Bot Reviews: Transformers: Legacy Core G2 Universe Megatron

Well, time for yet another Generation 2-themed repaint. I’m a mark for them, because this early 90’s version of Transformers is where I came into this whole thing, through watching a cartoon that was 80’s reruns pretending they were new, and getting a few early toys, some of which were new, and some of which were repaints of G1 stuff in crazy colors (I’d only get around to reading the grimdark, edgy, fever dream that was the Marvel comic this year, it’s a trip).

It’s those repaints that have kept Generation 2 homages going in recent years, I think, since they mean there’s a reliable stable of easy player-2-colors alternatives whenever a new G1 update comes out. Paint it neon, and it’s got my attention, even when the original didn’t. See, I didn’t bother with Earthrise Megatron (the Siege one was just fine), until he got a G2 repaint in Generations Selects. And the same happened with this little guy, released in Kingdom as the original Megatron, now also given a G2 repaint in Legacy.

Megatron’s gigantic original Generation 2 toy (actually a brand new tooling, since he couldn’t be a gun anymore) was the first time he ever changed into a tank instead, so every modern tank Megatron getting a repaint into those colors (or the colors of one of his other G2 tank iterations) since then feels kind of right. Let’s see how the latest one fares.

Robot Mode

See, there is a downside to repaints like this, and it’s that they’re sculpted like the original Megs, and colored like the Generation 2 one, which had a whole different body-plan, so it’s always kind of a halfway homage. But I’ll try not to blame it for what it wasn’t designed to be.

This version of Megs is the same rough height as all the other Core-class ‘bots I’ve looked at, but gives the impression of being much bulkier, thanks to his ginormous backpack, and big 80’s-esque shoulder pads. It kind of dominates the silhouette, and while it looks messy from the back, it gives him a kind of impressive presence from the front.  I’m grasping at straws here, but in the absence of the gigantic chest-slab that defined the G2 one’s silhouette, this gives off a similar vibe, I think.

The rest of his sculpt is pretty G1-cartoon-specific, or rather, much like his opposite Core Optimus, he’s got a bunch of details from Earthrise Megatron copied exactly, but scaled down. A lot of specific little greebles, grooves, and patterns on his chest, legs, and even on his arm-mounted fusion cannon are from that guy.

The head is one thing that isn’t, though, it seems to be a new design, and, funny enough, is the most G1-looking Megatron head I’ve seen in awhile.

In fact, it’s a really good replica of the cartoon design in 3D, almost like a mini-Masterpiece.

Again, it’s a little wasted on a Generation 2 homage figure, but I’m not gonna knock it for fulfilling its original mission statement too well.

The colors are, as usual for Generation 2, the star of the show here, and he’s mostly cast in a bright green, somewhere between lime and radioactivity. Dotting it is darker purple camo splotches, body parts in the same purple, and a few traffic-cone-orange accents, plus some silver on the chest. He’s lacking any of the random, 90’s-tastic slogans on his body that the original had (due to the small scale), but they did find room to tampo a tiny G2 Decepticon symbol on the left of his backpack.

Funny enough, his head feels like a whole different set of colors from his body, with a silver helmet, a light purple face, and orange eyes. Something about that, and the fact that his arms and feet are both unbroken green makes him almost look like G1 Megatron wearing some kind of colored onesie. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your appetite for whimsy.

Shockingly, despite the giant backpack, this version of Megatron actually stands really well on his two feet. That’s the best part of his pretty decent build quality. The downside would be his shoulderpads, which don’t like to stay tabbed into his torso, and frequently swing out.

It doesn’t feel like a problem, though, mostly because they almost add an extra axis of articulation, and the friction of the transformation joint they’re on isn’t too bad.

For articulation, Megatron’s about the same as Optimus, in both number of joints, and that they’re mostly ball-joints. He’s got balljointed knees and hips, a swivel waist, a swivel head, and balljointed shoulders and elbows. Funny enough, he’s got a singular wrist swivel on his right arm, thanks to it being a transformation joint.

To the credit of his designers, they managed to make it so that his articulation isn’t blocked by his big backpack, and between that, and his oddly stable feet, he poses strangely well for a big slab.

Unlike most modern Megatrons, the fusion cannon on this guy’s right arm isn’t removable, though you can at least spin it freely on the mushroom joint it’s mounted on. The barrel at the end is a War for Cybertron scaled 5MM port, so you can always mount something on the end of it to extend it.

His lone accessory is another gun, a solid green pistol that’s, in a funny easter egg, sculpted to resemble the Generation 1 gun mode he’s forbidden from having.

I do kind of wish they’d found some deco for it in the budget, though, it doesn’t look great in the same solid green as his body, and the original G2 figure had it in black, to boot. Also, I lost the Quality Control Roulette, mine came out of the box with a kind of warped, melted handle, though I was able to eventually break it into fitting in his hand just fine. A shame it’s not something you can check for in the package, it’s hiding behind the cardboard backing.

Presuming yours doesn’t have the same issue, the pistol fits in his hand just fine, and in a neat detail, can fit into pegholes on either side of his back to imitate G1 Megatron’s back-mounted gunbarrel. While he can’t shoulder-mount his weapon properly like the Generation 2 guy, I was able to kind of make an attack mode, by raising up his backpack.

The pistol also has the same double-layered peg as Core Optimus’s gun, meaning you can give it to larger figures to hold, or mount on War for Cybertron weapons ports, though the little sculpted trigger on the front of it can block it from fitting with some figures.

Transformation

Now, why couldn’t the larger Siege and Earthrise toolings have done it this way? They’re just complicated enough that I have to stop, think, reverse steps, and figure things out each time I convert one of them. This guy’s transformation takes the broad strokes of their toolings, and simplifies it in a fairly elegant way. The most impressive bit to me is how the backpack and arms need to switch positions on the figure, and you’d think they’d bump up against each other on a figure this simplified, but they manage to get around each other just fine.

Tank Mode

Granted, this mode’s messy, but it also kind of works? I think it’s down to the colors, but I’ll come back to those.

So, this is a wide, rectangular slab of a tank, with a wide rectangular turret. You’ve got sculpted treads, and a sculpted front, both again scaled down from the details on the Earthrise one.

But the rest of the tank is really really clearly rearranged robot parts. The turret is made up of arms, the barrel is the fusion cannon with the handgun stuck on the end, the back is a hollow mixing of the legs, with the feet clearly hanging out at the rear (which, in all fairness, the Earthrise one does too).

But unlike Optimus, who’s truck mode I found unpleasantly messy, I think it all kind of gels?

Again, I think it really comes down to the colors. This tank’s still bright green, mostly, with purple camo/purple bits, and a few orange accents.

The key is that the color scheme is hyper-unrealistic. So it doesn’t feel like the sculpting is “supposed” to be realistic, either, and that sort of frees it to look alright as a mess of tank-shaped parts. I even think the solid-colored arms help sell it in this mode, by making the turret mostly one color.

Basically, it all gels a bit better than on Core Optimus thanks to those color choices. I’d need to see it physically, but I’d go so far as to say that I bet the original, G1-style deco of this doesn’t work quite as well.

Also! Features-wise, while he doesn’t roll at all, he does something unexpected. Not only does his turret rotate (something small tankformers often give up on), but his barrel can raise and lower a fair amount, unexpectedly.

The end, where the pistol is mounted, is still a 5 millimeter War for Cybertron-compatible port, so you can always remove the pistol, and put something else in there, to give him a more impressive gun, or a big blast effect.

Overall

I hinted at it above, but Megatron definitely came out a little bit ahead of the good-but-not-great Optimus he’s paired against. I think the big difference is how the colors make his tank mode more cohesive. Or I’m just preferential towards a good loud G2 paint job.

I wish they’d finally do what they did back in the 2008 Universe line (as a minifigure) and make a Generation 2 Megatron that’s actually sculpted like the original, and not just colored like it. But for what he is, he comes together pretty well. That being said, this is another case where I still find him a bit pricey for what you get, especially since he doesn’t hit the highs of Soundwave, Dracodon, Vertebreak, or Rattrap. So, this is another “see if you can get a deal” kind of recommendation, but a stronger one than with Optimus.

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