Series - Generations
Sub-line - Siege
Hypo-line - War for Cybertron
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - Remold of Ultra Magnus
Wave - 3
Released here - yes
Approximate Retail Price - $90

When I first came back into collecting about 20 years ago, it was the time of Car Robot/RID 2000. I loved the G1 like vehicle-focused theme, the Japanese mecha-esque aesthetics and the articulation on those new figures (so of course I was extra happy with my Siege Ultra Magnus' lovely vehicle mode homage). But the Unicron Trilogy that came after that didn't do much for me personally; neither the overall aesthetics nor the chunky figures looked interesting to me. However, the Galaxy Upgrade OP from Siege caught my eyes immediately after it was revealed. Looks an interesting and clever remold from UM to recreate the old Cybertron Op look; I'm a big Optimus fan boy and could use a heavily armored murderous Prime that I can just load up with 5mm weapons in my CHUG collection; and I wouldn't say to no to getting the UM mold again as a different character.

TRUCK MODE:

I quite like the truck mode. It looks more cohesive and feels more solid in hand than expected. I wish they could've found a way to incorporate another set of front wheels to complete the Cybertron Op look, and maybe cover the gap a bit..

I looked up pics of the original Cybertron Op and a lot of details are faithfully recreated. People that grew up with that toy would no doubt have a nostalgia blast. I actually quite like what they've done with the back of the fake wheels on the wings here. They're clearly not supposed to look like wheels here.









I love what they've done to make Galaxy Upgrade Op look completely different to UM.



CAB AND BASE ROBOT MODE

The cab shares the same visible hand syndrome with UM, but I quite like the remolded front of the cab the aggressive-looking bumpers.





I don't read TF comics but it's lovely that they're using this design as the new civil war Optimus Prime. Because of the shape of the cab it needs to homage the torso here looks like it has no waist. On the other hand it works out to be a nice (probably unintentional)double homage to Energon's Fatimus Prime. I forgot to flip the waist piece around from the super bot here but it's not as big as difference as it makes on Ultra Magnus.




Side by side with Ultra Magnus' inner 'bot. I have no problem with the parts forming here, as it's one of the compromises for a remold.





TRANSFORMATION:
What they achieved with the UM mold here is quite clever and interesting. For something that requires this much parts-forming, everything pegs in nicely which is a plus.

Apparently a lot of people don't like how the feet on this mold are permanently on an A stance. I actually thought it's a clever way to give the robot wheels on the side of the feet without adding parts to lower/retract the wheels. The feet are angled in a way that in bot mode the wheels just clear the ground so the robot isn't rolling on wheels.


SUPER 'BOT MODE
I used to not like the Cybertron designs as the robots all looked too bulky with big chunky limbs as if Pat Lee designed them. Holding this figure in hand, with its much better proportioned limbs, I can say I'm starting to like this design. Again it looks it's overall quite faithful to the original design. I especial love his head, chest and forearm design.






Articulation is same as UM. If they were able to incorporate front to back rotation on the feet that'd be even more perfect.

They've added a pair of flip out heel spurs to support the heavier backpack which is really nice.

I love adding weapons on this guy, and might even consider picking up one weaponzier and couple of battle masters to give him more fire power.





OVERALL:
I love this figure for a different reason than most but he's a fun one all the same just like Magnus.