In 2007 the 6' Titanium line was dwindling down and some of the most anticipated molds in the line was damn near impossible to find in certain parts of North America.
One of these molds being G1 Ultra Magnus, and not his lame white repaint of War Within Optimus Prime. However, the 6' Titanium line was never imported into the Japanese market making this mold all the more desirable to the collectors over seas.
In turn, to give the Japanese market a taste of that rare Titanium mold, Takara made a shrunken down version and figured it'd be more fun to make you build it yourself!
AND you get a piece of gum too with purchase!
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The box! THE BOX!
Beauty is you know what you're getting. This isn't one of those blind pack things the Japanese are infamous for loving oh so much...ok, lets open it and see what's inside.
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Unfold the box for assembly and transformation instructions. OH LOOK! A sticker sheet, some gang molded pieces, AND a piece of gum!
So after about 40 or so minutes (and some sliced up fingers if you're not careful using your blade to remove the pieces nicely) later you get this!
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Sooo much blue...honestly I'm surprised that the cab and "shin doors" weren't molded in white as well...not a big fan of having the entire cab needing to be stickered as you'll see. Also if the shin doors were white all you'd need to add is the red portion which is missing and the little arrow box...bah well! Let's put some stickers on him and get onto the meat of this review!
Robot Mode
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To be honest, the stickers aren't the greatest quality. Hence why I'm also a little disappointed that the cab is purely covered in stickers when it could have been molded in white instead of blue.
The face sticker also really urks me...doesn't seem do conform well, however the other stickers do really nicely to the curves. The ones on the thighs for instance are superb. The shin doors and abs also curve nicely with the stickers. All and all they have their pros and cons, but this is what I got more then one...I plan on repainting one myself to get more colours in there that are also lacking, like the silver antennae, white fists, red missiles...etc.
As for articulation he rotates at the shoulders and head, has elbow bend, and legs move outward but not forward or back. There isn't really a knee, kind of a half assed one that's part of the transformation....which seems like a good idea to get onto.
One thing I do have to love about this guy is the dark blue that he has that's much closer to his on screen animated colours rather then the light blue we're used to seeing in Ultra Magnus toys.
Vehicle Mode
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What this guys retains that I love about the 6' Titanium Ultra Magnus is that his transformation is all self contained, no separate white cab, it just fold up from his back and covers his head.
The Kabaya candy kits are infamous for cheating a little during the transformations and Ultra Magnus is no different. The white shoulder stacks need to be unpegged and repegged higher up. As well the blue shoulder pieces need to be detached and reattched further back (to the position the 6' version was limited to). Due to the difference in the legs there's no more sliding to make the transformation possible, it's all in a pivot point, and by losing that you lose the knee.
Also there are no working wheels...those are stickered too.
Comparison Shots
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Before and after...funny how much difference some stickers make...
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Lil guy with lil guy!
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Wow...are they going to keep making smaller versions of larger Ultra Magni...then I'm sold.
Here you can see a lot of similarities between the two. Even down to the lining on the shoulders, arms, legs, and chest. Though the head on the Kabaya Ultra Magnus is definitely closer to the G1 look. Can't reiterate enough though how much more I like the darker blue...
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Also of note, the Kabaya Ultra Magnus does do something the original couldn't do, have opening rear doors!
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FAMILY PHOTO! Their kids are so adorable...
Conclusion
Not a bad little toy if you're into either building your own Transformers, Ultra Magnus, want a tony version of the 6' Titanium toy, or any combination of those 3. Considering how inexpensive he is, I only paid $10 which seems to be the go in rate for Kabaya candy kit Transformers, if he doesn't wind up selling well you may get one for less. For the price of a Scout class figure you get a pretty nice little toy.
I just wouldn't fiddle with it much since those stickers are mostly awful. Though if you really wanted too it wouldn't be that hard to use the existing stickers and "spruce" him up with the silver antennae, red missiles, and white fists quickly.
He's not the greatest Ultra Magnus but he does what he's meant to do well. Be a cheap little candy kit toy version of Ultra Magnus.
....Cue "The Circle of Life"
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Bonus Review!
The aforementioned Kabaya candy (gum) that comes with this figure...it blows...and I don't mean bubbles....
