General Information:
Release Year: October 2007
Retailer: Best Buy
Price: $19.99
Accessories: Missile x 1
Difficulty Level: 3

Images:

• In box (Front)
• In box (Back)
• Vehicle Mode
• Vehicle Mode (Side)
• Vehicle Mode (Back)
• Vehicle Mode (Forward view)
• Vehicle Mode (Wings out to the side)
• Vehicle Mode (Wings swept forward)
• Robot Mode
• Robot Mode (Side)
• Robot Mode (Back)
• Robot Mode (Close up)
• Robot Mode (Upper body)
• Robot Mode (Alternate view)
• Robot Mode (Posed)
• Robot Mode (Alternate pose)
• Robot Mode (Aiming cannon)
• Robot Mode (Wings up)
• Robot Mode (Wings swept forward)
• Robot Mode (Close up of leg detail)

Tech Specs:
Locked in frozen stasis for hundreds of years, the vast and monstrous mind of mighty MEGATRON slept and dreamed of conquest. His conscious memory of that time is fragmented and confused – a stop motion zoetrope of images that filtered into his optic processors during periods of slight warmth. He remembers a vast herd of shaggy creatures nearly as big as himself; a tribe of tiny, primitive organics who worshipped his inert body as a god; the heat and fire of a battle likely fought over the incredible technology encased in his form. Now, for the first time however, he feels his entire body coming alive again as warmth and a complete sensorium return. MEGATRON rises again to functionality. He rises again to revenge.

The Transformers Movie "Premium" line is described by Hasbro as "This collection of the best characters across Movie Deluxe, Voyager and Leader classes features premium deco treatments and finishes to create the ultimate movie figures." Megatron is one of the first two of these figures along with Ratchet, released on October 16, 2007 to coincide with the release of the Transformers Movie on DVD. This figure is a redeco of the Voyager Class Megatron figure, but since I got my hands on this one first I will give this one a full review.

Packaging:
The packaging used for the Premium figures are very different from the packaging used in the mainline. It bears more resemblance to the "Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary" figure released in 2006 with a plastic shell inserted into a cardboard base. The figure is set in robot mode inside, allowing you to get a fantastic look at the toy from different angles. The stock photography in the back shows the mass release Voyager Megatron rather than this specific one. On the bttom of the packaging are two cosells, Thundercracker and Rescue Ratchet. I really love this packaging. It offers up a fantastic view of the toy and displays very nicely.

Robot Mode:
One of the major plot points of the movie involved Megatron being frozen inside Hoover Dam. This figure represents Megatron as the ice begins to break off of him and he returns to full functional status at the climax of the movie. Unlike the large scale Leader Class figure, this one has several chunks of sculpted ice all over his body. The parts with "ice" patches are his shoulders, chest, lower legs and wings. Each of these overlaps other sections of the body and are sculpted with sharp angles and lots of small lines and cracks, giving them the look of real ice. The Leader Class figure already proved Hasbro could produce a fairly accurate representation of the CGI model in the movie. However, liberties had to be taken to make an effective figure. The same had to be done here, but in different ways.

In some ways, this Megatron sculpt is closer to the movie model than the Leader Class. This is partly due to the figure not having some of the more extraneous pieces found on the Leader Class figure. For instance, on the Leader Class figure, there are some translucent blade like pieces behind the head that don't appear in the movie but those are not on this figure. Each arm on the Leader Class figure had a part of his cannon attached to it whereas this one just has a cannon (the nosecone in vehicle mode) mounted on his left arm (being somewhat reminscent of G1 Megatron's cannon, though that was on the other arm). In other ways, this sculpt is much like a smaller version of the Leader Class figure. His general shape is the same, with the angled shaped face (which looks a lot like a heavily stylized Decepticon symbol here), the complicated layers of armor over mechanical pieces, claw like hands and clawed feet. His wings are also mounted on his back, but they are a bit more obtrusive here than on the Leader Class figure. The ends of the wings fold out, making them look really wide. While it's not terribly movie accurate, it does look rather cool and gives him an almost "Seeker-like" apearance.

Megatron is primarily cast in grey and metallic silver plastic. The ice sections are cast in a pearl colored translucent plastic, minus the blue coloring used in the mass release version of this figure. His hands are cast in brown plastic. Color details are done up in black and gold, and that is really where this figure shines. The silver color is just the right tone and has the right shine to look like the dark metallic color of the CGI model. Black is used in the joints and mechanical parts underneath his various panels. The gold color is used sparingly, mostly for smaller details such as small sections on his chest, waist and legs. My favorite part of the paint job on this figure are found on the arms and legs. On the back of the lower legs you'll find a ton of sculpted details that get accentuated with black washes. His arms have angular details that are painted with black. A copious amount of black is used on the face, but his eyes are painted red. The end result is a really evil looking face that looks awesome.

Megatron has twenty two points of articulation, most of which beat out the Leader Class figure thanks to having head and waist articulation. The cannon on his left arm has a missile inside. Press the piece covering the missile and it fires. I have to say that this is one of the more impressive firing mechanisms I've seen on Transformers in a while. I kept expecting to find a standard trigger with a tab or a missile end to push for a marble type launcher. This was a really pleasant surprise. I look forward to seeing more "integrated" firing systems down the line.

Aside from his cannon, Megatron has one more action feature in this mode. Swing the wings on his back up, then swing the "ice" edges of his wings forward. Now pull the tab on the very back and the wings will swing forward in a cutting type motion. The ends are made of soft plastic, so there's no fear of hurting yourself on them, but the sculpting makes them look sharp. His other feature involve his feet, which have springs that cause them to "grip" automatically. This does not interfere with him standing, but pick him up and his claws come together, reminscent of what he did to Jazz in the film.

Transformation to vehicle mode:

1. Swing the wings up on the back.
2. Swing the chest section back.
3. The robot legs attach to the wing sections by the pegs on the back of the ankles.
4. Use the tabs on the forearms to pull the hands partially into the arm.
5. Swing the arms inward and connect them together with the cannon/nosecone in the center.
6. Swing down the ends of the wings.

Vehicle Mode:
Megatron's vehicle mode looks very much like a condensed version of the Leader Class figure. The irony here is that while his wings are a bit too big in the robot mode, here the width is actually a bit less than one would expect. What I do like is how the design sweeps the legs back, making them part of the main vehicle structure instead of bulky sections stuck on the wings. There are also lots of intricate details such as hoverfans in the center, layers of line detail and cross hatch details on the edges of the central trunk. Interestingly enough, the main sections of the wings are entirely "ice" pieces, meaning they are not ice sculpted pieces on top of regular wings, but just ice pieces. It's a bit odd since it sort of implies that his wings actually turned to ice, but the way I look at it it's more like the ice is totally covering both sides of his wings.

The amazing deco job for the robot mode carries over to a lot of the jet parts. The central section that the wings are attached to looks awesome. It's mostly silver with black wash that brings out amazing detail. The aforementioned fans are painted gold.

Both action features from the robot mode also work in this form. His missile fires and you can sweep the wings forward. If you want, you can even lock the wings in position by pressing the section behind the robot head down.

Final Thoughts:
While this Voyager sized figure may be smaller than the Leader Class, it is no less impressive. He looks amazing thanks to an awesome sculpt and wonderfully executed paint job. Expect to pay at least $40-50 for this guy thanks to his exclusive nature. If you are just interested in the sculpt, you may want to opt for the mass release Voyager Class version. Highly recommended!