Toy Review - MEGATRON (Transmetal II)

[GoktimusPrime]

Transmetal II MEGATRON
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 3
Released here - ???
Approximate Retail Price - $89
Approximate Size - 20.5cm
Allegiance - Predacon
Sub-Group - Transmetal II
Alt-mode - dragon
Main Features/Gimmicks - bloosh compatible
Main Colours - Red with gold, purple and orange accents
Main Accessories - bloosh

[GoktimusPrime]

Thoughts

+ For the most part, this toy has a surprisingly high level of cartoon-likeness. The Bomber-Man like body style of the original toy has been replaced with a far more athletically humanoid looking body with the Eye of Sauron embedded in his abdomen. Legacy Megatron does feature a darker shade of red, more like the cartoon, although it does have more prominent purple accents, which I think looks good as it helps to break up the monotony of red. The cartoon model does have some purple around the Belly Eye of Sauron, but no where near as much as the Legacy figure.


+ The rubbery neck and tail features/gimmick has been replaced with articulated plastic, which I think is so much better. It allows Megatron to hold poses and also doesn't make those parts prone to deformity if the rubber becomes bent/warped. The neck on my TM2 Megatron curves to the left, which is why you can see the switch is turned right to make the neck straight!

+ One of the biggest improvements is the lack of an exposed robot head in beast mode. That was always a silly thing on the original toy; as in Energon Ironhide level of daftness. It wasn't even one of those "it was good for its time" things, this was terrible even by 1999 standards! Especially when you consider that all of the preceding BW Megatron toys concealed the robot heads in beast mode. Basic croc, Ultra T-Rex, Mega Transmetal... all had concealed heads. It's obviously a compromise made to accommodate that big pilot compartment globe gimmick... a gimmick that was abandoned, so ultimately it was a compromise for nothing. This is arguably even worse than Energon Ironhide, as at least that toy did have an electronic sound gimmick (which prevented the head from being properly concealed).

+ The silver face is a notable departure from both the original toy and cartoon model. The toy's face is the same blackish-brown as the rest of the head, while the cartoon uses a gunmetal grey; slightly lighter than the helmet, but certainly not silver like Legacy. I also think that this is an improvement as it helps the face to contrast from the helmet and not just blend in. This is why I prefer yellow eyes on Optimus Prime and why I swapped the eyes on my Earthrise and Shattered Glass Ultra Magni... I prefer toys with features that popped rather than blending in too much and getting lost.

+ That grin... not a fan of it, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I don't hate it but I don't love it either. Would still much prefer a neutral facial expression, but this is a well sculpted grin.

+ I have yet to find any Predacon insignia on this toy (the original has a Predacon logo sculpted on the visor).

Overall a pretty neat toy that's nicer than I thought it would be. Recommended.

[Lint]

Picked this guy up recently as he's down to a tempting enough price at Amazon. He's very gorgeous and very impressive. First time in a long time that I've felt like I've bought a Leader class offering.

Gok's photo's, while great, don't really give a sense of scale to the guy as he's stacked up against his old school Ultra class chunk-a-saurus. This leader class offering towers over contemporary CHUG figures. He is also incredibly articulated in both modes. S-tier for a Hasbro offering. I also have to highlight how beautiful this offering is. The colours and sculpting are a work of art. This guy looks and feels IMPRESSIVE. Nothing looks cheap or unfinished.

In terms of things I didn't like: He comes with only one 5mm port in the dragon mouth. Would have appreciated if the other claw hand could actually do something or if there were more ports to stick weapons or blast effects onto. Transformation is incredibly basic by design. I can see the split pelvis wearing out over time as the split pelvises do, though I acknowledge this is one of the best I've seen.

PROS

• This guy is a work of art
• This guy is a work of art
• This guy is a work of art
• He big and super articulated

CONS

• Transformation... basic
• Play value limited to giant dragon, of which it is awesome at, however wish there was more.