Was it my reissue Prowl and Jazz ?
No.
Hmmm. Maybe it's my Mega PVC Hot Rod, but that's pdq as it was only dispatched Monday.....
No.
Weird nothing else ordered individually.....
Hmmmm....
Mother opens Parcel over phone.
Armada Megatron !!!!
Wire snippers in hand, it's off to work we go. Review to follow.
I'll start by saying if an Ultra Tankor had ever been done this might be the result, think like that and you're nearly there apart from some nice gimmicks.
The Tank mode is an H shape, with the Turret mounted on the cross bar of the H, about 22cm x 15cm x 8cm and is cast mainly in a dark green plastic with the treads - fixed but containing wheels to provide mobility - being cast in black plastic. The Turret rotates through a full 360 degrees, occasionally setting off a sound gimmick - he says "Decepticons Attack!" as well as making a gunfire sound. One of his three bright orange missiles - the one with a Cyberjet style ball on it - fits in the main gun barrel (a sort of metallic blue) and is launched by pulling back on the barrel (Rather unfortunately considering what I discovered later.... ) Megatron has two active Minicon ports in this mode, both of which are on the turret. The purple port to the left of the gun barrel can be pulled back and locked to the side - one gunshot noise as you do this - raising the missile launcher on rear of the other side of the turret to point forward. This launcher takes the other two more traditional missiles which are each fired by a button on the top of the missile launcher. The port on the hatch at the back when rotated either way sets off more gunfire sounds, and this port does need the minicon attached for the gimmick to work. Other notable gimmicks in this mode include the capture chamber on one side at the back, the extendable ramp with a grabbing claw on the other side at the back, a series of pop up plates all with Minicon ports at the front on the right and a ramp with a sliding Minicon port on the left at the front. There's a further Minicon port on each side of the tank at the front and another on the top of the tank sides at the rear plus another on one side at the rear. I make that eight Minicon ports available at all times with a further three on opening action features (four if you use both sides of the one on the fold out ramp). My only real complaint about the tank mode concerns two of the gimmicks: the pop out plates are button activated and the gun (as we've seen) is a pull back one. Why aren't these features powered by a Minicon port as well ?
Transformation: Turn him over onto his turret, pull the rear of the sides down at the back to form legs, adjust the heel spurs & feet then spin the waist 180 degrees. Unfold the panels on the sides of the tank treads and fold the arms down. Adjust gun turret for stability. Simple really.
Megatron is 26cm high in robot mode - though 6cm of that is made up by the height of his shoulders projecting above the level of the top of the body - and 12 cm wide. A lot of the green from tank mode is still visible on his lower legs and back but we get some new colours as well. His lower body, upper limbs and hands are Decepticon purple, while his feet, forearms, waist and upper body are grey. His head is cast in the same slightly metallic colour as the gun barrel. He's got very little articulation in the legs but that means that he's a rock solid standing toy (Car Robots God Fire Convoy, I'm looking at you). What he has got are side ways joints at the knee & hip which are used in the Transformation. His waist & neck turn, as do his shoulders which also swing out to the sides. His elbows bend, both arms rotate below the elbow while his right wrist can rotate and the left hand has spring loaded opposable fingers to use with that arm's gimmick.
We'll start on his left hand for our robot mode gimmicks because pulling on the Minicon port on his left arm flips up a blade from inside the arm, through the middle of the fingers to be held in his hand. If you look on the chest there's a purple slider with the smallest embossed Decepticon symbol I have ever seen which raises a shield over his face. All the sound gimmicks on the turret still work and he can hold Leader One in gun mode (or any other 5mm peg weapon) in his right hand. In addition to the tank turret's Minicon ports - now on his back - we get a port on each shoulder and each of the forearms, a port on the front of each leg and one on the side. There's the ramp port on the back of one shoulder and the other shoulder has the opening flaps with the ports underneath. The shoulder & arm ports are ideal for mounting weapons Minicons on, you could happily use up two sets of Military team here equipping Megatron with extra missiles.
Megatron has 2 extra variants on robot mode. The first involves swinging the cannon down so it's under the right arm a bit like the recommended transformation for the original Megatron (I always folded Megatron's gun barrel up his back so it points up over the top of the shoulder). The second use of the gun barrel involves some transformation: pull up on his upper body extending his waist, then rotate the entire turret round to the front and have the cannon pointing upwards from his upper chest. Unfortunately you can also rotate the turret so the cannon is pointing down and I'm not going to comment about the positioning of the barrel then. Or that the missile firing gimmick still works. But you're going to hear about it, trust me. They'll be photos....
Overall: Great toy, love it to bits.
Megatron was sold in Japan with his Minicon Barrel as toy numbered MD-01.
As a (first) postscript fast forward to Transforce 2002. Phil has one of the few Armada Megatrons in the country and takes it with him. Phil is demonstrating it's "special feature" to a substantial crowd including someone taking photos and someone asking questions. Said people later turn out to be photographer and journalist from the Guardian ! Phil is later quoted in the Guardian Guide Magazine.....
Green becomes off white which has some battle damage painted on
Generally it's a nice repaint ..... however the purpley red is a mistake. A fine colour for a Decepticon I'm sure but remember where the cannon can end up in robot mode! The only way that could have been worse was if Megatron's orange missiles had been recast here in pearly white. As it is I'm still slightly concerned by the missiles and other parts in the same colour. Gold plastic is frequently prone to breaking and while there's no reports (YET!) of this toy being affected by Gold Plastic Syndrome but I look at the internal joint on the elbows and worry that GPS will strike when the toy gets to about 10 years old!
Galvatron & Clench were sold in Japan as MD-08 Megatron Supermode and Spark Barrel.
Green becomes off white which has some battle damage painted on
Nice promotional toy, but just look at the gallery and forget ever owning one.
Green becomes black
Decent enough repaint, but both the red and blue stick out somewhat against the black. One colour maybe, but not both.
Purple becomes lilac
Grey becomes black
Orange becomes gold
Black stays the same
Black
Megatron
Black Megatron & his Minicon Black Barrel were promotional "lucky draw" toys issued with the Micron Legend toyline in Japan. These are the colour swaps used for this toy:
Purple becomes black
Grey becomes dark grey
Orange becomes pale green
Black stays the same
Megazarak
Megazarak & his Minicon Calliburn were exclusives issued for the 2004 OFTCC convention (Botcon). Megazarak is a homage to the Japanese toy Masterforce Black Zarak (a well known sufferer of GPS - see above) who's a remould of Headmasters Scorponok. These are the colour swaps used for this toy:
Purple becomes red
Grey becomes grey/blue
Orange becomes pale blue
Black becomes metallic grey.
Future Repaints
When Megatron was first made a green tank in his Generation 2 version a smaller version of the toy was made in purple as Combat Hero Megatron/Archforce. The purple colours used there would make for a great Armada Megatron repaint.