The Energon Pub

I opened Commander Magnus today. I think he's the very last word on the guy. At least he is for me. I don't care if they made a super shiny extra special release of this mold some time down the road; we're now done.

With him in hand my feelings have warmed up considerably. Of all the Magnus attempts, he feels the most right. Granted I don't have the MP, but I want for nothing here. If a 3P makes a white Prime ... sure. I'm down. But I don't miss it. He's complete without it. He looks as G1 as possible in both modes while also being a modern take on the character without being undersized in vehicle mode. He has all the posability he needs. He even has a Matrix gimmick, which I enjoy. too big in robot mode? I guess there's two other options to solve that problem. But, as a guy who's bought way too many Magnii, this guy wins out.

I guess I have Leader class Springer to look out for next.

I'll pick him up if his price drops a little more on Amazon. I'm really hoping he will have a Diaclone or Shattered Glass variant.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Of course, maybe if Starscream had been kept on clearance last year (or else liquidated) they would have had room to put those "excess" Sludges out on the shelves sooner. Instead of it taking til BASICALLY A YEAR AFTER HIS RELEASE for him to start getting put out in earnest.

SS Coronation Screamer has to be Hasbro's biggest fail in recent times of reading the market, hands down. To follow a solid leader wave case of him with with a split case with Sludge was a distribusion disaster. I already had the ER version and the only reason I got the SS86 version was a Hasbro Pulse 40% off sale. The throne, crown and cape were definitely not worth an extra $20 for me to double dip on a figure I already have at full price.

The only reason I got him was because he was at Gamestop for $20, and that was purely for the throne for Jhiaxus.

Speaking of Magnus, he is down to $75.99 on Amazon now.

Amazon just shipped mine, and charged me 75.99 instead of the $89.99, which is really nice. Can't wait to get him now.
Gonna have to reconfigure my display to fit him in. Time to put away some kingdom toys. Also, need to get around to opening SS Leader Primal.

Money has been a bit tight lately and I'm not sure if its worth it to go ahead and by this SS86 Ratchet or not. has kinda trained me to buy this one now before I miss out, then put out the one I really want later. With painted windows and such. I can't help think theys know the positive reaction the death scene 86 Prowl and Ironhide got, mainly because of the painted windows, and will wait till everyone buys this one to put out a better Ratchet. Then again, they may not, and I will have to pay scalper prices later if I want it. This all makes me wish they just do away with clear plastic windows and joints. I still can't find Cosmos for a decent price. But I just missed the pre-order window by 20 mins on it.

My copy of Ratchet arrived from Amazon this afternoon.
I’m not sure if I think this mold works better for him or Ironhide, but Hastak did a better job with Ironhide’s face/headsculpt.
I will say they white plastic and paint are a really close match.

I can see why people would be hesitant to get this figure when a “dead” version is probably not too far off. But for me, I won’t mind it if I end up getting another version—
this is the first figure of this character I’ve ever had.
Feels good to finally have him in my Ark scene with others, especially Wheeljack.
There’s one space left on this shelf for Hound.

Looks like SS86 Frenzy will be my last figure for the year.

Careful with his roof. A buddy of mine got his and 2 days after opening it, his roof piece yellowed.

https://twitter.com/Razerwire9/status/1 ... 2278938960

Sowndwave76 wrote:My copy of Ratchet arrived from Amazon this afternoon.
I’m not sure if I think this mold works better for him or Ironhide, but Hastak did a better job with Ironhide’s face/headsculpt.
I will say they white plastic and paint are a really close match.

I can see why people would be hesitant to get this figure when a “dead” version is probably not too far off. But for me, I won’t mind it if I end up getting another version—
this is the first figure of this character I’ve ever had.
Feels good to finally have him in my Ark scene with others, especially Wheeljack.
There’s one space left on this shelf for Hound.

Looks like SS86 Frenzy will be my last figure for the year.

Love the backdrop.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Careful with his roof. A buddy of mine got his and 2 days after opening it, his roof piece yellowed.

https://twitter.com/Razerwire9/status/1 ... 2278938960

Is it genuinely yellowed, or is it just the lighting?

Mine is still fine but he's on display in my bathroom where the only light source is a lightbulb.

Also, I super-glued the ambulance light on the roof because they popped off too easily and they have no point being removable.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Careful with his roof. A buddy of mine got his and 2 days after opening it, his roof piece yellowed.

https://twitter.com/Razerwire9/status/1 ... 2278938960

Is it genuinely yellowed, or is it just the lighting?

Mine is still fine but he's on display in my bathroom where the only light source is a lightbulb.

Also, I super-glued the ambulance light on the roof because they popped off too easily and they have no point being removable.

Genuine yellowing

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Genuine yellowing

Yeesh...

Maybe it depends on the batch.
Also, this is supposed to be paint. So, it's strange that paint is yellowing.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm still thinking SS86 Springer is going to be substantially larger than his Siege version.
I had this thought as I placed Ratchet in my display, and looked over at my other Autobots...
It really did stand out to me that Prime should be taller.
And he looks overly small compared to Blaster.
But Springer was supposed to be as tall (and probably as stout) as Prime.
I know it would throw the scale off for a few other figures (even newer figures), but I won't be surprised if Springer, and new versions of OP and Megatron are taller/larger.
Of course I could be completely wrong about this.

The comic cover I'm adding to this post has Prime a little too tall imo. If Ratchet's head was where OP's left fist is, Prime would be at the right height. But that illustration still seems closer to what we should see in the scale of the figures.

Sowndwave76 wrote:The comic cover I'm adding to this post has Prime a little too tall imo. If Ratchet's head was where OP's left fist is, Prime would be at the right height. But that illustration still seems closer to what we should see in the scale of the figures.

He's probably standing on a box

Sowndwave76 wrote:This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm still thinking SS86 Springer is going to be substantially larger than his Siege version.

Siege Springer is already the same height as Siege/Earthrise Optimus Prime.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Careful with his roof. A buddy of mine got his and 2 days after opening it, his roof piece yellowed.

https://twitter.com/Razerwire9/status/1 ... 2278938960

Is it genuinely yellowed, or is it just the lighting?

Mine is still fine but he's on display in my bathroom where the only light source is a lightbulb.

Also, I super-glued the ambulance light on the roof because they popped off too easily and they have no point being removable.

Genuine yellowing

I knew it.

It is NOT "yellowing." It simply a matter of the transparency of the white paint over the dark blue clear plastics.

To avoid that, they should have sprayed a silver undercoat over the blue first.

Well, Magnus seems to have been unexpectedly delayed...

Maguns actually came in today surprisingly enough and first impressions are…

He’s just o.k.

Taller than Grimlock. Not quite as tall as Armada Prime and not quite as good either.
Definitely not worth the $89.99, The $75, I got charged for it, is much more palatable.

He’s at least more solid than Combiner Wars.

An interesting comparison with SS86 Commander class Ultra Magnus might be with Masterpiece Grimlock. That might yield more show-accurate size between the two.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:The comic cover I'm adding to this post has Prime a little too tall imo. If Ratchet's head was where OP's left fist is, Prime would be at the right height. But that illustration still seems closer to what we should see in the scale of the figures.

He's probably standing on a box

Notice how Prime's lower legs extend past Ratchet's back and they're fairly straight but far apart? Wouldn't that imply a bowlegged squat?

Emerje

Shows what a pretty bulky piece CW Magnus was. He was just a leader.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Shows what a pretty bulky piece CW Magnus was. He was just a leader.

Judging from these pics, he's probably similar in height, from head to foot, to SS86 Grimlock.

Sabrblade wrote:An interesting comparison with SS86 Commander class Ultra Magnus might be with Masterpiece Grimlock. That might yield more show-accurate size between the two.

I agree. Unfortunately I do not own Masterpiece Grimlock.

And isn't MP Magnus supposed to scale with MP Grimlock?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Shows what a pretty bulky piece CW Magnus was. He was just a leader.

Yup, except he was extremely hollow and light weight. All his trailer panels are super thin almost see through plastic.

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Shows what a pretty bulky piece CW Magnus was. He was just a leader.

Judging from these pics, he's probably similar in height, from head to foot, to SS86 Grimlock.

He is, not counting his shoulder pylons.

I can post a pic later today.



Also, been playing around with Magnus' cab, and there are several interesting and odd things about it.

1. It actually detaches quite easily form the trailer.
2. The gas tanks seem like they are on a pinned swivel hinge but don't actually swivel at all nor do they need to for robot mode.
3. The cab can actually tow Earthrise Prime's trailer somewhat. Though it looks kind of odd.
4. The back panel tabs onto Magnus's cheeks in cab mode. A notch for his head crest may have improved the positioning of the head though.
5. The cab ends up being very hollow despite having his entire chest in there and there's a big hole in the back of the cab.
6. His right horn keeps detaching for some reason. They come in the accessory baggy, and must be pegged into place when you take him out, but the right one just doesn't seem to want to say in. Also the the white horn part can detach from the blue base of the horn quite easily.
7. Wonder if a 3rd party will make some better looking smokestacks for him, and maybe a panel to cover up the empty cab hole on the back..

Overcracker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:
And isn't MP Magnus supposed to scale with MP Grimlock?

MP-08 Grimlock doesn't scale with anything. He's one of one.

sol magnus wrote:

Overcracker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:
And isn't MP Magnus supposed to scale with MP Grimlock?

MP-08 Grimlock doesn't scale with anything. He's one of one.

I use that grimlock as my mainline grimlock, I like him to be bigger than the other dinobots

Razorbeast88 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

Overcracker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:
And isn't MP Magnus supposed to scale with MP Grimlock?

MP-08 Grimlock doesn't scale with anything. He's one of one.

I use that grimlock as my mainline grimlock, I like him to be bigger than the other dinobots

He does scale somewhat well with smaller figures, but it's totally by accident.

Scrapheap & Gamer Edition Starscream in-box: