Retro Bot Reviews: Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spychangers Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus

So, how about that new Haslab? I’ll admit, despite the evidence mounting up before the reveal, I still found myself shocked that Omega Prime, the combined form of Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus was actually the next crowdfunded super-figure, and that it got funded so fast, mostly because the part of Transformers it came from is somewhat lesser-known.

So, let’s explain:

Car Robots, as it was known at the time, was a Transformers anime and toyline exclusive to Japan in the year 2000. After years of Beast Wars and its sequels and spinoffs, it was a “back to basics” reset for the franchise, taking place on present-day Earth, and starring a team of traditional Autobots with realistic vehicle modes, led by Fire Convoy, as they defended the planed from invading bestial Predacons, led by the warlord Gigatron. Eventually, a third faction of vehicular villains, the Combatrons, would also enter the fray, and after that, Fire Convoy’s jealous, edgelord of a brother, God Magnus, who wanted the Matrix for himself. The show was also very vague about whether it was still a part of the Generation One Transformers continuity or not, with the show itself seeming indifferent to the question. 

This wasn’t the first time Takara had done its own thing, and made a Transformers anime and toyline strictly for its own market, but this was the first one to get imported to the west. While Hasbro figured out where to take the franchise after Beast Machines ended (and its planned sequel, Transtech, was cancelled), they decided to dub the Car Robots anime into English, import the toyline, and release it all in 2001 as Transformers: Robots in Disguise. They also formally declared it to be a continuity reboot, and re-named the whole cast to more familiar characters during the localization (Fire Convoy was now Optimus Prime, Gigatron was Megatron, God Magnus was Ultra Magnus, the Combatrons were the Decepticons). Despite being intended, basically, as filler while the creators got the next series together, the show and toys proved to be an unexpected hit with kids, partially due to the very good English dub (way better than the dubbed Transformers anime that followed it the next few years), and partially due to the figures generally all being very good, or at least interesting. The reason it’s a bit of a forgotten chapter these days, though, is probably a combination of the fact that it came out right after the Beast Wars era, and right before the Unicron Trilogy (which were even bigger successes), the fact that it hasn’t gotten much in the way of sequels or spinoffs, and the fact that the very good English dub of the anime is stuck in a kind of legal limbo right now (Disney is in there somewhere), so it’s not officially available anywhere (you’ll notice that the HasLab stream only used visuals from the anime, and no audio). It’s pretty easy to find on YouTube, though. In fact, here’s episode 1 (watch it after you’ve read this, though):

But, anyway, at the time, Robots in Disguise was a huge success, which meant the toys were flying off the shelves, which meant Hasbro started adding new figures beyond the original Takara range, often by grabbing whatever toolings they had lying around, repainting them, and slapping them into Robots in Disguise packaging.

But they did make a small amount of brand-new figures near the line’s end, in the form of mini-figures of some of the show’s cast (in the “Spychanger” size class, previously used by Hot Wheels-scaled Autobots), including Optimus and Magnus, whom I’ve got here. To save you the suspense, no, they do not combine into Omega Prime like the larger figures (and the new HasLab), but they’re still interesting little figures in their own right, as precursors to modern Core-class minifigures. 

Optimus Prime, Fire Truck Mode

This alternate version of the Autobot leader’s altmode is what earned him the mononkier of “Fire Convoy” in Japan. In this mode, he’s a lot larger than his fellow Spychangers, and has a bit more mass than a modern Core-class figure.

He’s roughly comparable in size to Authentics Bravo Optimus Prime, but definitely has him beat in terms of density of plastic.

It’s an interesting-looking fire engine, with a kind of curvy cab upfront. The sculpt’s actually a very good downscaling of the larger figure’s fire engine mode, with tons of small details preserved, including sculpted lines on the cab of it that recall transformation seams on the larger figure, and end of the ladder’s sculpted with twin pop-out cannons already deployed. There’s even these little rough surfaces on parts of it like the bigger one, and windshield wipers on the windows.

In fact, I think the biggest inaccuracy is just that he doesn’t have a super robot head and torso trying to hide between the cab and ladder, thanks to him transforming differently, meaning he’s an even more convincing fire truck at this scale. Most importantly, though, this little fire engine just has pleasant, chunky, toy-ish energy. 

Optimus Prime’s colors are specifically based on the western Robots in Disguise release of his larger figure, which added Autobrands to his sides, also present here. Generally, the colors aren’t as complete and accurate as his sculptwork. He’s missing the Japanese writing, and the word “Cybertron” on one side of his cab, as well as other things like color on his bumper and headlights, but this ain’t a premium figure, and what’s here does look good, and complete. He’s mostly a pleasant, bright red, with a gray ladder, and some other gray bits. His windows are all painted blue, his tires have silver rims, save for one set at the back that’s smaller and fake, which is just painted black, and really, that’s the only obvious missing bit of color. 

For features, he rolls nicely, and the fact that he could do that was an important aspect of the Spychanger size class, who were all supposed to be compatible with Hot Wheels tracks, and had the same “through-axle construction” (whatever that means) around the wheels. I think this guy’s too big to use a Hot Wheels track, though, not that I have any tracks to test him with. Additionally, his ladder’s properly articulated, it can swivel on its base and raise and lower. The fact that he can do that contributes to the general toyish pleasantness of this little guy.

Transformation

So, the big omission on this small figure is, like Studio Series 86 Ultra Magnus, he goes straight into his big, combined super robot mode, and doesn’t have the smaller-robot-with-battle-base configuration the larger releases can do. At this size, that’s more than understandable, honestly. It does mean that he has a completely made-up, new transformation, albeit a very simple one. 

Pull out his cab to form his legs, pull out his sides to form his arms, flip his back section back into a backpack, and adjust his ladder, and that’s basically it. As I’ll go into in a minute, that backpack needed work, though. One thing that helps it is to make sure that his ladder clicks into place when you move it from its vehicle to robot position, that at least makes that part of him stable.

Robot Mode

There’s definitely more of a struggle here to hit the design notes of the larger figure. The broad strokes of the design are here, like his big stompy boots, his tabard with an Autobot symbol, and his ladder behind his shoulder holding him up. But it’s all a little less dynamic, and a little more chunky. The chest, in particular is a flat panel with a bit of sculpting, and his torso is hollow when viewed from the side.

The arms are probably the weakest element of him,  they’re kind of stumpy and undersized, with simplified fists. Additionally, his shoulders like to sag inwards a little bit, unless I specifically yank them out really hard, and try to flare them outwards.  Still, this was an early attempt at this kind of downscaled minifigure, so I’m a bit forgiving, and it still does basically look like the guy. 

The headsculpt came out good, in particular. I always liked what was going on here. He’s got the traditional Optimus mouthplate, antenna, and vent, but it’s like it’s on steroids.

The backpack’s a problem, in terms of his construction. It doesn’t actually click in or rest in any way, it just flops about on its transformation joint, relying on the ladder touching the ground behind him to hold it in place, with the ladder itself also resting slightly diagonally, instead of straight, though the joint it’s on is at least really tight, so it’s not literally swinging around. But still, it gives him a bit of an unstable handfeel when you pick him up, though the ladder behind him at least means he’s in no danger of falling over, and can even do a midair kick without falling over.

Prime’s colors are also a bit of a downgrade in this mode. He’s got a lot more gray, some silver, some orange and yellow on his chest, and some blue for his eyes and arms. It’s trying to hit the highlights of his larger counterpart, and it sort of succeeds, but only sort of. I think the fact that he’s missing some of the silver on his head bugs me the most, and his forehead needs some color. The same goes for his chest having a bit too much flat gray, and not enough other colors. If they’d managed to paint both of those, he’d look more complete. 

Prime’s articulation is pretty limited, but hey, most Spychangers literally only had shoulder joints and nothing else, so by the standards of the time, he’s doing well.

Up top, his arms can tilt forwards and backwards on his shoulder joints, and he’s got a neck swivel for his head. His legs can do the splits, oddly, but not anything else, so you can put him in a bit of an a-stance. I’m not sure why they gave him leg joints if they weren’t going to move forwards or backwards, especially since they’re not needed for transformation, but there they are. If there’s one bit of jointage I did wish he had, it would be for his ladder to be able to sling over his shoulder as a big weapon, like his larger figure could do, but alas, it’s stuck as a third leg.

Overall

Optimus is kind of mixed bag, but I think he’s got more good than bad to him. He’s got a really nice firetruck mode, one that I’d call close to perfect for the scale, and a good transformation. Meanwhile, his robot mode’s compromised, especially in terms of his backpack.

He’s not bad, but he feels like he could have been better, though I will say, I’m grading on a curve, since this came out in 2001, and was one of the first attempts at downscaling a design like this. Plus, unlike the larger figure, this one’s built like a brick, so if you find one loose on the aftermarket for a good price (20 or 30 Canadian dollars is the eBay standard these days, but I’ve seen him go for less at conventions), as long as the paint isn’t worn, you don’t have to worry about finding it intact. 

I’ll also put in a word here and say that this figure later got a yellow repaint in the Transformers: Universe toyline, just like the larger one did, and that yellow repaint’s been popular the last couple years, thanks to the Generations Selects Special manga in Japan repurposing it as a new character, Splendid Yellow Convoy. So, if you want a SPELPS, the yellow repaint of this is probably your best shot, so long as you’re okay with the robot mode being what it is (not bad, but kind of compromised). Anyway, now onto his rival brother!

Ultra Magnus, Truck Mode

If this alternate mode looks strangely familiar to you, it’s because back in 2019, the cab of Siege Ultra Magnus’s vehicle mode was styled after him, instead of his G1 self, complete with a truck front that looks a bit like a scrunched-in face.

But, yes, the rest of him is a car carrier, albeit one that isn’t actually hollow, and is just a big brick of plastic, moreso even than Optimus was. He’s got a similar level of very high detailing, though, including all the funky latticework on his sides. 

Magnus’s colors immediately feel less complete than Optimus, and that’s because of the wheels. You’ve got two of them that are real, and are black with shiny rims, a shrunken fake set at the back in blue and gray, and two more shrunken wheels around the middle that are completely unpainted. It’s a bit of an eyesore, but it also sort of blends. 

Magnus’s colors otherwise look complete. He’s also based on the North American release, so he’s got extra Autobrands on his sides again, while his main colors are a pretty traditional Ultra Magnus mix of blue and gray of a few different shades. The front gets the lion’s share of paint, including another gold Autobrand.

Again, a lot of little things are missing, but at this scale, it’s fine, and it looks complete.

For features, Magnus can also roll on those same through-axle wheels as Optimus, but has no other features, unfortunately. You can’t cram cars into this one, thanks to the small size, but you can put a small carformer (like Spychanger X-Brawn) on top of him, and it’ll stay there, and it’s, like, almost a gimmick.

Transformation

Like Optimus, Ultra Magnus is nice and simple to transform.

You pull the legs down open the arms, unfold the backpack, flip up the wings, and you’re done. I don’t remember if the original was this basic (I suspect not), but at this scale, he’s exactly as involved as he needs to be.

Robot Mode

Okay, so this guy’s funky looking, because of his proportions. Magnus has got these humongous, gigantic shins that are taller than his torso, and itty-bitty thighs. 

But, see, that’s what the bigger one looked like. It had to do with the needs of the Omega Prime combination on the large model, they just reproduced the weirdness here. Granted, his arms are skinnier and stumpier than the larger one as well, like Optimus, but they’re not quite as short, and in the face of his wonky proportions, don’t stick out as much.

Meanwhile, his headsculpt isn’t the traditional Magnus face, it’s a head in a helmet, minus the big antenna or vents. His expression looks glum, which is appropriate for this perpetually sullen character.

On his back, he’s got a cool pair of wings, and a much less cool ungainly backpack of truck front hanging off of him. But what makes it work better than Optimus’s backpack is that it stays in place, and is flipped back to its farthest position, so he doesn’t have that automatic feeling of instability. 

His colors are, again, mostly blue and gray, but with a lot more in the way of silver accents. Like Optimus, he’s technically missing a lot of color that the big guy has (for one thing, he’s got no black outside of the wheels, and no red at all), but unlike Optimus, they managed to hit enough highlights that he looks complete at a glance, and there’s no obvious blank spots.

Magnus has got the same articulation as Optimus, i.e. neck, shoulders, and for whatever reason, “The splits” legs. I did check, he can do the splits further than Optimus, and stay standing without a ladder at the back, making him have the slight edge on his brother, which is just the way he likes it.

Overall

It’s kind of funny that this little version of Ultra Magnus turned out better than his brother, considering that’s what he had a chip on his shoulder about in the cartoon. But he is the better figure , and the only weirdness he’s got is stuff that was baked into the design. He’s solid in both modes, with his only real problem being he’s a little under-articulated. I can’t imagine someone getting just this toy without his brother, but if you do, you’ll be impressed with it. Certainly, he’s a lot cheaper on eBay than Optimus, and his Universe repaint (which just added more black to him) is similarly less in demand.

Maybe you can get him as an Ultra Magnus to go with your modern Core-Class guys!

The bottom line in both of these guys..

..is that, while they don’t quite compare to modern Core-class figures, they have a unique charm of their own, and, depending on where you look, can be had for prices that are roughly comparable to modern Cores, anyway. They even pair well with the assortment of multi-generational minifigures I’ve assembled already, as you’ve seen. 

Obviously, they can’t compare to a big, fancy Haslab release, but I like what’s here, and I’d call them both worth snapping up if you find them for a good price.

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