Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron
Like Optimus Primal, Megatron had three different forms in the show (four in the toys). Also
like Primal his final form was obtained by mingling his spark with a great leader from
Transformers history. However, unlike Optimus his final form was not the same as his previous
two. Where Primal had three gorilla beast modes, Megatron's third mode was that of the
mighty dragon, quite true.
Ol' Megs gets himself an ultra sized toy in Transmetal 2 form. I'd have to say that, right off
the bat, this is one of the coolest packages a Beast Wars toy has ever been in. Instead of
just being strapped to his box, ol' Grape Face is positioned in a fire-breathing pose, and where
his mouth ends a picture of flames (on the outside of the box) begins. Very cool.
Opening up the box you get hit with a barrage of twisty ties. Indeed, this is how he was secured to
the Autobot shuttle at the end of the series (as it's been said before). Once you get him out
of the box he's a very impressive looking dragon. He's quite tall in this mode, mainly due to
his long neck which accounts for about one third of his total height. Also, unlike the large
majority of Beast Wars toys, his neck (and tail for that matter) is made of rubber which makes
it quite flexible, though tougher to position than if it were multiple ball joints (ala Quickstrike's
snake arm). However, to remedy this there's a blue T-shaped thing on the back of his neck which
allows you to position his neck to a certain extent. It also should be noted that the blue
thing was installed upside-down, though it is easily fixed with a screwdriver. It should be an
upside-down 'T', just to let you know.
Megs also has a neat looking wingspan. Just push the little notch on his back down and they
unfold, and push it to the side a bit and the wings will stay open. A very neat feature, if
I say so myself. Also it's worth note that Megs isn't symmetrical at all. Look at his legs, arms,
wings, and pretty much everything that shows up on two sides of his body and you'll notice
that none of them are different. Pretty cool actually.
The only problem I have with his beast mode (and this is not to downplay it at all) is his
robot head is sorta just sitting there like a boil on his ass. The designers took little
care to hide it, so Megatron is pretty much looking at his own ass. However, this is overlooked
because of the overall coolness of the dragon mode. Heck, I've talked about it for this long,
it's damn cool!
Megs also has a weak vehicle mode which seems like it was more of an afterthought than anything else.
Fold up his legs, fold out some wheels, straighten his neck (via the blue 'T') and he's some
sort of dragster thing. Pretty crappy, as it looks like 'dragon with wheels'. Not even
worth mentioning, or getting a picture.
Transformation to robot mode is pretty complex, very hard to do without aid of the
instructions (damn them!). I won't even bother to describe it, but it's a lot of fun to
do and sort of a triumph when it's done.
In robot mode Megs is actually not that big. He's the same height as his original
T-Rex robot mode (minus the wings), which is somewhat of a disappointment after the
large dragon mode. Anyway, ol' Megs is in pretty good proportions here, with the exception
of his left arm which is his dragon neck and head. It's over double the length of his
other arm, and it kinda drags on the ground if it's straight at his side. Happily, Megatron is
with out any major backpack, only his wings and beast arms are on his back. However, his
head carries his entire tail on it, which looks kind of silly and limits his head to
only the slightest movements.
Megs' wings can also expand in this mode as well, and it gives off a cool fling robot
sort of vibe. Also, he can fire a missile from the dragon's mouth and above his robot head.
Not much more I can think of to say, so I guess I'll stop.
Ahh, the ol' 'sum it up' paragraph. In short, TM2 Megs is a damn cool piece to own. A
horrible vehicle mode and a few flaws in beast and robot mode are overlooked by the overall
kickassness of this toy. I picked mine up on eBay for $21 (plus shipping), and most you can get
for around that, so I recommend you grab one if you don't have one already, because, like I said,
they kick major booty.
