Megatron's futuristic tank mode has never looked particularly good on any of his toys, to be honest, and the way it looks for the Activator version of him continues that trend. Having the oddly large back end, the masked head in between the front treads, the laughbaly small cannon on top (that neither rotates or moves up and down)... it's not the best alt mode I've seen, to be sure. (The small rubber guns on the sides of the main gun don't move either, by the by.) Still, it's a bit more solid-looking than most versions of this design, with a bit of the robot hands poking out the back end, as well as the hollow knee piece "thrusters" being slight downsides, but otherwise it's not quite so obvious he's a robot first and a tank second on this version. As is usual with Megatron, his color scheme is remarkably dull, being almost entirely milky gray. The bits of brown & bronze do help alleviate this a TAD-- more so in robot mode than in tank mode-- but he's still very much a one-tone color scheme. He also has too few paint apps in this mode, which adds to that problem. THe mold detailing is excellent, however, with little panels, spikes, and the like all molded in very intricately, particularly for an Activator. (The amount of detailing on the treads is especially impressive.)
    As an Activator, to transform Megatron to robot mode you simply push in on the Decepticon symbol on the rear end of his tank mode and he'll unfold into robot mode pretty much by himself, with only a minor tweaking with the arms, feed, and head needed to finish the job. Given that you don't have to hold quite as many parts in place to "lock" him back into vehicle mode, however, he's a bit easier to transform back. (Occasionally people have reported getting a "dud" that refuses to set in vehicle mode-- this doesn't seem TOO common, but fair warning.) Like the other Activators, Megatron's proportions are slightly "superdeformed" in this mode, but not the extent that the other Activator molds are. His heads a bit big, but that's about it. His head sculpt itself is very well-done, however-- except for the eyes. There's some odd mold detailing on them that makes him look like his eyes are shut, which is weird. The arms are a bit small, but this seems more due to the transformation than any sort of "superdeformed" purposeful design implementation. I'm glad that we finally have a toy of this version of Megatron that doesn't have a ridiculously oversized right arm, but BOTH of his arms are pretty puny on this guy, which certainly doesn't fit the Decepticon leader. Like other Activators, pretty much the entire front half of the vehicle mode simply hangs behind his back, though thankfully it doesn't get in the way of movement much (though it does make him a bit unstable on his feet). The bronze paint spray across his chest, hips, and shoulders helps to make Megatron slightly more interesting in this mode visually, but I would've preferred more well-defined paint details on all those mold details that are practically everywhere on this toy. As for articulation, Megatron can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and a bit at the ankles. His elbow movement is a little restricted because of his big backpack, however, and due to his transformation his knee joints tend to be a little loose.
    Activators Megatron is... an okay try, I suppose, given the gimmick of the line and a design that's rather difficult to effectively reproduce accurately in toy form. Still, that doesn't stop it from being one of my least favorite Autobot Alliance Activators-- the tiny arms, the boring color scheme, the ridiculously undersized gun (along with a few other oddities) in tank mode-- it doesn't make for a very attractive package. If you want an easy-to-transform version of this design of Megatron and you don't like little Legends-class toys, this may be up your alley. Otherwise, pass.

Review by Beastbot

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