Moving away from giant men, we look at a giant robot…
Note that I haven’t watched the show. So please, don’t spoil me in the comments section. Thanks!
From what I have seen, there are some differences in the packaging between the TakaraTomy version and the Hasbro imported ones. The Hasbro imports have a opening above the MechTech Blaster trigger, where you can play with the weapon and press down the trigger to see how the mechanism works. The TakaraTomy doesn’t have that opening, which I’m greatly thankful for. Can you imagine getting a piece that has been touched by a million kids, and having a weak/faulty spring? No thank you.
Besides the differences in the box itself, it seems that the TakaraTomy version comes with a “Megatron” card. Seems that there’s a card game for Transformers in Japan. Also, the instructions are in Japanese if you get the TakaraTomy one.
Megatron’s vehicle mode is a Mack Truck. I have no idea why he decided to use a Mack Truck for his vehicle mode this time around. In the first movie we had a plane, the second we have him triple changing between robot, tank and plane modes… And this time around we get a truck. Seriously? (Again, don’t spoil me as to why he chose a truck form. I’m sure they mentioned that in the movie… I hope?)
For one, I have no idea why the left windscreen pops out more than the right. It’s not just on my copy. Also, if you look at the black portion at the front of the vehicle where the “MACK” logo is, you’d notice that the right side has a gloss finish while the left side has a matte finish. What the hell? Is that on purpose or is it my copy only? If it’s only on mine, then that’s really bad QC. I thought the Japanese have better QC standards than the Americans. (No offence, but it’s quite a hard point to debunk when it comes to toys and figures. The Japanese are good at making toys, good ones at that.)
I also like the details on the figure. It’s neat to see how the details all stand out rather nicely. Also, I like the weathering effect on the figure. Is that also present on the Hasbro imported versions? Anyone who has the Hasbro version, can you shed some light on this?
From what I understand, Megatron wears a cowl in the latest movie because his face got blasted in Transformers 2. The cowl’s pretty cool. It’s two separate pieces, one on the head and the other covering the arm. They are connected by a ball joint and a hole, giving the piece that covers the arm some form of articulation.
Yeah, the arm piece of the cowl can cover the back of Megatron’s truck mode. The head piece doesn’t seem to go anywhere though, so you’d have a loose piece if Megatron’s in vehicle mode.
I AM MEGATRON!!
Megatron’s scarred face from the last movie. There’s really nice light piping here. (I think you’ll see it in certain shots later… I think. ><)
The figure is actually, surprisingly small. I realised I forgot to take a comparison shot, but when compared to the Voyager Class Banzaitron that I reviewed earlier, Megatron is about half a head shorter.
The fingers are sculpted in one manner and not articulate, which makes it look quite menacing and sinister.
Pressing the button at the back will make the fusion cannon/blaster/whatever it’s called extend outwards like a claw. There’s a way to lock the cannon in this position. You have to twist the switch at the back to the right and it’ll lock in position. It’s easier to lock the cannon when it’s off the figure.
====================
I’m not really a fan of Transformers, if you can’t tell from my small collection of Transformers figures. I only buy those figures that I find interesting or cool, basically stuff that interests me. Megatron interested me this time around, in part due to the cowl/cape. I found that part of him real cool for some reason, and hence I bought it. Kinda lame reason eh?
For a Voyager Class figure, I think Megatron’s pretty small. That said, I only have a HftD Banzaitron to compare with, so don’t take my word for it. The odd half gloss/half matte black portion at the front of Megatron’s vehicle mode is just odd to me; I really get the feeling it’s a QC fault and I’m feeling crapped up for getting such a ‘bad’ product. Also, while the cowl works in theory, it doesn’t work practically. The arm piece hinders the arm articulation, while the head cowl piece just doesn’t seem to sit well where it’s supposed to. =/
Regardless of the bad points (which really are minor quibbles), I have to say the paint job on the figure was not too bad. There are bits of chrome paint here and there, which I really dig. The weathering effect on the figure’s pretty neat as well.
That said, I once again remind you not to spoil me for the movie. I’d very much like to know what happened in the show for myself. Till the next review!
Too bad Megatron and Starscream got killed off, and turns out Sentinel Prime was a traitor.
Good job spoiling me. What part of ‘no spoilers’ do you not get?
Yeah, Sentinel’s truce with Megatron kind of spoiled the movie for me too
And Soundwave sure got killed off pretty easily
they crazy to copy the story frm g1 too
bringing cybertron to earth
copy ultimate doom
Dude, stop spoiling the movie, or else I’d ban you.
This is probably the first time since 199X that Megatron received an earthly altmode (a disgusting green and purple tank). Well if you ask me, he got that truck altmode to go on equal grounds with Optimus Prime who is also a truck (I won’t spoil the movie for anyone too fucking curious to do so).
Gundam Exia wants his cloak back.
Thanks for not spoiling. I mean, I wanna know what happens for myself, and not have someone tell me what happened.
I saw some pics of people photoshopping Megatron’s face onto Exia R1 and Eva 03′s face. Hilarious stuff.
Ironically, Megatron has the cape while Optimus Prime has all the switchblades.
Any links?
Lol. Speaking of Prime, I don’t know if I should get the Revoltech Optimus Prime that’s coming out later…
Just get it, I myself will get it in the near future. But I’m still deciding wether to buy Iron Man or Batman Revoltechs since both are awesome.
A little spoiler regarding the cowl, it’s screentime is only 3 seconds, in any of his other appearances shows him with only the cloak. About the “I won’t spoil” part, well as long as it’s unrelated to the movie’s plot like the characters’ cosmetic appearances (E.G: Bumblebee’s redesigned abs or Sideswipe’s new convertible altmode), it’s fine right?
Yeah, I don’t mind stuff like that. What I mind is the plot. I mean, what’s the point of watching a show if you know what’s gonna happen beforehand?
It ur fault 4 nt watching sooner
too bad so sad
Sadly, I don’t have the luxury of time.
so sad 4 u
You’re forgetting the H-tank mode Armada Megatron had.
I didn’t consider that an ‘earthly’ altmode, it’s more Cybertron-esque (at least, by Armada standards) than other UT vehicles.
Guess Bayverse Megatron’s life went downhill after getting his face ripped by Bayverse Prime. Primus, I just love the utter lack of characterisation and development in the Bayverse characters. Even G1 Shockwave had more depth than any of them, and that’s considering Shockie had no effing emotions.
Heck, they should’ve just painted DotM Megs black/red and called it Scourge instead.
Actually, you can display it in vehicle with both the cloak and cowl, the ball joint in which the cowl is attached allows it to swing underneath the cloak (when it’s upside-down).
And the theme of the Dark of the Moon toys is to pack a modern engineering in a small package, so comparing the small DOTM Megatron with his larger predecessors are outright rude.
Sorry, my bad, you don’t need to turn his cowl upside down for vehicle mode storage, you just have to swivel it so that it lays right under the cloak.
You can also slide the bumper through the hole of the cloak, then hinge it back to the shoulder to lock it in place.
And what’s your opinion on this toy in terms of engineering, transformation, articulation, robot mode aesthetics, etc?
Oh okay, I didn’t know that about the DOTM toys. I have to admit that for a toy of that size, the engineering is pretty amazing. (But then again, from my limited and very small Transformers collection, I’m not much of a judge…)
I like the transformation in so much so that it doesn’t feel like anything’s gonna break while I’m transforming it. As for the articulation, I think Megatron has all that he needs. There’s one thing weird about the legs though. Somehow, it seems that the portion where the wheels are on the leg/feet area doesn’t seem to click in place anywhere, at least I can’t find such a place. But I think I can overlook it, since certain wide legged poses require more support and the ‘wheel flaps’ can act as mini support stands.
I dig the robot aesthetics. That’s why I bought the figure in the first place after seeing photos of its robot mode. I know the cowl thing can be hinged onto his shoulder, but it hinders the arm articulation in certain poses. Hence I tend not to slot it in place. One thing that I don’t really like, after watching the movie, is the lack of certain details. You know how Megatron had chains over his chest in the movie? I would have loved to see some of that sculpted in. Also, the ‘fusion cannon’ weapon. Megatron was using a shotgun in the movie. IMHO, shotguns own big unwieldy cannons. It would have been cool if the ‘fusion cannon’ was replaced by a shotgun really. =/
-”I know the cowl thing can be hinged onto his shoulder, but it hinders the arm articulation in certain poses.”
The cowl-inside-cloak thing is for vehicle mode storage to make sure that you didn’t lose a piece of accessory at all.
-”You know how Megatron had chains over his chest in the movie? I would have loved to see some of that sculpted in.”
The apparent reason why Hasbro ommited those details is due to numerous cost-cutting issues.
-”Also, the ‘fusion cannon’ weapon. Megatron was using a shotgun in the movie.”
The Fusion Cannon is a trademark weapon of Megatron already, with it’s history spanning for 27 years up until now (he used it in different forms in the last two movies), so many fans called it an iconic weapon. Another reason why the shotgun didn’t came in toy form is that it’s too small, kids these days like things that are big and unwieldy and Hasbro thought it would be a great opportunity to just omit the shotgun for something bigger (but I do like the way how the Fusion Cannon integrates to the trailer of the truck mode). Another thing is that a thematic gimmick for the DOTM toys is big, unwieldy cannons called the MechTech Weapons System (to sell toys), each unique to a specific toy with a unique, yet addictive spring transformation (I’d say get the Deluxe Bumblebee for an example).
Yeah, from a practical point, the chains on Megatron wouldn’t be worth the money sculpting from a monetary viewpoint. Other than better aesthetics, it doesn’t do anything else.
I get the fusion cannon throwback. And I get the small kids loving big weapons, as well as the new ‘MechTech Weapons’ concept. They even blatantly printed ‘Weapons work with any MechTech Transformers figure! (Each sold separately.)’ and ‘Create new weapons with MechTech combinations!’ on the side of the figures. But I’m one who prefers stuff to be show accurate. It would have been cool to have a shotgun as well. I’m a little tempted to mould my own shotgun, but I hardly have the time these days.