Megatron
(Activator; DotM)
Due to the nature of
the "Activators" subline, Megatron's MACK truck vehicle mode is a bit squashed
and "superdeformed". The front cab portion actually looks rather normal--
beyond the nose of the truck being a bit short proportionally, that is--
but the back end is where they really squashed the proportions down. The
silver "tank" on the back should be just as tall as the roof of the cab,
but it's not becuase of the nature of the gimmick. Beyond that, though,
Megatron's overall look remains surprisingly intact, given how young this
subline aims. Megatron's DotM colors of dull tan, silver, and a bit of
black are here, along with some dull greenish blue on the windows that
works well for the foggy, well-worn windows you'd expect on this vehicle
mode. The dark metallic purple painted on the back end-- sort of the "here,
push me in!" piece-- is a really nice color, though to the point where
I wish it was applied elsewhere on the toy to spice up the somewhat dull
color scheme a bit more. Given that the tank, grill, and windows are all
painted, though, Megatron has an adequate amount of paint detailing. His
mold detailing has an impressive amount of somewhat oversized "rivets",
and provides more details where needed (such as the grill), but still keeps
in with the slightly more kid-friendly look of the Activators' vehicle
modes.
As with all Dark of
the Moon Activators, Megatron is simply transformed by pushing in on the
big purple button on the rear side of his vehicle mode and standing him
up. The front halves of his truck mode separate out to become his arms,
his head pushes up a bit, and part of his roof folds back to become mold
detailing of his legs on the front of the "stump" you stand him up on.
It's certainly the weaker of the two modes, but hey, it's a transformation
that's meant to be really simplistic, so you're gonna have some sacrifices.
That said, the arms are terrible-- like the other trucks in this subline,
they're merely flat arm mold detailing on the inside of huge shells of
halves of the front two-thirds of the truck mode, and don't really look
good in any position. (They can move at the shoulders, but that's it as
far as articulation.) The "leg detailing" flap in front of bottom/tank
part of the vehicle mode is too small to look remotely convincing as well,
and the fact that the larger piece behind it is painted silver while the
flap is not de-emphasizes this piece even more. That said, the mold detailing
on Megatron's "robot bits" is quite remarkable (particularly for this subline),
with all the necessary edged plating molded into the chest and back, as
well as crisp detailing on his "leg flap" piece. He's also got a fair amount
of paint detailing on his robot parts as well, with his chest painted silver
and black, along with parts of his legs-- even some of the spine and detailing
on his back side is painted as well, which I certainly wouldn't have expected.
His headsculpt is pretty spot-on with the eyes only made slightly larger
proportionally for the line-- he still has half of his head essentially
"carved out", something they (surprisingly) didn't shy away from for this
more kid-friendly version.
DotM Activator Megatron's
biggest thing going for him is the amount of paint detailing (and, in robot
mode, mold detailing) on him, which definitely seems above-average for
the line and helps to highlight and separate certain details on the somewhat
dull color scheme more than you'd think. That said, the Activators gimmick
still makes for a horrible robot mode design, and Megs is actually worse
than most in the line, with his arms being merely huge shells of the vehicle
mode with the actual arm detailing barely visible inside them. For a small
kid, this may be an okay purchase, but if you want a smaller toy of DotM
Megatron that's easier to transform try the Commander
class version instead.
Review by Beastbot