Titans Return Megatron

 

Robot Mode: If a toy is to depict the character of Megatron, there are a few standards that need to be maintained. Mostly grey coloring with red and black highlights? Check! Big black gun sitting on the right arm? Check! Bucket helmet? Check! So we have a definite Megatron here, no doubt about it. So thumbs up for character recognition.

The figure itself is pretty well done and despite the fact that the mold was originally designed for Blitzwing, it makes for a pretty good Megatron, too. Articulation is very good and the detailing is nice, too, though some of the pre-applied stickers aren’t looking to pristine anymore. Megatron carries most of his vehicle kibble on the back, so it doesn’t disturb his silhouette any. Very nicely done. Like most Voyager-class Titans Return figures Megatron has two pop-up parts to fill in the area around his head, but I left them in for the pictures; Megs really doesn’t need them.

Apart from his customary black cannon Megatron also comes with a secondary gun, which is one of Titans Return’s infamous “bathtub guns” (meaning a gun with a seat for a Titan Master figure). It can either be used to lengthen the (rear) barrel of the the black fusion cannon or be held separately. Personally I’ve put it aside, Megatron doesn’t really need a second weapon, either.

So bottom line: a very good Voyager-sized Megatron figure. Apart from the stickers thing I have no real complaints here.

Alternate Mode: As a triple changer Megatron has two alternate modes. The first is a tank, which is kind of the standard alternate mode for Megatrons these days (at least the G1-based ones). Overall this is a very nice tank mode, which uses the black fusion cannon as a main barrel. Sure, it can’t really disguise the fact that those are jet wings covering the rear end of it, but otherwise it looks very nice and solid. Megatron’s Titan Master (see below) can sit in the open cockpit on the turret and the turret can turn freely. The gun can’t be raised up, sadly, but otherwise there is nothing to complain about here. A good tank mode.

Megatron’s second alternate mode is a jet of no particular model. Like most jet Transformers it’s got a bit of an underbelly problem, mostly because the turret of the tank mode and the fusion cannon are all hanging underneath it. This is where the mold is least able to disguise that it’s really meant to be Blitzwing, by the way. I still like it, though, and I also have to admit that I completely missed the fact that the cockpit opens up to seat the Titan Master in this mode, too, the first time around. Anyway, Megatron is not a model of aerodynamics here, but still a very nice jet mode which shows fewer tank parts than the tank shows jet parts.

Both alternate modes can be additionally armed with Megatron’s bathtub gun, by the way, but why bother?

Partner: Like all Titans Return figures Deluxe-class and above, Megatron is a headmaster, meaning his head can detach and transform into a separate figure called Doomshot. To be honest Megatron is definitely one figure that I don’t think of as a Headmaster, so I barely acknowledge Doomshot or the fact that he can detach. Like all Titan Masters he can take a seat inside Megatron’s secondary weapon (the bathtub gun) or man the base modes of the Leader-class TR figures. Nothing further I can say here.

Remarks: In any given toy line we need a Megatron (optionally a Galvatron instead or additionally). In Titans Return Megatron was used to “pre-tool” the mold clearly intended for Titans Return Blitzwing, thus giving us a triple-changing Megatron that could turn into a tank and a jet. For me this nicely evoked the never-produced Animated Marauder Megatron, who was supposed to appear in Animated’s cancelled fourth season. Megatron didn’t appear in this form in either the Titans Return tie-in comics from IDW, or the Machinima Titans Return series, though.

Really the only bad thing I can say about this figure is that it’s “just” a pre-tool of the Blitzwing mold, but this isn’t actually a bad thing at all. So unless you’re opposed to Megatron being a triple changer, there really is no downside here. To me the best Voyager-sized G1-style Megatron figure yet.

Rating: B+