Revenge of the Fallen Megatron (Voyager)

Robot Mode: Let’s start from the top. The ROTF Voyager-class figure is probably the closest we’ve yet come to depict Movieverse Megatron, at least when it comes to the head and chest. The face especially is very well done and shows an amount of detail that is pleasantly surprising. The right arm is also very nicely designed and executed, finally giving Movieverse Megs the big gun he’s been missing in the first movie and enhancing it with that big blade he used to run through Optimus Prime in the famous forest battle scene. There is a mechanism there that unfolds the blade when the elbow is bent, but you can easily adjust it to remain in or out no matter what angle the elbow. So no complaints here.

Now for the bad parts. Much like the Leader-class toy the figure’s left arm is a spindly little thing, though in this case it has a missile launcher included that fires a red projectile. Then the legs: Here the Leader-class figure easily beats the Voyager-class version, as the chicken-leg version with the flip out toes that we have here not only doesn’t fit with the rest of the body (thanks to the angle they seem much too short), they’re also very much useless when it comes to posing. Finally, there is the big shell Megatron carries on his back. He’s a shell-former in the purest possible way, seeing as most of his vehicle mode hangs off his back here. Now you either fold it back completely (which looks stupid when looked at from the side) or resign yourself to the fact that Megatron has big wings here, something he didn’t have in the movie.

So the bottom line for the robot mode: Very nice sculpting, cool looks for the most part, but the big rucksack and odd legs pull him down quite a bit.

Vehicle Mode: In the ROTF movie Megatron was a triple-changer, able to transform into both an alien space jet and an equally alien-looking tank. The Leader-class figure only implemented the tank mode. The Voyager-class figure, while still not a triple-changer, goes the middle way, basically giving us a tank with wings and jet engines. While I’d have preferred a true triple-changer, that hybrid alternate mode is okay by me, seeing as I don’t really know how you’d go about cramming these two modes into a single robot while retaining the look it had in the movie.

Looking at Megatron’s vehicle mode, it does pretty okay for itself, though the main problem is one that’s not easily apparent. Basically, the vehicle mode is the big shell that Megatron carried on his back in robot mode. He folds in his legs, puts one arm forward and one arm back, and then everything is covered by that shell. The bigger pair of wings plugs into the sides of his tank threads to fix it in place and you’re done. Now you each got to decide for yourself whether that’s a problem for you. Me, I’d have preferred a real transformation instead of this. Still, the resulting vehicle looks nice and has lots of sculpted details, which does score it some points. Overall a good vehicle mode, but not the best transformation design ever.

Remarks: Megatron returned from seeming death when Scalpel rebuilt him using parts salvaged from an unlucky, unnamed Decepticon donor and an AllSpark fragment. He went on to kill Optimus Prime, only to be soundly beaten by that very same bot after he had risen from his grave (seems to be a trend for leaders in the Movieverse). Megatron also received two differently-sized toys in the main ROTF toyline (not counting the various Legends, Fast Action Battlers, etc.). While the Leader-class toy is better suited to going head to head with Leader-Class Prime, this smaller Voyager-class version actually depicts the character better. Still, some odd design choices and the shell-transformation drag the figure down quite a bit in my eye. Bottom line: Better in some ways, but overall not quite as good as the Leader-class Megs in my opinion.

Rating: B-

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