Toy Review - Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron (2.0)

[doublespy]

Great pics and review mate! In short, MP-36 is unbelievable. There's so many innovative steps to the transformation, you can tell the designer really put everything into it.
I can definitely echo the difficulty pulling the legs down. Way too tight, scary even. Took me around an hour with instructions to reach gun mode the first time since I was trying to be careful.

Thanks. I think the issue was more of getting a proper grip to pull them apart. I just found out it's so much easier to apply force if you put your thumb underneath (between the legs) and use your other fingers to pull. If it's still too tight, loosen the screw a little bit. Now it's much better on mine.

7 people have voted on this poll already - 6 voting that it's worth getting, 1 voting Only if something else that hasn't been specified (?). So this must mean that there are at least 6 people who've already received MP36! That's fast! ...clearly none of them from a certain online store

I pre-ordered with that certain online shop too, as a back-up I paid around the same pre-order price for this one I have in hand from a Japanese online retailer. Ended up paying about $35 for DHL shipping after using all my store points. So for the extra $35 I get it in 3 days instead of half a year, pretty good deal if you ask me.


Okay, the paint chipping. After handling Megs for 2 days now, I can say the paint is indeed relatively easy to chip off; I think it's partly because of the speckled silver paint used(which looks fantastic in person btw). But if you're careful when transforming him, the only hard to avoid spots are the panel edges or structural support where parts fit together, and they are mostly not visible in either mode. What I suggest is take your time when transforming for the first couple of times, and do it on a large flat surface so you can prop the figure and use both of your hands to handle the moving parts.

As for transformation, again, take your time the first time around. Also check out wotafa's video review with a very clear step-by-step transformation tutorial.

[GoktimusPrime]

Would any members here be able to post side-by-side comparison pics w/ G1 and MP5 Megs? I know that people have posted links to pics from other sites, but it's always good to see comparison pics taken by local fans. Please.

[doublespy]

The more I transform this guy, the more I enjoy it, and the more appreciation I have for the engineering. And the end result is so rewarding.

Would any members here be able to post side-by-side comparison pics w/ G1 and MP5 Megs? I know that people have posted links to pics from other sites, but it's always good to see comparison pics taken by local fans. Please.

Wish I could help you out but my G1 Megs is stored away and I never owned MP-5.

[GoktimusPrime]

I must admit that I didn't fully appreciate just how much better this toy is over MP5 until a few hours ago when I sat down and transformed both toys to take comparison pics. MP5 is a toy that I very rarely transform and I was reminded why... it is just frustratingly counter-intuitive and just not at all fun. And while MP5 may have a few advantages over MP36, such as...
* MP5 is much better at concealing all robot kibble whereas some robot kibble (particularly the back of Megatron's head) is visible from the underside of the chamber (in front of the trigger)
* MP5 has a nicer looking silver vs MP36's grey, and MP5s paints are also far more resilient and not as prone to scratches as MP36
* Far fewer seams on MP5's pistol mode
* MP5 includes cool real-life features such as the lanyard hook on the left-base of the grip
* Size aside, MP5 is of realistic proportions to an actual Walther P38.

But overall MP36's pros far outweighs any comparative cons with MP5. Some areas where MP36 outshines MP5 include:
+ A toy that I can transform in under 80 min (it "only" took me 50 min this time!) - and I can do it without resorting to cheating by removing and replacing panels on ball-and-socket joints.
+ I can transform MP36 in front of children and polite company as it doesn't make me want to keep swearing at it as with MP5.
+ Despite appearances, MP36 actually has a more solid gun mode. MP5 may look more solid with fewer seam lines, but it's essentially trying to hold back in all it's bulky robot kibble. The result is that parts of MP5's gun mode feels like they're going to burst and become undone. And one widely reported consequence of all this pressure is that the ball-socket jointed panels are prone to coming off, and some of the little tabs that serve to hold panels into place may be prone to breakage.
+ MP5 is essentially using a G1-accurate transformation which it has arguably translated into an MP toy. Unfortunately this doesn't work well with the toy and indeed when we look at most other MPs, even ones with slavishly G1 accurate modes have entirely new transformation. MP36 uses a whole new transformation scheme which gives us more G1-accurate looking modes.
+ Both MP5 and MP36 have tried to give us G1-accurate bulky robot modes that transform into relatively thin/smaller gun modes, but MP38 does it a whole lot better than MP5.

MP36 is just a hands down better toy than MP5. It's just a shame that the paints that they've used on this toy are prone to scratching, and not just the barrel tip - pretty much the whole toy is covered with this less than ideal quality paint. Otherwise it's a brilliant toy. It's not an easy toy - still incredibly difficult, but fun and mostly intuitive.

Would any members here be able to post side-by-side comparison pics w/ G1 and MP5 Megs? I know that people have posted links to pics from other sites, but it's always good to see comparison pics taken by local fans. Please.

Here you go.

Standing robot mode comparison


Comparing MP5 and MP36 attempting to strike the same pose


Comparing MP5 and MP36's balance by making both toys strike a mid-kick pose


Comparison w/ G1

[GoktimusPrime]

Pics showcasing Megatron's various accessories...


*boop boop* (sound of Megatron unlocking the Nemesis )


"Welcome, Professor."


A disgraceful moment for Megatron as he has lost face.


"Because everything I touch is food for my hunger..."


"...my hunger for power!"
btw this line closely reflects what may have been an earlier version of Megatron's motto (before it became "Peace through tyranny) which may have been "Everything is fodder." This was still Megatron's motto in the G1 Marvel Comics (and we know that the G1 tech specs were written by Marvel & the G1 cartoon was created by Marvel/Sunbow Productions)


Totally not a light sabre.


「ついに貴様も終わりだ、これでな…！」/ "It's over, Prime."

I haven't tried out the gun stock/stand yet.

[GoktimusPrime]

More action pics showcasing the extension accessories can be seen here.

[Magnus]

With regard to the paint, is the issue the paint quality/paint not adhering to the plastic surfaces well, or parts rubbing up against each other and paint coming off in the process? It seems like the latter from what I'm reading and seeing in videos.

[GoktimusPrime]

Rubbing up against other parts or even against your skin at times. For such an expensive toy I would absolutely expect better quality paint. MP5's paint has no such problem, and that toy is 10 years older. Although admittedly MP5 does suffer from rust on its die-cast metal parts. MP36 has some die-cast metal parts too, but they're painted over (e.g. feet, base of stock-stand etc.), so hopefully the paint will help protect those metal parts from rust.

I haven't put batteries into mine, but it sounds like the same voice chip that they used for reissue Galvatron.
MP36 & reissue Galvatron sound chip comparison video
As you can see (hear) the voices are exactly the same. :/ Although Katō Seizō (the Japanese voice actor for G1 Megatron/Galvatron) passed away 3 years ago so while he was able to record voices for Galvatron he was unable to do so for MP36. Perhaps they reused the same voice chip as a tribute to Katō. They could use a sound-alike but I'm sure that Japanese G1 cartoon fans would appreciate them using Katō's original voice.

For such an expensive toy I would expect them to at least use decent quality paint that didn't rub off so easily. It reminds me of the crappy paint that they used on MP9's spoiler (yet Hasbro's version has much better paint quality on its spoiler). For this reason I voted, "Only if cheap." At least MP9's spoiler only covers one small part of the toy and only scratches when you slide it in and out of his trailer -- Megatron's main body paint which covers the majority of the toy is prone to rubbing off. And being metallic, there have been a few times where after handling this toy my finger tips have been sparkly.