TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

dedicon's review of: RiD Megatron Megabolt

Name: Megatron. Megabolt, Megatron.
Faction: Decepti... Oh, who are we kidding? It's a Vehicon!
Function: Big Giant Floating Head, and an evil one at that!
"Each fight only strengthens me for the next battle!"

Embodies the cruel and destructive nature of a nefarious leader. Houses the spark of a Predacon, though newly proclaims himself to be a Decepticon -- a display of his arrogance. A battle-hardened commander who wants nothing more than universal domination. has led the devastation of countless worlds before coming to Earth, and is set on eradicating the Autobots. Developed "Emissary Mode" to combine with his space cruiser and even the secret Autobot defense fortress in attempt to gain absolute power. In robot form, he attacks with energy claws and sonic missiles.

So, after something like two months off, I finally came back to reviewing. And one of the reasons why(other than finally having time to breath after getting my MCSA certificate) is because I got a toy incarnation for the greatest Megatron ever, Megabolt.

In 1999/2000, Hasbro showed the creators of the BM (Beast Machines) series a sum of toys to pick characters for the show. The creators loved the floating head design and incorporated it into the show. Unfortunately, the BM toy line failed miserably and many toys never seen the light of day. 2 toys the fans have waited for eventually came out: one was the Supreme/Air attack Optimus Primal. The second was this: Megatron Megabolt.

Snot,that was a long introduction! Let’s get to the review!

Robot mode:

I am going to start with the negatives on this one: The “normal” (no helmet) head is just plain ugly. It has the Beast era signature: the grinding teeth of doom! It’s funny, because the Beast era Megatron was the most intelligent one of the entire TF Universe. The second problematic thing about this toy Is the entire lower area. The knee joint is very weak, thus making it hard to stabilize the toy, not to mention posing him in cool positions. The feet are being hidden by the lower leg shields, making Megs look like he has no actual feet, or even worse, some really big pants. Luckily, the rest is more than ok, especially the colors. The dark purple and metallic grey with tones of dull grey make one mean Vehicon emperor. The hands are opened instead of closed fists. The add-ons from the Alt mode on his back and shoulders don’t take a thing from the toy appearance. And since the toy’s knees fall forward instead of backward, the backpack isn’t the reason for the instability either.

Attack mode (AKA- I have a helmet dammit!)

Press the Vehicon spark in the middle of the torso and a missile launcher with a helmet will pop out from the backpack. This gives him a) Helmet to make his head more “show accurate” and B) a missile to have some offence in this mode. Defiantly enhance the robot mode.

Bah, lets just say it’s a good mode and go to the real deal, the BGH(“Big Giant Head”) mode…

Big Giant Head mode:

It’s the big giant head! Really, props go to Hasbro for making a completely original alt mode. First, the head Is almost dead on to the one in the show (other than the neon green eyes, they are red on the show). Another thing is that the insect legs were added for gimmick reasons. After all, how much play can you get out of a head alone? When you roll him on the floor (or almost any surface) he moves his mouth up and down. If you press the Vehicon spark, the mouth will open, but his missile launcher will move backwards. About the launcher, it’s right in the middle of his mouth, which is a plus. Then again, the helmet is connected to the launcher, thus showing in the bottom of the Robot in Disguise head, and that is sort of a minus. By the way, Hasbro decided that putting Brave Maximus in the tech specs alone without actually make the 2 combine will really be a shame. Thus, all you need to do is remove the black tentacles, and this great mode can be also used as Fort/Brave/the other Maximus’s head!

I won’t lie about this, if it wasn’t for the head mode, this toy would be mediocre at best, probably because of that lower body problems, as the ugly head can be fixed with the attack mode. BUT, the head IS the alt mode, and an incredible one at that! Not a beast, nor a vehicle, just a big, evil, giant, floating (or creepy insect crawling) head!

Transformation: 8- Hard, Guess why? The lower part! It took me about five or ten minutes just to figure that out.
Durability: 9- This is a “new Generation” toy. Ball jointed and very durable for children. And if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for us collectors, too.
Fun: 10- It’s a gimmicked big giant head that can fit the biggest transformer in history, So yes, it’s fun.
Price: X - varies greatly. This could go from $10 (less than retail but very hard to find) to $30-40. Depends on Ebay and your hunting experience. He’s worth $20, not more. And that’s mostly because of the character aspect and the cool alt mode.
Overall: 8- I love the toy, but the shortcomings in the robot mode hurts the score greatly. Don’t get me wrong, the robot mode is OK, but not as good as it could with slight modifications. Still, recommended.