What if Ultra Magnus and Galvatron Were Meant to be Optimus Prime and Megatron?

[Zobovor]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that Ultra Magnus and Galvatron were never meant to exist.

The G1 Ultra Magnus toy was one of the very last holdovers brought over from the Diaclone toy line. Hasbro had been culling the existing Takara inventory for a couple of years, and while they didn't use every single previous Diaclone and Microman toy design (there were assorted flashlights and combination locks that didn't make the final cut), they harvested pretty much all the toys they considered marketable. I think they deliberately held off on releasing Ultra Magnus right away because he was too similar to Optimus Prime. They got away with releasing the same jets and cars over and over as various characters, but Optimus quickly became a popular character and one of the star players. My thinking is that they were eventually planning to release Ultra Magnus as a new, more powerful version of Optimus Prime that could combine with his trailer.

So, let's look at Galvatron's toy for a moment. It seems apparent that the toy was designed specifically to match the height of the Ultra Magnus toy, and as two of the largest toys in the 1986 product line, it makes sense that these would be the leader characters. The manner in which Galvatron is created in the fiction isn't relevant here, though it is quite telling. Unicron could have turned any of the Decepticons into any new forms that he wanted to; the Insecticons went from creature forms to radically different looking space vehicles (and there is nothing about the design of Cyclonus or Scourge that suggest their old forms), but Megatron was clearly the starting point for the look of Galvatron. Both turn into weapons, and Galvatron shares Megatron's face and basic helmet design (with flourishes added), and they both have an arm-mounted cannon. If Ultra Magnus was going to be marketed as an updated Optimus Prime, then it makes sense that Galvatron's toy might have been likewise designed to be a new, larger Megatron toy.

It's difficult to say how much influence Hasbro had over the marketing of the movie characters, particularly when it comes to the ancillary merchandise, but it's interesting to look at. Ultra Magnus takes center stage in the poster for The Transformers: the Movie, probably at Hasbro's direction. The finished film depicts Hot Rod as a central character (who is not in the movie poster at all; Rodimus Prime appears in vehicle mode, very tiny, appearing to be about as significant as Wheelie). Indeed, Magnus gets blasted into pieces halfway through the movie and is pretty much forgotten about in the film's climax. It's likely the movie poster was conceived in advance well before the film was completed. With that in mind, it makes sense that Hasbro would have wanted Ultra Magnus to be featured prominently in the poster if he was the new edition of Optimus Prime.

So how and why did they become different characters? It might have had to do with Hasbro's sudden decision to kill off Optimus in the movie. There was this big, red-white-and-blue Optimus-style truck toy already waiting in the wings, so there was no choice now but to rename him and spin him as this totally different Transformer whose cab just happened to be identical to Prime. This might be one of the reasons why the smaller cab never transformed to its robot configuration in any of the G1 fiction; it could have been an attempt by Hasbro to downplay the fact that it was once intended as a new version of Optimus Prime. This also may have led to the late decision to change Galvatron's colors from grey to purple... also an attempt to further distinguish the character from Megatron (though if this was the case, the toy might have already been in production, and nobody bothered to let Marvel Comics know about the change).

Years down the road, the deaths or transformations of key characters in the movie has had no lasting effect, as all these characters have received new toys, with little or no in-universe explanation as to how they can continue to exist. If nothing else, though, the 1986 film and subsequent third season would certainly have taken a different path. We'll probably never know for sure!


Zob

[Chad Rushing]

Also, both Ultra Magnus and Galvatron were given the identical function of City Commander, implying that they were to be the leaders of the two factions during that era of the toyline. Metroplex and Trypticon could have replaced the Ark and the 'cons undersea base as the primary bases of the two factions, with upgraded Magnus/Optimus and Galvatron as their leaders.

- Chad

[Travoltron]

Having Optimus become Ultra Magnus would have been the smarter, less
traumatic way to handle the change. But that's not the way they went.

I think you give them too much credit. I'll bet they never thought of it.

Not only would that have not traumatized the kids, they would also have
had an awesome toy for Autobot Leader instead of the terrible Rodimus Prime.

[Zobovor]

On Friday, December 6, 2013 4:57:36 PM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:

> I think you give them too much credit. I'll bet they never thought of it.

I dunno. I mean, they could have kept Ultra Magnus' Diaclone colors, but they went with a red-white-blue motif instead. If he wasn't intended as a new version of Optimus Prime, then he certainly ended up looking very Prime-like.

> Not only would that have not traumatized the kids, they would also have
> had an awesome toy for Autobot Leader instead of the terrible Rodimus Prime.

Well, that's another piece of the puzzle, isn't it? Rodimus Prime's toy was clearly produced because of the character's introduction in the movie, but judging strictly by the Hasbro merchandising angle, Rodimus isn't anything special at all. His tech specs function is Protector, not Commander or Leader or anything close to that. He was sold as part of the Autobot Heroes assortment, making him seemingly no more or less important than Wreck-Gar. Now, maybe this was all done as a deliberately anti-spoilery move to try to preserve the surprise in the movie (such as it was), but in some ways it's always struck me that Hasbro just didn't know what to do with the whole Rodimus/Magnus angle. Some cartoon episodes ignore Rodimus entirely and treat Magnus as though he was Autobot leader ("Webworld," "Carnage in C-Minor," etc.) which almost makes me thing it was a Hasbro edict to feature Magnus as the leader, despite the fact that he got knocked out of the leadership role due to the events from the movie.


Zob

[Travoltron]

I seem to recall some of the licensed literature of the time also having
Magnus as leader. I specifically remember a coloring book like that,
but some of the other books may have done that as well.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

> His tech specs function is Protector, not Commander or Leader or anything close to that.

I agree "Protector" is nebulous at best. However, if the tech specs are to be treated as cannon in their totality, I think it's difficult to argue that Rodimus was not intended to be the autobot commander ("Leader" is for decepticons).
Rodimus has the coveted and rare 10 in rank, while Magnus has an 8. Beyond this, Rodimus has, count them, SIX 10s, and two 9s. Shockingly, Magnus does not register a single 10, and only three 9s.
I am not saying there is not something to your argument, but I think the techs are clearly slanted towards Rodimus being the leader.

-Banzaitron

[Ultra Magnus]

I have seen always seen the movie as more of a story than a toy ad. I know
that movies like this are designed with sakes in mind, but there was more
of a, not sure how to say it, but grown up plot. There was more violence,
and Transformers were displayed as being less immortal. I think that the
story was given more weight than a single episode, and those involved
wanted to make a good film, that happened to be based on toys. I might be
way off, but look at stuff like the Heman live action movie, and try and
believe these people were thinking that they were making a great film. It
just seems that the film was handled in a more serious matter. I think they
intended to show the consequences to war. We all knew they destroyed their
home world, but never seen it. Then they destroyed the message by bringing
Prime back.

Prime did a good job with Cliffjumper in showing characters could die, but
did it a bit too quickly in not letting the audience invest enough time
into the character. Bringing the corpses back with Dark Energon was
animating corpses, so still not defying death. Bulkhead was on the brink,
and had to recover, it would have held more meaning if the recovery took
longer, but again there is only so much story time. I really loved
Breakdown, and thought his death was effective, and how they used his
remains to extend Silas life, and his eventual outcome were great story
telling, especially when you look at the audience the show was aimed at.
Even Dreadwings death was quite final (and helped to show that Megatron is
a complete lunatic killing him for disobeying orders by trying to kill
Starscream who not only disobeys orders, tries to kill Megatron). Primes
near death was a waste, as he was saved at the last minute by the magic
hammer. I understand that the power on the Forge was depleted, but I wonder
why Ratchet didn't spend some time trying to find a way to recharge to
before Prime let Magnus use it as a weapon, although I guess we could find
some type of a message in that an implement of ultimate creation can easily
become a weapon of destruction. I wonder what would have happened if they
let Raf die of Dark Energon poisoning?

The whole death thing with Transformers is lost on me, especially in the
BayVerse. Megatron was quite dead and dropped into the sea, and was rebuilt
in less than 10 minutes, but Prowl was just torn in half, and they didn't
even try to save him. Just because my motherboard in the computer dies,
doesn't mean it can't be recovered and repaired. Ironhide was devolved, so
he's pretty much gone, but Prime was brought back with the magic matrix, so
he's fine, they will most likely replace his arm with no problem in the
next film. They can even scan any vehicle, at will, and take that form, but
not make Bumblebee talk. My iPad talks, my PC talks, but the technology to
fix Be doesn't exist. If he can control the radio, why can't they give him
a Stephen Hawkings voice computer?

TC
--
"Consistency is victory." - Ultra Magnus