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The Grand Transformers Thread

I'm pretty sure the first one is Impactor.
The last one has a very optimums-y silhouette and since Nemesis Prime and Toxitron have been covered, my only guess would be Genrai.
 
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GuestLurker said:
Let's go with option 2.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, all right. :D

Back in 1984, there were three 'big' toys released in Wave One of G1. Optimus Prime, Soundwave, and Megatron. These were the premium ones IMHO. I'm lucky to own reissues of all three of them. I'll be reviewing each one in order from what I consider to be worst to best. So this week, I'm gonna start with...

G1 Megatron


Megatron was released in 1984, originally from the Microman line in Japan. He transforms into a Walther P-38 pistol, specifically the one from the Man from UNCLE television show. Here he is as-is, without the attachments. This is an Encore Reissue from Japan, so he can actually fire one of the twenty plastic pellets he came with.



Here he is with the stock, silencer, and scope attached. The scope actually works, unlike MP-05. And he can still fire the pellets. Unfortunately, he has trouble staying together in this mode. The chest is supposed to collapse down more, and I can't get it fully collapsed. This is... I'll explain my feelings later.

Transformation is quite involved. Take off the bits. The hammer folds down to become the head. the back splits to form the arms and the middle rotates quite nicely to form his chest and the barrel on the back. The handle forms the legs. Transforming MP-05, and then this, I can see how MP-05 expanded the transformation... for the worse. And what do we get?



Here's Megatron. He is... shiny. :p He';s also just plain weird-looking. I mean look at him! His legs are way too skinny and are on these damned metal bars that do NOT lock into place, so they're always swinging about. He's got the gun barrel and trigger in the most unfortunate of places. Oh, and his head? You know how he's got that bucket head thing going? It's kibble. The 'bucket' is merely his trigger. He's got a whole head inside of it!

Articulation is pretty limited. His arms can rotate at the elbows, but that's about it. There's some play in his legs, but the feet won't stay properly deployed, so he's got some balance issues.

Megatron comes with quite a few accessories.



He's got this sword and gun that... I don't think have ever been used in fiction. Maybe they got referenced in the fight he had with Optimus in the movie? I dunno. They don't have any place to go in pistol mode.

The stock and silencer can be combined in one of two ways:



A free-standing laser weapon.



A... thing that mounts to Megatron. As far as I know, neither of these have ever been referenced in fiction.

So this is G1 Megatron. And he is... he's weird. He really is. Back in the day he was awesome, but nowadays... I'll get more into this with Optimus Prime, but I really wish there had been some other toy they could've used for Megatron. Being a pistol raised a lot of questions about mass and shrinking and stuff like that. Or that he's basically, as Thew Adams put it, Starscream's Targetmaster! And thanks to gun laws and views and whatnot, he can't be a pistol anymore! Yes, I know the default is tank nowadays, and I like it, but it really does hamper Megatron overall. Soundwave's alt mode may be obsolete, but he can still be sold as it!

So is he good? Bad? He's a bit of both. I'm glad I got him, but I really can't fully recommend G1 Megatron.

So tune in next week, for the next big G1 review. I won't say if it's gonna be Soundwave or Optimus Prime, though. Speculate away. ;) :D
 
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