Energon Megatron

[Limbo]

I Just got the Energon Megatron on Wal-Mart.

A toy with a lot of potential ruined by laziness, bad design and corporation stupidity.

The fighter mode on the box didn’t look that terrible... I don't like the transparent "uranium-green" parts but I could learn how to live with it... The fighter proportions are not that terrible (considering the other transformers out there) and it even got a x-wing kind of look... I though I could paint the nasty green parts and have an almost decent transforming fighter on the shelve... dare to dream...

The head doesn't collapse anywhere inside the toy.

Yes, you have a big fricking one-inch pointed head under the jet. Sometimes I wonder if they are doing this on purpose, because there is now way a designer would leave that stupid head looking at you under the plane. And you clearly see it was a matter of laziness, because I can think of at least 5 ways to improve the head in some way. Whoever designed Megatron's head should be shot in the head. Twice.

Robot mode looks a lot like the original Galvatron, and I would like to see a repaint with the purple Galvatron colors. But it could use some Atkins action. Fat-a-tron is a chubby toy. I wish the angle wings would collapse, this would make much slicker toy, and the angle is right there ready to fold. Again, bad design combined with laziness.

Megs comes with a tank who doesn't transform, what is kind of odd because the tank is fairly big. It was supposed to light up but mine never did... is connects on the top of the fighter as a big cannon, and can attach on the arm on robot mode... is also comes with a clear piece of pointed plastic that becomes a "sword" (...)

I give megs a 5 out of 10. The stupid head really killed the toy for me. I can remove the read with a single screw... I will do my best to put anything else in there... maybe something made out of legos or something... I keep you guys updated on this

Now the pics:

Edited April 4, 2004 by Limbo

[Limbo]

The stupid head sticking out...

[NSJ23]

I bought the Super link version, he's tiny but he fits on my Transformer Shelf better than Energon Megs.

[Limbo]

Any suggestions what could replace this head?

[Limbo]

Robot mode

[Limbo]

More robot

[Limbo]

Why do they insist in making a "sword" out of everything?

[Limbo]

tank attached

[Lynx7725]

He looks chubby in 'Bot.

Question is, can he go to GERWALK?

[Limbo]

His legs collapse in a strange way (the feet become the intakes on the front)

This is what I could get on:

[areaseven]

Why'd they make him look like G1 Galvatron?

[Limbo]

because they will probably milk it very soon as a galvatron repaint

[areaseven]

His legs collapse in a strange way (the feet become the intakes on the front)

This is what I could get on:

At least he's got a better Gerwalk mode than Ultra Jetstorm.

Speaking of Gerwalk, has anyone here attempted to do a Gerwalk mode on BT/Alternator Smokescreen? I made an attempt, but because he's front-heavy, it didn't work.

[Hurricane29]

Ever since I saw the first pics of that thing, I thought the front part looked too much like a bird, and it still does.

[Chewie]

Why'd they make him look like G1 Galvatron?

Exact thing I said when I saw him at the Wal-Mart the other day. -.-

[Hikuro]

I personally like the Energon Megs for the simple look of being unique...he's never been a "bomber" before....and personally I'm sorta sick of the tank look, he's had it for over 10 years...he needed another change. Though he looks like Galvatron, he shouldn't be called Megatron...need to move on...

[eriku]

Yuck. I like Energon but I knew Megs wouldn't be something I'd want from the first picture I saw several months ago. That jet looks like what would happen if a gamma ray struck an X-wing right as it was sucking a flock of swans through it's intakes.

And the "Hey, lets throw a tiny non-transforming tank in for good measure!" really completes the stupidity.

[Limbo]

And the "Hey, lets throw a tiny non-transforming tank in for good measure!" really completes the stupidity.

Actually, the tank's body has some good 5" in lenght. Almost 7 If you add the barrel.

My only beef with this toy is the fricking head looking at me in fighter mode.

[wolfx]

Any suggestions what could replace this head?

Maybe they were trying to make him like a valk.

[Anubis]

Don't like him.

[Radd]

Galvatron was always chubby. He actually doesn't look too shabby in robot mode, still too fisher*price for my taste, though. His vehicle mode is just crap. I just do not understand the Energon/Armada design ethic.

[Anubis]

Galvatron was always chubby. He actually doesn't look too shabby in robot mode, still too fisher*price for my taste, though. His vehicle mode is just crap. I just do not understand the Energon/Armada design ethic.

There IS no work ethic involved with the Armada/Energon designs.

Edited April 4, 2004 by Anubis

[Limbo]

Actually, I wonder who is designing all those toys? Where can we find credits for the designs? (and flame the bastards to hell)... Are they made in US, Japan or a combination of both? I know the binaltech are 100% designed by takara, so is the masterpiece Prime... That's why I find hard to belive we are getting such infestation of cheap bad designed transforming toys from Japan for years. Who is resposible for Armada and Energon designs?

Someone make me a black list

Edited April 4, 2004 by Limbo

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

nope

masterpiece prime and alternators/BT are designed by both hasbro and takara,. The actual toy design*(not the character) is designed in japan by kobayashi.

samw goes for energon and armada but with THOSE 2 lines they are made for KIDS not US! alternators and BT/prime are for US.

believe it or not, kobayashi designed masterpiece prime but you know where most of his design credentcials are? ARMADA! He designed the armada prime toy. yes the fishehead brick was designed by the same dude who designed the masterpiece prime toy.

from whaty i gather aaron archer designs the overall look and kobayashi does the actual blueprinting and such,. And yes it is confirmed that he designed most of armada toys and mastepriece prime(blueprint and actuality wise not the overall aesthetic) its been this way for years. exwecpt rid. rid was mainly japan to get some profit after there money was sucking balls and they werent getting much.

beast wars was mainly kenner who was bought out by hasbro. japanese beast wars 2 and neo were japanese. but beast wars as awhole did not sell well into japan prompting takara to go to collelctors and suick them back into the vacuum with toys that would appeal to them and boost profict hence car robots and rid.

later once stable hasbro and takara realized they would do better working togethere so with thatr the sucky armada came out.

it may not seem lke it but its true. alternators are for US. iuts known it tkaes at least 6 months from design to prototype to happen wo while armada was bneing designed, so was masterpiece prime and alterantors(spring 2001 for prime).

so while armada and alternators were relatively being designed in similar timeframes, the end results were spaced out by at least a year.

so yes its the same designer. its just the kids line will always get more stuff than us. thats actually common sense they rack in more money than we do. we may seem likea lot of people but compared to kids watching tv buiying energona nda rmada up we are not as much as we may think we are.

for proof of kobayashis involvement in masterpiece prime AND armada fishead prime please track ddown his interview translated in either transfandom or any other tf site.

or ask shade he tends to know a lot about this stuff too.

BTW they spend WAY more time on alternators then they do with energon. but thats obvious.

So those who praise the designer of masterpiece prime and flame the designer of most of armada(the actual toys)...

you guys are flaming the same dude.

aaron archer is the one who again designs the aesthetic NOT the articulation and such involved

to be honest id rather have the dude who designdd big convoy or rid prime design armada prime rather than kobayashi. his main weakness is not retaining articulation when it comes to gimmicks. but then agian he also designedd bendy prime too,

his first tf to design was car robots speedbreaker. hes also relatively young not even 30

[GobotFool]

Ever since I saw the first pics of that thing, I thought the front part looked too much like a bird, and it still does.

Actually he looks like a klingon bird of prey

[Limbo]

you guys are flaming the same dude.

That's what I don't get. The guy knows how to design the good stuff but does crap on purpose? C'mon, I know the timeframe is an issue, but certain things just doesn't make any sense. I'm not complaning about the color or even de unrealistic robot mode. I'm a graphic designer myself, and I just can't see how certain things can pass even for kids...

Look at this fighter.... Are you telling me the guy who made the binaltech smokescreen was the same guy who left a fricking head under the place?

Hard to belive... :/

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Mp prime start spring 2001 -release-late 03 early 04

a;ternators iodea start-spring 2001 release-late 03 early 04

energon idea and desgn 2003-releaase-late 03 early 04

yes it IS the same dude. It most likely is. The top 2 designers always named are aaron archer who deos aesthetics and overall look and kobayashi who does the "real" grunt toy design work like blue printing, transformation mechanisms, screw locations, engineering design, stuff like that. Again its in the interview, kobayashi is credited to almost the WHOLE armada line itself.

energon and armada is FOR KIDS. the only reason RID was appealing to us was because takara's budget sucked balls back in late 99 so they needed a gimmick that coujld appeal to collectors to get more profit. when things settled down they started making kiddy stuff again with armada. remember beast wars as a whole did not do as well in japan even with their own series.

Beast wars neo and 2 may have been some of the most articulated beast wars figujresm but take away megastorm, starscream and bb, magmatron, lio convoy, bw2 galvatron, and big convoy and heinrad and you have 2 lines that basically suck.

with kids line the main emphasis is fun. gimmick overall else. a satisfactrory articulation but mainly fun. look at g1. Lots of yopu praise it but if you look at most of them , the robot modes kinda suck. I love g1 but hey lets be realistic here. its not all its cracked up to be. you cant tell me g1 rodimus prime looks better than the energon one. you cant tell me g1 galvatron toy is one of the best ever made. Megs might have looked good in cartooon but once you saw the toy...wgat the?

with alternators and binaltech and masterpiece, the WHOLE PREMISE is to please the older collector. The collector who couldnt give a crap about energon or amrada and wants to see where rid would have eveolved into.(in some way yes since kobayashi was an rid designer...originally the design for alternators stems from an abandoned takara idea in 1987 for making 1/24 scale high detail transformers with realistic alt modes). takara and hasbro realize a lot ofg you fdont like the kids line but its as simple as this, its not FOR you. you guys can complain all you want about how the designs suck balls and they are lazy but its NOT for you.

al;ternators and binaltech and masterpiece however IS for us. made directly for us and such. To be honest I never got a clear answer as to why the alternators lack metal but i sure as hell happy im saving almsot 40$. (and YES i did try asking aaorn archer this SEVERAL times but after giving away so much info to my qurstions, he stopped). Plastic alternators mayu factor in with walmart having so much power over retailers and such(they suck and have the power to kill toylines...gijoe was almost scrapped by them until action attack was thougt up for gijoe 04). (yes this is true loook at the joe sites and tf sites for info).

anyhoo i bvelieve alternators are plastic to be less pricey and let the average fan get them. hasbro tried importing fortmax nad sixshot and metroplex here but most of those either failed the drop test or in sixshots case, turned into a gun. the gun law is all bout stupid safety laws. not hasbrs fault they tried bringing an organge g1 megs as lava megs but couldnt bring him over. hasbro ENNCOURAGES imports as well. so dont think thye are some evil ass corporation thats lazy no, they jsut do whats most economically viable for them. like i siad we are a small portion of the market dominated by kids.

emphasis is the main dividing factor between alternators and enerogn. Kids for energon, older fans for alternators simple as that. kids are happy with energon and armada. sure we may wonder why the hell this is possible but look at the sales charts im sure that sales is ultimately what matters.

why are you guys complainign about energon anyways? wh6y the hell why? why arent you joining

MY CAMPAIGN FOR MASTERPIECE MEGS AND A F-14 JETFIRE ALONG WITH ALTERNATOR SEEKERS IN RUSSIAN JET MODES YES RUSSIAN.

HEHE YES VOSTOK I LIKE THEM RUSKIE PLANES TOO.

[Hoptimus]

Yeah the Energon line isnt exactly blowing up my skirt.

Prime was very dissapointing and Megs is just as bad.

I do like Downshift though*cough*wheeljack*cough* and Starscream wasnt too bad. I bought Rodimus but he kinda sucks.

I am really only collecting the Alternators myself.

[Agent ONE]

He has galvatron's head which makes no sense, he is a jet or a junkyard and neither of those make sense either... the neon plastic is utter garbage also.

The designer of this toy gets an Agent ONE kick to the groin.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

its actually g1 megs head with galvatron crest. I thnk hbes better than the armada megs and in ym eyes my fav megs since combat hero and tm2 megs.

[MrDisco]

i don't like it but then again the whole energon/armada line is for the kiddies.

[JB0]

with kids line the main emphasis is fun. gimmick overall else. a satisfactrory articulation but mainly fun.

So am I the only kid that always thought "This is neat and all, but why can't I move the legs?" and "why don't the arms go anywhere other than straight forward and down?"

Gimmick only gets you so far.

[Max Jenius]

That's the thing. All they really have to do to make a successful Transformers line(at least from the collector's standpoint) is remake the old Transformers with their SAME Robot/Transformed mode, just improve upon it using current technology.

For mass-market appeal, they just have to make them look cool in both modes.

Hasbro has failed on both counts.

I mean, it would be AWESOME for a giant F-22 or F-23 Starscream or something. They just need to look at things that we have today and make them transform... it really isn't that hard, my friends and I used to do that all the time.

[Greyryder]

with kids line the main emphasis is fun.  gimmick overall else. a satisfactrory articulation but mainly fun.

So am I the only kid that always thought "This is neat and all, but why can't I move the legs?" and "why don't the arms go anywhere other than straight forward and down?"

Gimmick only gets you so far.

The (lack of) articulation never really bothered me. They were nearly as articulated as all those Kenner Star Wars figures I had. So the legs didn't move, I didn't need to fit tme inside a vehicle, they tunred into vehicles. I also excepted that there was only so much they could do with something that turned into a fairly realistic toy car.

I just always thought thatthe concept of the Transformers was cool. A toy vehicle that's a fairly decent representation of it's real world counterpart, that turned into a robot. It was the later TFs that started to throw me off the series. Most of them didn't look anything in the real world, and none of them bothered to hide the fact that they turned into a robot. The TF planes were always lacking in that regard, but most of the other early TFs had pretty good vehicle modes.

That's why I don't care about any of the newer lines, except Alternators/Binal Tech. They don't have that realistic vehicle factor. Though, I still give Energon Landmine credit for it's Mad Max look.

[JB0]

That's the thing. All they really have to do to make a successful Transformers line(at least from the collector's standpoint) is remake the old Transformers with their SAME Robot/Transformed mode, just improve upon it using current technology.

For mass-market appeal, they just have to make them look cool in both modes.

Hasbro has failed on both counts.

I mean, it would be AWESOME for a giant F-22 or F-23 Starscream or something. They just need to look at things that we have today and make them transform... it really isn't that hard, my friends and I used to do that all the time.

Honestly, I think some of the designs show promise.

They're marred by a few really flakey goofs, like not finding a place to fold the head in, but the potential is there.