I liked the Combiner Wars one a lot when it came out -- especially for its inclusion of Minimus -- though I cooled on it a bit overtime, especially compared to the more slavishly G1 versions that followed (even loving IDW Magnus). My main beef with him is how he can't hold his weapons well.
Studio Series is pretty much perfect as far as I'm concerned, though he might be just a little too largely proportioned overall.
RiD Magnus is... definitely average. He's a glorified booster for Prime, for sure, especially with Fire Convoy being that good. But the upcoming Haslab looks to overall improve it.
Animated Magnus is absolutely fantastic. One of the best to bear the name.
I really like the first Prime Magnus there, long before he showed up on the show, a lot more than the second version that was a Prime retool.
I've always REALLY liked that Fall of Cybertron Ultra Magnus, even if it's incredibly tiny.
I only ever saw the Energon Ultra Magnus once in the wild and I always regretted not picking it up, because I think it works, in a pretty unique way. But I always liked Overload more than most to begin with.
Isn’t the lore behind Shattered Glass Magnus’ face being ugly is because Optimus tore his face off? I heard that somewhere I thought
Combiners wars is my favorite i like the seige version too for masterpiece I love the delta magnus version. Never got the 86 version it seems way too big . I always wanted to get the prime version but haven't yet same with the animated version. Love the shattered glass version too
Wasn’t classics magnus misassembled?
I ended up picking up a loose Mp ultramagnus at a convention for 100$, and i am shocked how good he is...
Articulations a bit jank, but everything else he does is borderline perfect...
Would the plural of Ultra Magnus be Ultra Magni?
Ultra Magnuseesees
I feel like it isn't a hot take that RID Magnus is a pretty bad toy on it's own. It's the prototype to energon wing saber in that respect. I do however appreciate the radical design change for Magnus, and THAT is where he becomes top tier for me.
I want them to do an Ultra Magnus repaint for me Commander Class Armada Optimus.
I thought SG magnus had that head because prime ripped his face off or smth
I think you left out Hasbro Transformers Platinum Edition Ultra Magnus 30th Anniversary Collection (No. 3 of 30). Others are Bot Shot Ultra Magnus (BP010) and Ultra Magnus pen
Have to disagree on MP-02, I think it looks great
Where would rid 2001 ultra magnus rank in this list?
Update: wait I see now it now. Well at least he didn't put at bargain bin. That would have sucked.
Nice tierlist
Haslab omega prime is coming out fall 2025 not spring 2025
So... personal opinion on Ultra Magnus... I do not like the white Optimus Prime repaints. I would generally throw them all in Flea Market, if I'm judging the mold as an Ultra Magnus specifically. I just don't think the white repaints are very interesting. The white just washes out whatever detail the mold has and it's just boring to look at. Not only that, but I know Ultra Magnus from the cartoon and he never appears without his armor. That's more so a thing in the comics and if you like those comics, that's fine it just isn't my thing. If I'm going to see Ultra Magnus without the armor I prefer Minimus Ambus over white Optimus Prime because at least Minimus Ambus is an interesting design that does something different.
There are a few exceptions however. If they add more color so it's not just all white and then the blue face plate, then it can actually look good. It needs some color to break up all that white. You can't just have blue on his face plate as the only color on the figure. The War Within mold and the Armada mold I'll bump up to Bargain Bin because they're still ultimately just White Optimus Primes but they are doing something with the color to break up the white and at least trying to look more interesting. So I'm giving them some credit for effort even if I still don't like it.
Retail release I would put the G2 Laser Rod Ultra Magnus, SG Ultra Magnus, Ultra Mammoth. Again they're doing something more with the colors to look more like a proper Ultra Magnus instead of just boring white repaints. They need to be at least retooled before I'm going to bump them up to Premium Price.
The FoC Ultra Magnus and Prime Ultra Magnus I would put in Premium Price because they're actually retools not just straight repaints. That FoC design actually suits Magnus better than it does Prime even though that's not what he looks like in the game. And they did a lot of retooling on Prime Optimus Prime to give him those tall shoulders he's known for so that's really high premium. I still kind of wish the other Ultra Magnus that was an actual new mold was the design in the show but CGI budgets. The retool version is still a really good Ultra Magnus. I think I'd put the Armada Overload repaint here too even though that's just a straight repaint because apperently Overload was actually called Ultra Magnus in Japan and was always intended to be this character so the mold just works in these colors better than his original colors. Also it's not an Optimus Prime mold for once. I did think about putting G1 in Holy Grail but the more I thought about it... I kind of think he belongs in Premium with Siege/Earthrise/Kingdom. It's that White Optimus Prime that's killing it for me.
As for the ones that are entirely new molds from the ground up, I'd judge them on an entirely different metric cause I already think higher of them to start with.
Holy Grail: RID leader, Combiner Wars, Studio Series
Premium Price: Masterpiece it's still a good figure but honestly I think Masterpiece have gotten over priced for what they're offering and Studio Series pretty much does the same thing but at a more affordable price.
Retail Release: Prime and Animated, there's nothing wrong with them I'm just not a fan of the art style. They have some weird body proportions.
Bargain Bin: Titanium and RID Basic. One's just not a good figure and the other... I really don't care for the RID design when it can't do the combiner thing.
So essentially no repaint is good enough to be Holy Grail and no new mold is bad enough to be Flea Market. At least as far as my taste in Ultra Magnus goes when I'm comparing them to other Ultra Magnus.
Speaking of your Discount link... I gave my dad a list of Christmas items using your link. No idea what I've actually getting off that list but it's mostly stuff I've been looking for in store anyway but can never find and my memory is so bad I've actually completely forgotten what was on that list in the first place. There were like 7 things on there and at least one he pointed out that I didn't notice was a pre-order that actually won't be out till next year so it's really 6 things.
I wonder where Haslab RID 2001 Magnus will rank on this lisr.
Only time will tell
CW Magnus is number one in my book. Gives you an all-in-one transformation, the irreducible Minimus Ambus (so you can still do the armor thing), and still works with a lot of post-Prime Wars stuff when put on display with them.
Is it a coincidence that this came out in the week of the basics on Ultra Magnus? Who knows, I'll find out in a few hours