Dave's TF Energon Rant: Super Megatron My first impression on seeing this on the shelf was, "Woog, that's BIG." Updated 11/24/04 with Galvatron's bio note at the end, since I won't be buying a $40 recolor. CAPSULE Megatron: Nice, if ad hoc, vehicle mode. Kinda simplistic transformation. Good robot mode, decent accessory drone. Recommended. $39.67 at Wal-Mart. RANT Packaging: Same Super sized box as Optimus Prime, with the jet mode twist-tied down to a plastic tray that is itself glued to the inner cardboard tray. 2 twist-ties hold the tank drone down, 3 actually hold the jet down. 2 more ties keep the cannons on the jet from flopping around, but they don't have to be undone to let the jet slide out. 2 more ties and a pair of rubber bands keep the wings from flopping around or coming open (more on that later). The picture on the back is not quite accurate. The Energon sword is not green on the actual toy, and the flip out wing cannons ARE green. Also, the picture of jet mode is mirror-flipped. The skill level is listed as 4, a clear case of the skill level really just being the size class...there's Basics with transformations as difficult as Megatron's. The co-sell on the bottom is just Optimus Prime. There is no "Terrorcon" designation on the box. A sticker on the plastic front "window" of the box says "Remember the Code: CYBERTRON" followed by "www.cartoonnetwork.com". This is for the online game CN is running where you try to search out Megatron. No new catalog yet. This toy comes with the Fleer card, so it has a bio note but no techspecs. Of course, checking Transformers.com reveals he has all 10's anyway. It's card 129 in the set. Oh, and just to be clear, I'm making up the Function below, based on his usual Japanese title. DECEPTICON: MEGATRON Altmode: Gunship Function: Emperor of Destruction Motto: "Join me and I will send you to battle. Defy me, and I will send you to Oblivion." Megatron has been reborn. Totally reformatted by Unicron, he now possesses an intense arsenal of weapons that will make him an unstoppable force during the battle for Energon. In robot mode, Megatron fights his enemies with a remote triple-change tank module. In gunship mode, he can use his hyper-power wings and rotating cannons to rain terror from above. Megatron's look has changed, but his goal of universal conquest remains the same. Beware, Megatron is back! All Stats are 10. The bio note is a bit misleading...the tank drone doesn't really triple change. More on that later. Vehicle Mode: Megatron is packaged in this mode, although with the slight mis-transform (at least in my case) of the robot face pointing forward and therefore being visible. Some have called this a "slap wings on the folded up robot mode" vehicle, and to some extent they're correct. However, this gunship strongly evokes both Thunderwing (G1) and the unreleased Super Megatron from the Japanese Battle Stars series, especially with the wingtip splitting. In fact, robot kibble is pretty well hidden in this mode, the robot chest on the bottom of the jet being the only really blatant bit. The jet is 9" (23cm) long with a wingspan of about 12" (31cm). It's mostly light gray, dark gray and dark blue with green clear plastic energon bits (wingtips, fronts of joints in wings, cannons, canopy). The paint apps are bronze on vents, silver on a few techy bits, bright blue on the Stormer-style nose, purple on the Decepticon symbols (raised on either wing and the underside) and very dark purple on the jet engine intake cowlings. The color scheme is pretty subdued, especially next to the Terrorcons. On its own, the jet weighs 1.48 pounds (671g). There's landing gear on the nose and each engine that fold down and support the jet well, rolling pretty nicely. Because of the robot head sticking out the bottom, you really can't just set the jet down on the table nicely without the landing gear. Six dead hardpoints cover the wing surface. Four are clustered at the center and are meant for attaching the tank drone, and then there's one at each wingtip. The spark crystal with energon star holder can be found on the port side of the jet at the base of the cannon mount. The holder is made of bright blue plastic. The corresponding part of the starboard cannon mount is dark gray and deliberately made to not hold an energon star, although it does have a 5mm peg hole. 5mm pegholes also flank the cockpit. The cannons themselves are rigid clear green plastic 2.75" (7cm) long on dark blue mounts that can swivel from straight up to straight down. For drop-test reasons, the green cannons can pop off the blue joints, and the blue joints can pop off the dark gray main pieces. At the base joint of each wing is a forward-pointing clear green cone shape with indentations suggesting they're rocket pods. At the upper joint of each wing is a clear green bit with twin stubby barrels pointing forward. The wingtips are non-rigid clear green plastic gun pods 3" (8cm) long. The underside of each wing each have one 5mm peg hole for attaching Energon weapons. Pulling the wingtips outward makes the top half of the outer wing section rise up, with its leading and trailing edges scissoring open into forward and backward pointing cannons. The scissoring cannons are made of clear green plastic, but painted dark blue on their outer edges so as to blend in with the wings while stowed. In this "Hyper Power" mode, the resemblance to Super Megatron is a bit stronger and the overall wingspan is about 13" (33cm). Note, the scissoring bits don't always deploy correctly or retract correctly, their ratchets are deliberately very weak to keep them from snapping off if blocked. Finishing Hyper Power mode involves attaching the tank drone to the top of the jet, raising the total weight to 1.73 pounds (785g). Tank Drone: This accessory is mostly made of extremely dark gray (okay, effectively black) plastic with some clear green parts, dark blue trigger and missile, lots of metallic green paint and a bit of magenta paint. 6.25" (16cm) long, it's a sort of warped version of Armada Megatron's tank mode, although with a bigger turret (that doesn't turn) and no head between the front treads. There's a dead hardpoint on top (the place where, on Armada Megatron, you activate the machinegun sound) and a 5mm peg hole at the front right of the turret, just behind the clear green LED cover (which has a Decepticon symbol molded onto it, as with A-Megs). There's a rectangular slot in the back for attaching Megatron's Energon Sword. On the front right tread is a flip-up clear green targeting reticule. Pressing the front trigger launches the missile (but not very far) and sets off an annoying electronic firing sound that lasts nearly three seconds and is accompanied by the front LED flashing. Rocking the switch in the rear slot or simply inserting the Energon Sword will trigger a sort of electronic slashing clanking sound and light up the sword (I'll cover the sword itself later under Robot Mode). This sound only lasts about 2 seconds. The tank rolls on four tiny and very knubbly wheels, and really just slides on anything resembling a smooth surface. Gotta have at least non-gloss paper to get the wheels to roll. When the bio note says this is a triple changing tank, it means it can be a tank, an arm cannon, or a sword holder. It does not actually transform in any meaningful sense. A clip opens up on the bottom in the fashion of Tidal Wave's weapon mode, and it slides onto Megatron's forearm. Trying to force it down onto the forearm is more difficult. The tank barrel can be removed, but for drop-test reasons and to keep it from getting in the way when using the sword mode (this is a semi-documented feature, as the final step in the instructions show this, but there's no explicit instruction to remove the barrel). Annoyingly, while the cannon can be fired while separated, there's no peg to let Megatron hold it separately. The sword is similarly incapable of being used separately. Detached, the cannon is 4" (10cm) long. The tank requires 2 AAA batteries which are not included. And the sounds a annoying enough you might not want to include them yourself. Especially if you're a parent buying this for your child. Transformation: Pretty simple, yet with nifty bits. The jet engines unpeg from the wings and fold out to be legs. The fists automatically pop out once the legs are down, and you pull the sides of the jet apart to be arms and shoulders. Rotate the wing piece, fold back the jet nose, fold down the head. The boots are spring-loaded to make the thrust nozzles become kneecaps, and then when you push down on the knees the feet slide out and pop open. Then just adjust Megatron's horns and you're done. The arm deployment is pretty clever, because it's not just shoulders coming out, the entire torso is made wider as bright blue flanks fold out. Robot Mode: 9.5" (24cm) tall at the top of the helmet, a full 12" (30cm) tall at the top of the cannons now on the shoulders (if you leave them pointed up). The overall design is essentially G1 Galvatron with wings and with two cannons instead of one. More bright blue is visible in this mode, and the face is metallic blue with purple eyes. A number of orange accents are painted on the chest and pelvis, and the "four pack" abdominal windows are bright blue. I wish there was a way to detach the shoulder cannons and peg them onto the forearms for a more classic Galvatron look, though. Well, I mean, the cannons detach easily enough, but there's no pegs to put them on the forearms. Poseability is...okay. The head turns, the shoulders swivel on ratchets, the elbows bend on ratchets (no upper arm swivels). The fists do not turn, but can retract on springs. The hips are ratcheting universal joints. The knees are ratcheting hinges of extraordinary stiffness...until I was told they should bend, I was convinced they couldn't, having exerted Excessive Force to no avail. The bend sideways pretty easily, though. No waist, no meaningful toe articulation, no thigh swivels. [Late note: I'm told there are upper arm swivels, they just require a lot of force to unlock the first time, and faith that this won't break the toy.] The nose section of the gunship mode forms a sheath on his back, storing the Energon Sword blade. The tank drone can be snapped onto this sheath as a sort of air defense gun (raising the total height of the figure to over 14"/35cm) and then pulled out with the sword attached. Usually. Might take a few tries. Pushing a blue button on the sheath the right way can help. The tank cannon will not fit in this sheath, or really attach anywhere except the tank's turret. The Energon Sword is 4.25" (11cm) long and made of clear plastic. Unlike in the cartoon, it lacks a hilt that other figures could hold. At the base of the blade is a circular bit with a Decepticon symbol on it...and here's the clever part, the face of it is sloped so that the symbol catches as much of the light as possible. Overall: A very nice toy, which we ALL know is going to be recolored and re-released as Galvaton in a few months. Unfortunately, there's a lot of simple things they could have done to make it an excellent toy, such as the addition of pegs to detachable weapon bits. Maybe I'll get out some 5mm rod and add a handle to the cannon.... Dave Van Domelen, notes Megatron looks much beefier and tougher than Powerlinxed Super Optimus Prime. And his drone can beat up Prime's drones. And now, Galvatron's bio note: DECEPTICON: GALVATRON Quote: No universe is too vast for my conquest. Having undergone an intense reformatting at the hands of UNICRON, MEGATRON has become GALVATRON. Now, more ruthless and power-hungry than ever before, GALVATRON possesses the same insidious qualities as MEGATRON and is ten times more powerful. After striking a deal with UNICRON, GALVATRON was granted an upgraded weapons arsenal that has made him practically invincible. Along with his advanced arsenal, GALVATRON'S hunger for conquest has grown nearly insatiable. The universe itself does not seem to be enough for this ruthless tyrant. He will even use the god-like UNICRON as a pawn in his game of eternal conquest. All stats are still 10.