The Energon Pub

Not the worse toy and I liked the robot mode and the transformation, just the alt mode was boring.. He's a truck and not a very cool one. The poweriser weapons were all rubbish, though you are right that it locks, it looks rubbish on the vehicle. I'm not a fan of translucent plastic either... Oh and why only one shoulder rocket??

PrymeStriker wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:Uh, SO... they already made the toy

Why does that matter? Smokescreen didn't turn out looking anything like his Arms Micron toy, and that was made (while not released) way before he appeared on Prime. Models change, it's a part of the development.

And like I said before, they probably changed it to Optimus' model to save money for another guy joining us in the third season.

why does it matter to you?

Oh enough with the Ultra Magnus Optimus Primes and Bumblebees. GIVE US Dinobots!! Classics please not Transformers Prime. I'm sick of all these transformers with big arms and small legs. I want decent porportions!

I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon. I wonder why they didnt just stick all these characters in the cartoon ? Hasbro are some real lazy bastards...

Rated X wrote:I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon. I wonder why they didnt just stick all these characters in the cartoon ? Hasbro are some real lazy bastards...

Money. It cost a lot of money to fully render anything in CGI to the detail required by TF: Prime.

Rated X wrote:I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon.

What are you talking about? That comic is a direct prequel to the cartoon's third season (while simultaneously serving as a sequel to the Fall of Cybertron video game, helping to bridge the gap between the game and cartoon).

Sabrblade wrote:

Rated X wrote:I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon.

What are you talking about? That comic is a direct prequel to the cartoon's third season (while simultaneously serving as a sequel to the Fall of Cybertron video game, helping to bridge the gap between the game and cartoon).

QFT.

roBROmanceFTW wrote:I like both Ultra Magnuses...AND I WILL HAVE BOTH ULTRA MAGNUSES... Let's hope this isn't some third party add-on, or blood will be shed.

Yea, i hope so, cuz that was the first thing i thought when i saw this

Ultra Markus wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote:

Ultra Markus wrote:Uh, SO... they already made the toy

Why does that matter? Smokescreen didn't turn out looking anything like his Arms Micron toy, and that was made (while not released) way before he appeared on Prime. Models change, it's a part of the development.

And like I said before, they probably changed it to Optimus' model to save money for another guy joining us in the third season.

why does it matter to you?

Dude, what are you talking about? All I've been doing is answering your question. When did I make any indication that any of this meant half a rat's ass to me?

frogbat wrote:I'm not a fan of translucent plastic either... Oh and why only one shoulder rocket??

Because it wasn't a shoulder rocket. It was supposed to go on his left arm.

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon. I wonder why they didnt just stick all these characters in the cartoon ? Hasbro are some real lazy bastards...

Money. It cost a lot of money to fully render anything in CGI to the detail required by TF: Prime.

I guess thats why there was such a small amount of characters in Beast Wars. Im no fan of CGI. I wish they would go back to old school animation so we get a greater amount of characters.

Looks really good I must say, im excited to see how he looks finished. He looks to have newly molded arms, with what looks to be arms micron ports on the side, and the shoulder pieces (with firing shoulder missiles, yay) look to be removable, as he still has the RID prime shoulder guards, though they are flipped down and rotated, meaning there's a new joint in there. Im also hoping that the wingpack is connected to the collar and headpiece, and can be removed to reveal a different head. The forge of Solus Prime is a nice inclusion also. Im slightly dissapointed that he will be more than likely a long nosed truck, but im hoping the accessories form some sort of trailer/back end. I also wonder how they will do the windscreen, as the piece that forms it is painted solid red in the cg model...

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:I never knew TF Prime had a comic that had nothing to do with the cartoon. I wonder why they didnt just stick all these characters in the cartoon ? Hasbro are some real lazy bastards...

Money. It cost a lot of money to fully render anything in CGI to the detail required by TF: Prime.

I guess thats why there was such a small amount of characters in Beast Wars. Im no fan of CGI. I wish they would go back to old school animation so we get a greater amount of characters.

Am I spotting a fan of Armada and Animated here?

PrymeStriker wrote:
Because it wasn't a shoulder rocket. It was supposed to go on his left arm.

Nice custom! Do you have more pictures of that?

That Bot wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote:
Because it wasn't a shoulder rocket. It was supposed to go on his left arm.

Nice custom! Do you have more pictures of that?

It's not mine, but the thread can be found on TFW2005 here.

if this is an official hasbro product then five things:

1. why spend the money to make a completely new mold for ultra magnus only to release this?

2. why use the inferior prid mold rather than the first edition mold?

3. in any case this is not bad exactly just weird.

4. i would likely only buy this for the forge

5. thing

mbd88prime wrote:1. why spend the money to make a completely new mold for ultra magnus only to release this?

They wanted to do it?
It was the original design idea but then they made a new design to be more of a G1 homage instead of Animated?
Who knows.
If I had to guess, I'd wager that Prime UM's design was in the air for awhile. They had two major candidates, the one represented by the PRiD mold, and the one they ultimately decided to go with. Due to the fact that we see what is basically THIS UM early in season 2, it's reasonable to assume that they decided at or before that point the final design of Prime UM, however they had this OTHER design they'd spent a great deal of time on just sitting around collecting dust.
Oh, and an 'open' voyager slot to fill, what with Hasbro not doing Breakdown.

2. why use the inferior prid mold rather than the first edition mold?

There is no FE UM...unless you're referring to BH UM's lower torso and legs. In which case, they used the PRiD Optimus mold because that's what the art looks like. Also, the legs of PRiD Prime are the entire back of the truck, so it was probably easier to mash the two molds together using those legs, keeping in mind that the upper torso and arms of BH Optimus are NOTHING but the cab (and cage-thing) of the truck.

3. in any case this is not bad exactly just weird.

Perhaps, I certainly won't complain about it.

toddstarz wrote:

roBROmanceFTW wrote:I like both Ultra Magnuses...AND I WILL HAVE BOTH ULTRA MAGNUSES... Let's hope this isn't some third party add-on, or blood will be shed.

/agree

more new ultra magnus will soften the wait for the inevitable MP Ultra Magnus

Man, you both sure now know how to put words that express how I felt

The criticisms of Ultra Magnus are valid, and certain issues can be big drawbacks for some people. The thin shoulder struts are a bit concerning. But to me, the issues with the toy are minor and I love this figure. He has a real presence and looks like a leader. He looks tough and smooth. I definitely recommend picking him up. I might get both, will have to see the new one in the right colors.

2. why use the inferior prid mold rather than the first edition mold?

There is no FE UM...unless you're referring to BH UM's lower torso and legs. In which case, they used the PRiD Optimus mold because that's what the art looks like. Also, the legs of PRiD Prime are the entire back of the truck, so it was probably easier to mash the two molds together using those legs, keeping in mind that the upper torso and arms of BH Optimus are NOTHING but the cab (and cage-thing) of the truck.

well i mean this new um is just prid prime, i'm assuming repainted white in fnal colors maybe some blue, with um armor thrown on top as an add on ala city commander, cept no where near as intricate.

and the art for this um looks like the cg model for op with extra um bits thrown in and, at least in my opinion, the fe optimus mold looks way more accurate to the cg op than does the prid mold with those hideous giant panels on his back and clear plastic forearms. thats what i meant that they should have addedd um bits to that fe mold. again just my opinion. I assume the prid mold is cheaper to produce and thats why they chose it. quantity over quality....

but then,i just had this thought, considering that any toy they produce has probably been in the works for a long time its possible that the prid op exists solely because the had to redisign it to accomodate um add on bits. in other words that was the whole point of the mold to begin with and rather than um being the half-assed repaint that gets more money out of the op mold this time op is the half assed repaint (compared to fe prime) that gets more money out of the um mold! ha. idk. it is what it is.

mbd88prime wrote:But then,i just had this thought, considering that any toy they produce has probably been in the works for a long time its possible that the prid op exists solely because the had to redisign it to accomodate um add on bits. in other words that was the whole point of the mold to begin with and rather than um being the half-assed repaint that gets more money out of the op mold this time op is the half assed repaint (compared to fe prime) that gets more money out of the um mold! ha. idk. it is what it is.

That actually sounds very reasonable, given the treatment the PRiD deluxes have gotten. The original versions of the molds were notably undersized, to make more profit on them, so that they could do the pre-planned retooling to add spikes/bigger weapons/etc. (resulting in more 'normal-mass' deluxes) for the BH line.

REMINATOR wrote:

toddstarz wrote:

roBROmanceFTW wrote:I like both Ultra Magnuses...AND I WILL HAVE BOTH ULTRA MAGNUSES... Let's hope this isn't some third party add-on, or blood will be shed.

/agree

more new ultra magnus will soften the wait for the inevitable MP Ultra Magnus

Man, you both sure now know how to put words that express how I felt

LOL...the way I see it, more Ultra Magnus attention is always appreciated. So if less people buy this mold, more chance of me FINDING this mold in stores. Oh yea...Trans-fans...you can never please all of them at once. The way I see it, there is a time and a place for G1 and all of its homages, and that's Masterpiece and Generations (respectively.) Outside of this, Transformers toys need to innovate and change in order to push sales. I mean, just look at the dismal sales of DOTM; you can't expect to maintain momentum on the same characters/designs that span THREE DIFFERENT LIVE ACTION MOVIES. Anyhow...sweet UM mold!

REMINATOR, anyone ever told you you have an awesome sig picture?!?!

roBROmanceFTW wrote:
REMINATOR, anyone ever told you you have an awesome sig picture?!?!

Thanks man, you're the first

For those wondering about what the deal with PRID Ultra Magnus' design was if they were just gonna make this one, I think... I think I may have a guess as to where it came from.

I think PRID Ultra Magnus may have been a similar case to both Ironhide and Thundertron. Though they were non-show characters who received toys, their designs had to have come from somewhere.

Enter the Binder of Revelation: the production bible for the whole Aligned continuity that TF: Prime, WFC/FOC, and more have all be beholden to. Within this binder are pieces of artwork of various Transformers characters drawn in a style that reflect the nature of the Aligned continuity. A style that takes elements from many past iterations and blends them together in a new form.

It was from here that the Ironhide and Thundertron toys drew inspiration from and created physical toy forms of said characters' designs. PRID Ultra Magnus, being a blend of the G1 and Animated Ultra Magnus designs, most likely was another one of these Binder-based toy designs, which explains his looking different from this new toy's design.

We can probably assume that this toy's look was made by the TF: Prime designer team itself, which is most likely an autonomous group from those who created the Binder's character designs. As such, they must have made their own Ultra Magnus design for the show, and so the toy designers likely made this new one based on the Prime team's design, while disregarding the Binder-inspired one they already made before.

As for why they didn't just use the existing toy's design instead of making a whole new one, who knows? Maybe the cartoon's creative team had a different vision for Magnus than what the previous designers had in mind. Or maybe the first design simply didn't fit with what the show people were gonna go for with the character. Or maybe they did it as a cost effective measure to use the existing Optimus Prime CG model and modify it to suit Magnus, rather than make a whole new model from scratch.

Either way, this new design is most probably what Ultra Magnus will look like for TF: Prime, rather than is likely Binder-based PRID toy's look.

Hmm, ido like the armor, and I don't have the PRID mold... But for me, the only thing that would top the CC add on is an integrated Ultra Magnus, like the original RID Maggy or the Titanium Maggy. Something like that with the articutlated trailer of DOTM Megs would be killer. Trailer armor is cool, but optionsl add on, and i just like integral Magnusesesesesii...

Flashwave wrote:Hmm, ido like the armor, and I don't have the PRID mold... But for me, the only thing that would top the CC add on is an integrated Ultra Magnus, like the original RID Maggy or the Titanium Maggy. Something like that with the articutlated trailer of DOTM Megs would be killer. Trailer armor is cool, but optionsl add on, and i just like integral Magnusesesesesii...

I think this IS an integrated transformation. They might severely alter the look of the truck, but I think there's no partsforming going on here.