Transformers Studio Series SS86-21 Commander Class Ultra Magnus
The set supposedly comes with the “Battle of Autobot City” backdrop, but I honestly think this is a mistake, the scene is the “Escape/ Get to the Shuttles” scene from the midpoint of the movie.
Curiously, Magnus’ helmet antennae are packed separately, to connect them into place, the longer ends must be facing forward, with the shorter ends pointing to the back.
Courageous, selfless, formidable and dependable, Ultra Magnus represents these noble qualities and so much more. Willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, Ultra Magnus is greatly respected by both friend and foe alike. His greatest flaw is that he sees himself as nothing more than an expendable soldier, not realizing how much he fits the mantle of leadership and how much the other Autobots depend on him.
Unlike the recent “War for Cybertron” toyline Ultra Magnus releases, there’s no “inner white robot” this time around.
Ultra Magnus is really tall, standing 9.5 inches tall. Easily the tallest mass retail release of Ultra Magnus outside of the Masterpiece line.
Personally, I really wish Hasbro included an option to elongate his neck, the head just gets too buried behind the big chest and wide shoulders when viewed from most angles.
It’s been a while, but we finally got light piping eyes back in the toyline. Hurray!
Articulated fingers! Even his index fingers can move individually (for holding the Matrix of Leadership).
While the figure does sport armpit articulation, there’s no tension to hold it in position, so it tends to drop when you pose his arms up sideways.
Ultra Magnus comes with two different rifles. His first rifle is the iconic one we’ve seen across several media.
By unlocking the red clips on his shoulders, you can engage the butterfly joints so Magnus can hold his rifle with both hands.
His second rifle is called the “emergency shuttle” rifle, from the Planet Junkion scene from the 1986 movie.
Both rifles can be plugged into Ultra Magnus’ back and butt plate for storage.
Interestingly, he comes with the same blast effects we got with Titan Class Omega Supreme. Naturally, the effects parts can be plugged into his guns.
We can also plug the effects parts into the shoulder rocket launchers to simulate them “firing”. Pretty cool innovation.
Fire everything!!
Ultra Magnus features an openable chest, revealing the cavity for the Matrix of Leadership. Lol.. by default, the Matrix is plugged in upside down for some reason. Factory oversight, I suppose. Good thing it can be plugged back in right side up.
While I love the spring gimmick that pops the side panels open when you lift up the center lock, I do worry that the springs will wear out over time from holding the panels in 99% of the time.
It’s hard to get the Matrix to fit into Magnus’ hands (fingers), but with some patience, it can be done.
“Dammit, open!”
As a bonus feature, you can take Ultra Magnus apart to recreate the “terminate him” scene from the 1986 movie. Taking him apart can be a bit of a chore though, as the springs that hold the locking mechanisms are super tough! I had to use a tool to push down on this piece to get the leg part out.
Lol… brutal. It’s funny at the same time cool.
Magnus’ guns can be mounted on the sides of the trailer for storage.
The tailgate on the trailer can be dropped down to load up some Deluxe or Core Class Autobots (Hot Rod doesn’t fit though… lol).
Thanks to the engineering, the cab can swivel.
Even more impressively, the front cab can actually be detached!
To detach the front cab, just disconnect the cab from this white post.
“Escape” Backdrop – Thankfully, it’s big enough to accommodate Ultra Magnus’ height.
It can even hold his truck mode. Nice.
Comparison with Kingdom Leader Class Ultra Magnus.
The rifles are different too. I was half expecting them to be similar.
With Earthrise Optimus Prime.
Overall, a pretty amazing piece. It’s practically a Masterpiece-level release in terms of engineering and appearance.
The only downside is, I do find it to be too tall. I think the Kingdom Ultra Magnus scales better to the Siege releases, particularly when placed next to Commander Class Rodimus Prime. Alternately, this figure looks really great when placed next to Combiner Wars Leader Class Rodimus Prime.
Commander Class Ultra Magnus sold out pretty fast on most stores like Amazon and Bigbadtoystore when they dropped. So far the only way to get them is thru Hasbro Pulse at the moment. Shout out to my good buddy Chester for hooking me up with one after all local options were gone. Thanks, man!
Gold
