Animated Roadbuster Ultra Magnus

Series: Animated
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Leader
Year: 2008

Surrender or be destroyed, Decepticons!
Following his experiences on Earth, the most powerful Autobot warrior became stronger and more cunning than ever before. The tactics that Ultra Magnus used to employ on the battlefield were textbook Autobot Academy stratagems. Battling on Earth made him realize that the fight against the Decepticons would take more than Academy programming to win. To achieve final victory, the Autobots will need to fight smart, or they might as well not fight at all.

Remarks: Roadbuster Magnus is a repaint of the first Animated Ultra Magnus, so look there for the full review. Just a few words on the differences here. As the name says, this version of the Autobot Supreme Commander is a homage to the G1 Wrecker Roadbuster. The figure lends itself well to that, actually, and with the right colors - orange and military green - the resemblance is quite good. At least for most of the body. But then there's the head.

It's the head of the first Animated Ultra Magnus, completely unchanged. Same goes for the hip plates, which are also blue. Now I understand that the transparent blue panels in the chest and the shoulder cannons weren't changed, but why leave the head and hip plates as is? Doesn't fit with the rest of the color scheme at all. Would it have been so hard to color the head in orange and green as well? Or at least the helmet? Would have made all the difference, I think. In fact, this will probably become my first custom project.

Apart from that Ultra Magnus remains the same excellent figure with the slightly awkward shoulder design that he was the first time around. He turned up at our German Toys R'Us stores lately at reduced price, which is why I got him at all. He's a fine figure overall, don't get me wrong, but it really bugs me that they couldn't find the time to color the head. So I am forced to deduct some points there. Still, before you can't get any Ultra Magnus at all, pick up this one and spring for some paint for the head.

Rating: B-

Update 2010-06-05: I repainted Animated Roadbuster's head. Follow the link to my custom gallery.