Transformers G1 FORTRESS MAXIMUS gallery now online!

Gasket-- "Hi, my alt mode is a tank with legs, and my robot mode is legs with tank treads!"


I have never seen the chicken walker form of the FM head and Spike before. That is really cool! Looks like an ATP, or ATT, or ARC, or whatever acronyum Star Wars is using for the Clone Wars version of the AT-ST. I bet it was AT-RT...

tigertracks 24 wrote:Gasket-- "Hi, my alt mode is a tank with legs, and my robot mode is legs with tank treads!"


I have never seen the chicken walker form of the FM head and Spike before. That is really cool! Looks like an ATP, or ATT, or ARC, or whatever acronyum Star Wars is using for the Clone Wars version of the AT-ST. I bet it was AT-RT...

According to Wookieepedia, you are correct! I was thinking the same thing. I might have to try that with my RiD Fort Max when I get home tonight.

Great gallery, Ryan!!

Someday I want to get this and hope to have the space to display it as it deserves to be. Such an epic figure.

Great gallery!

While g1 Fort Max is indeed the ultimate...my walet thanks me for settling with Brave Maximus instead lol

Hmm. If anyone remembers, a while back there was an episode of Pawn Stars where a guy was going to sell all of his Transformers, that guy had like two or three of Fort Max. With the boxes. Lucky.

Personally, G1 Soundwave is my G1 Holy Grail.

Fortress has gotten the "holy grail" label due to how hard it is to find one. hell even when i was a kid during the Transformers heyday, i never once saw him anywhere. none of our stores ever carried him and we never knew anyone who owned one. we had a catalogue store and he was always listed in the catalogue but when you went there to order, they were always out.

and holy shit is he big. i knew he was the biggest transformer and all but seeing him next to Scorponok(which i own) is an eye opener. i thought ol Scorps was pretty huge...daaaaamn. lol its kinda weird though since they are supposed to be each other's rivals you'd think the toys woulda been similar heights. but yeah my Scorponok is in mint condition because i barely played with him because of how big and hard to handle he was, couldnt imagine if i had ownwed Fortress. lol

Oh, I remember seeing him in Detroit-area stores, and thinking that his price at just under $100 negated my chances of ever receiving or saving up for him. Today it'd be a miracle if you bought a complete one for triple digits instead of quadruple.

And on the odds of him ever getting an affordable North American reissue, I really hope saner heads mandating toy safety laws repeal the drop-test soon. Yes, if making all toys incapable of cracking due to being intentionally thrown from a 2nd story balcony would save even one life, it'd be worth it, but I don't see how it will unless you go on to ban any toy that a child could intentionally whittle into a shiv. The fact that Americans occasionally ban all hoodie drawstrings to prevent one-in-a-million freak choking accidents and then demand the right to carry assault rifles into public functions is just one more reason the rest of the world laughs their arses off at us while their children play with cool sharp-edged toys. Toys aren't dangerous, LIFE is dangerous; get over it. The only change to the toy industry that will really save any kids is finding a way to profitably manufacture them without Chinese sweatshop labor.

For that matter, Micronauts reissues were sold practically unaltered in American specialty shops this past decade with disclaimers on the packaging stating "This collectible is NOT at toy; keep away from children". Viola! How about it Hasbro? Would it hurt to try changing OP's box and retail venues instead of his stovepipes for the 30th anniversary reissue? Parents aren't going to casually buy some $100-$200 reissue of some 2-decades old Fort Max toy for their 5-year-old to play with anyway, so it wouldn't really kill potential profits if they knew fan-demand was high enough.

Friggin...awesome...

'nuff said, except for...

I'm jealous!! I want one!

$500+ SHIPPING!? Fark...

This is awesome, but as a Headmasters anime fan, I must make a complaint.

*cries tears of immense sadness* NO MASTER SWORD!!!

Who wants to um, lend me $1,200?

Bumblevivisector wrote:And on the odds of him ever getting an affordable North American reissue, I really hope saner heads mandating toy safety laws repeal the drop-test soon. Yes, if making all toys incapable of cracking due to being intentionally thrown from a 2nd story balcony would save even one life, it'd be worth it, but I don't see how it will unless you go on to ban any toy that a child could intentionally whittle into a shiv. The fact that Americans occasionally ban all hoodie drawstrings to prevent one-in-a-million freak choking accidents and then demand the right to carry assault rifles into public functions is just one more reason the rest of the world laughs their arses off at us while their children play with cool sharp-edged toys. Toys aren't dangerous, LIFE is dangerous; get over it. The only change to the toy industry that will really save any kids is finding a way to profitably manufacture them without Chinese sweatshop labor.

For that matter, Micronauts reissues were sold practically unaltered in American specialty shops this past decade with disclaimers on the packaging stating "This collectible is NOT at toy; keep away from children". Viola! How about it Hasbro? Would it hurt to try changing OP's box and retail venues instead of his stovepipes for the 30th anniversary reissue? Parents aren't going to casually buy some $100-$200 reissue of some 2-decades old Fort Max toy for their 5-year-old to play with anyway, so it wouldn't really kill potential profits if they knew fan-demand was high enough.

Unfortunately America is home to things like caution labels on Fresh, Hot coffee No cht it's hot, it was just brewed and poured.

Back to topic, I'd love to get my mitts on one Fort Max, I'd display it in open air, above my computer where it could be knocked on-to my head by my cat.

AshesOfPain wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:And on the odds of him ever getting an affordable North American reissue, I really hope saner heads mandating toy safety laws repeal the drop-test soon. Yes, if making all toys incapable of cracking due to being intentionally thrown from a 2nd story balcony would save even one life, it'd be worth it, but I don't see how it will unless you go on to ban any toy that a child could intentionally whittle into a shiv. The fact that Americans occasionally ban all hoodie drawstrings to prevent one-in-a-million freak choking accidents and then demand the right to carry assault rifles into public functions is just one more reason the rest of the world laughs their arses off at us while their children play with cool sharp-edged toys. Toys aren't dangerous, LIFE is dangerous; get over it. The only change to the toy industry that will really save any kids is finding a way to profitably manufacture them without Chinese sweatshop labor.

For that matter, Micronauts reissues were sold practically unaltered in American specialty shops this past decade with disclaimers on the packaging stating "This collectible is NOT at toy; keep away from children". Viola! How about it Hasbro? Would it hurt to try changing OP's box and retail venues instead of his stovepipes for the 30th anniversary reissue? Parents aren't going to casually buy some $100-$200 reissue of some 2-decades old Fort Max toy for their 5-year-old to play with anyway, so it wouldn't really kill potential profits if they knew fan-demand was high enough.

Unfortunately America is home to things like caution labels on Fresh, Hot coffee No cht it's hot, it was just brewed and poured.

Back to topic, I'd love to get my mitts on one Fort Max, I'd display it in open air, above my computer where it could be knocked on-to my head by my cat.

Please don't bash America, people. Bash the handful of worthless, piece of crap parents that stick their 1-year old in a room alone with a bunch of freaking choking hazards......and then sue everyone over the issue when something bad happens. This small infection of people forced the larger groups to protect themselves with these toy laws.

Prime Riblet wrote:

AshesOfPain wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:And on the odds of him ever getting an affordable North American reissue, I really hope saner heads mandating toy safety laws repeal the drop-test soon. Yes, if making all toys incapable of cracking due to being intentionally thrown from a 2nd story balcony would save even one life, it'd be worth it, but I don't see how it will unless you go on to ban any toy that a child could intentionally whittle into a shiv. The fact that Americans occasionally ban all hoodie drawstrings to prevent one-in-a-million freak choking accidents and then demand the right to carry assault rifles into public functions is just one more reason the rest of the world laughs their arses off at us while their children play with cool sharp-edged toys. Toys aren't dangerous, LIFE is dangerous; get over it. The only change to the toy industry that will really save any kids is finding a way to profitably manufacture them without Chinese sweatshop labor.

For that matter, Micronauts reissues were sold practically unaltered in American specialty shops this past decade with disclaimers on the packaging stating "This collectible is NOT at toy; keep away from children". Viola! How about it Hasbro? Would it hurt to try changing OP's box and retail venues instead of his stovepipes for the 30th anniversary reissue? Parents aren't going to casually buy some $100-$200 reissue of some 2-decades old Fort Max toy for their 5-year-old to play with anyway, so it wouldn't really kill potential profits if they knew fan-demand was high enough.

Unfortunately America is home to things like caution labels on Fresh, Hot coffee No cht it's hot, it was just brewed and poured.

Back to topic, I'd love to get my mitts on one Fort Max, I'd display it in open air, above my computer where it could be knocked on-to my head by my cat.

Please don't bash America, people. Bash the handful of worthless, piece of crap parents that stick their 1-year old in a room alone with a bunch of freaking choking hazards......and then sue everyone over the issue when something bad happens. This small infection of people forced the larger groups to protect themselves with these toy laws.

Isn't Democracy grand? Oh wait...democracy is when the MAJORITY rules not the minority of people who wouldn't even exist if natural selection were allowed to run its course...

Sorry if that came across as the start of some self-depreciating U.S.A. bashing. We probably aren't as loathed internationally as you might think, but there is one stereotype Europeans have about us that won't go away, partly because it never gets back to us; I sure wouldn't know it if I hadn't spent a semester in Germany.

They have the idea that we're paranoid about everything being unsafe.

Maybe it's left over from the founders' desire to achieve peace by isolating our great nation from all of Europe's petty squabbles, but the delusion that we can someday create an environment where we're completely shielded from harm with enough regulations seems to be a distinctly American one.

Sorry about getting off topic, but I thought someone should remind the more casual fans salivating over this gallery just why that already unaffordable price will only soar higher in this hemisphere no matter how bad the economy gets.

Ah well, with no Maxie or Scorpinok in my collection, at least my Unicron doesn't look TOO small (sigh)

Say, do Gundam fans collect Fort Maxes too so they can pretend his battle station mode is a White-Base toy that's almost in scale with their MSIA figures? Now THERE's an idea for a profitable repaint...

I managed to get Fort for my birthday

Bumblevivisector wrote:Sorry if that came across as the start of some self-depreciating U.S.A. bashing. We probably aren't as loathed internationally as you might think, but there is one stereotype Europeans have about us that won't go away, partly because it never gets back to us; I sure wouldn't know it if I hadn't spent a semester in Germany.

They have the idea that we're paranoid about everything being unsafe.

Maybe it's left over from the founders' desire to achieve peace by isolating our great nation from all of Europe's petty squabbles, but the delusion that we can someday create an environment where we're completely shielded from harm with enough regulations seems to be a distinctly American one.

Sorry about getting off topic, but I thought someone should remind the more casual fans salivating over this gallery just why that already unaffordable price will only soar higher in this hemisphere no matter how bad the economy gets.



Ah well, with no Maxie or Scorpinok in my collection, at least my Unicron doesn't look TOO small (sigh)

Say, do Gundam fans collect Fort Maxes too so they can pretend his battle station mode is a White-Base toy that's almost in scale with their MSIA figures? Now THERE's an idea for a profitable repaint...

I know there is actually a lot of truth in what you said. Alos, I don't want you to think I was singling you or anyone else's statements out. I agree with what you said, in fact. I just didn't want the whole "America this, the US that, blah blah situation to spring up. I am simmered down now.

All this time I thought there was alread a Fort Max gallery. Huh, I never knew about a "chicken walker" alt mode for Cerebros' body. That box has definitely seen some better days.

and i thought seibertron.com's toy gallery couldn't get any bigger. thanks for posting.

Noticed that there's a small black smudge in the Autobot sigil on Cerebros, so mine wasn't an isolated case after all.And how come it's upside down?

Ah, I remember seeing Fortress Maximus as a kid at Toys 'R Us back in the day and deciding I absolutely needed him.

I saved up for nearly a year to afford the $90 price tag, if I recall correctly.

The day that I bought him was a very proud one in my life and one of these few childhood memories that remains as fresh in my mind today as it was back in '89.

I picked up the sucker and struggled to take him over to the cash register. Pulled out my Transformers wallet with velcro snap, the one with a hologram Optimus Prime that would change from robot to truck mode depending on the angle that you looked at it. Plucked down my 5 twenty dollar bills and went back home a happy kid, but also with that feeling of deflated enthusiasm after you finally obtain that which you have longed for so long.

Fort Max was everything I could hope for: a double Headmaster, a working elevator, a car launcher from that elevator, a jail cell, and featuring so much firepower that I couldn't help but keep him in city mode to at least give my modest Decepticon army a chance.

These days, Fort Max is still in his box in my room. I just don't have the room to properly display him.

I have been tempted to sell him, but I have such fond memories of him and he is the zenith of Transformer toy production and ambition, so it feels wrong to ever let him go.

Great gallery as always! The Cerebros battle station mode is something I will have to try!

Woah, Fortress certainly is big...
Just wondering, so he's a HeadMaster who's head is ALSO a HeadMaster?

zenosaurus_x wrote:Woah, Fortress certainly is big...
Just wondering, so he's a HeadMaster who's head is ALSO a HeadMaster?

Yeah, crazy huh? I think the story is that Spike had become a headmaster partner with Cerebros and they needed to come up with a plan to turn the tide of war in favour of the Autobots so they quickly turned a city into Fort Max with them as controllers.

Spike used Cerebros the pacifist to turn the old Hive enclave of Zarak to build the main body of Fort Max.

In the Japanese version though, retconned, Brave Max (yup the RID Brave Max)together with the KissPlayers traveled in time to the Master planet, the visit did not go unnoticed though 'cause Fortress in his small cybertron mode saw the UFO. It served to inspire him to design the transector body that we would come to know as Fortress Maximus.

tigertracks 24 wrote:Gasket-- "Hi, my alt mode is a tank with legs, and my robot mode is legs with tank treads!"


I have never seen the chicken walker form of the FM head and Spike before. That is really cool! Looks like an ATP, or ATT, or ARC, or whatever acronyum Star Wars is using for the Clone Wars version of the AT-ST. I bet it was AT-RT...

That mode is a little rigged up with some trick photography. I think if the robot legs were rotated around, the mode might support itself better. I put something underneath the backdrop so that he would lean back. Otherwise, it was too top heavy to support that mode. I had never tried that before either until I saw it in the instruction booklet pre-city mode.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:Great gallery, Ryan!!

Thanks ... glad you liked it. Truth be told ... this is just a filler gallery until I have time to do my other Fort Max's gallery. The other one has replica swords, is perfectly white, and has a set of stickers waiting to be applied to fix up some of the ones that aren't in the best of condition. I'm saving him for when I finally get Grand Maximus, hopefully in the next year some time after my wedding.

I've actually passed up Grand Maximus 3 times ... the first time was way back in 1996 for $600 and the last time I passed him up there was one on eBay back in November 2007 for around $1600 right after I met my fiancee/wife. I decided against spending that much on him because I wanted to make sure that I had enough money to wine and dine my new girlfriend (who later became my fiancee and the mother of our first child and now my wife). It was definitely the right decision and it will make getting Grand Maximus all the more rewarding once I can get him after our wedding (hopefully).

Sabrblade wrote:This is awesome, but as a Headmasters anime fan, I must make a complaint.

*cries tears of immense sadness* NO MASTER SWORD!!!

That's my other Fort Max

fenrir72 wrote:Noticed that there's a small black smudge in the Autobot sigil on Cerebros, so mine wasn't an isolated case after all.And how come it's upside down?

My other Fort Max has the same black mark on the Autobot sticker on Cerebros' chest. Odd. Do they all have that?

I have no idea why it's upside down. That's how it was when I bought it with this collection last year.

No Death for Prowl wrote:Great gallery as always! The Cerebros battle station mode is something I will have to try!

Something I had never noticed on Cerebros is that his arms slide back when he's in robot mode. I always thought he looked kind of stupid with his arms flush against his chest. I was very happy to discover after all these years that his arms slide back. It's always fun to discover something new with a toy that you've owned forever. I just figured out by accident last year that Weirdwolf had missile launchers on his shoulders/upper arms.

zenosaurus_x wrote:Woah, Fortress certainly is big...
Just wondering, so he's a HeadMaster who's head is ALSO a HeadMaster?

Yep! He's a double headmaster!

No Death for Prowl wrote:I have been tempted to sell him, but I have such fond memories of him and he is the zenith of Transformer toy production and ambition, so it feels wrong to ever let him go.

DO NOT SELL IT. I had a complete MIB one that I got in 2001 for $550, and ended up havin to sell it in 2005 when I was flat broke and homeless, just to keep eating. I did get $1350 for it, but still, I regretted it every day. So unless you're literally starving like I did, keep it, if it's the last TF you keep. Sell everything else first if you need the cash that much.

Recently I acquired a complete MIB Brave Max which eased my regret that I have to this day, but I am still planning to get a complete Fort Max soon.

Also, adding a bit to the history of the character, in the Marvel US Comics, Max started out as a regular Headmaster, with Max and a human component for a head. But Galen, who was the head, thought he could fight the Decepticons much more effectively if he doubled Max's size, and after that happened, he needed a bigger head, which led to Cerebros. But Galen still wanted to be in control, so he made himself the head of Cerebros, a spot later taken reluctantly by Spike Witwicky after Lord Zarak and Scorponok killed Galen in a fight. Truthfully, though, it was more like an accident, as Galen was killed by falling rocks crushing him during their fight, not a blast by Scorponok. If you want reference, it's US Comics issue #38, Trial By Fire.

Seibertron wrote:..... hopefully in the next year some time after my wedding.

I've actually passed up Grand Maximus 3 times ... I decided against spending that much on him because I wanted to make sure that I had enough money to wine and dine my new girlfriend (who later became my fiancee and the mother of our first child and now my wife). It was definitely the right decision and it will make getting Grand Maximus all the more rewarding once I can get him after our wedding (hopefully).

While I may be new to the site, and I know this a bit off topic, but... gratz and good luck with wedding and new family.

Back to topic, I can't wait to see the "real" gallery.

Also congrats on the wedding.

This is one hell of a gallery. Fort Max makes Scorponok look so... small there. And there's a 'real' gallery coming soon? Can't wait!

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Also congrats on the wedding.

This is one hell of a gallery. Fort Max makes Scorponok look so... small there. And there's a 'real' gallery coming soon? Can't wait!

I don't know about "soon" ... which is why I decided to take the time to do a gallery of this Fort Max after spending about 3 or 4 hours cleaning him up to sell him. I wasn't planning on doing a gallery of Fort Max until I could do Grand and Brave Max as well. Hopefully soon ... we'll see, I've got to find a relatively inexpensive Grand Max with stickers unapplied for $1500 to $2000 first. Good things come to those who're patient. I'll get him for the right price just yet.

thanks for the congrats!

AshesOfPain wrote:

Seibertron wrote:..... hopefully in the next year some time after my wedding.

I've actually passed up Grand Maximus 3 times ... I decided against spending that much on him because I wanted to make sure that I had enough money to wine and dine my new girlfriend (who later became my fiancee and the mother of our first child and now my wife). It was definitely the right decision and it will make getting Grand Maximus all the more rewarding once I can get him after our wedding (hopefully).

While I may be new to the site, and I know this a bit off topic, but... gratz and good luck with wedding and new family.

Back to topic, I can't wait to see the "real" gallery.

Yeah, I'm calling this gallery more-or-less a "test" run. I didn't think my gallery setup could handle doing Fort Max. It certainly can't handle doing all three of the Maximus toys together for comparison shots so I still have to figure out how to overcome that obstacle. I'm considering doing an outside gallery for those 3 but we'll see. Maybe I can find a studio near where I live where I could do the three of them.

Thanks for the "gratz" and good luck. It's an amazing feeling having a family and being a dad ... looking forward to having everything official and having our official wedding here in less than 2 weeks. Going to be a fun day!

Seibertron wrote:Thanks for the "gratz" and good luck. It's an amazing feeling having a family and being a dad ... looking forward to having everything official and having our official wedding here in less than 2 weeks. Going to be a fun day!

Congratulations, Ryan!

So, this superfluous wedding isn't going to make Seibertron.com take a back seat is it?


(Please know I'm joking...)

Energon Is My Drug wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Thanks for the "gratz" and good luck. It's an amazing feeling having a family and being a dad ... looking forward to having everything official and having our official wedding here in less than 2 weeks. Going to be a fun day!

Congratulations, Ryan!

So, this superfluous wedding isn't going to make Seibertron.com take a back seat is it?


(Please know I'm joking...)

LOL ... to be honest, it's going to be tough for the next 2 or 3 weeks for me doing updates to Seibertron.com. I have a few things I'm trying to get done before then but the site will be in good hands with the rest of the staff who do an incredible job every day keeping their various sections of the site running smoothly.

@ Seibertron. Yup, mine had the smudge too. So to all those selling or buying an original Fort Max, check the sigil or label sheet,unless it's been replaced by reprolabels. Not sure if its the same for the Japanese version though.

One thing I hate about Fort Max(hate? ), the die-cast paint chips on his tower base and the twin artillery unit on his left leg.

And he is quite heavy to play with. My fervent wish is that Scorponok eventually gets re-issued so I'll be able to complete the Season 4 Cityformers.

fenrir72 wrote:My fervent wish is that Scorponok eventually gets re-issued so I'll be able to complete the Season 4 Cityformers.

It would be great if somehow there could be a Scorponok made that is the same size as Max. But it's impossible, given the head-size problem. Zarak is Spike's size, not Cerebros'...

Seibertron wrote:

zenosaurus_x wrote:Woah, Fortress certainly is big...
Just wondering, so he's a HeadMaster who's head is ALSO a HeadMaster?

Yep! He's a double headmaster!

O_o
Wow.
I wonder why Fortress is so much bigger than Scorponok, usually it's the other way around...

zenosaurus_x wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

zenosaurus_x wrote:Woah, Fortress certainly is big...
Just wondering, so he's a HeadMaster who's head is ALSO a HeadMaster?

Yep! He's a double headmaster!

O_o
Wow.
I wonder why Fortress is so much bigger than Scorponok, usually it's the other way around...

Autobots sell better than Decepticons ... stated by Hasbro several times over the years. Actually, their words were "good guys sell better than bad guys"

Rodimus Prime wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:My fervent wish is that Scorponok eventually gets re-issued so I'll be able to complete the Season 4 Cityformers.

It would be great if somehow there could be a Scorponok made that is the same size as Max. But it's impossible, given the head-size problem. Zarak is Spike's size, not Cerebros'...

Actually, in the Headmasters anime, Scorponok (the equivalent of Zarak, while the large scorpion Transtector was called MegaZarak) was often seen to be larger than the other Headmaster characters, almost appearing like the size of a normal-sized Transformer instead of a human-sized Transformer; which helped work with his MegaZarak form being the same height as Fortress Maximus.

Ah Fortress Maximus,a holy grail among Transformers fans. His existence is well known but highly regarded as a legend due to the rarity of such an encounter.

Xephon0930 wrote:Ah Fortress Maximus,a holy grail among Transformers fans. His existence is well known but highly regarded as a legend due to the rarity of such an encounter.

He's still a holy grail in my collection even though I have plenty of rarer figures. His mere size is always an eye catcher to anyone who seems my collection.