Cliffbee.com Activator Megatron Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Megatron
Series: Animated
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Helicopter



HELICOPTER MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 13.5cm Width: 9cm

   A grey stylised helicopter which is fairly similar to the leader version of the same character, Megatron has a red painted canopy, a black tail and a black cannon underneath his cockpit. The grey plastic has a slightly pinkish hue, but the basic colour scheme is still classic Megatron. There are some other red and black details here and there, most notably the red painted switch on his tail.

   This chopper is fairly abstract with twin rotors attached on winglets on either side of the fuselage - both are on an angle, facing away from each other. The tail lacks stabilisers or rotors - combined with the unusual rotor positioning I suspect this would render this airframe useless for flying. Still, the apache overtones look nice and the rotors are prominent. There's quite a lot of robot mode kibble underneath this chopper, which is Megatron's main downfall. The grey robot legs under the black tail are all too visible - especially when you consider that they're _wider_ than the tail. The robot arms sit under the winglets as pods, and are also quite visible - a feature also found on the much larger, more expensive, toy.

   There's not much play value here. The rotors both spin and that's it really. The cannon on the front looks nice but doesn't do anything, while there are no wheels or runners underneath - although Megatron does lay flat on the table, at least.

   Aside from the kibble this is a decent little chopper mode. The paint job and colours used work well, it's quite similar to the full sized toy and it's clearly a modern military helicopter (albeit of a stylised nature. The spring loaded transformation can activate a little too easily sometimes, and some wheels or runners would be nice, but it still works. It's not up to the standard of the best Activators, but works fairly well all the same.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Pull back the red trigger on his tail, the legs and torso will slide into place while the nose section folds back. Stand him up, split the boots, fold up his feet and fold down the forearms.*

ROBOT MODE
Height: 11cm Width: 11cm

   The robot mode is mainly grey with black boots and hands and a blue face, with various red painted details such as his feet and eyes. There's a Decepticon logo on his chest, raised and painted purple (with unpainted relief). Aside from the blue face and purple logo the colours are essentially those seen on the leader sized version. The colours are very much those of Megatron, and the painted details are far from sparse, which I'm quite happy about.

   This robot mode is quite slender - more so than the leader - but the general shape is the same with the narrow groin and very narrow waist. The head is a distorted buckethead, which fits into the stylised feel of this line. There's no fusion cannon here, nor any other weapons for that matter - although his fists do have small holes. The rotors sort of hang off his back as kibble while the tail sits behind his legs as kibble. While the backpack is considerable, the heelspurs are easily able to support the weight.

   The poseability here is decent for this size class. His head turns a little while the shoulder swing and can pivot back. His elbows rotate and fold inwards. The waist is fixed while there are hipguards which can lift up. His hips and knees are ball jointed, and these joints are nice and tight, so there's no danger of them giving under the weight of his backpack. The feet can fold down, taking the heelspurs up with them. While there's no weapon to wield, Megatron can strike some poses.

   A good robot mode aside from the miscoloured face. I would have liked a fusion cannon, but detachable weapons aren't a feature of the Activators so I can let that one slide. The kibble is significant but it doesn't get in the way of the robot itself, just sits on the back.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of.

OVERALL

   A good little Activator with two decent modes, good colours and a good resemblance to the larger toy. The paint job is mostly well done, aside from the colour of his face. The robot mode has some poseability, although there are no wheels or runners in chopper mode. Recommended if you like Activators - 7.5/10

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