Megatron Review Capsule

Megatron is the first handgun toy for Megatron since the 1980s. He has bizarre wings, but the robot itself is largely good. This item makes a better toy than "collectible," and has a "clicking action" you can largely ignore. Recommended.

Introduction

They said it couldn't be done, but here it is-- it's Megatron and he's a gun.

He turns from a gun to robot. He has no firing action features, but the box boasts a "clicking trigger." Which is supremely weak. The toy is a mix of Megatron's and Galvatron's colors from the original animated program, so it's quite different than what you might have expected.

Robot

It's not just Megatron, it's Flight Pack Megatron! He has what seem to be a couple of Mini-Con connectors and an unusual coloring that looks like Megatron and Galvatron all at once. We guess this rules out a Galvatron repaint... but if they give it a new head and/or new "gun halves," we'd be all over that.

This figure brings in elements of numerous older Decepticon leader toys in order to create a new version of the first giant evil robot a lot of kids met on the TV. The coloring is a little like the Action Masters toy in parts, with elements of Galvatron and the original Megatron toy too. A bright "safety orange" cap was introduced to meet toy gun restriction laws. The black eyebrows/Alice Cooper makeup adds some extra character to the toy but doesn't do much to make it seem all that better.

The interesting thing about the arm's fusion cannon is that it's on the underside of the arm. So if the figure is being posed so that his fist is upright, the gun is on the bottom. In the front view of the picture, the "top" of the fist is facing the body and the "knuckles" are facing the camera.

Megatron is nicely articulated at the neck, shoulders, hips, ankles, toes, biceps, elbows, but not the waist. As such, you're going to be able to assume a number of poses but be careful-- he's really back-heavy. As such, you might need to use the "foot joints" involved in transformation to properly balance Megatron so that he doesn't fall over. When the elements of the feet are fully pushed out for transformation, our sample of the figure cannot stand without additional support. So be sure to make use of those extra joints.

Gun Mode

While most of the new line has non-robot modes that try to hide the fact that they are, in reality, robots... Megatron doesn't. You can see bits of the robot through the clear green, and he has a big giant logo on his scope that clearly indicate he's aligned with the forces of evil.

To transform the toy, it's pretty easy-- pop open the gun halves, rotate this, flip that, and you're done. Transforming him back is a little tricky, but going from gun to robot is quite simple. If you need any help wondering what goes where, just consult the handy image above with how things should go. In this respect, Megatron is a lot like a number of toys from the Japanese Beast Wars Neo line, in which you basically had a folded-up robot inside a shell based on an animal such as a penguin, dinosaur, mammoth, or horse.

The gun itself doesn't do much of anything-- which is a little disappointing. The Starscream toy has firing rockets, Astrotrain has rolling wheels and two vehicle modes, Bumblebee has rolling wheels and a tow-friendly jetski, Optimus could roll along, and Rodimus could roll and also has a battle mode. Megatron has a trigger that makes an incredibly weak "click" sound. And yet, this click sound is called out as a selling point on the packaging.

The gun itself seems to be based on the Nerf N-Strike Maverick, as seen below.

If you tack on a scope, the toy seems to be very similar except for the colors. So while he doesn't really resemble a real gun with his colors, it is interesting to note that it's possible another Hasbro toy inspired the basic design of this particular Megatrton.

Additional Features

Megatron has no true action features, but he does have a few parts worthy of a little extra attention.

The big giant arm cannon is as seen here-- it has a big logo on it, an orange cap, and while you can't see it in the picture, you can see a small targeting crosshair inside the scope. It's a nice little extra feature but nothing that will sell someone on the toy.

The figure has two gun halves that have what are essentially Mini-Con posts on them on each side. It's a snug fit, but as you can see in the second image, Deepdive seems right at home on Megatron's wing.

Wave 1

Initially, six toys were released for this line along with a reissue (and redeco) of the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime toy. Here's a look at the ones that go along with Megatron.

From left to right: Classics Starscream, Megatron, Astrotrain, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Rodimus. The image is large enough to be a desktop image if you're so inclined.

Packaging, Tech Specs, & Co-Sells

This toy came packaged in the first wave style TransFormers Classics Voyager packaging with a few twist-ties. Finding the word "Classic" is a bit like a scavenger hunt-- look on the top of the box for the phrase "Classic Voyager."

Co-sells on the box include Starscream, Optimus Prime, Astrotrain, Bumblebee, and Rodimus. Megatron shipped at 2 per case alongside Optimus Prime, and in Wave 2 is slated to be packed at 1 per case along with 2 Optimus Prime and 1 Jetfire.

From the box: MEGATRON is the most feared and powerful leader in the history of CYBERTRON. His might is legendary, and his name is spoken only in whispers. He will stop at nothing in his drive to conquer the universe. So great is his will to power that even his own followers are little more to him than fuel for his war machine, and his enemies are less than the dust he grinds beneath his heel. He is always at the front of any DECEPTICON charge, soaring into the sky and vaporizing enemy positions with his anti-proton pulse cannon. The mere sight of his snarling face is enough to break the spirit of many an AUTOBOT.

Fin

It's a gun! That's what will excite most fans. Once the fan-boy element is removed, what you have here is the first roleplay transforming toy released for Transformers since Laserbeak during Armada, and it's designed for tiny hands. While many have lamented the lack of electronics, fact is there's nowhere for them to go really-- the trigger assembly is so small it seems there wouldn't be anywhere for it to go. It would certainly be nice if the gun could do more than merely click, but at least it does something.

The robot is good, but not great-- it looks a lot like the original character but its giant wings and unusual coloring may be off-putting to some fans, although it seems it would be difficult to come up with a decent robot-to-gun toy any other way in this day and age. The item is certainly very nice and for about $19.99, isn't bad-- after larger toys packed along with more action features and Mini-Cons, it may not seem like a fantastic value. But if you're reading this, odds are you aren't looking to buy a kid a gift and are wondering, as a fan, if this is worth it. So far, we would say it is, but it isn't necessarily worth the price of admission after previous larger, more feature-laden Megatron toys.

If there's one thing I really wish this toy had, it would be a "mini" version of Megatron in gun mode so other toys could use it-- Starscream or Optimus Prime would greatly benefit from a tiny "Mini-Con" sized version of Megatron to "shoot" other toys.

Reviewed and photographed by Adam Pawlus
Sample purchased at Entertainment Earth in September 2006
Reviewed on September 25, 2006.