Toy Review: #531
Name: Megatron
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2019
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING:
Megatron comes in the familiar black packaging of the Masterpiece series, although it is glossier than the G1 Masterpiece molds.
The stock photos on the back are nice but with the absence of text, it feels lacking somehow.
ALTERNATE MODE:
For the first time in years, we finally get another Megatron figure based on his appearance in the first movie, thus he turns into an alien jet.
The alien jet was always a hard one since it is too alien to avoid looking like a robot with wings and protrusions. Nevertheless, the designers has done an admirable job here and only the feet at the rear lets it down a bit.
One thing that'll shock you as soon as you get the packaging and then when you get the figure out is how big Megatron is. Above is a comparison against The Last Knight Leader Optimus.
The exposed head is part of the design even though it is so obvious in jet mode. If it was situated lower to streamline the outline then it would have been better.
The robot weaponry can store at the back and under the wing, so you won't have any loose bits around.
As part of the Masterpiece series, Megatron has die-cast and the most obvious piece is the fuselage.
Jet mode works much better than you'd expect. It's a unique design and looks great if you don't stare at it up close.
TRANSFORMATION:
Megatron has a complicated transformation. You get the figure in robot mode and transforming him into jet mode for the first time is annoying. This is because certain sections of the instructions are completely useless, making is extremely difficult to tell what it is actually showing. The tolerances are also tight, with plenty of pegs and tabs to hold the figure together, but if you do not have the pieces just right, the pressure will pop them right part. Otherwise, the legs are the simplest part since they just extend. You then manipulate the fuselage to form the torso and fold away the wings.
ROBOT MODE:
Robot mode is truly where it is at. Megatron looks awesome and very very faithful to the character model used in the movie.
He has quite a bit of kibble on his back, they're the wings from the jet mode. Despite the messy look, it actually compacts fairly well.
The headsculpt is absolutely fantastic. The sculpting just gets more and more intricate with these figures.
He has the normal mouth gimmick that the MPM figures have. Megatron's lower jaw can open and close.
Once again, Megatron is absolutely huge, as demonstrated by him towering over Leader POTP Optimus Primal.
Articulation is good. Megatron has joints for his neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
The die-cast fuselage piece is now on his back but he also has die-cast on his feet to help anchor the figure.
Despite the usage of large chunks of unpainted plastic, the grey plastic has a sheen to it and looks nice.
The hand articulated is an advertised feature on the packaging. Two claws have two joints, and the remaining three are molded as one with one joint at the base (note that the three molded claws are soft plastic).
In terms of accessories Megatron comes with a small Allspark cube, a flail extension piece made of soft flexible plastic, and a handgun.
You can take the chest cover off to reveal a gap for the Allspark cube to fit. You can put the cover back on and keep it stored there for transformation too.
The transparent red plastic used there is great for mimicking Megatron's death scenes.
The other two pieces can peg onto his back for storage.
To use the flail, you need to detach the hand, attach the flail in its place, and then attach the hand.
The soft flexible plastic is good for not making the long thing piece too fragile but at the same time, it makes it hard to do poses where Megatron is in the process of swinging it.
For the handgun, once again you need to detach the hand and then peg this in its place. Unfortunately, there's no place to store the detached hand so you'll just have to put it aside.
The gun looks pretty good integrated like that.
Lastly, detach both his hands, attach the handgun and then flip out the giant long cannon within it to form the fusion gun that Megatron used during the climax of the movie!
Due to how the legs form, as the knee uses ratchets which can be tight, bending the knee may cause you to detach the panels at the same time.
The detail of the sculpting is insane. The layered look, the numerous spikes, it's extremely impressive.
An amazing robot mode with plenty of fun gimmicks that doesn't compromise the figure.
OVERALL:
MPM-8 Megatron is a fantastic figure. It looks great in both modes, although like Ironhide and Bumblebee, the transformation can be a bit too frustrating. Nevertheless, Megatron is value for money due to his size, attention to detail and gimmicks.
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