Dave's Beast Machines Rant Megatron Well, it's a week late thanks to computer problems (office computer died, home computer is still with the movers...I'm in the physics lab on one of the computers there right now, having finally worked out how to use it for more than half an hour at a time without pain in my wrists, back and skidplate), but here it is, my review of "Minitron." CAPSULE Megatron: Too big to fit in a Deluxe package, but not really a Mega. Decent robot mode, so-so dragon mode, okay transformation, reasonably faithful "cut down" version of the TMII Ultra, but utterly puny compared to its $5-more-expensive brother. So-so gimmick. Only bother with this if you're a dragon fanatic or really want a Megatron to drive your Mechatron. Neutral at the current price, mildly recommended if you can find it for $12 or less. Definitely not worth the scalper prices I've seen. RANT VEHICON: Megatron Function: Predacon Vehicon Leader Altmode: Dragon Motto: "Purification is the key to our salvation!" [Note: as usual for me lately, I've edited the following text.] The leader of the "New World Order" on Cybertron, Megatron has focused his ruthless energies on a new mission: the restoration of the mechanical purity he believes Cybertron once had. After his technological virus devastated Cybertron and shut down its original inhabitants, Megatron repopulated the planet with sparkless Transformers called Vehicons and set about eradicating all remaining traces of individual life. In robot mode, his preferred mode, Megatron plugs into a vast network that controls all Vehicon activity on Cybertron. In his hated beast mode, Megatron's powerful jaws can crush even armor alloys with ease. In either mode he can spew fire or ice from his dragon head, but has he so hates that side of himself, he rarely comes out from behind his concealing cloak. He recognizes that in order to totally eliminate the organic aspects of Cybertron he may need to destroy his own body...but he is so dedicated to this task that such a price will not stop him. STR 9.9 INT 9.9 SPD 9.9 END 9.9 RNK 10 COUR 10 FRP 10 SKL 10 Avg 9.95 The box art shows his cloaked mode from the show, which is (as with Tankor) something of a mistake, as it only throws into harsh relief how the toy differs from the show version. He's packaged in dragon mode with 8 twist-ties holding him in position. But despite the spread wings, he looks awfully small in the box. Beast Mode: 8.5" (22cm) from snout to tail tip, with a 10" (25cm) wingspan, he sounds big on paper. But when you consider the size of the TMII Megatron dragon, it's not much. The body is mainly red with gold and black accents, while the wings are grey with brown leading claws, and the tail is translucent gold. No real attempt was made to color this like the show, with the "scraped off stuff" effect, which is a pity, as that would have helped separate this toy from the superior TMII version. Poseability is okay. The little forelegs have ball joint shoulders and hinge elbows, but they aren't really locked onto the body (they're part of the cloak/wings), which hurts their looks. The legs are fully poseable, but the extreme topheaviness of the figure limits the poses you can use. The long neck has a spring gimmick in it which lets the dragon strike like a cobra, but the neck also turns weirdly, making posing in any static position very difficult. The wings are a whole 'nother problem. They sit way too high on the body to look like wings...they look more like an external hangglider or something. And they're HEAVY. The many pin joints in the wings aren't strong enough to keep the wings from sagging in the direction of down, meaning there's only a few stable wing poses as well. A panel in the dragon's chest opens to reveal a green Vehicon spark. Transformation: Some of it is blindingly obvious, but not all. I actually had to refer to the directions a couple of times, which may be the main positive thing this toy has going for it. Using the dragon forelimbs to fill in the abdomen of the robot is pretty clever, actually, although it'd have worked better if there were tabs or pegs to lock them in position. Robot Mode: Standing a mighty 5" (12cm) tall, Mega Megatron is actually shorter than a lot of Deluxes. I shall call him...Minitron. His head is the blue and silver helmeted one we see in the cloak, which might clash a bit with the rest of his body, but they cleverly put a blue hexagon over his spark crystal, so there's some matching. He also has amber glowing eyes. The right arm has the tail, but it folds back to reveal a fist, which is molded in "fist-shaking" position rather than "holding a gun" position. The left arm is the dragon head, which retains its striking action...but it's still a Basic gimmick in a Mega toy. The wings make the toy very back-heavy, so you have to make sure they act as a third leg for any poses. Cloaked mode looks okay, although it lacks the external arms of the cloak in the show. It's also very hard to get the cloak to STAY closed, and the dragonclaw feet poke out the bottom somewhat incongruously, while his tail also pokes out the bottom and makes him stand slightly tilted. He does have the datahelmet, but no wire connections (which could have been made into a whip weapon for the non-cloaked robot and hidden under the tail in dragon mode). In the past week, I have almost tried to drink the cloaked Megatron a couple times, as he's about the size and rough shape of a soda can. Overall: Well, not a bad toy inherently, just a fair one. Thing is, it's a fairly good DELUXE. As a Mega, it's a bit of a ripoff. Granted, it has enough bits and pieces that it definitely cost more to make than a Deluxe, but it's not quite up to the Mega level. Maybe they should have marketed it at its own price point for $12 or something. Or included a Diagnostic Drone accessory to help justify the $15 pricetag. Dave Van Domelen, expects a "And I shall call him Mini-Me" cartoon up at that one "fumetti" site soon, but he can't check because his bookmark file died along with the drive of his computer...he's working from a July-vintage bookmarks file.