Name: Megatron
Series: Beast Wars 10th Anniversary
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Commander
Alternate Mode: Tyrannosaurus rex
T-REX MODE
Height: 13cm Length: 20.5cm Width: 6cm
A mid purple T-Rex with ivory coloured claws on all four legs and ivory teeth, Megatron has red eyes with tiny white irises and black pupils. There's a metallic green paint wash down his back - from the neck to the tip of his tail. The purple is notably darker than that on the original, as well as that of the Robot Masters Beast Megatron - this toy is a repaint of the latter. The idea behind the "TV" reissues is that Takara is producing more show-accurate paint jobs this time around. In the case of say Blackarachnia and Dinobot, the improvements are drastic, but the original Megatron toy was pretty close in beast mode. So this toy is a little darker than it should be, no doubt to differentiate it from the Robot Masters toy. It's still close enough to the show to work, and the colours here look good anyway.
This is a "modern" T-Rex, in that Megatron uses his tail for balance rather than dragging it along the ground a-la Grimlock. His forelimbs are small and vestigial as you'd expect. The sculpt is excellent, with reptilian skin including folds and scales, all over this beast - even on the tiny forelimbs. There's a ridge along his back, as on the original, designed to hide the transformation tabs on that toy (but cosmetic here).
The poseability here is decent if not spectacular. His knees bend and the toes bend as one. His forelimbs are on restricted ball joints while the upper jaw opens to reveal a pink mouth complete with a white painted tongue. There are no gimmicks here, although you can pull out and rotate his hipplates as guns, if you like - this will reveal hidden robot parts.
While this is a simple beast mode in some ways, the sculpt and bodyshape are impressive. The darker purple works well enough and the paint job is well considered - the eyes especially impress me. While it lacks the gimmicks of the larger toy, at this size introducing gimmicks would have limited the beast mode itself - and possibly the robot mode also.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Similar to the larger toy. Swing back the forelimbs, split the back, fold the sides down. Detach and set aside the tail. Rotate the robot chest into position, flipping up the robot head as you go. Swing up the legs and rotate the boots. Fold out the heelspurs. Position the arms and optionally attach the tail to the left forearm as a club-like weapon. Pivot the hip plates as cannons.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 12.5cm Width: 13cm
A purple robot with extensive black on his torso, some green on his thighs and silver highlights on his torso. His buckethead is silver with a black and purple face, along with red eyes. The colour scheme is again similar top both the cartoon incarnation and original toy, again with a darker shade of purple. The colour scheme works well, although I prefer the lighter purple of the original to this.
While there isn't much in the beast mode that brings this toy closer to the cartoon version, the detachable weapon on his left arm does bring TV Megatron closer. Unlike the original, there's a proper left arm - something Mainframe gave the animated Megatron. The right arm is still a beast-head claw. There's no mutant head here, something the show (and most fans) dispensed with. The hipplates form cannons rather than missile launchers this time - they have twin silver barrels which don't really protrude, but do enough to provide a ranged weapon.
The play value here is limited to poseablity - Megatron lacks any gimmicks. His head turns a little, the shoulders both rotate and lift out. His right arm has a swivel allowing the beast head to turn while the mouth opens and closes as a claw. The left elbow hinges in and you can attach or detach the tail weapon. There's a hole in the left fist, but no weapon is provided. The waist swivels and his hippates can aim up and down a little. The hips are ball joints - which are restricted by the hipplates coming into contact with the panels hanging off his back - while the knees are hinged. He's not all that poseable since the arm jointing is limited while the head and hips are restricted by stuff around them. The heelspurs are effective, at least.
A decent robot mode if not an especially playable one. Megatron displays well, and I like the fact that he finally has a hand. This robot mode isn't really any better or worse than that of the original - the hand is an improvement but the purple on the original is closer to the cartoon.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although as mentioned he is a repaint of Robot Masters Megatron.
OVERALL
A solid toy based more on representing Megatron as seen in the cartoon than providing a playable toy. There are no gimmicks and the poseability is limited, but he does gain a hand. The sculpt is great and the colours good - even if the purple is a shade darker than it probably should be. I'm not sure I'd recommend this if you have the Robot Masters version - but I don't have that one which is why I picked this one up. He's not a must-have for BW fans, although the added hand is a nice feature. The technology and transformation are pretty close to the original, in truth. A decent figure but not a greta one - 6.5/10
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