Megatron
[Voyager] (Classics)
For the first time since
his original form, a new version of Megatron is released that's a gun again!
Of course, because of stricter safety regulations these days, it's not
a realistic gun, more of a nerf gun, but I'm surprised even that got through.
Ignoring the colors, the main body of the gun actually looks fairly realistic,
with all the correct detailing and reasonably accurate proportions. There
really isn't any gun nozzle to speak of, however, just a short safety orange
cap on the front. I can't really blame Hasbro for using that ugly shade
of orange, though, since it's required by toy safety laws. Using the orange
cap on the front of the scope and in few other minor places is rather odd,
though. Otherwise, Megatron's color scheme is great, using his traditional
gray and black but also adding purple and a bit of green, two very "Decepticon-y"
colors, and they all fit together surprisingly well. I would have preferred
if the metallic greenish-gold used for some of the paint detailing was
just a straight gold, but it still looks pretty good regardless. Megatron
doesn't fire a missile or anything, probably for safety reasons, but his
trigger does click in and out, and you can look through his scope. (Speaking
of the scope, due to the Decepticon symbols molded on both sides of it,
Megatron is the only "mainline deluxe & voyager" Classics toy that
doesn't sport a G1-style allegiance rub symbol.) The robot mode arms and
legs are fairly obvious in where they're placed in this mode, but they
fit in well with the overall gun silhouette and aren't outright extras,
so it's no big deal.
Megatron resembles his
original G1 cartoon robot mode quite a bit in this Classics form (though
again, in shape more than color). The proportions are great overall, the
only real exception being that the scope-gun is a bit too big-- he really
looks like a regal Decepticon emperor this time around. All of the colors,
except the aforementioned safety orange, go together even better in this
mode than in gun mode, with no one color occupying so large of space as
to make any part of the toy boring. His mold detailing is slightly below-average
for a toy of his size, but there is more detailing on his robot mode parts
than on his gun parts (likely to give an impression of changed scale in
between modes). The purple robot chest with the greenish gold paint on
the sides and a Decepticon symbol in the middle is probably the best-looking
part of this figure-- all of the colors just blend together especially
well there. The head is a nice new rendition of Megatron, thoguh I don't
like the unibrow. Granted, the original G1 toy had it, but it was eliminated
in the cartoon version, likely because it looks goofy. The "helmet" on
Megatron's head also looks a tad too bulky when compared to his face, as
well. I'm rather indifferent about Megatron's "wings"-- they look rather
un-Megatronish and are two mighty large pieces of kibble, but on the other
hand they stay out of the way well enough, look fairly close to actual
wings, and without them we'd have to sacrifice a lot more of the robot
mode to get the same quality gun mode. As one last note, Megatron has excellent
articulation-- he can move at the head, shoulders (at three places), elbows,
hips (at two places), and knees (at two places). Nearly all of these joints
are ratcheting joints, as well, so there aren't any worries about them
wearing down over time.
Classics Voyager Megatron
is a far better upgrade to the original G1 Megatron than I ever expected,
especially given today's toy safety laws. His gun mode is fun enough, and
a nice treat after all these years, but his robot mode is where he really
shines, with excellent proportions and articulation and an imposing look.
Highly recommended.
Review by Beastbot