Megatron's alt mode for the latter half of IDW's Transformers "ongoing" series from 2010-2011 was a rather slick-looking stealth bomber, and this toy largely replicates that design. His stealth bomber mode-- from a top-down or mostly top-down angle, at least-- looks pretty nice. The wings are pretty much just the right size, and not undersized like a lot of flying Transformers' wings often are. The swept-back look of the mode fits in with the relatively minimal mold detailing here, though there's occasional bits of finer detailing, such as the vents, which are painted a nice pale metallic purple that is both very Decepticon-y and contrasts well with the black plastic and the red windows. And speaking of the black, it's not a "pure" shade of the color, but more of a charocal gray-- normally I would find this a downside, but there's a really nice metallic flake in this plastic, and actually makes it work pretty well. This bomber's main issue, though, has to do with its undercarriage junk-- it's not HUGELY an issue as his stealth bomber silouhette covers it up for the most part, but some of the robot bits (Megatron's shoulders, in particular) do stick out a bit from the bottom, and make the bomber a lot thicker from a side view than it should be. (For example, Megatron does have a flip-out landing gear on the front, but no others-- he's got little wheels molded into the bottom of his robot arms, but the whole middle section rests on the ground, which gives you an idea of just how much the undercarriage sticks out below this mode.) On a lesser note, Megatron's wings are held on this mode by a peg where you push DOWN in the upper wings to unhook them from the main assembly. The wings on my Megatron are just fine, but I can see over time these pegs becoming worn down enough where the wing tips fall off easily (and a few people-- albeit not a whole lot, it seems-- have mentioned this issue).
    Megatron's robot mode is largely where the design emphasis seems to have gone, and his transformation largely consists of simply combining his wing tips into his fusion cannon and then unfolding the rest of his mode, the chest unfolding being the only part that's not incredibly straightforward. In this mode Megatron looks downright menacing, with largely sweeping, sharp angular lines, broad (perhaps TOO broad) shoulders, and very Megatron-y proportions. It's a nice, genuinely "new" version of G1 Megatron that has a few callbacks to the original version, but is largely its own, new thing, and I like it. Other than some very minor vehicle bits on the back of his shoulders, there's no vehicle mode extras at all in this mode, quite impressive for a TF with an aerial alt-mode. His color scheme here is a bit more varied with a couple different shades of violet/purple entering the mix, and it definitely makes him more eye-catching than in his largely black alt mode. There's a good number of paint apps on most parts, like his shoulders, fragmented cockpit-chest, face, and legs. However, one of the main draws to Megatron's IDW bomber design-- at least to me-- were the really cool light purple "Energon" lines running throughout his form, many of them forming the letter "M" somewhere along those lines. Megatron has all those lines molded in, but they're not painted-- this is a pretty significant drawback for me, given how iconic they were. Honestly, I would've preferred a few less paint apps on the legs and arms if it meant some of these "Energon conduit" lines were painted instead. There are also some small gaps on his inner lower arms and a bit of a gap in between his main body and his back, but these are minimal downsides at best. Megatron's wingtips combine into a rather cool-looking interpretation of his fusion cannon, made of a transparent purple plastic and-- when you peg them together-- all you have to do is rotate back a particular piece on the top to have the cannon barrel extend, in a little cool bit of "automorph". There are pegs on the sides of both of Megatron's lower arms so he can hold the cannon there, but he can also hold them in either of his hands if you want, too. Megatron's articulation is quite good-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows, inwards at the wrists, and at the hips, knees (at two points), kneecaps, and ankles (at two points). Thus, given his good balance, he can get into a lot of nice poses-- only wrist and waist rotation are really missing, here.
    IDW "Stealth Bomber" Megatron is a great, updated take on the G1 character with a more modern (and practical) alt mode, and despite the sleek alt mode still manages to maintain his typical proportions in robot mode. He's got a neat weapon, excellent proprtions, and nice articulation. His vehicle mode has some undercarriage junk problems, he's a bit small for a Megatron toy, and I really REALLY wish his "Energon lines" had been painted, but other than that he's a pretty nice figure. Recommended.

Review by Beastbot

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