The Energon Pub

I reckon Ultra Magnus would have made a great Autobot Leader if fate had not intervened.

I know that opinion isn't going to go down to well with the 'I can't deal with that now' brigade, however he wasn't short of leadership when the Decepticons were pounding Autobot City. Heavily outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned he commanded his Autobots with honour, valiantly defending Autobot City until reinforcements arrived. Later, in true hero fasion, he sacreficed his own life to protect his fellow Autobots, securing their escape.

If Hotrod hadn't been in the right place at the right time, Magnus would still have been Autobot leader until Prime's inevitable return. Optimus himself chose Magnus as the guy he wanted to carry on the Autobot legacy. I for one happen to trust Prime's judgement wholeheartedly. Based on Rodimus's character regression in season three, I cant help thinking Magnus was the best man for the job after all.

Rightly or wrongly that's my point of view, however I would really appreciate your opinions on this subject. So its over to you, could Ultra Magnus really have been bot enough to step into Optimus's shoes, or should he forever remain in the shadows?

MightyMagnus78 wrote:I reckon Ultra Magnus would have made a great Autobot Leader if fate had not intervened.

I know that opinion isn't going to go down to well with the 'I can't deal with that now' brigade, however he wasn't short of leadership when the Decepticons were pounding Autobot City. Heavily outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned he commanded his Autobots with honour, valiantly defending Autobot City until reinforcements arrived. Later, in true hero fasion, he sacreficed his own life to protect his fellow Autobots, securing their escape.

If Hotrod hadn't been in the right place at the right time, Magnus would still have been Autobot leader until Prime's inevitable return. Optimus himself chose Magnus as the guy he wanted to carry on the Autobot legacy. I for one happen to trust Prime's judgement wholeheartedly. Based on Rodimus's character regression in season three, I cant help thinking Magnus was the best man for the job after all.

Rightly or wrongly that's my point of view, however I would really appreciate your opinions on this subject. So its over to you, could Ultra Magnus really have been bot enough to step into Optimus's shoes, or should he forever remain in the shadows?

Magnus would have made a fine leader, only problem is he would have never been able to open the Matrix against Unicron.

Optimus chose him to hold the Matrix, but even Optimus knew he wasnt the one destined to use its power.

I'm in total agreeance. Ultra Magnus handled himself quite well as battle commander in the beginning of the movie, and considering that he was thrown into overall command in the middle of a war, there's plenty of reason to understand why there were things "he couldn't deal with" at the moment. Furhermore, throughout all of Season 3, he basically co-lead the Autobot team. A large percent of the time when Rodimus Prime was on the scene, Ultra Magnus wasn't far behind. Ultra Magnus had greatleadership ability, it's just his self doubt that kept him from adaquately handling overall solo command of the entire Autobot army.

that he couldn't deal with the crash of one ship and less than a dozen Autobots whilst trying to keep his own crew alive and intact in order to get to Cybertron to stop a giant thing eating their entire planet is one of the things I like about the bot.

he prioritised.

I didn't like that he considered his own death at the hands of Galvatron to be the Autobots' "Darkest Hour" though. that little bit of arrogance put me off him. He might have redeemed himself a bit after a year or two of keeping that slacker Rodimus relatively in line.

It's actually quite funny that in Season 3 of the cartoon it's the 2nd-in-commands who are the more capable leaders and yet neither tries a coup, yet Megatron, the 2nd-Best commander the Decepticons ever had (depending on whether or not Shockwave was ever more than just a caretaker for 4 million years) had half his troops turn on him at one point or another.

Makes you wonder what Season 3 would have been like if Rodimus and Glavatron were both destroyed inside of Unicron and Magnus and Cyclonous were calling all of the shots.

I would have prefered it if Ultra Magnus became the next leader.

Sentinel Prime in most continuities was never leader of the Autobots, so it could have still been plausible to have Magnus lead while Rodimus held on to the Matrix.

Stormwolf wrote:I would have prefered it if Ultra Magnus became the next leader.

Sentinel Prime in most continuities was never leader of the Autobots,

Are you sure about that??

There really isint a lot of info for Sentinel Prime in most continuities to beging with but I do believe in most continuities that we have info about him he was indeed autobot leader.

G1 cartoon...no info so we dont know
G1 comic [US&UK]...no info so we dont know
Dreamwave...Autobot leader
IDW .........Auto leader
TFA...not autobot leader

I dont think theres any info on the Prime continuity yet.
Who knows with Bays continuity, its certinly possible.

What other continuities thast we know of where he wasnt or couldnt have been a leader?

UM was carrying the Matrix which he felt was the only thing that can stand in Unicron's way. Heck if I were him, I'd prioritize myself first for the future of Cybertron. His " I can't deal with it" retort happens all the time in life and death situations, battle field improvisation etc. I have to protect the Matrix first for the good of many over the needs of a few.

If only he got rid of his extreme modesty, of only wanting to serve and not lead.

fenrir72 wrote:If only he got rid of his extreme modesty, of only wanting to serve and not lead.

That's probably what his biggest problem was. He had the ability but not the desire. Look how effective he was in Season 3 as long as he was able to stand in Rodimus Prime's shadow.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Stormwolf wrote:I would have prefered it if Ultra Magnus became the next leader.

Sentinel Prime in most continuities was never leader of the Autobots,

Are you sure about that??

There really isint a lot of info for Sentinel Prime in most continuities to beging with but I do believe in most continuities that we have info about him he was indeed autobot leader.

G1 cartoon...no info so we dont know
G1 comic [US&UK]...no info so we dont know
Dreamwave...Autobot leader
IDW .........Auto leader
TFA...not autobot leader

I dont think theres any info on the Prime continuity yet.
Who knows with Bays continuity, its certinly possible.

What other continuities thast we know of where he wasnt or couldnt have been a leader?

Here's what I know about it:

G1 Cartoon: The blue orange prime we saw in FFoD was supposed to be the cartoon version of Sentinel Prime, we never got any info on him though.

G1 US/UK comic: Xaaron seems to outrank Sentinel Prime. I suppose that he and the other emirates are the Autobot council.

War Within: Sentinel Prime answered to the council (those guys in the white robes), they were the governing body of the Autobots.

Megatron Origin: Sentinel Prime leads the Autobot security forces. He's not the overall leader. Otherwise he would have gotten the resources and equipment he needed.


In short, a Prime would normally lead after the Autobot council got killed or splintered.

Stormwolf wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Here's what I know about it:

G1 Cartoon: The blue orange prime we saw in FFoD was supposed to be the cartoon version of Sentinel Prime, we never got any info on him though.

Thats fan speculation more then anything else.

The script nevers mentions a name what so ever.

G1 US/UK comic: Xaaron seems to outrank Sentinel Prime. I suppose that he and the other emirates are the Autobot council.[/quoute]

He out ranks Optimus as well when you think about it.

But neither the UK or the US comic gave enough info on him either way.

War Within: Sentinel Prime answered to the council (those guys in the white robes), they were the governing body of the Autobots.

Optimus Answered to them as well.

It seems Sentinal held the same kind of position as Optimus did, feild/army commander, wehile the council governed the Autobot society.

Megatron Origin: Sentinel Prime leads the Autobot security forces. He's not the overall leader. Otherwise he would have gotten the resources and equipment he needed.

Same as above

War would have been over by episode 2 and everyone would have happily been bringing some comeuppance to the Quints.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Stormwolf wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Here's what I know about it:

G1 Cartoon: The blue orange prime we saw in FFoD was supposed to be the cartoon version of Sentinel Prime, we never got any info on him though.

Thats fan speculation more then anything else.

The script nevers mentions a name what so ever.

G1 US/UK comic: Xaaron seems to outrank Sentinel Prime. I suppose that he and the other emirates are the Autobot council.[/quoute]

He out ranks Optimus as well when you think about it.

But neither the UK or the US comic gave enough info on him either way.

War Within: Sentinel Prime answered to the council (those guys in the white robes), they were the governing body of the Autobots.

Optimus Answered to them as well.

It seems Sentinal held the same kind of position as Optimus did, feild/army commander, wehile the council governed the Autobot society.

Megatron Origin: Sentinel Prime leads the Autobot security forces. He's not the overall leader. Otherwise he would have gotten the resources and equipment he needed.

Same as above

You messed up on the quote boxes there.

Anyway, the cartoon version of Sentinel Prime was confirmed in the allspark almanac II: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sentinel_Prime_(G1)

Xaaron's position is made clear in the story "And there shall come a leader":
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/And_There_Shall_Come...a_Leader!

And then there's Tomaandi:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Tomaandi

He's something of a peer to Xaaron, Optimus Prime refers to him as "Lord" in Marvel #1


Anyway enough derailment.

I would have still prefered Magnus over Rodimus as a leader. Magnus' only problem was that the writers were trying to push Rodimus as the new leader.

Stormwolf wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:
You messed up on the quote boxes there.

Sorry, havent gotten much sleep.

Anyway, the cartoon version of Sentinel Prime was confirmed in the allspark almanac II: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sentinel_Prime_(G1)

Dude, you know better then thast.

A retro-active nameing really isint valid.

The writers of the episode never named him at the time.They never intended on it being Sentinel.

Any of the old leaders could have been Sentinel.

Xaaron's position is made clear in the story "And there shall come a leader":
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/And_There_Shall_Come...a_Leader![.quote]

I read that story tears ago.

How was it made clear and how is it any different then the situation with Sentinel?.

And then there's Tomaandi:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Tomaandi

He's something of a peer to Xaaron, Optimus Prime refers to him as "Lord" in Marvel #1

Same question please.

Magnus! I want the Matrix...

So, the Autobots' darkest hour was that Galvatron was gettin the Matrix off him, when all the Autobots were stuck on Junkion... oh, and Galvatron was givin him some 'tude...

Anyone remember the comics adaptation of the movie? The Sweeps were instructed to "Quarter him!" and he was lifted up by energy beams and pulled apart by the Sweeps until he split in four - much darker!

Cyclonus on the other hand was positively awesome in Season 3, that voice, the presence, the savvy... bad-ass! One scene in particular that I love is "The Big Broadcast of 2006" where Galvatron throws him against the rock for troubling him about the Junkions... "So why do you continue to bother me about them?!" The music combines with Cyke crashing against the rock beautifully... goosebump city...

Magnus in the comics just kept getting his ass handed to him by Galvatron. A shame he wasn't seen against many others, he became a bit of a Hugh Grant - capable, but bumbling - and never really an action hero...

Magnus in season 3 was cool, like a big daddy bear, especially the birthday episode... oh dear... I love his directness though, in "Fight Or Flee" - "This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in the entire galaxy! Right, gimme the bomb..."

He's mighty alright, just not quite all there... needed a better toy, too. Galvy kicked his arse there as well...

I agree . I would have liked to have seen tales of:

Magnus Prime Who knows maybe him throwing off the outter armour and getting a slightly modified designed so he's distinguishable from Optimus and the character might've come into his own