Megatron's alternate mode is a futuristic jet. Unfortunately, this is another one of those cases where "futuristic" is just a code word for "lazy". I understand how hard it can be to get some of these movie designs into toy form reasonably accurately, but really, with a $40 toy they could have done better than this. There are two HUGE robot extras that subtract from the look of this mode and nearly ruin it-- the robot legs. They poke out REALLY obviously from the underside of the wings, to the point where they actually touch the ground if you lay Megatron on a level surface in this mode. The upper part of those legs also stick out rather obviously from the rear part of this vehicle mode, and it's constructed where the rear part is actually higher than the rest of the mode, which looks pretty odd. The robot head is also incredibly obvious in this mode, with the flap used to "hide" the face being far too small to really be of any use. Megatron's color scheme, made up almost entirely of light milky gray, is pretty dull as well. The icy blue fade paint apps do make him look "cold" like he's recent come out of his freeze chamber in the movie, which looks nice, and the few parts where there is black and metallic bronze provide great contrast against the gray. His light pinkish red transparent parts would look considerably better if they were a fiery shade of red, though. However, all this is not to say that Megatron doesn't have any positives in jet mode. His wingspan is pretty impressive, and he's the only version of Movie Megatron that doesn't just his hands stretched out on the sides of his main nosecone-- they're folded in on themsleves so that Megatron has three genuine nosecones on this figure. The mold detailing is also exquisite, especially on parts that are also used in the robot mode-- "metal" bone-like plates abound. Megatron's electronic feature in this mode is a sound effect-- press the buttom behind his head in this mode and a monster-ish "shriek while flying over the area" sound is made, and sounds very cool.
    As you push up on his chest lever for the final step of transformation, Megatron's other electronic feature is activated-- another, different monster shriek emanates from the toy, while his chest flashes yellow as well-- pretty darned cool, I'd say. Megatron also has two "Automorph" features that come into play during transformation. One isn't all that impressive-- as you tilt Megatron's lower feet into their proper position for robot mode his feet and heels click down into place, but they don't lock into their set place very well in vehicle mode, which is a rather annoying QA issue. The other "Automorph" feature is very cool, however-- as you fold up Megatron's main nosecone, his wings fold up completely, all by themselves! As for the actual robot mode design itself, well--- THIS is definitely what the toy was made for. There can be no doubt that Megatron is the King of Evil with this design. His face is amazingly detailed, and looks appropriately terrifying. His proportions are defintiely right on-target, though, being bulky but bony and sharp at the same time. His bone-like look also emphasizes his evil-ness, as do the spines behind his shoulders and his long, sharp claws (they're not really sharp on the toy, of course-- they're made of the bendy kind of plastic-- but they look like they are). His only vehicle kibble-- with the exception of the nsoecones on the back of his hands-- complement the look of this mode rather than subtract from it, being tucked behind his shoulders and waist as they are. A lot more of his paint detailing shows in this mode, so he looks much less plain-- I especially like the metallic bronze and gold bits on his chest. He's also quite movie-accurate, with the only real difference being the nosecones on the back of his lower hands. Megatron has pretty good articulation-- he can move at the shoulders (at two points), at the elbows (at two points), at the base of each of his claw-fingers, at his hips (at three points), and at the knees. He doesn't have any head or waist articulation, unfortunately. Megatron has two additional, non-electronic gimmicks in this mode, one on each of his arms. On his right arm, you can open up his nosecone, and launch his hand from its socket to serve as a ball-and-chain "mace"! This is a pretty cool gimmick, and definitely a very unique one. The fact that the chain to the mace is made up of little plastic bits that look like miniature bones is a very nice touch, too. On his left arm, if you fold back his hand and fold the nosecone forward, a "fusion cannon" will open up, which looks fairly cool, but unfortunately does not lock into place-- the moment you let go of the fusion cannon, is converts back to its nosecone form.
    Megatron's vehicle mode may have some major kibble problems, but his robot mode is simply one of the best I've ever seen, and absolutely SCREAMS "evil leader". His gimmicks are also pretty darned cool for the most part, and he's loaded with lots of mold detailing. Mildly recommended, overall-- this version of Megatron has the best robot mode, easily, though his vehicle mode suffers from the aforementioned kibble as a result.

Review by Beastbot

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