I was a fool. I had it, viewed it as a placeholder ("just get a copy of the mold") for the red and black one (also so pretty), got that one, then sold the yellow. I don't know what I was thinking, other than...
Which was probably true. A similar story is another entry to this thread, Energon Tidal Wave -- never had one, but had a few chances to get it, turned them down because the money was never there at the right time, and justified it by saying I had the superior green/purple Armada one (not wrong per se).
But in the years since, I keep going back to that gorgeous clear green and the nWo Hollywood lightning, and just sour-grapes-gaslight myself into thinking something would've broken in all that clear anyway...
People complained about all the repaints back then, but they were pretty great. Energon Ultra Magnus is still the best Magnus in my collection.
This story, at least, ended well.
Oh, lord, this figure. This has to be one of the reasons I remember Energon in general so fondly, because it kicked off by delivering some neat new molds AND some very awesome redecos. Definitely one of my most anticipated toys of all time; I don't remember how far ahead we knew about this or this being planned for Armada. But I was full-on hyped for it early on, especially since it came with a whole Mini-Con team (and why not enjoy more Street Speed Team?). Finding out about the change in Mini-Con teams later on was barely a speed bump.
Couldn't wait for this to drop. Especially since this was a time
well before local specialty stores had gotten things down to a science (I don't think mainstream retail had these line-padding redecos). I put in a preorder at one of maybe 2 or 3 stores that were even bringing things in (and again, they hadn't gotten it down so smooth so it took some finding out to learn they even HAD orders up). But he came in, he was everything I'd expected, and had that great "Earth-2" familiar-but-distinct feel of the homages from that era (that slate gray, nice. That powder blue face? Awesome).
The idea of Hasbro making a new Overload for their Armada OP is only interesting to me because of the possibility of an updated Energon Ultra Magnus. (and maybe Costco Overload.)