General Information: Images:
*Images and text below from Hasbrotoyshop.com: Recreate exciting movie scenes or stage your own living room battles with this awesome DECEPTICON leader! MECH ALIVE gearing helps bring this havoc-wreaking villain to life with a twist of the waist! Unleash an extending energy sword and “fusion blast” in robot mode. Or convert to vehicle mode for a Cybertronian tank that’s ready to flatten the AUTOBOT competition! The battle is on!
Vehicle Mode: In terms of accuracy to the CGI model, I'd have to say that at best this is an approximation of the vehicle as seen in the movie. The tank as portrayed in the movie has a much more jagged appearance than this figure, and there are extra gun ports on either side of the main cannon that this figure does not have. However, it does retain the general shape, with the curved top portion, the main cannon in the front, Megatron's covered head in the center under the cannon and triangular treads off to the sides. Some smaller details also carry over from the CGI model including the jagged looking cover over Megatron's head, the beveled sections of the tank treads and several small points sticking out at the end of the cannon. He also has large rocket boosters on the back of the tank, four in total (six if you include the huge ports formed from part of the robot legs). These are used prominantly in the movie when Megatron blasts off to go see The Fallen on the Decepticon ship. While Megatron's wings on the sides are constantly deployed in this figure, the CGI model actually has them as retractable so they don't always appear. I don't think that's a bad however, it looks plenty cool the way it is. While he is shown as a very silver color in the movie, this figure is cast in a muted teal color and black plastic. There is some light grey plastic as well, primarily used in joints visible around the area at the base of the cannon. Small pieces of gunmetal colored plastic are used for the small thrusters in the back. Some translucent red plastic is used on the cannon barrel where it forms the trigger as well as the missile inside the launcher. Paint applications are done in silver, gold, gunmetal and red. It sounds like there are a lot of colors, but they're actually used rather sparingly. The silver color is used as accents on the wings in the front, the center behind the cannon and the large thrusters in the back. Gold is used on a V shaped section in the middle on the top of the vehicle. Gunmetal is used on two strips of designs on the either side of the central section of the back. A tiny dab of red paint is found on a raised detail at the base of the cannon. Overall, I like the understated nature of the deco and I like the teal color. That said, I find it interesting that the main color is so different than the silver color of the CGI model. There are definite points here for looking nice, but some are lost in terms of show accuracy. Megatron has four tread sections, each with a tiny wheel on the underside to roll the vehicle mode along. The cannon really isn't on a turret, but it is connected to hinges allowing you move it up and down and side to side. I was really happy to see this functionality. When I first saw it in the packaging I suspected the cannon might not move due to the way it was situated in the figure, I'm super happy to see I was wrong! To fire the missile, press the translucent red trigger. The panels with wings in the front can move, but that's more of a function of the transformation than anything for this mode. Transformation to Robot Mode:
Robot Mode: There are lots of details on this figure that are directly carried over from the CGI model. Among them are:
I would say my biggest "gripe" of sorts with this figure is the large amount of back kibble. He basically wears his wings/tank armor on his back and it would have been cooler if there were more hinges to allow the pieces to fold in more. Of course, the argument against this is that hinges tend to ruin how nice a sculpted piece can look, so given that I can see why the designers went the way they did. Megatron shows the same plastic colors in this form as the vehicle mode, but here you get to see the grey parts better, specifically in his joints such as the elbows, shoulders, neck and hips. You can also see the black on his legs a lot clearer. Silver paint dominates this mode, which is nice to see considering that should be his primary color anyhow. Here you'll find the silver on his head, shoulders, torso, waist and legs. I'm particularly fond of the way the paint is sprayed onto the shoulders and legs. They look almost more like a wear pattern than simple paint details. The head also uses gunmetal and gold. The gold is found on the face, which works well with the silver and translucent red eyes. Black deco is used as well, found on his right arm and on the left leg for a huge Decepticon symbol. Sure the deco isn't accurate to the movie, but it sure looks nice! There are twenty one points of articulation in this form. This includes five on the left arm and seven on each leg. It's quite impressive on that front, and I love how articulated his head is since it's on a ball joint. Megatron features two "Mech Alive" gimmicks in this form and third feature that seems almost like one. If you turn the waist, gears inside his torso turn. The other is based on the right arm. Normally the arm is curled up. Swing it down and his sword/blade extends out. The third is more of a feature of the sculpt and his articulation combined. If you turn his right arm out, you can see the inner sculpt of his upper arms inside through the gaps in the armor. I love the level of articulation on this figure, and you can strike some pretty cool poses in the process. There's definitely a lot of play value here!
Final Thoughts:
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In the first Transformers film, Megatron was seemingly destroyed. However, in "Revenge of the Fallen" he is brought back to life through the use of an Allspark shard and the skills of the Constructicons. His new form resembles his old one, but he has traded in his aerial vehicle form for a flying tank mode.
