TLK Megatron

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Skyquake87
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TLK Megatron

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Megatron
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Merciless Tyrant


Bio: Megatron was not always the viciously powerful and brutally direct leader of the Decepticons: he was once brothers-in-arms with Optimus and a student of Sentinel Prime, appointed to be Cybertron's Protector and commander of its Defence Force. But Megatron resented his comrade, knowing he was a Prime and therefore Sentinel's favored son. This anger allowed The Fallen to ensnare him and led to the revival of the Decepticons. Even without The Fallen, it's not hard to imagine that Megatron would have erupted Cybertron into war to rid himself of Optimus.

Megatron tends to become so obsessed with the object of his desires that he can ignore "secondary" matters, glaring flaws in his plans. Otherwise, he likely wouldn't have chased after the Allspark alone, and spent centuries entombed in the Arctic. Trying to talk Megatron out of blindly going for his goals is useless. He will risk his world, his troops, and even his own spark to achieve his goals; these things do not matter to Megatron. Like his master, Megatron feels a violent hatred towards humans and views them as only slightly above bacteria, a feeling exacerbated by spending decades as their prisoner.

Despite this fatal flaw, Megatron did not achieve his dreaded status through simple warmongering. He's a manipulative, cunning strategist who can plan multiple schemes spanning millennia, and while they may overlap, they all help him towards his one, true goal: the restoration of Cybertron. For all his evils, Megatron genuinely strives to save his home planet some day, and with it, the Cybertronian Race; even if it means he has to rule it with his iron fist and put his bloodlust to good use to do so.


To go with the title of the film, Megaton finds himself with a Pendragon style makeover for The Last Knight. Ditching his temporary identity as Galvatron and seemingly reformatted as a true Cybertronian, rather than the cloud of flying cubes cobbled together on Earth. It was a much improved look for the Decepticon leader, whom previously looked liked he was made out scrunched up tinfoil and pipe cleaners. And turned into something that looked the same. The Dark Of The Moon semi-truck was the only other movie Megatron toy I'd previously owned. A toy that came so close to being great, undermined as it was by boring grey plastics and being too small. This new toy looked like it was finally going to give the growling beast a toy he was worthy of.


Robot mode: I really like this. He's really nicely designed and looks suitably muscular to be able to do someone some series damage. The knightly armour look really suits him and I like the curves and shaping this brings to him. His head's kind of horrible to look at, all angry old man face and wonky ram horns, but I like the snarl he has and the evil red light piping. There's some nice asymmetry in the design of his robot mode, but it's not too mental. Just great touches like different looking shoulder pauldrons and chest plates. I really like the cloven feet he has too. The dense graphite colour picked out with gold also looks really cool. Just don't look at him from the back. He's a bit honeycombed. Weapons-wise he has a tidy looking fusion cannon on his right arm which would look better if it weren't for the hinge and slight gap it leaves. Best of all is the frightening looking sword which balloons out into this axe shape, much like an Ikakalaka – which might be my favourite name ever for a bladed implement.

Alternate Mode: Given how burly the robot mode is, it's amazing to see it transform into this sleek looking alternate mode that Generations Cyclonus toys can only dream about. It's a Cybertronian jet, but not a rubbish looking one like that flying coat hanger he got in the first film. It's really nice and sleek, with all the robot junk fairly neatly tucked away underneath. I love the extra bursts of gold and gunmetal you get in this mode, along with that dollop of jam for the cockpit. No landing gear, but great for swooshing around and blasting the bejesus out of your enemies. The forward facing thrusters are interesting, mind.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation design: I'm particularly impressed by the way you get this knightly looking fellow that doesn't look like it turns into anything busts out this sleek looking attack craft. It's all fairly simply done too. I like how the design has thought of having the aircraft folded around the humanoid form. Gets us away from the dull seeker design, or 'bots just wearing their alt-mode on their back. He does have a bit of messy jet mode junk at the rear, but it's tidy enough and you can cover it up with a nifty storage point for his sword. 9/10

Articulation: Megatron has a good range of movement, just lacking waist and wrists swivel. It's all you need for striking some terrifying poses. 9/10

Durability: The figure feels structurally sound and the plastics are very nice, with soft plastics used for the skirts, so nothing feels like its fragile or going to break any time soon. 9/10

Fun:
Easily the most fun movie Megatron figure. He looks good, poses well, has some excellent weapons and a clever transformation. 10/10

Value/ Price: Initially hard to come by, I ended up picking up mine for around £20, as he arrived just as the movie cycle was over and shops were clearing out the last vestiges of the The Last Knight line as the Studio Series line launched. Good price for a good figure. Aftermarket prices may vary, so it may be worth waiting for a Studio Series version – which like the other TLK figures that have popped up in that line will likely just be a repaint of this figure anyway... 8/10

Overall: A really great and impressive figure, this is easily the best movie version of Megatron we've ever had. It's translated well into toy form, thanks to the slightly simpler designs used for the battling 'bots in the last couple of Bay-helmed films. I think this has really helped Hasbro and Takara out when it comes to the movie toys, as they've felt a lot cleaner and more fun to play with in this line compared to previous ones. Good work! 9/10
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Tantrum
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Re: TLK Megatron

Post by Tantrum »

Is this the Voyager or the Leader? I'm guessing Voyager from the price, but I found my Leader for US$20 when shops here were clearing out TLK figures, so I'm not sure.
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Skyquake87
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Re: TLK Megatron

Post by Skyquake87 »

Yeah, it's the voyager. The face mask thing wasn't exciting enough to for me to get the big lad.
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