From Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers

Dave's Transformers Studio Series Rant: Leader wave 19

Megatron (Tank, TFtM)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Studio/L86Leader

Doing an '86 series Megatron presents an interesting challenge, because there is zero chance they can get away with a pistol altmode these days, even in a collector line. And yet, the whole point of Studio Series was to be as accurate as possible to the source materials. Turning into a cannon is fine, as demonstrated by Galvatron or Hearts of Steel Megatron...just not a
handgun. Meanwhile, for the last few decades, cartoon Megatron has been most closely associated with a tank altmode. So, this toy splits the difference
and has a robot who looks as much as possible like the TFtM animation model, complete with fake gun deco bits, but who turns into a tank.
Ah, but he also comes with a gun-mode accessory, so he can fire himself, because action figure scaled pistols are also perfectly okay. Just no pistol that's close to realistic size and color and shape.

The wavemate is a package refresh of '86 Grimlock and Wheelie in
original colors, so there's the possibility of finding both regular and G2 Grimlock in 2025 packaging on the shelves next to each other. Needless to
say, I shan't be getting that one.


CAPSULE

$55 price point.

Megatron: They did a very good job of making a robot mode that's pretty close to screen-accurate for 1986 Megatron while turning into a credible tank without making me at any point want to hurl it against a wall. There's some minor hassles with tolerances as usually happens, but generally a good design with some good accessories. Recommended.


RANT

Packaging: The 2025 Leader packaging follows the same design cues as Deluxe and Voyager boxes, with the return of clear window plastic, and a general merging of the Generations and Studio Series designs, distinguished only by a blue band around the bottom saying Studio Series instead of a tan band saying Age of the Primes. Megatron looks a little small in this 10" (25.5cm) tall, 9" (23cm) wide, and 4" (10cm) deep box, but the same size has
to accomodate stuff like the Grimlock repackage that shipped alongside Megatron. The box is made of corrugated cardboard, and is therefore fairly durable.
The back has a cel image of Megatron from during the Battle of Autobot City, the render of robot mode is shown using his energy sword from that battle, and insets show back storage for the sword and the gun mode, as well
as a blued-out Megatron arm holding the gun. The tank mode render shows both weapons stored on it as well (gun on the right side of the turret, sword on
the left fender).


DECEPTICON: MEGATRON
Assortment: G0484
Altmode: Tank
Transformation Difficulty: 54 steps, because the tank-ness needs to be
fully hidden in robot mode, so we're looking at Masterpiece-style
transformation here.
Previous Name Use: Very
Previous Mold Use: None
Movie: TFtM
Scene: Attack on Autobot City

MEGATRON and the DECEPTICONS prepare to mount a surprise attack on
Autobot City.

The bio blurb suggests this is actually from the shuttle attack, but the sword didn't come out until the fight against Optimus Prime, so since they no longer specify a scene on the package or with the inner tray backdrop, I'm sticking with Attack on Autobot City. Also, the art on the right side of the box shows the tank mode moving through Autobot City.

Packaging: Six ties hold the figure to the inner tray, although my Megatron had managed to work its left arm free already. A rubber band
running around the neck and hip flaps keeps the chest from falling open. One tie and a corner flap of the inner tray hold the main cannon to the left edge of the tray, while the gun, barrel extension, and sword are rolled up in a tissue bundle in the lower right.
The instructions are hefty, as one would expect from there being 54
steps. The figure is transformed correctly in-box, but you might need to
make sure some of the connections haven't come loose, particularly in the chest.

Robot Mode: Aside from the usual "needs more paint apps" and excessive seams issues, this does a pretty good job of looking like the animation
design for Megatron back in 1986. There's the faux pistol hammer bits on the shoulders, the gun barrel on the back, the hip design that can't possibly
move so they cheat by having part of the pelvis move with the hip, and so forth. The backs of the boots have some tread bits visible, but even from behind the robot looks better than most Transformers do from that angle.
Face it, a lot of them are a mess of gaps and altmode kibble when viewed from behind, Megatron just has minor hollowness in the butt, some hinges and tread details. There's a little paint slop in the elbows, and mine has a bit of random red on the upper chest, so if you actually get to buy this from a physical store you might want to check their stock for paint problems. Interestingly, while the figure has the proper asymmetry with all the accessories attached, other than the slot on the back for storing the pistol it's all symmetric on the main robot. You could put the arm cannon on the
left arm and the barrel on the left side of the back and have a Mirror Megatron.
7.5" (19cm) tall to the top of the head, 8" (20cm) to the top of the barrel sticking up in back, in the usual shades of gray with little bits of accent color. A dark metalswirled gunmetal plastic is used for the pelvis
and outer hip shells, the hands, parts of the outer boot shell, and the arm cannon. Hinges in the knee area and the ankles are a cool slate gray. Everything else is a light warm gray.
Much of each boot in front and the sides is painted cool slate gray with
a decent match for the plastic, as are trapezoids on the tops of the toes.
The face is painted an even lighter gray (mine has a little paint blob that looks like a cold sore), with red eyes and black forehead detailing. The
upper bits of the elbow joints are painted gloss red (with sloppy boundaries) as are the sides of the abdomen. They kept with animation colors and not toy colors by not doing the inner faces of the boots in red. The abdomen has details painted in red, blue, and yellow, and there's a purple on silver Decepticon symbol on the center of the chest. There's a little dash of red
on the arm cannon, much of the handgun is painted dark gunmetal in a decent match to the plastic, with a little purple Decepticon symbol printed on the right side. The sword energy crosspiece is painted light purple, while the blade is more of a pearlescent magenta. My copy also has a few red splatters on the helmet and chest, I wonder if it was too close to the next one in line getting painted.
The neck is a ball joint with the socket in the head, the waist is a smooth swivel (having the sword on the back does impede range of motion a little). Hinge and swivel shoulders, swivels right above the hinge elbows,
the wrists are technically ball joints but can really only rotate. The index finger has two hinges, and the remaining fingers as a clump also have two hinges, so in theory the finger can go around a gun trigger. In practice,
the trigger on the mini-me gun is too far forwards and too little like an actual trigger. The hips have part of the pelvis move with the swivel part, and the thighs are hinged to swing outwards. The hip flaps are hinged to get out of the way, and can also be swung back entirely on transformation
swivels. Upper thigh swivels mostly concealed inside the thighs, hinge knees that can bend a little past 90 degrees, and instep hinges on the ankles. The forwards-backwards hinge is only for transformation, but I suppose you can
fold the toes down for Don Martin style feet.
The hands can hold 5mm pegs whether or not the fingers are curled in, although you have to curl the fingers all the way inside the socket for transformation. 5mm sockets in the outer faces of the forearms, two sockets and a nonstandard rectangular slot (for the pistol) on the back, a 3mm socket on the back of the pelvis, and a slightly smaller than 5mm hole above that in the rear of the pelvis which is just small enough I can't force a 5mm peg
in. Call it about 4.5mm.
The arm cannon looks like a scope from the side, but the back end is molded with vent lines rather than a lens, and the front end has a sort-of rifled interior and then a hexagonal 5mm socket so that certain Fire Blasts
can be attached. The muzzle is 6mm deep, though, so some of the wider 5mm
peg Fire Blasts won't be able to reach the socket, and the muzzle itself is 10mm in interior diameter. 4.25" (10.5cm) long and all made of the dark metalswirl gunmetal plastic, it has a sloppily applied bit of red paint on a little protrusion on the back section that I think is supposed to be a crude iron sight. There's a 5mm peg on the underside of the middle section, and little rectangular slots on either side of it that are used to brace it in
tank mode. The underside of the rear chunk folds down anfd forwards to accomodate the space available in the tank turret, I had to use a knife to
get it out though.
The gun barrel on the back ends in a hinged 5mm peg, so it can either be bent 90 degrees to store on the robot's back, or straightened to fit inside
the arm cannon muzzle. It resembles the barrel of G1 Megatron's gun mode,
all done in light gray plastic with no paint. Interestingly, the seam
between the two pieces is not down the center, the left part is smaller than the right, which can be a nuisance to anyone trying to line it up in the main barrel, as the seams don't match up. The muzzle is also a 5mm hexagonal socket, but this one flush with the barrel end so that any 5mm Fire Blast can be attached.
The sword is made of two pieces, the hilt and the energy blade, both of which are light gray plastic. Annoyingly, not only is the pommel wide,
there's also a slightly wider than 5mm ring at the top of the hlt piece, so
you can't just slide the hilt up into the hand and then add the blade...the hilt needs to be snapped into and out of the hand. The hand holds it VERY firmly, to the point that I kept having the entire hand come out of the
forearm before the sword would come out of the hand. The hilt on its own is 29mm long and ends in a 4mm peg for attaching to the blade. The blade on its own is 3" (7.5cm) long with a 4mm socket at the base and a 5mm peg sticking
out the side. You could put just the blade onto one of the forearm sockets
as a sort of energy claw. The crosspiece part is painted a light purple with the storage peg unpainted, while the blade itself is painted pearly magenta. Combined, the whole sword is just a bit under 4" (10cm) long, and all made of rigid light gray plastic. There might've been an initial plan to cast the blade out of rubbery clear plastic, but that's not what happened.
The pistol has a barrel extender and silencer on it and a scope on top, but the frame is very sci fi laser pistol, without even a trigger, just a
lump where the trigger guard might go. I guess even at this size they didn't want to make it look like a real Walther pistol. The whole thing is a about 2.5" (a littleover 6cm) long, a single piece of light gray plastic with dark gunmetal paint on the barrel extender and the scope, plus a small purple Decepticon symbol printed on the right side. The grip is a somewhat short
5mm peg, the barrel ends in a 3mm stud, and there's a 5mm by 2mm tab (unpainted) on top of the scope that goes into a slot of that size on the robot's back. The tab will also go more or less securely into the forearm
5mm sockets, which lets it stick out less than using the grip peg for that connection. They did not include a little stock that becomes a stand to complete the G1 look.

Transformation: Okay, I was more than a little worried that this would
be a nightmare of the sort that drove me away from Masterpiece figures, but
it wasn't too bad. The process was reasonably forgiving, and while I had to back up occasionally to adjust a panel or fold out a piece of tank mode, I
was able to get it done the first time with only the back of box render of
the tank mode as a guide. One piece did pop off (a bit of fender front) because I tried to avoid backing up much to get it out of the boot section
and I ended up not so much folding it out as pulling it out entirely, but that's on me. Note, there are fender-bits for the front AND back of each
tread section. If you don't fold out the front ones the treads don't like to lock in position, but there's no "penalty" other than aesthetic for
forgetting to fold out the rear ones. Later transformations still took a
while (54 steps is still 54 steps), there's a lot of steps and many joints
that need to get in just the right positions, but the second time and onwards were no longer what I'd consider tricky, just involved.
The torso opens up and the shoulder roots sort of unfold on struts previously hidden inside the torso, twisting around to flank the cannon and make the turret. "Arms become turret" has been done many times before, of course, but this was a new way to me. I was confused for a few minutes by
how the forearm armor opened up, but that was just so it could be rotated and closed back down, making the curvature of the forearms better for a tank
turret without having them deviated from the G1 Look in robot mode. The
boots unfold a LOT, with the core chunks turning into the tread units, including the previously mentioned little bit that has to be folded out from inside before you lock the middle section in place and block the hinge. The shins and feet just sort of fold up in back and the shins still look like
shins stuck on the tank deck, but they added vent molding on the ankles and feet to look like engine exhaust vents.
Officially, the sword stores on the left fender, while the pistol goes
on top of the right side of the turret to take the role of anti-personnel
fire like a machine gun on a real tank.
Going back to robot mode, probably the main problem remembering to fold all the stuff away, although getting the shoulder struts back in the correct orientation can be tricky. The little bits at the front and rear of each
tread unit are prone to popping off if you're not very careful opening up the treads to store 'em. Or if you pull the treads too far out before
transforming them.

Vehicle Mode: So, it's a tank, loosely inspired by various modern "main battle tanks," without being any specific model. A standard modern tank with full treads in fenders, rather than an H-tank or other weird tread shape, and with a big cannon running down the middle of the turret like a hot dog in a hamburger bun. The chest front makes up most of the front deck, with a
little extender panel folded out from the underside (one of the parts of transformation where I tend to need a knife), while the shins make for a passable rear deck.
The hull is 5.5 (14cm) long, and with the cannon pointed forwards the entire length from muzzle to back end of the tank is 7" (18cm). Same basic colors as robot mode, but the light gray is more dominant. Other than the
cool gray of the shins on the rear deck and the metalswirl dark warm gray of the main cannon barrel, all of the "meant to be visible" plastic is light
gray.
The treads and the space inside between the drive wheels are painted
dark gunmetal, while the drive wheels are left unpainted. The chest
Decepticon symbol is now on the front deck, and the only other paint in this mode comes from the attached weapons and that little red nub on the cannon.
The pistol is intended to go on the right side of the turret top so that its Decepticon symbol is facing outwards.
The turret does rotate, but the joint is at the back of the turret
rather than the middle. I suppose it can elevate a little, but you're
starting to undo connections if you lift it too high. Okay, technically the hinge at the base of the light gray barrel extension can be bent, but that looks less like "elevating the cannon" and more like "Oh, Kup bent your
barrel too?" The tank rolls okay on a combination of a wide roller on the underside of the torso piece and small wheels near the rear ends of the
treads, so a more or less tricycle setup.
The forearm 5mm sockets are now on top of the turret flanking the main barrel, the barrel still ends in a usable 5mm socket, and there's a 5mm
socket near the rear of each fender side. And since everyone loves a flying tank, there's a 3mm socket on the underside near the center, which is clearly there just for this mode since it's hidden inside the waist in robot mode.

Overall: This isn't the first time we've gotten a "looks sorta like he turns into a gun, but actually turns into a tank" Megatron before (Kingdom
Core Class comes to mind), but they did a really good job of it this time, hiding almost all the tank parts and recreating the classic cartoon look for robot mode while still delivering a credible tank. The only serious flaw in the tank mode is how weird the turret rotation is. Also on the plus side, despite being many steps, the transformation isn't too frustrating. That may sound like faint praise, but Masterpiece-style transformations can get downright infuriating, so "not too bad" is actually pretty strong praise
given what they set out to do here.

Dave Van Domelen, adding this one to his limited office display,
replacing Concept Art Megatron.

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