Originally written November 2019.
IDW Comics has long been the place to go for some of the best Transformers stories out there, and one of its most well-known creations is the award-winning More than Meets The Eye series, and its followup, Lost Light, written by James Roberts. It revolves around a motley crew of Transformers on the starship Lost Light (captained by the Rodimus, aka Hot Rod), ostensibly on a quest for their planet’s future, but really just jamming around space, getting into trouble, and trying to find a purpose now that the war’s over (which, by the way, was also a thing that happened). It was a big crossover hit, and its popularity has resulted in several figures of G1 characters across the Generations lines being specifically styled after their appearances in the comics, and few of the comic’s original creations getting toys, too.
In the comic’s “second season,” (because it was structured a bit like a TV show), there was a major shakeup to the series: Megatron joined the crew as its new captain (or co-captain, as Rodimus would say). Not only that, but after recent events, he renounced his faction, and become an Autobot. What that meant, whether or not a genocidal despot could ever be redeemed, how sincere his intentions were, and all of the complications that come with that were a major part of the comic after that. Love it, hate it, think it was something fresh and original, or think it was some sort of plot-sucking vortex, there’s no denying it was a big moment for the franchise in general. But, save for an optional sticker on an unrelated Megatron toy, it was something that was never replicated in plastic until now.
Flame Toys is a legitimate third-party company (i.e, one with a license) that makes Gundam-style model kits of Transformers characters, mostly in original designs (which, to be honest, don’t really appeal to me). However, they’ve also produced a figure of Optimus Prime’s latter-day IDW Comics design, which I already reviewed. As a fan of the comic, I absolutely had to get this guy, too. Flame Toys kits don’t transform (I’ve heard that’s a condition of the license), but in Megatron’s case, that actually works, since he never transformed in the pages of MTMTE/Lost Light, either (a justified criticism of the comic, they often forgot the characters had alternate modes). So, let’s see how this kit stacks up compared to the last one. A couple of these photos come from Venomously Addicted Photography, who you can follow on Facebook and on Instagram.
Building the Model
As I said last time, building it is half the point of models, after all. This is the fourth kit I’ve ever built, counting Optimus, and two Gundams. I won’t go into as much detail as the Optimus review, but a few things have changed here. This was a more complicated build, in that he came with a couple of screws that I needed a tiny screwdriver to properly fit in.
On the upside, this model doesn’t recommend that you glue anything, so I’d say the difficulty wound up being about the same. The only other accessories you need are something to clip the screws off (which I used my trusty Gundam Clippers for), and a toothpick to help you apply the stickers.
It took me about four sessions of a couple hours to complete (I wasn’t really timing myself), and was a pretty fun time.
The Finished Figure
When completed, Megatron’s just a liiittle bit bigger than the Optimus kit. He’s certainly broader, and the extra mass helps sell his size. He’s still just a hair smaller than a modern Voyager, but he looks imposing, and has better proportions than the Optimus. In terms of accuracy to the source material, he ought to be bigger compared to the rest of the Lost Light crew, but he still scales pretty well with them. Speaking of that, in terms of his sculpt, this is an incredibly accurate likeness to his appearance in the comics, to the point where it’s uncanny. Observe:
In-hand images of him had made me worry that his grey plastic would wash out some of his details, but I’m pleased to report that that didn’t happen in person, and that all of his detailing is pretty sharp.
Like Optimus, he has no paint, but uses many different kinds of plastic to vary up the different shades of grey and black across his body. He’s also got some red bits, and the rest of the pops of color are provided by his surprisingly good-looking stickers. You can apply silver ones over his sculpted “chest hair” patterns if you want, but I left them off (also, my Autobot symbol was a bit off-center on the sticker itself, sadly). The highest compliment I can pay here is to say that he doesn’t need any extra paint or modelwork, and looks complete as-is.
When being handled, he’s way more stable than Optimus was, which is probably why they didn’t recommend you glue parts of him. He’s fragile enough that I still don’t feel like I can throw him on the ground, but I can pose and handle him without parts feeling like they’re going to come off. His shoulders can sometimes rattle, but that’s about it.
He’s got great poseability, just like Optimus. He’s got those bonuses like ankle tilts, an ab crunch, and swivel wrists, making him more poseable than some of Siege. I wish he had heel spurs, though, he can fall over if you’re not careful.
For accessories, he’s got two sets of swappable hands: Splayed open or closed fists. The splayed hands make for great facepalming or gesture-speaking, and goes well with his poseability. For armament, he’s also got a fusion cannon that can clip onto either arm. Seriously, though, he just looks good when paired with my Lost Light cast.
Overall
I’m a bit biased, since I genuinely love the source material, but still, in terms of build quality and the final product, this is a better kit than Optimus (who was, himself, pretty good), and if you’re only going to get one, this is it. It’s also an excellent (and the only official) representation of this particular, unique take on the character, and if you’re building a Lost Light shelf, he’s a must. He’s fun to build, makes a surprisingly solid robot, and his lack of transformation feels more like a feature than a bug. He’s a bit steep, clearing $60 Canadian, but I’m happy with what I got.
(2021 note: Since writing this, there was this whole incident with Flame Toys previewing an extremely questionably-designed Windblade kit, and multiple layers of backlash, with the company itself making some questionable social media responses about it. The whole affair’s understandably soured a lot of people on Flame Toys as a company, and if you haven’t already heard about it, I’d recommend getting informed before deciding where you stand on making any purchasing decisions.)
