Ocean Man.

Hands down, the Studio Series ROTF Megatron is more screen accurate and much less weird looking. That guy is a great figure.

But does that mean this figure isn’t any good?

Let’s see.

Vehicle mode

Megatron is a flying Cybertronian tank. You either think that’s cool or stupid. I think it’s awesome. Even though he’s a green paddy waddy, he still looks better to me than the Leader that came out at the same time. Megatron has lots of molded detail and it’s picked out well enough with an adequate amount of paint. Also, if the colour does bug you, there’s a silver repaint of this figure available.

Tanks should have articulation and Megatron here does! His cannon moves up and down. Due to the alien nature of the tank design, there’s no way for the turret to rotate left or right. The cannon can move left to right if you wish but that’s weird. Megatron has tiny wheels on the bottom of his treads and he can roll on flat, smooth surfaces.

Transformation

He’s a shellformer yes, but it’s more enjoyable and smarter than it looks at first. Also, among the ROTF Voyagers, Megatron stands out as a figure that doesn’t make me wanna throw it at a wall when I transform him.

Make of that what you will.

Robot mode

First, the positives are Megatron has molded details and proportions that are better looking than the Leader’s. He just looks intimidating. Megatron will murder you. The face is very nice. Not only is it molded beautifully, it’s got a lot of colour and is painted crisply.

Bad news, he has a huge backpack. But on him, somehow unlike let’s say AOE FE Optimus Prime or AOE Voyager Galvatron it doesn’t look so bad. It makes him look alien and, once again, intimidating. Somehow.

In terms of articulation, Megatron is actually quite good. His head is on a ball joint as well as hinge joint and is pretty much unrestricted. His arms rotate as well as go in and out. He has bicep swivels as well as elbow bends. He rotates at the waist. His legs rotate as well as go in and out at the hips. Here’s where things get a bit dicey. The way the legs are designed definitely look cool but they make it hard to pose him. He can rotate at the thighs as well as bend forward and back at the knees.

Gimmicks

Megatron’s Mech Alive is in his chest and arms. Unobtrusive enough and adds to his creepy factor. Turning his waist spins brown gears in his chest. It’s a bit hard to see compared to the gears in Starscream but it’s still pretty neat. It’s not mentioned but the upper arms sorta have Mech Alive as well. Rotating the biceps moves stuff inside his upper arms that you can see since the upper arms are molded to have holes in them.

His other official Mech Alive gimmick is on his murder arm. Straightening it at the elbow extends out a sword. Bending it at the elbow retracts the sword. The crab claw bit on the top can be posed manually.

Oh yeah, his other arm/tank cannon has a firing translucent red missile. So there’s that.

Toy or collectible?

At this point, collectible. He was ridiculously expensive before the Movie The Best repaint and the Studio Series ROTF Megatron were released. Now he’s just expensive. Too expensive for me to feel good giving to a kid.

For collectors, he has been surpassed by the Studio Series ROTF Megatron. But also, he’s just so different than that Megatron that it feels like you need him in your collection regardless. It also helps that he is a great figure. I like to think of him now as “ROTF Concept Art Megatron”.

Closing

If you’re only gonna get one official ROTF Megatron, go for the Studio Series Voyager. If you don’t mind 3rd parties and KOs, go for an OS KO of the Studio Series. This old Voyager isn’t as screen accurate and has a massive backpack with weird leg articulation.

However, he is a fun toy. He is objectively good. Buy him as a throwback to 2009 or treat him as a separate character and he can still fit proudly into your collection.

If you don’t like the idea of calling him “ROTF Concept Art Megatron”, he’s a green Megatron.

Call him Megaplex.

You’re welcome.