RID 2001 Megatron

Robot Mode: Megatron in robot mode looks regal and dangerous, almost a little over the top with his many ornamentations and such. He can extend his wings in this mode as well, of course, making him look even better. He is also quite posable, allowing for any number of cool positions, but you need to watch out for his feet, as they can become unstable. The only real complaint I do have about this mode is that the sword-like weapons don't look too good on him. I would have preferred if they'd stayed with the tradition of giving Megatron a really big gun instead. Overall, a good mode.

Alternate Modes: Megatron has ten, count'em, ten different modes. One is robot, of course, so there are nine alternate ones. The box only says six, but I found more modes online. The four additional modes were really implemented for the Galvatron recolour version of this figure, but can be applied here, as well. So here goes:

Two-headed dragon (cool), bat (definitely not good), car (so-so), jet (good), hand (strange), one-headed dragon (cool), pteranadon (cool), elephant (way out there), and hovercraft (so not good it beggars belief).

All in all I like both the dragon modes and the pteranadon best. The bat mode suffers from the fact that the bat snout doesn't really fit onto Megatron's face, making it look as if he's wearing a very cheap Halloween mask. The car mode is unnecessary in my opinion (who needs a car if you can be a jet?) and looks tacked on. The jet mode is good, even if it's a bit hard to fold in the legs in the right way.

The hovercraft mode is definitely something some fan came up with (or so I thought until it actually appeared in the cartoon), as it looks even worse than Quickswitch's hovercraft mode. Finally Megatron's strangest modes are the elephant (another fan invention, I'd have bet, only to be proven wrong again) and the huge flying hand. I read somewhere that the G1 Megatron in gun mode is supposed to fit exactly into this hand, which would make it a fun gimmick (and one I have to try if I ever get my hands on a G1 Megatron), but the hand appeared in the cartoon, too, and didn't look any less strange there than it does on the toy.

Remarks: I can't honestly describe myself as a fan of the Robots in Disguise cartoon series. They had some funny moments and some good battles, but overall I found it both too childish and too Japanese (I'm not a fan of anime, either, especially those that feature big-eyed girls in school uniforms). Still, some of the toys did interest me, being among the best-designed and most posable of all Transformers, and that includes the Predacon leader Megatron.

Imbued with an almost ridiculously large number of transformations, Megatron is a great toy. I can't help thinking, though, that the many transformations are going to wear out his joints sooner rather than later, so the photo session I did will probably remain the only time I actually cycled him through all ten of his modes. Still, a great toy and worthy successor to the name Megatron. Definitely recommended for those that don't mind the heavy manga-influence in his look.

Rating: B+

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