As mentioned in the introduction yesterday, I'll be doing a reversed transformation review for "Transformers: Prime" Cyberverse Commander Class Megatron. ^^ The Decepticon leader will return in robot mode by the end of this posting, but before that, Megatron in his Cybertronian jet mode is to be shown first: ^^
Soul Stage Act 3 Action Support Clear Type is used to show the jet cruising in mid-air, which is a more impressive display for Megatron I think. ^^
Thanks to its small size, there's no problem using the display stand's clip on the figure. ^^
Closeups on the details:
Bottom view of the jet:
A beautifully designed alien spacecraft this is, and the design is very accurate to Megatron's appearance in the cartoon series as well. ^^ The gripper-like part as the jet's nose, the forward-sweeping wings, even his head which pokes out on top of the jet's body are nicely realized on this figure. That's quite impressive for a small-sized Cyberverse figure in my opinion. ^^
On the other hand, I absolutely love the display of Megatron's clear purple parts in jet mode. There's a very cohesive feel about the overall color scheme, since parts of the jet's thrusters (arms in robot mode) and wings (legs) feature dark metallic purple paint work that compliments the clear purple part brilliantly. ^^ Initially, the huge chuck of clear purple part that formed the middle segment of the jet mode stood out a lot to me as I took note of its molded color, but seeing how well the entire jet turned out to be because of its cohesive color scheme, the clear part doesn't feel like it's out of place anymore. ^^
Comparison with Optimus Prime from the same product line in his own vehicle form:
Megatron's overwhelming size over Optimus Prime's vehicle mode is quite an amazing point I think. ^^ It's even more so when their robot form's size is compatible with one another. ^^ The size discrepancy in vehicle mode is all due to their transformation design. Optimus Prime's transformation from vehicle to robot mode is about extending parts previously folded into the truck cab to form its body and arms; for Megatron on the other hand, the direct opposite happens. ^^ As you will see in a while, Megatron's vehicle to robot mode transformation involves mainly collapsing and retracting some jet parts to form the robot's body and legs. So, as Optimus Prime becomes bigger when he transforms from vehicle to robot mode, Megatron will experience a size reduction instead. XD
Even though Megatron's Cybertronian jet mode has a unique charm to it, especially its color scheme, I still prefer Optimus Prime's vehicle mode as the better design if I really had to choose between the two. The simple but very effective transformation design of Optimus Prime allows all the parts to be folded up very accurately to form a vehicle mode that looks believable as a large Earth-based vehicle. For Megatron however, the jet's design is very unique since it doesn't have to conform to any terrestrial design pattern. That's the unique point of Megatron anyway. Objectively speaking, Megatron looks good as an alien jet that resembles the design as seen in the TV series, but Optimus Prime's vehicle mode looks good as a mini truck mode, and its resemblance to its appearance in the show is very close as well. From that comparison, Optimus Prime seems to feature a better vehicle mode than Megatron. ^^
Transforming Megatron back into robot mode:
The energy sword mounted on top of the jet thruster needs to be removed at the beginning of the transformation sequence, as shown in the instruction sheet, but it's actually not a mandatory step.
(Left) The jet's bottom view offers a clearer picture in revealing some of transformation sequences.
(Right) Tabs between the claws are removed from their designated slots at the edge of the jet's body.
Using the hinge joint deep inside the parts, the wings/legs are folded backward for 360 degrees until the claws are facing to the back of the jet.
The thighs are adjusted downward at the hip joints to complete the legs' transformation.
The jet's nose is folded downward using a double-hinge joint situated right beneath Megatron's head.
A look at the double-hinge joint mentioned above.
The "grippers" are extended outward to form Megatron's chest armors.
The double hinge joints behind the parts that allow the chest armor pieces' movement.
The initial extension of the parts shown above uses the two innermost points for their movement.
The chest armor parts are rotated outward for the second time, this time using the second set of hinge joints behind the parts. At the end of this particular step, the "hooks" on the parts are going to face one another. ^^
The front and rear body halfs are snapped together at the hips.
An entirely clear purple block as Megatron's body doesn't seem too bad to me. ^^
The chest armors are tilted upward until the two halfs snap in place on both sides of the body.
On the back, the two arms are spilt by releasing a peg on the forearms that connects them in jet mode.
The arms are folded to the sides of the body.
The jet thruster is folded to the top of the forearm and rotated around to form Megatron's iconic cannon. ^^
The energy sword is removed from the top of the cannon and reattached to a dedicated port right above the right hand.
All done for Megatron's jet-to-robot-mode transformation. ^^
More images of Megatron in robot mode coming up next. ^^
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment