Transformers Generations Leader Class Megatron

The Combiner Wars have only just begun and we’ve already got the most ruthless of them in Toys R Us stores…Megatron! Will this be your new go to Megatron or should you keep looking for the perfect version?

 

Leader Class Megatron is currently shipping in two different decos, Gen 1 and Armada. This is obviously the Gen 1 inspired version. The packaging has the new Combiner Wars appearance to it.

 

Inside the box, you’ll find the Instruction Booklet, Sticker Sheet and Art Card. The sticker sheet has a few callbacks to the original Gen 1 version and also includes an Autobot symbol in reference to Megatron becoming an Autobot in the More Than Meets The Eye comic. I like the idea of choices like this with the sticker sheets, unfortunately they printed these stickers on white backgrounds so all of the stickers are going to be a little jarring on the silver figure they’re made for. I assume this was done to make the colors on the sigils brighter and because a clear background would have allowed the tampo’d Decepticon sigil that’s already on the chest to show through. I think a silver background would have been more preferable.

 

Megatron stands an impressive 9 1/2″ tall. The Gen 1 appearance is pretty close to the original cartoon look with some throwbacks to the original toy, like the red forearm panels. There are some newer details here and there since he does turn into a Tank now. Standing straight up, Megatron looks like a Powermaster Optimus Prime brick of a toy but there’s more articulation there than you might think.

There’s a lot of ratcheting swivel/hinge joints in the shoulders and hips, swivel thigh joints add to the leg’s articulation while the neck and elbows have swivel/hinge action and swivel wrists. Due to the nature of his transformation, the feet can be pointed upwards, but not downwards. I really like that the sides of the waist piece are hinged to allow the hips to widen while keeping the aesthetic looking good. I just wish they had the same thing on the front as the waist plate hinders the leg’s forward movement, also the knees can only make an obtuse angle not quite getting up to 90 degrees due to the tank treads getting in the way.

 

The Fusion Cannon has a nice feature in that it’s on a hinge joint so that you can have it flush against the arm when pointing it straight out or you can swing it aside to allow the elbow to bend. This gets the Fusion Cannon out of the way for the arm articulation, but keeps everything looking natural.

 

Megatron Also comes with two guns that can join into one large gun. The larger of the two guns initially reminded me of the Gun that came with Gen 2 Megatron, but it’s only a basic shape similarity, unfortunately there aren’t many details shared between the two.

Megatron can use the combined gun

 

or hold the guns in each hand

 

But let’s be honest, this is the only weapon Megatron needs

 

Megatron also comes with a single red missile that can be fired from the Fusion Cannon in either Tank or Robot mode. The red button fires the missile. It doesn’t shoot too far though, we’ve had a few recent figures with a more powerful launching missile than Megatron here.

 

The head sculpt on this figure is perfect, I really can’t find a flaw here. The eyes have light piping so they can appear to light up.

 

When you start to transform Megatron into Tank mode, you find my favorite easter egg underneath his chest. That little sculpted orb appears to be Megatron’s spark chamber we saw in the Beast Wars episode “Master Blaster” when BW Megatron combined his spark with Gen 1 Megatron’s spark

It’s little details like this that shows me the sculptors and toy designers are fans themselves and add just a little more joy into an already awesome toy.

 

Megatron’s Tank mode is a basic Abrams style. The all silver paint job feels like it could use some breaking up in the color department, but then the robot mode would suffer.

 

Both guns can be plugged into holes in the back of the turret

 

There are also four Minicon ports that can hold Minicons perfectly. They were probably added for the Armada version, but they don’t detract from the Gen 1 version and can allow Megatron to get some firepower upgrades.

In Robot mode, there are only three Minicon ports, Two on the back and one on the left shoulder (the fourth one is now under the waist plate)

 

Megatron is much taller than the Voyager Class Optimus Prime and if you measured only to the top of the head, Megatron stands a bit taller than Leader Class Jetfire (Though Jetfire’s back kibble makes him technically taller)

Megatron can still be dwarfed by the original Masterpiece Prime, but he may be closer in size to the smaller Masterpiece Prime (I don’t have one to do a proper size comparison to though)

 

This is an awesome Megatron, he’s large, has some bulk to him and looks very close to what I grew up watching on TV. This feels like Hasbro’s answer to all the Masterpiece and Third Party Megatrons out there, and I have to say, I’m not disappointed. The more I’ve played with this figure, the more I’ve loved it. It’s just an awesome toy that I highly recommend to anyone.