Name: Megatron
Series: Masterpiece
Accessories: Nuclear fusion cannon/scope, handgun, ‘Kremzeek’ figurine, morning star, laser sword
Good:
Absolutely mind-boggling.
This is simply the Megatron figure you were wishing for when you were a small child and saw what the actual Megatron toy looked like. The robot mode is imposing, sturdy and with a surprising ability to find it’s own balance rather than just falling over.
Moreso, the designers actually managed to pull a proper, humanoid robot from the most unlikely of starting points. It involves some ‘cheating’ (more on that later) but sure enough, we start with a (n oversized) Walther P-38 handgun and end up with a photo-realistic Megatron- complete with moving fingers/thumbs, neck, hips, knees (which go the RIGHT way this time), toes, wrists etc..
The joints are mostly sturdy, although the transformation is incredibly fiddly and puts stress on joints which I am concerned about coping with it and thanks to the way his legs and feet are designed he was a way of ‘spreading’ to a solid pose rather than just keeling over.
The detail on Megatron is excellent- starting with a brushed-metal finish going to a matt-black effect on his handle in robot mode, complete with a brush-painted Decepticon symbol. Transforming him into a robot reveals a huge level of extra detail in the form of vents, painted features and general classiness.
The figure also features some nifty little side-extras, like the way his head squashes and retracts and the way his hip-vents fold and unfold.
All in all Megatron is an absolutely startling model.
Bad:
This figure is hugely unfortunate in one simple way- it can’t win. There is no way on Earth that an ‘anatomically correct’ Megatron could be derived from a handgun without some cheating along the way. This is done, cleverly, by the use of folding panels- they pop up to give the illusion of bulk in robot mode and fold down to make a smooth surface in gun mode.
This is a problem for me on two counts- firstly I can’t manage to transform the figure without popping off at least one hip-panel and one shoulder-panel. The fact they snap back into socket is great but doesn’t change the fact that I’ve just broken the robot mid-transforming.
The second problem is the same one I faced with Alternator Smokescreen: the more panels you put into a surface, the harder it becomes to line them all up just so that they slot together properly. I’ve not yet managed to make Megsy’s handle in gun mode actually sit together as it should- there’s always a joint about to give or poking up ruining the illusion.
The figure is freakin’ awesome, don’t get me wrong, but these are more than just niggles: I don’t like it falling to bits when I transform it and I don’t like the fact I can’t transform it right, even after four attempts.
Not helping young Megsy is his inherited joint weakness from his 1983 forerunner- I feel very worried that sooner or later I’m going to pop something that isn’t a ball-and-socket joint and that’s going to be an expensive mistransformation.
Finally his transformation is horrendously complicated, moreso even in my opinion than the afore-mentioned Smokescreen. There isn’t much to be done about this- fully articulated toes can’t just be tucked away, I appreciate they have to fold up and in properly, but Megsy takes me on average about 10-12 minutes to transform properly.
Overall:
Megatron is a positively incredible model, although sadly a model with some most irritating faults. There is little that could be done about them in my opinion and the designers obviously did their best. I would be tempted to say the faults are nit-picking, but they’re not. The figure is damn hard to transform at all (let alone properly), falls apart and feels very delicate.
That said, he looks perfect in both modes (when you get it right) and comes with a pleasing array of accessories.
The figure feels like it deserves a rating of excellent, but sadly its faults have to reduce it to a good.
Rating: Good.
And no baby-orange tip either. ^^ 
