For anyone out there who is a fan of the Transformer Universe bots, the Ultra Magnus is one of the most desirable figures and should be part of anyone’s collection.

After the City Commander was released, the incredibly popular fansproject.com City Commander armor set came out, giving the deluxe Ultra Magnus figure a set of armor that was worthy of Ultra Magnus and gives a very robust motif to the figure. I have always been a fan of Ultra Magnus and love bot the bot as well as the armor upgrade. Fansproject recently released a new add on set to the armor which includes shoulder missiles as well as a rifle that mimics Ultra Magnus’ original white blaster.

What is nice about the entire set is that it comes with all of the armor for the trailer set as well as the new blaster and missiles as well as two additional face plates. The armor set is very sturdy and is for sale at various websites such as tfsource.com or bbts.com. I was fortunate to find an unopened Ultra Magnus vs Skywarp set with the Fansproject.com armor set on eBay.

Caveot emptor (or buyer beware) The armor set by Fansproject has been knocked off so do not pay more extra for a set that is not the real thing. Buy it from a reputable retailers or from someone who bought the armor set (if you are buying it used) who bought if from a reputable dealer as well. Notably are the spring pins that the fansproject.com sets have as well as the quality of plastic and the way the armor set fits together snugly. From what I have read online, the Knockoffs are cheaper plastic, have no spring pins and do not fit snugly with the Transformer in the armor mode.

I really have no plans to put him back into vehicle mode, but the trailer is perfect. Fansproject.com makes the Ultra Mangus City Commander set, the Big Power set for Optimus Prime and a Shadow Commander set for Nemesis Prime. I am sure if and when Hasbro/Tomy Takara re-releases it, the set is so popular, Fansproject will step up to the plate and produce a matching set.

Leo Prime is a career soldier, commander of an elite Maximal black ops unit designated The Pack. So secret is his unit, even those in the Maximal command structure are aware of it only as a rumor. Leo Prime and his comrades in The Pack travel wherever trouble is thickest, often working undercover to deal crippling blows to Predacon Plots.

Beast Mode:
Leo Prime is a techno-organic lion. Although he is designated a Maximal, he bears the Autobot emblem on his lion’s head, which transforms into his robot chest. The lion form is highly detailed and this version of Leo Prime (Convoy) has been repainted to resemble the G1 Optimus Prime color scheme, which looks great in bot mode, but absolutely makes little to no sense in lion form. Fortunately for me, I usually leave my bots in robot form, so beast mode does not bother me. The lion form has some flexibility with poses but is limited to moving the legs and claws forward or backward to give Leo Prime a pounce position, and a stand-at-attention position. A little bricky and the tail is a detachable from the joint, which can come off quite easily with even a little bit of play or movement.
Robot Mode:
Leo Prime’s robot mode is pretty decent. As opposed to Leobreaker and Nemesis Breaker who had the same head mold, Leo Prime has an Optimus Prime head mold. Being a “Voyager” class, he is about the same size as other $20 price point figures and is well designed with good joints. Leo Prime is another figure where the arms and legs of the Maximal beast form mode become the arms and legs of the robot mode. The robot head is cleverly hidden in a compartment of the lion’s head and has some movement flexibility in bot mode. The G1 Optimus Prime color scheme gives Leo Prime a presence as a figure. The arms and legs do not have as much movement but the forearms and hands can be maneuvered to give Leo Prime some decent poses.
Special Features:
Leo Prime has several unique features. The tail turns into his “jungle whip” which resembles a flail more than a whip. He also has key activated “robo-shredder claws” which pop out when you put the key into the slot on his forearms. Some of the most uniqueLeo Prime’s features are what he does not have. He does not have the electronics of the original version and the 3rd combiner mode (to combine with Cybertron Optimus Prime) is nowhere on the directions and no mention of the combiner mode on the packaging. This “secret” about Leo Prime may be remembered like the secret modes of RID Megatron (which was later revealed with RID Galvatron) or it may be lost as a legendary tales of Maximal slag.

Transformation: 2. Transformation difficulty is marked a 3 out of 4 on the box, but I give Leo Prime’s basic transformation a low score because the arms and legs are the same for both modes. The 3rd secret mode gets a 6 because you have to remove the forearms and reattach them to the connectors in the feet and put the tail in the join on the side of the legs. Overall Leo Prime’s transformation is not very complicated.
Durability: 10. Leo Prime resembles the G1 toys of yester-year sans the metal.
Fun: 8. Leo Convoy/Prime was one of my desired Beast War toy and although this is not the orginal version I wanted to get of him, I do like the color scheme and resemblance to Optimus Prime.
Price: 8. I picked Leo Prime up at Wal-Mart for $20. This is a standard price point for the Voyager line and is decent for the toy. The toys are all about the same size and quality varies. I did not mind paying $20 to get Leo Prime.
Overall: 9. Leo Prime is overall a good figure with the exception of missing several features that Leobreaker and Nemesis Breaker versions had. The color scheme does not look good in beast mode, but looks great in robot mode. Even though this is a repaint and does play on the popularity of Optimus Prime/Convoy, by giving the toy a new head mold, Leo Prime gains an edge over normal repaints. Anyone who is or was a Beast Wars/RID fan will not be disappointed with Leo Prime.