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Who is Superman without Lex Luthor?  Who is Bart Simpson without Sideshow Bob?  Who is Optimus Prime without Megatron?  If there is one constant in the Transformers universe, it’s Megatron.  Heck, Megatron has been in more series than even Optimus Prime (US continuities).  Beast Wars didn’t have an “Optimus Prime” it had of course “Optimus Primal”.  But it still had Megatron.

So even without a show to back I up, Megatron is a definite requirement of the Classics line.  But what form should he be?  These are a line meant to be modern version of G1 characters.  Bumblebee is a little yellow car, Starscream is a F-15 Jet, Prime is a semi, but Megatron was a gun.  They can’t make gun toys can they?  Well it seems they can, if they make some compromises.

Yes, like his G1 counterpart, Megatron once again turns into a gun.  The past several Megatrons have become dragons and tanks and Batmobiles, this one goes back to his roots.  But he doesn’t turn into a sleek silver Walther, no, this Megatron turns into a mighty Nerf pistol.  Which brings up compromise number one, he can’t look like a real gun, and he can’t be called a “gun” so now he’s a “blaster” that looks like some sort of futuristic kid’s toy.  Though heaven forbid a, you know, kid’s toy, look like a kid’s toy.

It’s not a bad design though.  Megatron looks really nice in gun mode.  In fact I was going to pass on this Megs until I saw it in the store, packaged in gun mode, and saw just how beautiful it really was in person.  It’s a little small for my adult hands to use, but it’s not impossible and is actually fairly comfortable.

To the disappointment of many (not me) Megatron doesn’t have any sort of electronics.  Many were hoping that he’s make some sort of sound effect when the trigger was pulled but alas, all he does is click.  At least we get the click.  Looking at the robot mode design I can’t only imagine how much articulation we’d have had to lose in order to get electronics in this toy.  The chest is about the only place they could have stuffed it though now that I think about it the head folds into the chest.  There just isn’t anywhere on this toy to put electronics.  As neat as it may have been, forcing sound effects on this toy would have only hindered it.  I don’t mind.  I have Transformers I’ve never even thought about putting batteries in (Energon Shockblast takes batteries??).  Electronic lights and sound has never been a selling point for me.

The transformation is not quite what one would expect.  I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen or touched a G1 Megatron in person, his is a transformation I’ve never been able to figure out.  I’m sure though that this toy’s transformation is nothing like that.  For starters, the legs are not made from halves of the grip.  The grip is one leg, the other leg rests under the barrel.  Secondly, the twists and turns the chest area makes are rather complicated to be an updated G1 design.  Finally I know that G1 Megatron didn’t end up with wings formed by the shell of his gun mode.

The most noticeable thing about Megatron is robot mode is of course these wings.  Here’s a recommendation.  The official transformation ends up with the wings facing “Green side front wards”.  This looks really ugly because the green transparent plastic looks really unfinished.  It looks like the inside of a toy, and not in a good way.  If you flip the wings over, they stick up a bit higher, but the painted side faces front wards.  This looks 100% better.  It also helps to hide them actually.  Sire they are huge but if they are mostly whitish gray instead of neon green, they are easy to forget.  They are also not removable without permanently cutting them off.  I tried unscrewing the trigger housing to see if I could just pop them off but the design of the toy won’t allow this.  Kind of disappointing really since you could still clip the shell on even with them removed as a separate piece. 

Why would you want to remove them?  Why because without the wings this is a very good updated representation of G1 Megs.  The head could use a little work and the chest is a bit flashier but it still has all the right proportions.  Most importantly are the big honking arm canon and the stylish flare out feet.  Sadly the arm cannon lacks the distinct tail fins of the original design.  An almost perfect tiny replica of G1 Meg’s arm cannon came with Energon Ravage and fans loved it.  It’s kind of disappointing that they didn’t go the extra mile here on the cannon.  If I had to guess, I’d say they were left out for safety reasons.  The canon becomes the scope in “Blaster mode” and pointy tail fins aren’t really something you want a kid holding near his eye.  Never mind the bug old spiky hammer sitting just under the scope.

I do have a few minor nitpicks on this toy.  As I mentioned before, the head seems a little off.  Too many lines on it I think.  The wings aren’t removable but they are kind of cool.  Some people may not like the colors.  Personally I think it’s kind of a nice color scheme.  I’m a bit disappointed he’s not black and silver and such but this works pretty well.  Essentially his primary color is a light soft gray color.  He has accent colors of transparent neon green, gold, “Decepticon purple” and orange.  The Purple and White scheme works really well as it hints to his future as Galvatron.  The issue I have is with the orange.  I understand the need for the Orange gun barrel tip that lands on his shoulder.  What I don’t care for are the orange gears in his hips and most importantly, the orange tip on his scope.  The gears almost work for an accent color but the orange on the scope is kind of ugly, especially since it’s his primary weapon.  Really the only excuse I can think of is that Hasbro didn’t want to have an entire mold for one tiny part.

My only other problem with this toy, and it’s kind of minor but it really drives me nuts, this toy REALLY needs rotating wrists.  Or even to have the fists molded in a different position.  The arm cannon is set up to land on the underside of the arm in robot mode but it looks much nicer when it’s on the top side, especially for aiming and shooting.  I could even live with it landing on the side of the arm.  The way the fists is molded though, in order to get the canon on the top side, the fists ends up upside down.  It’s not really even that noticeable I suppose it’s just the only problem I’ve had with this toy’s design.

But one problem is not an excuse to hate a toy (most of the time).  Classics Megs is a very solid design and a very solid toy.  The design and look is very good over all.  He’s still all around menacing as he should be.  I can wholly recommend this toy and I know had I passed on him like I originally intended I’d have ended up kicking myself over it later.