Product Description

Name: Megatron
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Series: Transformers More Than Meets the Eye Classics
Release Date: November 2006
Details (Description): MEGATRON is the most feared and powerful leader in the history of CYBERTRON. His might is legendary, and his name is spoken only in whispers. He will stop at nothing in his drive to conquer the universe. So great is his will to power that even his own followers are little more to him than fuel for his war machine, and his enemies are less than the dust he grinds beneath his heel. He is always at the front of any DECEPTICON charge, soaring into the sky and vaporizing enemy positions with his anti-proton pulse cannon. The mere sight of his snarling face is enough to break the spirit of many an AUTOBOT.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69760 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Hasbro
• Model: 81298
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Features

• Classic Transformers design from the '80s
• Megatron is the most feared and powerful leader in the history of Cybertron
• Megatron turns into a colorful pistol, ready to blast away at his Autobot enemies
• 8-inch posable figure
• Arm-mounted fusion cannon

Customer Reviews

A Gun Once More!
Well, "Transformers Classics" has arrived, and in its clever reimagining of classic Generation One characters with modern toy-making technology, it achieves something that has not been accomplished in the Transformers brand since 1984. Yep, that's right, the leader of the evil Decepticons is once more a handgun. A futuristic Nerf-looking handgun lacking any die-cast parts, mind you, but a gun nonetheless. Since regulations surrounding the manufacture of toy guns went all parental back in the mid-'80s, ol' Megs has been shuffled from a gun to a space cannon (G1 Galvatron), a tank (G2), a jet (Machine Wars), a reptile (Beast Wars), a dragon-man (Beast Machines), a something-or-other that changes into anywhere from six to ten different things depending on whether he's Megatron or Galvatron (Robots In Disguise), another tank (Armada), a gunship (Energon), a race car (Cybertron), and some weird alien fighter-craft-thing (the upcoming live-action movie). But now things are full circle, and Megatron once more has that nasty black fusion cannon astride his right forearm, like a fond reunion with a trusted old friend.
Now with all the nostalgia that Hasbro has pumped into the appeal of this line, there is a noticeable trade-off in Megatron's case. Manufacturing capability now allows for toys of G1 characters that enable them to greatly resemble their cartoon/comic counterparts, which is a far cry from the original G1 toy line. This Megatron's robot mode sports about as much resemblance to the cartoon/comic design model as the G1 toy did, but the difference here is that this new design lends itself much better to its transformation.
The transformation is average in terms of complexity as compared to all the other newer TF toy lines. It takes some practice to get down, but that is achieveable. The green on this figure's color scheme also takes a bit of getting used to, but it does have its benefits in terms of a tried-and-true action figure gimmick neatly incorporated into this line: light-piped eyes. Granted, a more nostalgic TF fan/collector would probably have preferred red eyes to match the character's animated incarnation (and modern comic versions), and this figure lacks the rubsign that the others in this line sport.
Apart from that, the only weakness in the figure is the flimsiness of its 'wings' after a couple transformations. This is typical of Transformers of such a design (usually referred to as "shellformers").
In closing: Classics Megatron is a great toy that offers both the proper sense of respect for the character's G1 roots and yet provides something with genuine play value, which is more than can be said for TF lines like Alternators.

A solid toy, unfortunately not and well conceived as others in the line.
I have this toy, and I wanted to say that I am glad that Megatron is a gun again, and I am not upset about the orange or purple. Hasbro had to meet specific legal requirements for a toy that resembles a gun and they did so with a minimal amount of uncharacteristic cheese.

That being said I also very much like his core robot mode. He is very menacing and his has very good poseability and balance. Also his transformation was the easiest one from any of the new Classics Transformers that I have yet to purchase.

My only gripe is really two part. One is his giant green wings. Megatron is a gun, not a bird and in this case not a jet place. He has no need of giant green wings. And they are described as "wings" on the packaging, although they really just look like the outside of the gun and not wings like those found on the much better conceived Classics Jetfire toy.

My second part of this complaint is that Megatron is not a true transformer. He is a glorified "Shell-Former." In case you have not heard the term before, a "shell-former" is a transformer toy in which the engineers took the easy way out, but hiding nearly all of the transformers robotic aspect behind large pieces of formed plastic. The Original Scourge and the Titanium edition Scourge is another example of a "shell-former."

When you pull apart the halfs of the gun shell, you see all the parts of Megatron fit together losely inside. It is easy to see where the parts go and form him into his robot mode and like I said his transformation was almost simplistic.

Also of all the transformers from the Transformers: Classics line this toy seems the least detailed. He has none of the original Megatron's chest detailing and none of the detailing you find on the other toys. I feel the lack of detail probably stems from the fact that most of the robot parts are hidden behind the plastic shells instead of viewable in both robot and vehicle mode like in the other toys. Its the vehicle details on a lot of the toys that make the robots look so good.

It saddens me that this toy was not as conceived as well as the rest of the toys in the Transformers: Classics line. Each one of them has been one of my favorites among my Transformer toys simply because of the incredible engineering put into them, that they transform so well, with so much detail and yet also are incredibly poseable.

Unfortunaly I find myself somewhat dissapointed with this figure from the Transformers: Classics line.

A great Megatron!
While I am not crazy about his gun mode, I absolutely love Megatron's robot mode. His head resembles the G1 cartoon version of Megatron. Some slight problems - Megatron's head seems pretty small compared to his body. The green color on his "wings" seems off with the rest of the figure. Also, lastly the orange on the end of his cannon is even more off than the green.

The purple is right on with his coloring scheme as Galvatron. Too bad Takara didn't use this color purple on the reissue of Galvatron rather than the light purple. Overall this figure is worth it if you want a robot version of Megatron. His gun mode is not so appealing, but the robot mode rules!