Many commercials are like that.

 

I recall reading a review on Armada Unicron written by an angry dad who bought 2 for his kids for Christmas (one kid wanted it and talked his brother into getting one too). He had opened both (which is not really that smart, open one and it if does not meet expectations you can return the other without any hassle) to find out they were hard to transform (I kinda see that point) and were not as cool as they appeared to be.

 

Which I kinda get too. I mean for us collectors it was a like a dream come trough. Finally after 16 years, a Unicron toy that looked a lot (though not exactly) like the movie Unicron. We knew it tranformed into a planet (ok half a planet) and we did not care.

 

For a dad who spent $100 on two of those things only to find out that it was just a %^#! planet! But he also mentioned that his son heard Unicron talk on the commercial. (Again, we collectors understand the lack of voice chip. No one but Orson Welles' voice would suffice and I doubt Hasbro would be allowed to use it.)

 

But if that is true and Unicron was indeed "talking" in that commercial then that is flagrant false advertising. Much like Otto (from The Simpsons) visiting a store called "Stoner's Pot Palace" only to find they sell house hold goods.

"false advertising" doesn't carry the weight it used to since the courts long ago decided that a degree of common sense should be expected of all consumers... which made me raff mightily :tflaugh

Common sense. I doubt many people actually know what common sense is. :tflaugh

 

It is easy to fool consumers though- especially kids. Have a toy talk or do stuff in the cartoon and then in the bottom of the sceen display a small text saying "Toy does not actually light up or speak."

 

Reminds me of the European Cybertron map which came with the Transformer toys. In huge letters at the top one could read "Collect them all!" in various languages. And then at the botton: "Not available in all counties." Now that is a Starscream, you see all those cool toys and then you realize some may not even be available in your country.

Don't know if anyone follow this comic, but it really appropriate to this thread imo...

 

http://www.lilformers.com/comic0035.php

"false advertising" doesn't carry the weight it used to since the courts long ago decided that a degree of common sense should be expected of all consumers...

Neverending Story and Final Fantasy my arse! d:

 

And what's with Guinea Pigs? They're neither from Guinea nor are they pigs. And French Fries don't come from France... and sweetbread is neither sweet nor bread. And why is a boxing ring square?? AAARGH!

Don't know if anyone follow this comic, but it really appropriate to this thread imo...

 

http://www.lilformers.com/comic0035.php

 

 

I loved that one!

 

Names often do not make sense. I cannot think of any examples right now.

I never thought much of Ultra Magnus the toy (but it must be said that back in the day I wasn't allowed to see the movie as it was just a "toy commercial").

 

I could never get past that big uglyass trailer. It was so out of place, getting towed by a realistic modern truck cab. I could handle futuristic vehicles as part of the line- though I could never figure out what Rodimus Convoy was - but Ultra Magnus was a bridge too far. A car carrier with missles? Sheesh

well at that time being a "robot in disguise" on earth wasn't so necessary, I mean they had their own city and stuff. Their alt modes where just means of faster transportation in most cases by season 3. And Rodimus Prime was an RV..... with flames

http://www.grapehammock.com/rv.JPG

Rodimus Prime's vehicle mode rocks.

 

Sadly his robot mode does not. A real shame indeed.

They were meant to be robots in disguise for a futuristic Earth of 2 years ago. ;p

 

Orson Welles apparently hated his role so much that he never even bothered to remember the name of his character. When asked to comment on his character, he just described it as, "I'm a large toy that eats other toys."

Last night I was able to purchase a G1 Ultra Magnus.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320089087432

 

Since it is complete (and the cab has only mild yellowing) I think I got a pretty good deal. Especially considering it is the "deluxe" version with rubber tires, die cast chest and pain on the faces.

 

Nice purchase for a nice price :thumb

 

Own the all plastic version myself. I bought Magnus relatively late when he was already of the shelves in the 80's (after searching through many stores in several different places I found an overpriced one, but by that time I really wanted a Magnus so I was just glad I finally found one again and paid that price).

 

However, IMO the diaclone colored version really is far better looking. Not to crazy about the TF colors; all three diaclone versions look a lot better IMO. Too bad we didn't get that one. (Would probably have been an immediate buy for me back then.)

 

I do agree with Pete that the toy isn't the greatest. The lack of knees or actual legs even (lets be honest: it's just a large slab of plastic of which part forms his chest, while another part is the complete legs) severly hinder the potential greatness of the toy. Agreed, many of the TF at the time had some of these problems, but with Magnus it was all just a bit worse. Especially considering the inner robot (the white Prime) was one of the most posable figures of the 84-86 TF's; combine it with the trailer and get a genuine brick. He also suffered a bit of the monkey syndrome with those huge arms.

 

 

 

Character wise, Magnus was very interesting. Althou his movie portrayel is really lacking (a huge Magnus-Galvatron fight would've probably improved this, and make Galvatron more menacing), but once the cartoon took hold of him he became a great warrior and character (downgrading Rodimus even further) and the UK comics only added to this.

 

 

Shame Hasbro decided to hold back with the Classsics Magnus. Would've been amazing to get a Transforming trailer with the white robot.