You can't put a good man down, but the same can be said about a bad one, and no one is as bad and as tenacious as the live-action movie incarnation of Megatron. The dude's been stabbed in the chest, left to rot in the bottom of the ocean, kicked, punched, shot, sliced open and even took a full-on blast to the face with his own gun. But now he's coming back in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third and possibly final film in the franchise, and we get a sneak peek of Megatron's new 'look' with this new Voyager-class Megatron toy that I'll be reviewing today!
First off, I love how small and economic the new toyline's boxes are. The previous Voyager-class toys were often in boxes too big for them, but Megatron here is in a box that's just right. Just him in robot mode and his MechTech weapon (I'll come back to that in a bit) in as small a space as they could package them in.
Photos surfaced a couple of months ago of a heavily-armored tanker truck that was seen on set during the filming of Dark of the Moon in Detroit. We now know that the truck is Megatron, and we get an eyeful of his new alt-mode with this toy. Megatron converts into a Mack truck, and it's quite possibly the best-looking alt-mode I've seen in a movieverse figure so far. From the sculpted details to the sharp paint apps all over, it's like a scale model Mack truck, and it looks really good.
It's unfortunate though that due to the sheer length of a real-life tanker truck, Megatron's alt-mode had to be scaled down considerably to accommodate a Voyager-sized robot. Meaning Megatron's alt-mode is noticeably small. Like real small.
Now let's check out movie Megatron in all his glory!
Whoa jeez. Okay. Sorry about that, Megs.
Megatron took a severe beating from Optimus Prime in Revenge of the Fallen, and it seems that in the third film he's conscious of his appearance, both literally and figuratively. He's covered in a tarpaulin cloak to hide the damage to his face and body, and his new alt-mode reflects his new philosophy: hide in plain sight. No more alien tanks or jets...you wouldn't know this truck was a Decepticon until it was too late.
Transformation is pretty straightforward, and its ironic that Megatron takes some transformation cues from his nemesis Optimus Prime, who also transforms into a truck! The soft plastic "tarp" that covers the tanker in truck mode becomes his hood and cloak, and he looks really sinister and suspicious with it. The hands that end in those sharp claws just sell the look!
Without the cloak, you get a good disgusted look at Megatron's damaged face. His whole right eye's gone, and he's none too happy. Articulation is surprisingly plentiful, and his joints have a good range of motion. He can go from skulking to scary awesome with ease.
The previous two movie toylines introduced the MechAlive and AutoMorph gimmicks, and the latest technology they'll be using on the new toys is the MechTech weapons system, which is basically weapons that morph into different ones. Part of Megatron's tanker becomes his signature arm blaster, and when you push down on one end it morphs into a awesome-looking Fusion Cannon. A cool gimmick, though you have to hold down on the weapon for it to stay in its cooler-looking Fusion Cannon mode. It would have been nice if you can lock it into place.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is shaping up to be an awesome movie. Transformers: Dark of the Moon's premiere is also a good three months away, so I'm surprised to see the movie's toyline trickling in bit by bit into the market. I'm pretty happy with this new Voyager-class Megatron toy. The robot mode's got a lot of personality, the truck mode looks awesome, and he's got me excited for another helping of a live-action Transformers movie. Which is pretty hard to do!
The Dark of the Moon toyline is yet to be released in the U.S., so I guess my country's pretty lucky. But once it drops, this toy gets a high recommendation from me. If you've got more thoughts on this toy, let me know by dropping me a line in the comments box below! Thanks for reading!
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