Beast Hunters Sharkticon Megatron

Prelude: Sharkticon Megatron is an extensive remold of Prime RID Voyager Megatron, whom I have previously reviewed. So this review will focus mainly on the differences.

Robot Mode: The changes made to the figure for its Sharkticon incarnation are quite extensive. Apart from a completely new paint job Megatron has a modified chest, new shoulder pieces, fins on the arms, and a slightly resculpted head to boot. To go with the shark image his chest now looks like the maw of some kind of sea monster and the fins help the nautical image along, too. He also has a one-of-a-kind Decepticon insignia with beady eyes and a wide-open maw filled with teeth. The figure retains its excellent articulation, no problem, and there are no problems worth mentioning, either.

Sharkticon Megatron also gains a new weapon to replace his old fusion cannon / sword combo. His new weapon – which sports two different names, see below – is a fish-shaped gun that can be transformed into a long harpoon-like weapon. It’s strange, but I kind of like it. It fits with the rest of the figure very nicely. So bottom line: a strange, but very well-done remold of an already great figure. Definitely the best of the ‘Beastified’ Prime robots in my opinion.

Alternate Mode: Megatron still transforms into an alien-style jet / space ship, but with a far more nautical look to it now. The front portion is all teeth and big eyes and the entire vehicle looks strange, disturbing, and pretty cool. One downside, though, when compared to the original Prime RID version: while the weapon can still be mounted on top, it looks utterly ridiculous and completely ruins whatever aerodynamics (or aquadynamics?) the vehicle might possess. Apart from that, though: a great alternate mode.

Remarks: When the Transformers Prime toyline and cartoon where renamed Beast Hunters for no good reason, quite a few of the toys we had already seen in the toyline got ‘Beastified’. A few were new molds, like Beast Hunters Optimus Prime, quite a few more were extensive retools of the existing toys. Megatron belongs to the latter group and is, in my opinion, the best of the lot. Of course Megatron never looked like this in the cartoon (Optimus Prime being the only one who actually got an updated look for the Beast Hunters season), but that doesn’t take anything away from this great figure for me.

A small curiosity: The instructions refer to the figure as Sharkticon Megatron and his weapon the Sharktooth Spear. Early shipments simply called the toy Megatron on the packaging, his weapon the Tartarex Warp Sword, whereas a later running change version changed the packaging to reflect the names given in the instructions.

So the bottom line here: this is how reusing an existing figure is supposed to work: change it in exciting, strange ways, give it a new weapon, and one might as well imagine it as an entirely new character (in my personal head canon he is actually a Quintesson-created clone of Megatron intended to lead the Sharkticon hordes). Whether you like the new look is very much subjective, of course, but overall there is nothing wrong here and I happen to like the look a lot. Fully recommended unless you really loathe fish.

Rating: A-