Fortress Maximus: The Gem of G1

I have been wanting to write something about this figure for a long time. This is the figure that collectors and fans have called the holy grail of the Generation One toy line. This is the Headmaster Autobot City and Headmaster leader, Fortress Maximus!!! The character didn't see much air time as he only appeared in the final minutes of the last U.S. Transformers episode in 1987. He played a HUGE role in the Japanese exclusive series Transformers: The Headmasters. He also played a large role in the U.S. comic books.

This toy is absolutely huge, and even 23 years later, still the largest Transformer toy ever produced. Fortress Maximus stands at a little over two feet tall. He is also one of the more complicated, but well designed, figures of the era. His Headmaster component is the regular sized Autobot known as Cerebros. He transforms into a communication station when Fortress Maximus is in city mode. Cerebros is also a Headmaster in that his head transforms into Spike, the long time human ally of the Autobots.

Maximus himself transforms into a large city. This city is complete with bays in his body for mini-bots to enter, a helipad for flying Autobots, a prison for Decepticon Headmasters and Target Masters, a control tower for Spike, and ramps which can launch cars. The city mode can also transform into a massive battle station. The station features a huge amount of artillery and a giant cannon in the main tower. This mode in Japan was also featured as a starship called Battleship Maximus. The city has two vehicles to help protect it which can combine to form another smaller robot. In battle station mode, Cerebros is also separated and can attack with his fellow Headmasters in robot mode.

When the battle station is not enough to battle the might of the Decepticons, the city of Fortress Maximus can transform into the towering Autobot I mentioned earlier. Cerebros then transforms into his head and combines. In robot mode, Fortress Maximus is also heavily armed with gun emplacements in his legs, sides, arms, hands, and feet. He is truly the Autobots' last line of defense. To give an idea of his size, you could place your combined Scramble City style super robot right next to Fortress Maximus, and they would only come up to a little above his knee. No Transformer since has ever matched his size.

This figure commands high prices on eBay. Samples are getting harder to find as collectors have been snatching him up for the last decade. Boxed samples sold for well over $1,000.00. Loose and complete samples still run around $700.00. This toy has been re-released twice in Japan. The first time was part of the Super-God Masterforce series as Grand Maximus. The toy was recolored, and Cerebros had a Pretender shell. The second time was in 2000 as Brave Maximus as part of the Car-Robots line (better known to the United States as Transformers: Robots in Disguise). The reason this figure has never seen a United States re-release is because the toy can no longer pass the U.S. toy safety laws. In 1987, the laws weren't as strict for the design for the figure, but now it can't pass due to its inability to pass the drop testing.

It's sad that we may never see this figure re-released in any form here in the United States. However, if it was, it would probably be well over $200.00 to purchase. The movie version of Devastator is already $100.00 and it is not even half the size of Fortress Maximus. If you have this figure, don't ever give it up. If you have the money to invest in it, its a great piece of Transformers history to hold on to.