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Stunticon City Commander | |
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BIOGRAPHY | JUMP to Drawings (below)
The villian Dark Magnum was "born" with the name Guard Magnus. He was the younger brother to Ultra Magnus. As a car carrier, he was designed to shuttle security forces around Cybertron.
But he grew to resent Ultra Magnus. He was always the second, the runner-up to his elder brother. He could never be as good as Ultra Magnus so he decided to be bad. Guard Magnus joined the Decepticons.
Attempting a rescue attempt, Ultra Magnus fired on a Decepticon whose weapon misfired and damaged Guard Magnus. The Autobots were forced to retreat and Guard Magnus was filled with hatred for his brother for shooting him.
Guard Magnus was recruited and rebuilt by the Stunticons into his current incarnation Dark Magnum.
Now, with the rank of City Commander (like his brother), he is the overseer of the Stunticon race-track training base. He commands several troops and coordinates ground assaults in roaded areas.
Adept at leadership and aspires to assume Motor Master's position as Stunticon Leader. He often questions Motor Master's authority in order to undermine Motor Master's control.
But Dark Magnum desires to wreck vengeance on his brother and the Autobots. He always plots fights that will draw out Ultra Magnus. Since they are rather evenly matched, it is unknown who would be the victor in a direct confrontation.
Dark Magnum transforms into a black semi-truck with gold trim. His sleeper also supports a larger sleeper unit above the truck cab. While he does not combine with a trailer, his extra sleepers give his robot form mass to make him stand just a bit shorter than his older brother. Often carries artillery trailers as well as car-carrier trailers.
Weapons compliment includes two 3-port machine guns in his chest, six heavy missiles (3 on each shoulder), and two mini-missile clusters. Both arms have a revolver-like barrel for holding his "magnum loads". Has wrist launchers that fire these loads. And on each side of his magnum's there is a small beam cannon. But his magnum loads are his deadliest weapons. They can punch a hole thru most Transformers with ease. Shield houses 4 auto-cannons. Also equipped with several beam swords. Semi-truck smokestacks are actually anti-aircraft cannons -- 30 rounds each. Small stacks on his head house small auto-cannons.
| Final B/W drawings |
10-May-01 Robot modes
Dark Magnum in robot mode (b/w pencil, CGI enhanced)
Dark Magnum's concept was inspired by Car Robot: Black Battle Convoy.
This time, instead of an evil counterpart of Fire Convoy, this robot is
the evil brother of Ultra Magnus!
Here is a close-up of his head. I designed Dark Magnum like I design most of my robot modes, head first. His was very interesting. He has a semi-cab motif. But the full-body pose took a lot of space on paper and one could not make out the detail on the head. So I designed this close-up shot to showcase the detail.
As with Jack Knife, I may opt for a photo I can snag off the net. This semi with this sleeper configuration actually exists! Of course, the whole inspiration behind Dark Magnum's semi mode was a semi I saw while watching "Walker: Texas ranger" a few weeks ago.
For now, I have this image of a black semi. I'll keep looking out for the cab sleeper.
01-Jul-2001 Predacon partner
In a joint effort, the Predacons and Stunticons are
experimenting with their own Transformer armor. This is to
counter the Autobot's concept of Armor Animal partners.
So far, the Armor Animals have proved to be far superior to the
Pretender concept.
Power Taurus transforms from semi-trailer to bull.
Here is his bull mode snarling to charge!
Rescanned!
Dark Magnum and Power Taurus combine into a ferocious minotaur called Dark Taurus. Rescanned!
Dark Taurus combines the firepower and strength of Power Taurus
with the devious cunning of Dark Magnum. Dark Magnum is
in control of this mode with Power Taurus serving as gunner.
In times of sheer rage, Power Taurus fires weapons against
Dark Magnum's will. Such outbursts make stealth missions difficult.
According to the joint agreement, the Predacons would not allow
Dark Magnum to exert total control over the combined form.
Therefore, Dark Taurus is only formed in heavy combat situations.
In missions that require more subtlety, Power Taurus is left
in the garage.
05-Aug-2003 Dark Magnum transformation
A little sketch showing how he transforms.
Artwork by Markatron!
©2001 Markatron
