Transformers Animated Leader - Megatron

The kids love them - I hate them! They fall apart easily, pieces go missing almost immediately - just not built like the original ones when I was a kid. This particular one is actually a bit sturdier than most. My son really enjoys them...

I decided to review this because I love some things about it and also really think some things about it are not done well. Since reviews are ideally supposed to help people decide whether or not they want to buy something, I figured mentioning specifics would help.



The good stuff:



First of all, he really looks imposing. A lot of figures look cool, but don't really give you a particular mood when you look at them. I think this figure captures very well the powerful aura that Megatron should have. I showed the figure to someone who isn't a Transformers fan and he shivered and said 'He looks like he's coming to get me!' Perfect.



And his colors are gorgeous. Especially as a helicopter, he looks very elegant.



Second, his transformation mimics very closely his transformation in the show. Not having any other figures from Transformers Animated, I'm not sure if this is something that they took care with for all figures in the line. I do know it's true of this one. The steps you take to transform his legs and feet are almost exactly what you see in his transformation sequence in the show. That's a very nice touch.



Third, I love that his swords become his rotors in helicopter mode. Not only does that help with the bane of all action-figure owners, losing loose parts, but it also looks very cool. It helps him to continue to look dangerous (see first point above) in helicopter mode.



Fourth, he's very sturdy. I have a few other fancy Transformers and several of them have areas that are not particularly structurally sound. This guy's rock solid.



Fifth, a neat little easter egg: While putting the cannon/underside on him in helicopter mode, he makes the classic transformation sound and lights up.



And now the bad stuff:



First, the worst thing about this figure is his shoulders and the bits on his back that form wings in helicopter mode. Those wing-bits are in the way when you try to point his arms straight out. While you can straighten his arm fully, the top of his shoulder grazes the wing-bits. When I did this, some of the red paint on the top of his shoulder scraped off onto the underside of the wing. It's not highly visible, but it did mess the paint up, and I'm afraid to point his arms straight out for fear of messing up his paint more.



Second, the bit behind his head that forms his cockpit in helicopter mode was stuck on my figure. I couldn't get it to budge to transform him in half an evening of trying and finally had to enlist the help of someone more mechanically inclined than I to loosen it up. It was fine after that, but I was nervous that we'd damage him, and he's a pretty expensive figure. I don't know if mine was just slightly defective, but you may want to watch out for this if you intend to transform him at all.



Third, the bit that attaches his cannon to his arm is big and bulky because it forms the part of his body underneath his cockpit in helicopter mode. In robot mode, wearing the cannon unbalances his arm and makes it heavy, which only adds to the difficulty in posing his arm that I mention in point 1. He's really, really difficult to pose well because of these things, despite decent articulation. (It's less bad if you take his cannon off, but Megatron's not Megatron without his cannon.) (Side note to the nerds: as packaged, his cannon is on the wrong arm.)



Fourth, in helicopter mode you have to put his landing gear down and have no good option for tucking them away. This isn't really a terrible thing, but it niggles at mw. Why should his landing gear always be down?



Fifth, something cool becomes a drawback: As I said, while putting the cannon/underside on him in helicopter mode, he makes the classic transformation sound and lights up. This is awesome... except that if you have trouble locking it in (which I did at first) it means he goes 'doot doot doot doot doot' at you OVER AND OVER AND OVER until you want to throw him. :-)



Sixth, the sort of thing that only bothers Transformers nerds: His Decepticon insignia is red rather than purple. This is probably because it goes better with the aforementioned beautiful color scheme than a big purple thing would, but it is a head-scratcher to me that the leader of the Decepticons has an Autobot-colored insignia!



Overall, I like the figure quite a lot. But I feel that he also has serious design flaws, and I wish I had known about them beforehand. I wanted to tell you all about them, so if you are thinking of getting this figure (or his repaint) you know that there are a few things to consider.



Unless you plan to keep him in his package. :-)

oh yeah Megatron! The original badass! I've never seen any TFA but this Meg looks 10 times better than ROTF Meg so I bought this instead. His overall colors and the big ass gun is so G1. Head design seems to take cues from both G1 and movie, but it works. Alt mode is perfect. The chopper with a huge cannon looks intimidating. Chopper blades rotate in sync with each other. Pressing the Decepticon logo in this mode makes flying noises, and in bot mode it makes Meg say one of three short phrases like 'crush the Autobots' or 'where is the All-Spark'. The launcher is powerful, I swear that thing shoots 10 feet easy. He's got the standard transformation sound that seems to be included with all leader and ultra class figures, triggered when you transform the cockpit piece. My only gripe is that when the cannon is attached, the arm can feel kinda loose. Legs also look a little short, and the knee joints are a tad loose, more b/c the figure does weigh a bit. But overall, I'm very happy with this figure. This is the Megatron we deserve, unlike the stupid Bay-gatron we got in ROTF. TF fans go out and buy this now! Peace through Tyranny!

I love Animated figures: cool desigh, nice transformation. This Megatron is near perfect, all the classic reference with a modern touch.

this is by far one the best Megatrons ive Seen since Generation 1 and with his transformation and i love how he has his fusion cannon like his G1 self

this is a must pick up i think the only downside is when u put the headmaster on megatron there is no sound changes like on leader class bulkhead.