Cyberworld Megatron

Prelude: Full disclosure up front: this here will be a review about the Cyberworld Cyber Changer Megatron figure, yes, but it will also contain some musings (some might even say ramblings) about why I find myself liking the Cyberworld line so much. You have been warned. Now let’s grab the bull by the horns and look at this version of the Decepticon leader. Let’s say game on!

Robot Mode: Now one thing I do appreciate about the Cyberworld Cyber Changer figures is that, by now, I fully know what to expect here. Because really, most of them are pretty much alike in design. Megatron is a good example. You have a robot that is roughly the size of a Star Wars or GI Joe figure (just broader, usually) with a range of articulation that is okay, if limited, and pretty nice detailing, too. I’d really like it had they included elbow joints, mind you, but apart from that they do remind me a lot of the old Beast Wars Basics figures. Nice, not too expensive, and just plain fun.

Now Megatron has a adopted a new look in Cyberworld, now being a mostly blue robot with gold (mostly the horns) and some grey. The body is clearly that of a beast-former (you might notice the big bull’s head on his chest), but the head is clearly Megatron, just with horns this time. The level of detailing on the head is actually quite good and puts some collectors’ figures in the same size class to shame. Almost looks like he’s wearing a goatee, but it’s actually just that his mouth is set a bit further in than the rest of his face. Either way, it looks pretty good.

Now, again, the figure is a bit limited in how it can move. There are really just six points of articulation, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-joints connecting legs to hip, and knee joints, done. That’s still tons better than those masses of 1-Step-Changers that flooded many of the recent main toy lines and Megatron almost foregoes hollow spaces, too. He has some in his lower legs and forearms, but overall he’s pretty solid.

For a weapon Megatron carries a kind of axe that also doubles as his tail in beast mode. He’s used it to some good effect in the Cyberworld cartoon. He also has 5mm holes in his fists, on his forearms, and on his back, so you can add additional weapons. He can even carry the big turrets of Scorponok on his back or arms, no problem.

Bottom line here: a very nicely detailed robot that could have slightly better articulation, but at this price point in a kid-oriented toy line? So much better than some of the stuff we’ve seen recently.

Alternate Mode: I was going to say that many of the Cyberworld figures have a similar transformation scheme, but really, it’s just that three of the ones I own transform into some kind of beast and I think at least 50% of all beast-formers ever made have more or less the same transformation scheme: they go down on all fours and flip up a beast head either from the chest or the back. 

Megatron’s transformation includes something like an auto-transformation thing. If you push forward on his back while holding onto his hip, the robot head flips down and the entire upper body shifts forward at a 90 degree angle. Now you have a kind of hunchbacked bull man. All that remains is to fold in the robot legs and attach the tail and you’re done, you have a four-legged bull… thing. 

Now to be honest, it’s not really a great beast mode. The front legs are clearly robot arms unless you look at them from the side, and overall the bull doesn’t do much to disguise that it’s actually a robot on all fours. Still, the detailing is still pretty great here, too, and the blockiness of this beast mode kind of brings me back to the latter days of Generation 1, where we had blocky, colorful robot beasts aplenty. Just not nearly as nicely detailed.

So bottom line here, too: fun toy, easy semi-auto transformation, and a beast mode that’s a bit ridiculous, but mostly fun.

Remarks: I actually did catch up with the Cyberworld episodes released so far before writing this review (up to episode 13 now) and, what do you know, I kind of like it. Sure, it’s not a big, epic series with complex characters and the whole video game setting is clearly meant to appeal to younger kids, but the characters are fun, there are some hints to a broader story, and the voice acting team is doing a pretty good job, too. Megatron’s voice actor is actually doing a mixture between Frank Welker and David Kaye, I believe, and it’s working really good.

So why do I like Cyberworld so much at this moment? For a while now I’ve lamented that we either get cool collectors figures with zero media behind it (see Age of the Primes and the entire Legacy Trilogy) or good cartoons like Cyberverse and Earthspark, where the accompanying toy line seems to mostly consist of 1-Step Changers (most of them either Optimus Prime or Bumblebee) with but a few rare gems among them. Now the Cyberworld line clearly doesn’t include collectors’ figures, but the figures it does include so far are, dare I say it, FUN! They are FUN Transformers figures. Sure, I’d have loved for them to be a bit better articulated, but apart from that: I’m having FUN with these figures. And to be honest, it’s been a while since I could say that.

Now I won’t stop collecting bigger figures from lines like Age of the Primes or the Studio Series. I like that we’re getting niche characters from older franchises, I adore better-designed versions of classic figures I once owned, but Cyberworld? Just last week I watched the Cyberworld episodes on Youtube, and later that same day I went out to a toy store right around the corner from my parents, a store I’ve been going to for over forty years now, and right there in the store I saw one of the toys featured in the cartoon (Snarl). I took it off the peg, I bought it, and I went home and watched another episode that featured that very toy in it. Now that may not sound like something monumental, but it was such a great feeling, really.

So bottom line for this figure here: it’s a fun little Transformers figure. Again, not a highly detailed, superbly poseable collectors’ figure, but just what it was advertised at: a fun Transformers toy. Something I really missed and that the Cyberworld series is handing out in spades right now. Please keep it up.

Rating: B