"Generations" Platinum Edition "One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall" boxed set Toy Review

Robot Mode:
When this figure was released in 2006 it had been many years since a Megatron had been released who did not transform into a tank or some type of beast. This caused quite a bit of excitement back in the day and with good reason. For the time this figure was quite the revelation, showcasing modern engineering and sculpting with elements of the original Megatron as well. Like the original Megatron he has some blocky details on the upper body, the blaster handles form his legs and he has a cannon on his right arm. Unlike G1 Megatron a lot of his lines are a lot more sleek and angled and he has two large "wings" on his back formed from the sides of his weapon form. From a sculpting perspective the figure is solid.

From a design standpoint however the figure does have some issues mostly around the design of the legs. The hip joints are ratcheted, so if you want him to stand you either have to have the legs set wide apart in an "action" pose or you push them very close together which looks rather odd, almost like he is standing straight trying not to be noticed in a cartoon or something. Also, due to the way the cannon is formed on the arm, it winds up on the underside of his forearm instead of the side or top as it had been on the television series (and the G1 toy). These are by no means dealbreakers for the figure, but they are worth mentioning in any review.

Megatron is cast in very different colors than his original release. He is a combination of silver, metallic red, gunmetal grey and translucent red plastic. Of course, since the figure transforms into a weapon there are orange plastic parts which wind up on the cannon and the left shoulder. You'll also see a bit of orange used for the ratchet joints on the hips. It is a really interesting color combination. The metallic colors definitely give it a "premium" feel, almost like there is die cast metal on it (from a visual standpoint). Paint colors on this figure include silver, metallic red, gold and black. The silver is mostly found on the torso. The red is mostly found on the legs, where it outlines the gunmetal grey parts of the lower legs. Gold is used to beautiful effect on several parts as a trim. Examples of this include the middle of the legs, circles on the waist area and small details on the thighs. Silver and black are used in concert on the head where silver is on the face and black is used on the 'brow', calling back to G1 Megatron's colors. The finishing touch is a combination of white and purple on the sculpted Decepticon symbol on the chest.

You may wonder why the designers did not just go with silver and black like G1 Megatron. The fact is they could not do so and still conform to modern day toy safety laws in the United States. Specifically these laws control how any toy resembling a gun has to look so it is not mistaken for a real weapon. This is partly why the original version of this figure had garish colors like bright green and purple. I have to say however that this time out the designers really found a great combination of relatively dark colors that work very well together. Sure the orange kind of stands out but that's the point. Indeed, the red and gold together really evoke traditional Chinese colors of good luck, so for me it adds an extra layer of visual appeal to this figure.

There are twenty one points of articulation on this figure and a majority of them are ratchet joints. Thanks in part to this tooling not having been used repeatedly over the years all the joints are very tight giving the figure a very solid feel.

Transformation to Weapon Mode:

1. Straighten out the arms and legs.
2. Swing the panels on the top of the lower legs down.
3. On each forearm swing up the panels on the forearms and swing the fists in, then close the panels.
4. On each foot, swing the heel pieces in, then the foot pieces.
5. Swing the chest panel open, push the head down, then close the panel.
6. Swing the "wings" back.
7. Hold the torso with one hand, then hold the base piece with the wings attached with the other and pull it down. It is clipped in so you will need to give it an extra bit of strength.
8. Hold the torso and pull the right arm out to the side.
9. Pull the torso up.
10. Swing the left arm up so it is against the orange piece on the robot shoulder.
11. Rotate the left arm around so the orange piece points down.
12. Swing the left arm up.
13. Rotate the torso around.
14. Swing the lower left leg up, then rotate it outward.
15. Swing the torso piece and left arm down so it is against the left leg.
16. Rotate the lower right leg in.
17. Swing the right leg out three notches.
18. There is a piece of knee armor sticking up from the leg that fits into a slot on the trigger piece, connect the two.
19. Rotate the right arm around, then swing it up and set the shoulder piece against the back of the weapon. Rest the arm and targeting scoipe flat against the waist/leg section. There is a peg on the bottom of the scope/cannon piece that fits into a hole on the waist area. Use this as your guide.
20. Rotate the "wings" of the robot mode. On each one swing out the clip pieces, then bring them together.

Weapon Mode:
As mentioned above, there are laws against creating toy guns that resemble real life weapons. Instead, Hasbro looked inward at their toy line that is nothing but weapons that fire projectiles: Nerf. Specifically it looks like the designers looked at the Nerf N-Strike Maverick as the inspiration for Megatron's weapon mode and it works very nicely. The angled handle and wide body give it a science fiction like appearance while the faux cylinder, hammer in the back and targeting scope on top of the weapon seem to evoke a more traditional weapon design. Sculpted Decepticon symbols on the sides of the targeting scope solidify this as a Transformers weapon. Overall it's a cool sculpt and looks great as a modern version of Megatron's weapon form.

This mode largely features Megatron's red colors. That includes the metallic red plastic, the translucent red and parts that have been painted red. The gunmetal grey parts help balance the colors out, but overall it has a cool, dark color scheme. This mode also reveals white paint on the cylinder sections, which offers a bright contrast to the darker red and gunmetal colors. Of course, you can't get away from having the orange color so the end of the barrel in front and the end of the targeting scope are bright orange. It's not the most attractive color, but I will say since all the other colors are so dark the contrast actually works out well.

In terms of functionality the trigger on the weapon makes a satisfying "click" when you pull on it and that's about it. While the scope does have translucent red plastic on the front and back you can't really see through it.