Cliffbee.com Generations Legends Megatron Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Megatron
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Walther P-38 Handgun

Thanks to Morkus for loaning me Megatron, making this review possible.



GUN MODE
Height: 5.5cm Length: 9cm Width: 1.5cm

   A small silver piston with a grey barrel & orange muzzle, Megatron has a black handle with some more grey on the front & rear edges and a min rubsign on the left side. Also on the left side, just above the handle, is some red & silver robot mode junk (which is fairly identifiable as the robot mode waist for anyone familiar with Megatron. The grey and silver are both painted on, the orange and black are the base plastic colours. I like the silver paint but do have to question why the barrel is then painted grey instead of silver - like it's deliberately mismatched.

   The gun itself is small and underwhelming - as mini guns tend to be. The orange top looks ridiculous, but there's not much Hasbro can do about US laws. There are some shortcomings in the design which bother me more; a stamped number on the right side and an awkward gap under the hammer. There's also no trigger, instead a sort of gap where it should be. The smaller WST Megatron at least has a sculpted trigger, so I'm somewhat disappointed that this gun has none at all. There's no play value here - the gun doesn't even stand upright on the desk.

   A disappointing gun mode, which I suspect is largely a result of keeping costs right down. I can excuse the orange tip (even though I hate it), but I can't excuse the lack of a trigger or the random use of grey paint on the barrel. There's some robot mode stuff visible which I can deal with at this size, but there's just too much wrong with this mode for it to really work well.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Split the handle, fold the back and front halves down to form legs. Swing the trigger section down and forward, pivot the chamber over the waist to form his torso. Swing up the robot head, fold down the arms and you're done.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 8cm Width: 5cm

   A silver robot with grey legs and a grey fusion cannon on his right arm (complete with orange tip), Megatron has a black groin and waist, complete with red and silver detailing. His head is the traditional buckethead, with a silver face & red eyes. The colour scheme is quite simple and while the grey on his legs works well enough it again looks stupid on the fusion cannon (which was the barrel of the gun). The rubsign is central on his chest. Aside from the fusion cannon, this colour scheme works well. I'd detach the cannon if I could.

   The bodyshape here is pretty good, with the slightly spread leg pose that's common nowadays, a wide chest and narrow waist along with that iconic Megatron buckethead I mentioned already. The right fist is well formed but the left hand is not - it has to work as both a hand and the hammer of the gun so it's somewhat indistinct.

   There's not a lot of play value here, just the poseability. His shoulders swing and lift out to the sides while his hips & knees are ball jointed. The hollow heels hinder his poseability as a lot of action poses aren't actually stable. Megatron's head is fixed in place.

   This is Megatron's better mode, since the grey paint isn't as much of an issue. The orange tip is still out of place and poseability isn't so great but he displays well enough.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of.

OVERALL

   A decent idea, but sadly Megatron is a victim of a low budget and poor a colour choice. The robot mode is okay but unremarkable while the gun mode is just plain poor. The grey paint on his barrel really hurts - as does the orange although that has an excuse. The play value is poor even by the standards of this size class. Really this toy is mainly notable for being a rare Megatron pistol toy; but it's barely worthwhile even at this low pricepoint - 6/10

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