Transformers DOTM Megatron Review

by Loran

If there’s one Movieverse character I’ve been holding off on ever since the first Transformers movie, it was Megatron. I came close to buying the repaint of his Revenge of the Fallen Leader a few times, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I liked the look of his ROTF Voyager, but I didn’t like the idea of having such a small Megatron with no Optimus to fight, since I didn’t like any of the Voyager Primes available at the time. Then his Dark of the Moon figure was revealed… and I was sold. Megatron as a big nasty truck? That’s new. Only one problem… he’s a Voyager! So I guess I had to settle for a smaller Megatron. But is he good enough to warrant purchasing a similarly-sized Prime for him to fight? Let’s take a look…

My friends and I dubbed this vehicle mode “Mad Maxatron”, because seriously, he looks like he crawled out of Road Warrior or something. Now I haven’t read the comics, so I’m not sure how he got this form, or why, but I’m sure he just wanted to blend in… sort of. It’s an awesome vehicle mode, nonetheless—an actual licensed Mack truck, to boot. It’s a big, intimidating tanker with a tattered tarp on the back. The trailer doesn’t swivel of course, but that’s obviously because transformation wouldn’t allow it (NERDY EDITOR’S NOTE: The trailer actually DOES swivel. It’s a ratcheted swivel and is very cleverly done). He has four usable MechTech ports and even a few spots for 3mm clip weapons.

Megatron has a transformation of adequate difficulty. Not too easy, not too hard. The only gripe I have is how easily stuff clashes against each other, and his arms don’t like resting easy in vehicle mode.

His robot mode is just nasty. He’s all rusty and broken-down. The major characteristics from his forms from the previous two films have been carried over very well to this new design. He’s much thinner than his design from the current movie, but for the purposes of the toy, it works. The only thing I’m not really sure on is the color. He looks a little too brown. I would’ve preferred more of a silvery-gray, but I guess the brownish hue goes more with his new war-torn state. I don’t much care for his hands. While they may look cool, he can’t hold anything with them—any 5mm or MechTech weapons would have to be plugged into his forearms.

At the end of Revenge of the Fallen, Optimus blew a pretty big hole in Megatron’s head. This carried over to his new design, as it looks like it hasn’t quite recovered yet. I love this design choice because it allows for some AWESOME light-piping. Shame he doesn’t have little Doctor drones crawling around his head, though.

His articulation is quite good, coming in with double-jointed elbows and even a waist swivel (which is technically at his chest, but whatever). His legs have enough articulation for some pretty good poses, like standing atop his fallen enemies! Yeeeaaah!

Megatron is one of the few (only?) DOTM toys thus far whose MechTech gun is an integral part of his vehicle mode. Part of his fuel tank becomes some sort of energy claw thing. It’s pretty cool, and like the other Voyager MechTech weapons, it locks into place by twisting the ladder a bit. It also has ports for three other weapons! Now that’s overkill. All things considered, though, I would’ve liked to see the shotgun he had in the actual movie…

Of course, his most notable accessory is his cowl. A two-piece rubberized cowl that covers his head and left shoulder. While it may detract from his articulation a bit, the look is more important than anything. This is what really sets him apart from previous versions of the character, and the line as a whole.

While I much would’ve preferred a new Leader-class figure, the Voyager figure certainly exceeds my expectations. He’s highly recommended and any flaws can be easily overlooked. I’d suggest getting him from FP along with maybe Fireburst Prime, who comes with an axe. I need to get one of those, myself…