Magnus Armor

Tyrest plays with his Construct-Bots set.

Following the death of the admired Autobot warrior Ultra Magnus in the early days of the war, Chief Justice Tyrest designed the Magnus Armor to keep his legend alive. It is an integrated suit of armor worn by a series of Autobots, each load bearers with sparks that allow their bodies to handle extensive physical augmentation, secretly chosen by Tyrest to take on the role of Ultra Magnus and serve as the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

It is unknown exactly when and how the original Ultra Magnus died, but Tyrest instituted the Magnus Armor program very shortly after the passing of the original. The armor was equipped with a "recall switch"; when one Ultra Magnus died, the suit would detect the passing of its wearer and autonomously pilot itself back to Tyrest, who would then begin the process of finding a new Point One Percenter worthy of donning the armor. The Divided Self This initiative was top secret—only a handful of Autobots within Optimus Prime's inner circle were aware of the specifics. Shining Armor #5 The Sound of Breaking Glass

To the rank-and-file, however, it seemed as though Ultra Magnus was capable of shrugging off even the most life-threatening wounds and returning to duty unscathed, giving rise to his reputation as "the immortal lawman." The Divided Self At some point, a conspiracy theory that Ultra Magnus was "just a little guy in armor" arose, but it wasn't widely believed. Winners & Losers

Some two hundred years ago, the armor had been passed to the hotheaded Autobot Convoy after its previous owner Minimus Ambus had been wounded in the line of duty. Shining Armor #5 While battling the Dire Wraith Vekktral on Xetaxxis, Magnus was possessed by the villainous alien, and the Magnus Armor was transformed into a horrific bio-mechanical monstrosity. Shining Armor #4 Vekkral had failed to account for Convoy, however, and the little Autobot was able to defeat the alien by forcing the armor's chest compartment open, allowing Rom to kill Convoy and end the threat. Subsequently, Bumblebee used the Magnus Armor's recall function to return to the Autobot fleet.

Minimus Ambus returned to active duty as Ultra Magnus and remained the sole bearer of the armor for the remainder of the war. Shining Armor #5 At some point, the armor was infected by a swarm of dormant Nanocons, which activated after Magnus had joined the crew of the Lost Light. You, Me, and Other Revelations

An increasingly unhinged Tyrest, disappointed with Minimus Ambus's inability to cope with peacetime and intending to retire the role in favor of the fanatical Star Saber, eventually stripped him of the armor. The Divided Self Following Tyrest's defeat, Minimus retrieved the armor and back aboard the Lost Light, Ratchet helped him put it back on. The Sound of Breaking Glass

On a quantum duplicate of the Lost Light, its version of Minimus Ambus was torn from the Magnus Armor by the Decepticon Justice Division after the recall trigger had been severed, with Rewind later hiding within the armor's remains by the crew of the "other" Lost Light. slaughterhouse Upon learning the truth about Ultra Magnus, Megatron began pushing for Minimus to do away with the armor entirely and live as his own bot. How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2

Brainstorm later defeated Ultra Magnus by using a weapon designed to separate the Magnus Armor from Ambus's body. The Custom-Made Now Though initially humiliated by the crew learning of his secret, Minimus slowly became more and more comfortable with spending time outside of the armor, splitting his time between Ultra Magnus and Minimus Ambus. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme

A protoform made of Scraplets briefly took over the armor when it was set loose inside Magnus' quarters, resulting in 'Magnus' trying to give Megatron a big, warm hug, among other things. The protoform was soon extricated and the armor returned to its original wearer. Silent Light Minimus then spent some time fumigating it. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases

The Russian Nesting Robot

The Magnus Armor was damaged in an explosion after the crew of the Lost Light staged a mutiny against Rodimus and his supporters and abandoned them on the Necroworld. How Bright Their Frail Deeds It was eventually superseded by Brainstorm's "Maximus Ambus" armor, a massively upscaled version of the original suit designed to push Minimus's load-bearing capabilities to the limit. At Close of Day The original armor was recovered at some point afterwards and continued to be used by Minimus. Some Other Cybertron After returning from the Functionist Universe, Minimus's confusion regarding Megatron's morality caused the armor's neural interface to lock him out until Rodimus used reverse-psychology to get him back to normal, returning the armor to full functionality. After Megatron

When the crew undertook a mission to destroy the Functionist Council via overloading Vector Sigma via twelve Matrices of Leadership, Magnus was caught unawares in the back by a Functionary with a rocket launcher. The missile blew the armor to pieces, and Minimus was forcibly ejected out of both his layers of armor and fell unconscious. A Spark Among Embers

When escorting Megatron back to the sentencing chamber to have his fate decided, Magnus briefly took his friend aside and revealed that he would be destroying the armor, much to the approval of the former Decepticon. How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Magnus Armor was worn by Primal Vanguard member Delta Magnus. After Delta fell in battle, Autobot leaders assigned other warriors to wear the armor to continue the illusion that he was still alive. After the sixth wearer of the armor died and the original armor was lost, Delta Magnus's buggy drone partner Powerdrive was selected as the seventh and built into what remained of it as a single, integrated robot. Masterpiece Delta Magnus bio

Toys

Main article: Ultra Magnus (G1)/toys#Combiner Wars

• Ultra Magnus (Leader Class, 2015)
  • Accessories: Two guns, Minimus Ambus figure

Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus is a Leader Class mold with a robot mode based off Nick Roche's design for the character in IDW Publishing's More than Meets the Eye. He includes a small Minimus Ambus figure designed to fit inside a chest-mounted cockpit. Artist Andrew Griffith also worked with Hasbro on Minimus's toy design and "cockpit" within the Magnus Amor.^[1]

The mold was also heavily retooled into Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime.

• More information on Ultra Magnus at TFU.info

Notes

• The Magnus Armor is a nod to the original Ultra Magnus toy where its trailer combined with the white Optimus-like cab to form a "super robot".
• Ultra Magnus's outer form was also shown to be a suit of armor in Dreamwave's "Revelation", though there, the inner robot resembled his original toy and represented the same character.
• In Megatron Origin #3 a similar white robot was seen alongside an Orion Pax-like bot at Bumper and Fastback's funeral, suggesting that something like the Magnus Armor may have existed in the 2005 IDW continuity before the original Ultra Magnus's death; the same series also saw Sentinel Prime power himself up with the Apex Armor.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Magnus Armor (マグナスアーマー Magunasu Āmā)

References

See also

• Ultra Armor