RID 2015 Megatronus

Robot Mode: It’s not hard to guess that Megatronus transforms into some sort of tank or other tracked vehicle. His legs are basically just massive tank tracks. It’s also not hard to guess that he’s supposed to be a bad guy, coming in black, grey, and purple colors. A bit too much grey, maybe, the chest especially could have used a few more colored highlights, but overall he looks dark and menacing, as he should.

Articulation is standard for the RID line, meaning pretty good. The big legs and big shoulder pieces hamper the articulation a tiny little bit, but not in a problematic way. Unlike most figures called Megatron (or some variation thereof) Megatronus does not sport a huge cannon on one arm or on the shoulder, but rather has a smaller cannon on each forearm. Additionally he comes with a long blade which he can either hold in hand or clip to either forearm. He also has sculpted missile launchers on the sides of his legs for additional firepower.

Overall Megatronus’ robot mode is pretty good. Not the best of the RID line so far, missing that little something extra, but there is nothing wrong with it, either.

Alternate Mode: Unsurprisingly Megatronus transforms into a tank, or rather a pretty big ray-gun-like weapon set upon two large tank tracks. The big gun can swivel a full 360 degrees (but not be raised), giving the tank a full field of fire. The small sculpted missile launchers are now on top of the tracks and the blade can be clipped to the underside of the cannon. No visible robot bits except for the top of the head, which peeks out on top, but isn’t easily recognizable as a robot head. A few more paint highlights would not have gone amiss in this mode, either, but overall it’s a good vehicle mode. No complaints.

Remarks: Megatronus was the name of one of the original 13 Primes. He was the “Judas”, basically, as he betrayed Primus and his brethren and sided with Unicron. From that moment on he was known only as the Fallen. Megatronus was also, in Aligned continuity, the original name of Megatron (inspired by the Prime), before he shortened it to Megatron. This Megatronus here depicts the end-of-season villain from the Robots in Disguise cartoon and while he is explicitly stated not to be Megatron, it’s not quite clear whether he’s supposed to be the Fallen, either. He is not referred to by that name and instead of serving Unicron he tries to destroy him and Primus / Cybertron both. Anyway, Megatronus showed up as a floating image near the end of the first season, arrived with big fanfare, and was then quickly defeated by the Ghostbusters method (crossing the streams, or spears in this case), leaving the actual main RID bad guy Steeljaw to make a comeback in season 2.

This is actually the second version of this mold to be released, the first having been part of the Toys R’Us exclusive Clash of the Transformers subline. For some reason all figures from that subline were released internationally except for Megatronus, who was only available in the US. That Megatronus had a faceplate instead of a face and some more colored highlights, but was otherwise identical to the mass release here. Either way, Megatronus is not the best Warrior-class figure in the RID line so far, but he is also a far cry from being bad. He is a good figure, missing only a few splotches of extra paint, so unless you are simply not a fan of the RID line or its simplified aesthetics, there is nothing wrong with getting this figure.

Rating: B