A look at the transformation design of Transformers Alternity Megatron Blade Silver after spotlighting its vehicle mode in the previous posting. ^^
Megatron in vehicle mode with the folded instruction sheet.
The transformation begins with the removal of the two swords from the underside of the car.
Besides a straight peg that secures the guard of the sword to a slot next the rear wheel axle, there's also tiny tab above the guard that connects to a slit opposite the wheel axle. The tab must be slid out from its base first before the whole sword can be detached from the peg slot.
The instruction sheets shows just one step for the swords to be removed, which deceptively oversimplifies the procedure. ^^;
The swords are Megatron's main weapon in this incarnation. ^^
Closeups on the details.
The swords are about 9cm long each.
Back to the car itself, by using the hinge beneath the windshield, the entire roof piece with the truck lid is detached from the back of the car, and then lifted.
The rear section of the car is split from the body by detaching the tab beneath the back fender from the bottom frame.
The trunk is then split in half.
Next, a bit of wiggling is needed to get the two halves to be further separated from one another. Folding the back fender with the rear wheel outward helps to provide more space to the components.
Like the step with the swords' removal shown earlier on, the instruction sheet oversimplifies the trunk split. ^^;
A double fold to reveal the foot: each half of the truck is folded 90 degrees outward, ...
... the robot mode's shin that is connected to the trunk is then folded downward.
By using the swivel joint beneath the knee, the leg is rotated 90 degree downward, until the truck is facing the underside of the car.
A double hinge above the shin is extended to stretch out the bottom half of the leg.
Using the hinge and ball joints of the ankle, the foot is folded outward, and then rotated downward.
A look at the temporarily state of one transformed leg.
A couple more steps are needed to complete the whole transformation. ^^
A tab behind the trunk is pegged into its corresponding slot on the shin. This will lock the trunk piece to the leg.
From the front view of the robot mode (underside of the car), you can see that there are two (hinge) joints at the knee section. The larger one on top is the actual knee joint of Megatron, while the bottom one, which was revealed when the double hinge is extended, is supposed to be immobile.
The back fender with rear wheel is extended downward.
A clear peg beside the shin is connected to its corresponding slot behind the wheel. This will lock the entire bottom half of the leg, including the double hinge joint beneath the knee as highlighted earlier on.
The clearance for everything is very tight when all the parts are transformed properly. You can see a small divot on the side panel that is designed solely to give way to the protruding bit of the taillight. ^^
99 percent completion for the legs' transformation. ^^
A tiny step that I almost overlooked when transforming the figure: flipping the heel out from beneath the foot.
With the heel extended, the temporarily transformed figure can now be posed standing on the ground. ^^
The upper body's transformation is as lengthy as the legs, but much less confusing since many of the steps are similar to that of Convoy Super Black Ver. ^^
The doors and hood must be opened first.
Very similar Automorph feature as seen on Convoy Super Black Ver can be found on Megatron: by pushing both fenders frontward until they meet at the chest, the head will pop up.
The Automorph isn't as "active" as that on Convoy Super Black Ver, probably due to a reduction in the number of die-cast parts for said feature on this figure.
The back window is folded up to fit right beneath the rood.
The bottom frame of the car is folded to form the robot's spine.
The spine has its own linked components, which move together when the frame is folded, but I'm too lazy to really find out how they work. ^^;
The whole component is almost exactly the same as that on Convoy Super Black Ver, except it's all die-cast parts on the latter.
Before finishing on the spine's collapse (the previous step), the abdomen piece is folded downward first. The long tab beneath the part will help to lock the upper body to the waist.
The legs are rotated downward at the hips to allow Megatron to stand up properly. ^^
By using its double hinge, the shoulder is slid forward.
The middle pin in the images above represents the shoulder's double hinge.
The series of steps to transform the forearm (folding up the seat, then sliding it outward towards the door) is exactly the same as that on Convoy Super Black Ver.
By using its double hinge, the door is slid forward.
The rightmost pin in the images above represents the door's double hinge.
The outer door part is slid forward, revealing an extra armor panel beneath it.
As the door can only be slid to the front, it's not possible for it to give way when the door is opened in vehicle mode. This is the design feature I highlighted when revealing the doors' weakness in the previous posting. ^^
The arms are rotated downward for 90 degrees.
A tiny part that might be overlooked before the next step: there's a tab that secures the shoulder guard to the forearm that must be unlocked before the two arm components can be separated from each other.
The forearm is rotated to the front at elbow level, and the shoulder guard is lifted to complete the arm's transformation.
While the instruction sheet shows the shoulder guard to be left unmoved, I like the look of it posed upward, contrasting with the shoulder plate that is facing downward.
I use the side mirror behind the shoulder to determine how high the shoulder guard should be adjusted. ^^
The head is swiveled 180 degrees to the front.
A slot on the side of either thigh is used to hold the swords.
All done for the robot mode transformation of Transformers Alternity Megatron. ^^
Alternity Megatron has a very well engineered transformation design in my opinion. ^^ As highlighted during the transformation process, the specific tolerance for some the leg parts if they are transformed properly, couple with how well they are stored inside the car in vehicle mode is truly amazing. The disproportionately thin legs might seem off-putting, but they are really fun to transform. ^^ Despite being almost the same as that on Convoy Super Black Ver, most of the upper body's transformation steps are also very exciting to play with. The lack of die-cast materials doesn't make the collapse of the spine block any less interesting to see, and the sliding door panels that form the shoulder armor is fun to play with. ^^
Another more personal factor which makes the transformation fun is experience. ^^ With Convoy Super Black Ver, the uncertainty of some of its steps, coupled with my own inability to read Japanese made it really difficult to follow the instruction sheet, so the transformation was very confusing to me, and frustrating to some degree. ^^; Actually, the leg transformation of Convoy Super Black Ver still seems super confusing to me, even to this day. ^^; After reviewing more, bigger Transformers figures after Convoy, I now have the courage to try twisting and turning the components when I couldn't follow the instruction sheet. I'm still careful with my toys, but the fear of breaking them if I attempt anything slightly different from what's shown in the manual is no longer an obstacle for me with my Transformers. That realization is certainly helpful when transforming Megatron. Some of the steps involved in transforming the legs would take much longer time if I pondered on the instruction sheet like what I did with Convoy Super Black Ver, but I managed to figure out some of the steps on my own. That certainly gave me more time to appreciate the clever engineering of the toy, rather than to be frustrated over some pictorial instructions. ^^
More images of the robot mode in the next posting. ^^
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1 comment:
Wow, I look forward to seeing the rest of his transformation. Thanks man. Your blog is one of the best. I was inspired by your work so I started my own as well. Thank you for the wonderful content you create because I'm inspired now to make my own and share it with the world :D
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