Dave's Transformers Classics Rant: Battle for Autobot City Ultra Magnus Skywarp Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/VoyagerAC This is a Target-exclusive recolor set, a Voyager and a Deluxe together for a Voyager price. Ultra Magnus is a recolor of Voyager Optimus Prime (http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Voyager1) while Skywarp is a recolor of Starscream (http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Deluxe1), with no remolding. If you absolutely must have an Ultra Magnus that's got the car carrier trailer, the 6" Titanium Ultra Magnus has that style. CAPSULE Battle for Autobot City: This is a strongly recommended Voyager mold and a recommended Deluxe mold together for $20...kinda a no-brainer, eh? Ultra Magnus is a little bland and Skywarp a little too vibrant, but otherwise good colors. Recommended. $19.99, but lately these exclusives tend to shelfwarm, so you might find 'em cheaper if you can wait. RANT Packaging: Unlike any other Classics packaging, and not borrowed from any previous TF packaging I can recall either. The front is a hexagon that's 11" (28cm) across at the top and bottom, but 13" (33cm) across at the widest point, which is 2" (5cm) up from the bottom. The box is 8" (20cm) tall and 4" (10cm) deep. The clear window is roughly the top half of the front and scallops out of the top and upper sides. Every corner is cardstock, making for a much stronger package than most irregular shapes have. The upper left and right front corners have the faction symbols of the characters inside (Magnus on the left, Skywarp on the right). Across the bottom front is the main title stuff. Each is shown in vehicle mode flanking the Transformers logo, with "ULTRA MAGNUS VS SKYWARP" below that. The subtitle is "BATTLE FOR AUTOBOT CITY", and the lower left corner claims the toy is for ages 5+, while the choking hazard warning in the lower right is the standard "Not for children under three years." So kids 3-4 years old get to have a logic puzzle. :) There's a sticker on the front above Skywarp's vehicle picture that reads "ONLY AT" followed by the Target logo. The side panels have cosells on the upper part (Mirage, Bumblebee and Rodimus on the left, Starscream, Megatron and Astrotrain on the right) and head shots of the characters inside on the bottom side panels. The top panel just has the names and subtitle again, and the bottom is just legalese. As with the Ultimate Battle set, the rear panel has photos of both figures in both modes, techspecs for each, and a single bio note for the set. Also following the UB set's lead, the toys inside are in robot mode rather than vehicle mode, wired into poses (Ultra Magnus is preparing to shoot Skywarp in the foot). There's no flip-to-reveal panels. Unlike the UB set, there's no DVD. Magnus's vane-blaster is twist-tied down at Skywarp's feet, but the smokestack blaster is in Magnus's left hand. Because of the box shape, it's best to open from the side. The upper side panel folds forward, the bottom one folds down. Rather than have tweaked versions of the original instructions included, they reprinted the instructions on two sides of a single sheet, making them fit nearly (Magnus gets more than one side, Skywarp only most of the other). Eleven ties hold the two figures through the cardboard try, and once you remove all of those, the plastic blister will come free so you can remove the remaining nine ties (mostly on Skywarp, but one gets both figures at once). Two more ties secure Magnus's vane-gun. Fortunately, none of the ties is all that hard to undo, or barbed-wire-like as in Titaniums. Additionally, one rubber hand holds Magnus's right arm shield in place, and two bands keep Skywarp's launchers in place, with another keeping his nosecone back. I'll put the techspecs with the individual toys (they're the same numbers as the G1 ones, though, down to Skywarp having Starscream's intended specs), but here's the bio note. Beware, the grammar on the first sentence can cause whiplash. As commander of AUTOBOT City on Earth, ULTRA MAGNUS commands the most powerful forces ever assembled, of which he is among the greatest. He was given the honor of City Command by OPTIMUS PRIME because of his superior intelligence, and incredible might as a warrior. Since taking command he has defended the city against dozens of attacks by DECEPTICONS led by the crafty SKYWARP. For his part, SKYWARP is determined to breach the city's defenses and destroy ULTRA MAGNUS in order to prove himself to MEGATRON. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the G1 Skywarp is dumber than a sack of hammers, and only got high intelligence and rank stats because his techspecs got accidentally switched with Starscream's. However, it looks like they decided to rewrite the bio to match the specs rather than vice versa. This Skywarp is intelligent and high-ranking, Ultra Magnus's opposite number (and taking the role of the G1 Galvatron toy, more or less). Note that Skywarp's teleportation is not mentioned at all...probably for the best. If he had brains AND teleportation, Ultra Magnus wouldn't stand a chance. Note: the functions and mottos are not provided on the package, so I'm making some up based on the bio note. I'll also write my own individual bios because I feel like it. So there. See also my Tales of the Intermezzo story, PsyOp (http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Fanfic/PsyOp). AUTOBOT: ULTRA MAGNUS Altmode: Semitractor Function: City Commander Weapons: Laser Cannon, Blaster Previous U.S. Mold Use: Classic Voyager Optimus Prime Previous U.S. Name Use: G1, RiD, Universe, Energon Call-outs: "Smokestack becomes laser cannon!" "Wind vane becomes blaster!" Motto: "A city is more than walls, it's brave hearts and strong arms!" Sometimes called a poor copy of OPTIMUS PRIME, ULTRA MAGNUS doesn't have time for that sort of name-calling. He's just a simple warrior, doing a job to the best of his ability, and if you have time to flap your jaw making snide comments, you have time to do another circuit of the walls, mister. While competent and brilliant in his own way, ULTRA MAGNUS simply doesn't inspire in the way OPTIMUS PRIME does, and he knows it. More lightly armed than his size would suggest, he also sometimes gets into fights he has trouble finishing, especially against opponents who refuse to close to melee range, where his brutally simple combat style can dismantle anyone short of MEGATRON in seconds. STR 9 INT 9 SPD 6 END 8 RNK 8 COUR 9 FRB 6 SKL 8 Avg 7.75 The kneecaps are packaged in the down position. Note that like most Ultra Magnuses (including Japanese ones not mentioned above), this is just a recolor of a trailer-less Optimus Prime. In fact, RiD Ultra Magnus and Energon Ultra Magnus are the only times there's been no Optimus Prime in the Ultra Magnus design (leaving aside G1 derivatives like the upcoming Titanium version, or non-transforming stuff like Heroes of Cybertron). And Energon Ultra Magnus was just a recolor of something else. But he's ahead of Skywarp in the "doesn't get his own mold" game. [Later note: I initially listed Armada among the name reuses, but the Armada Supercon Prime recolor in the Battle in a Box set was sold under Universe. Also, strictly speaking, there's a Cybertron version, since a tweak of the big Universe version was released as a CostCo exclusive in Cybertron packaging, but I find it hard to care about club-store exclusives anymore.] Mold Changes: None that I can find. Color Swaps: The black parts from Prime are black here. The light blue clear plastic is still light blue clear plastic, but it glows a lot more strongly under UV than Prime's, although that might just be batch variation. The dark blue plastic becomes a sort of carolina blue (3366FF, moderate UV glow). The red and light gray plastics become white (also moderate UV). Paint Apps: The head is painted mostly white with a silver faceplate and exposed lightpiping. There's silver and medium blue (a little darker than the plastic) swooping stripes along the sides of the truck and on the wind vane, and a splash of blue on the crotch. The headlights, roog lights and fake lights on the belt are yellow. The grille and abdominal fake grille are silver. Red Autobot symbols are printed on the shoulders (the rubsign is in the same place as on Prime). The hubcaps are bronze. There's no paint on the smokestack guns. Other Comments: Huh, hadn't noticed it on Prime, but the hinges of the wheel-cover pieces in robot mode are clear blue. Anyway, unlike some "white Convoy" Magnuses, the bits of blue and silver on this one give a nice balance. It's still a little washed out, and could use a gray ink wash or something to bring out the details, but it's not a boring scheme. A little more red might be nice, though. Overall: It's a very good mold, and a decent Magnus repaint scheme. Less gaudy than Laser Magnus, and a better base figure than Battle In A Box Magnus. DECEPTICON: SKYWARP Altmode: Fighter Jet Function: Siege Commander Weapon: Missile Launchers Previous U.S. Mold Use: Classic Previous U.S. Name Use: G1, Machine Wars, Armada, Universe, Cybertron Call-out: "Twin missile launchers with firing projectiles!" Motto: "I sneer at walls." One of the most devious military planners the DECEPTICONS have, SKYWARP has a reputation for showing up suddenly where he is least expected, and getting past barriers that should have kept out an army. It's rumored that he has the incredibly rare ability to teleport, but he claims it's all just good planning and execution. The fact that he can perform nigh-impossible aerial backflips that can seem like teleportation to a casual observer only adds to his mystique. Despite his strength, he is a poor melee combatant, and prefers to stay out of reach and pepper foes with his plasma missiles. Of course, his greatest weapon is his scheming mind. STR 7 INT 9 SPD 10 END 7 RNK 9 COUR 9 FRB 8 SKL 8 Avg 8.375 Note that there were two Cybertron Skywarps, but one was a convention exclusive recolor of LoC Starscream, the other was a late-in-the-line recolor of Thundercracker. Skywarp has never gotten a completely new mold of his own. The best he's gotten was the Armada tweak with new Mini-Con. Like Swerve, it's a name doomed to be used for mold recycling. I suppose Decoy Skywarp was a "new" mold, but that's pushing it. Heck, even Thundercracker finally got his very own mold in Cybertron, and the coneheads were mold variants from the beginning. Poor Skywarp needs some new mold lovin'. Mold Changes: None I can find. [But Powered Convoy of the AllSpark found one. The air intakes have been slightly remolded, so that the slope is different on the part that rises up from the shoulders in robot mode. This change is also found in Ramjet.] Color Swaps: Light gray becomes black, clear yellow becomes clear orange-ish yellow (VERY strong UV glow), and blue becomes a magenta-violet (9933FF, strong UV glow). The thruster nozzles and missile launchers are unpainted, making it clearer that those pieces were on the blue sprue on Starscream. The soft nosecone is violet (6633FF, strong UV glow). Paint Apps: Silver and violet stripes on the wing leading edges and over the thrusters, violet leading edges on the tail. Loads of silver on the robot torso, as well as accents on the arms, feet and launchers. The face is silver with red eyes. There's also bits of red on the air intakes. The rubsign is on the wing in the same location as on Starscream. Other Comments: I find the violet to be a bit too red, it makes him look garish. Like he's supposed to be blacklight velvet wall art. I'd have preferred if the purple of his nosecone were replicated on the rest of the toy. Overall: Seems a little tippier than Starscream, but pointing his toes outward a little solves that. A good mold, decent colors, and an interesting new take on the character. Plus, it's essentially free with Ultra Magnus. Set overall: Hey, $30 of toys for $20, both good molds and decent recolors. What's not to love? And if you wait a few months, it'll probably be $14 when time comes for Target to clearance it. Dave Van Domelen, wonders who all is assigned to Autobot City, given the paucity of Classic figures in general.