(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" commander Optimus Prime. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" commander Optimus Prime figure here.)

    Ultra Magnus' color scheme doesn't really deviate from what it's traditionally been for this toy; his main colors are still the rather patriotic red, white, and blue that they've almost always been. The blue and white are particularly "pure" colors and go very well together-- though if that were it, the color scheme would be a bit too light, even though the blue is just a shade or two darker than is typical of Ultra Magnus toys. The red paint on the robot chest and shoulders really help break things up, to the point where I wish it had been a bit more prevalent, particularly on the legs. Ultra Magnus also has a fair amount of that really blah light milky gray, which I've never been fond of-- I get why it can't all be painted an eye-catching silver like his feet, but why not a more metallic, eye-catching shade of plastic, Hasbro? Anyways, I wish the gray was just a bit darker regardless, to add some more "dark" to Magnus' overall color scheme, but at least the gray is broken up adequately by all of the other colors. Really, the combination of all the different colors of plastic and good placement of his many paint apps helps keep Ultra Magnus interesting visually in both modes, with no large area of any one color.
    As you'd expect given that he's a reuse of Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus does have some mold changes made. His shoulder pads/truck top pieces and robot chest are the most obvious differences, both of them molded primarily for the robot mode. It seems that no matter what, Beast Hunters Ultra Magnus just can't escape having some rather bad issues with his vehicle mode, and this version's no exception. The altered shoulder pads and chest may look good in robot mode, but in vehicle mode they leave the white upper arms and ball joint even more obvious than they already were (mostly due to color breakup, admittedly, but these remolded parts certainly don't help), and Ultra Magnus' chest does NOT look like truck windows, making his vehicle mode look essentially "window-less"-- this remold's biggest issue, in my opinion. The robot head has also been remolded, and is spot-on show-accurate, with really fine details and some nice paintwork-- I'm particularly surprised that they even managed to paint his tiny eyes a lighter shade of blue that what's on the rest of him! Magnus also gets his now-signature Forge of Solus Prime weapon, which can store out-of-the-way on his truck bed in vehicle mode and can be held easily in either hand in robot mode. The mold detailing on it is excellent, though color-wise it's not accurate-- the metallic silvery blue hammer heads look decent enough, but having the rest of the body of his hammer be blue is completely inaccurate. There's also a big obvious peg sticking out of the side of the hammer, though I can't see how Hasbro could get around this and still have the weapon store in vehicle mode. On a lesser note, the hammer is also a touch undersized, though it would really get obnoxious in vehicle mode if it was much bigger, so I'm okay with it this size considering the mold constraints.
    Beast Hunters Cyberverse Ultra Magnus is a pretty darned good mold, though the added shoulder pads and robot chest-- despite looking good in robot mode-- really take away some key aspects of the vehicle mode. He's got a cool weapon, though, along with a pretty good color scheme that catches my eye more than the previous uses of this mold as Optimus. I'd recommend the voyager version over this, but if you're willing to overlook some vehicle mode oddities this is still a pretty good design and recommended (assuming you can find it-- it is a bit harder to find than normal, given that it wasn't released in U.S. markets).

Review by Beastbot

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