Cybertron-Mode Megatron

Height: 18cm to top of head (robot mode); approx. 18cm (vehicle length)

Articulation: 20 points total- swivel neck, double-joint shoulders, upper-arm swivel, double-joint elbows, swivel waist, universal joint hips, pre-knee swivel, hinge knees.

Colors: Molded gray, black and transparent red. Painted black, silver, and gold (Decepticon insignia).

Accessories: missile.

Release Data: Released early June, 2008 in the United States at a retail price of US$19.99

Gallery: 10 images.

Author: RAC

Back on Cybertron, when it is late at night, and very dark, robots tell each other stories of the war. They spin stories about the deeds of Megatron, and though robots don’t feel cold, the listeners shiver. The only ones who don’t enjoy a scary Megatron story are the old ones, the ones who were there. Those old Autobots remember the real Megatron. Many of them bear scars sustained in the heat of his fusion cannon, or dents delivered by his powerful swords. To those old robots, Megatron is no monster; he is a warrior so vicious and terrible that monsters pale in comparison.

This version, of course, is the Megatron they would be remembering. This and the Deluxe-sized Megatron included in the two-pack are both based on his original Cybertronian body and as it's been pointed out, it's kind of odd that the version that appears for all of one episode gets two toys, but oh well. Be that as it may, Hasbro's done a smart thing here by making two different Megatron bodies: this one has a head designed to resemble the movie version of Megatron's helmet, while the Leader class Megatron cuts a figure very reminiscent of G1 Megatron. This toy isn't a precise match for the animation model- the face is a bit bigger relative to the rest of the helmet and the helmet's design is a bit different in and of itself. Below the neck, both toys and animation models have more than a passing resemblence to the first Megatron as well, with his color scheme and arm-mounted Fusion Cannon. But then you get down to Vehicle Mode, and the movie influence on this figure is unmistakable: Megatron is an exotic ship of some sort, definitely not of Terran origin.

...in fact, where the heck is the front end on this thing?

Vehicle Mode

Cybertronian vehicle designs are tricky, and they don't always work out. For example, in the original Transformers pilot episode "More than Meets the Eye," the G1 Transformers generally still look like futuristic vehicles complete with driver's compartments. ...why? There's nobody there to drive them. Wheeljack has a retractable shield specificially designed to shield his nonexistent passengers! Since nobody on Cybertron even remembers that the (G1-cartoon) Transformers were originally built by someone else, why do they create new Transformers with passenger space?

Here, we don't have that problem at all. Megatron is definitely not carrying anybody for any reason. His vehicle mode is seemingly designed to get him to who or whatever he wants to kill in a hurry- in fact, his Fusion Cannon is pointing backwards in this mode, assuming the silver bit on the back end of the cannon is intended to be the "nose," as the official photos suggest. I think that makes perfect sense: anything putting out as much power as the Fusion Cannon is assumed to do is going to provide plenty of propulsion. The design is absolutely unique- there's nothing I know of that looks remotely like it.

The three tiny wheels holding up the "Fusion Fighter" don't roll all that well, but they do hold the machine level, which is a trick in and of itself. The front wheels sometimes don't line up exactly correctly, with the tab that holds the forearms together being a wee bit slippery. The vehicle looks good from most angles, though seen from head-on it starts to look more like a pile of reconfigured robot parts. (Though the Decepticon emblem being clearly visible on the underside is a plus!)

Robot Mode

Before we go any further, let's review a fundamental part of real-world Transformers toy technology: the ratchet. No, not him, but what he's named after. while technically not a ratchet in the full technical sense because they allow motion in both directions, Transformers often rely on the braking mechanism in these geared joints to provide strong, stable articulation for a toy, particularly if it's a large or heavy one.

What does this have to do with Megatron? Everything. The only points at which Megs' joints don't have this ratcheting action are the neck, waist, and wrists. He has fourteen ratcheting joints in all. (Amusingly, Ratchet himself has only two geared joints, in his shoulders, and neither of them has that clicky function usually associated with ratchet-joints on TFs.) What this means is that Megatron actually stands a chance of standing under the tremendous weight of his Fusion Cannon. Leverage will still work against you in most poses- the Cannon is huge, almost as tall as Megatron, and accounts for 1/4-to-1/3 of the toy's full weight. (Trust me: I weighed it.) But without these joints, it would be absolutely impossible for the toy to stand at all, and it can stand.

Not surprisingly, Megatron's arms are the best-articulated part of the figure with double(ratchet)-joints at the shoulder and  elbow. And they do hold the weight of the Cannon successfully- it will not pull the arm down, just the whole figure. The shoulders activate the figure's Automorph feature, which opens the torso like a clamshell and folds Megatron's head back for Vehicle Mode, which is neat. Unfortunately it often results in his head trying to vanish as you readjust his shoulders. The head and waist are both simple swivels that hold position neatly. (I particularly like how flush the abdominal panel that hides the landing gear sits with the rest of the stomach section- transforming the upper body pushes it out so you can flip it open.) His thighs are really short due to the necessities of transformation- they're much shorter than the character model suggests. Unfortunately this also conspires with the Cannon to limit the range of poses you have available. Since the feet are on slightly angled tracks for the transformation, though, you can get a few decent poses here and there. Still, so tippy.

-Cannon

Since the Fusion Cannon is a part of his body, I'm going to review it here instead of as an accessory. Like I said, it's big and heavy, and it dominates the toy just as it has dominated the Robot Mode review so far. It's mounted on a swiveling arm that attaches to Megatron's forearm. Two problems here: first, the Cannon is attached by a single notched peg, the kind we particularly saw lots of in Transformers Energon. It's no larger than the standard 5mm pegs Transformers often use for weapons and the like, and it's holding 1/4-1/3 of the figure's weight onto the arm. This is bad, and it's already getting weaker- the cannon fell off several times during the photo session. Second, the swivel was altered for production due to problems during drop tests, and you can't actually get the Cannon above Megs' arm. You can either swing it out to the side, where it looks pretty dumb and awkward, or leave it underneath, where it looks and balances somewhat decently. I opted for the latter since it looks better, and it's not particularly a stretch, since First-Gen Megatron's cannon was also sometimes depicted as being on the underside of his arm.

As a cannon, it's not much to speak of- it barely launches the included missile three feet. I understand that there are safety concerns, but it's the biggest missile-firing cannon I've probably ever seen, and Iron Man's tiny little apocryphal arm-cannon does a much better job of launching a missile! Fortunately, the Cannon has a secondary function: instead of including Megatron's sword, which they left for the Leader-class Earth Megatron, the back of the Cannon mounts two halves of a massive red Energon blade. (Or is it? See the Paint and Deco section.) By lifting the silver part of the cannon and swinging the outside blade under the cannon, the inner blade flips out so that the entire underside of the cannon is now bladed. Not quite a bayonet, but assuming he could swing it, it could do some serious damage. It's a neat bonus function, though I can't help but think it's only adding to the troublesome weight of an already weighty problem.

Paint and Deco

There's actually not a lot of paint on him- just the silver parts, the black trim on the helmet, torso and forearms, and his gold Decepticon logo- but it's all fairly clean. The trim on the arms is a little troublesome, because you'd think it'd extend inside of his "cuffs," but it doesn't. Also, there's a pair of ridges on the shoulders that were designed to have that same black paint- just as the animation model does- but they don't, either. We're also missing the red ring around the Fusion Cannon barrel, but that's not surprising either since there's not a speck of red paint anywhere.

The last odd deco choice on Megatron is his preponderance of clear plastic. See, traditionally Transformers tend to use clear plastic for two purposes: "glass" surfaces like windshields and optic sensors, and "energy" weapons like Axes, swords, and missile blasts. While it's not a hard and fast rule, and there have been exceptions before, the only Transformer with this much clear body work, Energon Starscream, was supposed to be not entirely corporeal- a riff on the Starscream's Ghost plot from the G1 cartoon. So is the strongest Decepticon in the Animated world made partially of energy, glass or crystal, or something else? In the long run it doesn't matter, because Hasbro just did it to look cool- the red parts on the Animated model are all opaque, so it's kind of moot. But I do kind of wish Hasbro would use opaque plastics to better match the animated appearance.

Accessories

It's a missile! It's clear red and doesn't fire very far. Not much else to say.

Closing Remarks

Megatrons always feel better to me when there's a big arm cannon. Pity it's hard to do one of those without creating problems of weight and balance. It's so central to the toy that the problems it has or creates make it hard to form an accurate rating for the overall toy. For Vehicle Mode where the cannon is integrated without problem it's great. In absence of the cannon Megatron's Robot Mode is pretty good. With the Cannon attached? Not so great. But not awful, and certainly not as awful as it could've been.

With all that in mind, Megatron's Cybertron Form gets an a low-end Good.

-RAC, 7/12/2008