Intro:
Welcome back, Cybertronians!!! First of all, I wanna get this out of the way – TRANSFORMERS 3: DARK OF THE MOON IS AWESOMEEEEEEEEE!!! You wanna know just how awesome it is? Just read the reviews here.
Anyways, it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Transformers movie franchise (and the whole darn franchise altogether). However, I do have to admit that the designs of some the robot characters have been quite radical to the extent that it really doesn’t appeal to me. To make it simple, Bayverse Transformers could be any of the three categories of preferences:
1) You absolutely love the figures (in my case, any movie Optimus Prime, DOTM Sentinel Prime, DOTM Shockwave)
2) You don’t like the designs, but grew to like it over time (2007 Brawl, ROTF Soundwave)
3) You don’t like the designs and you just don’t care (2007 Megatron, ROTF Megatron)
As you might have guessed I do not own any versions of Megatron from the previous 2 movies. The robot themselves really didn’t endear to me, and I really hated their alternate modes. I had more than ample chance to get any of them, but I just didn’t and I just don’t care. However, when initial photos were released on the DOTM Megatron, the first thing that crossed my mind was – REDEMPTION!!! This is the redemption that the movie Megatron needs – a good robot mode and a good and definable alternate mode. I knew without a doubt that I will be getting a Megatron figure this time around, and heck, after seeing the actual movie depiction for him; I didn’t need any more convincing. In fact, I went as far as whacking the first Voyager Megatron figure that I saw, and placed an order for the Leader-class Megatron at Teencom, and you guys be sure to catch that review soon – meaning once I get that figure that is…
Anyways, enough with the yapping and let’s get down to the main course.
Alternate Mode:
Unlike the extra-terrestrially-themed alternate modes of all previous Megatron figures, this Megatron figures transforms into a Mack tanker truck. The khaki-colored truck actually looks fantastic and quite believable. The hood piece that would eventually become his hood in robot mode now acts like a rugged rag draped across the back end of the tanker. For a character that supposedly been heavily pummeled straight from ROTF into DOTM, the worn-out colors here and there really made sense.
The ten-wheeler truck moves quite smoothly and there are also two more spare tyres on the tanker itself, although it doesn’t really turn.
In this mode, Megatron too possess the Mech-Tech feature, which shall be further explained in the gimmicks section.
Overall, this is the best alternate mode Megatron has ever had in the entire movie franchise.
Robot Mode:
Finally, after quite some simplistic transformations, you’ll eventually get to see the awesomeness of the robot mode. Once of the things that you’ll noticed is how thick the legs are, as opposed to his rather tiny upper body, but that don’t matter much I guess.
I love the asymmetrical aspects of his head designs (read deformed). The head isn’t really that movie accurate, but it’ll do just fine. The articulations of this figure are fantastic. The head is on a ball joint. The swivels on an inner-shoulder joint, and there are also a horizontal and another vertical rotational joints available, which really do provide a lot of posing options. The elbows bend at two areas, thus giving Megatron a double-jointed elbow action. The wrists articulation consists of only swivel joints. There are Mech-Tech ports, on each arm, so that you can mount the arm weapons anywhere you like.
The waist rotates, and the hips rotate and swivel. Finally, the knees bend. Although they may not be double jointed, but the knees bend at quite an angle.
Another attraction of the figure is the Doctor Doom-ish ragged hood. The first Megatron transforms into his robot mode somewhere in Africa in DOTM, with the winds blowing, for a moment there, I almost felt sorry for Megatron. He’s like a wandering refugee. Anyway, he looks damn awesome, and I am glad that they tried to replicate that in the action figure. The hood, though magnificently designed to look like a rugged rag, it is actually made soft rubber.
Mech-Tech Gimmick:
The Mech-Tech gimmick featured here is the blaster, which can be mounted on either side of the arms. Although the box depicts that the blaster converts into the iconic fusion cannon, I still think it is actually some sort of a clamp. You be the judge of it.
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| Mech-Tech Activated |
In truck mode, the blaster takes the form of half a tanker. The Mech-Tech element still functions in vehicle-mode, although a bit awkward and was not used in the movies. Detach the blaster part of the tanker and insert it onto the Mech-Tech port on top of the cockpit and you will end up with a heavily-armed Mack truck.
Overall:
Megatron is just so cool. He probably won’t ever win the Figure of the Year award, but he is definitely the best Megatron figure in the entire movie trilogy lines.
Highly recommended.
Final verdict: 9/10.
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