I'm a little late to the party on Revenge of the Fallen Megatron. He wasn't in my top list of picks but I picked him up on a whim and put him though the paces. In ROTF old Megatron is back in action thanks to a little Decepticon cannibalism at the bottom of the ocean and has been upgraded with treads. For Kids:
Giant robot, giant gun, giant tank, lights and sounds, shooting projectile, transformer... I see no negatives here for a kid to have a blast with Megatron. Not to mention he has a sleek alien cool look to him. If your kid liked the movies at all or just likes cool toys I'd say this guy's a sure bet. His transformation is easier than it looks like it would be as well and with a little demonstration a kid should get it.
For Adults:
The improvement to the robot form here over the movie one version is on par with what was done with Optimus Prime and Starscream. He looks much sleeker, less clunky and more screen accurate than his movie one counterpart. Also, his redesign into a more tank like being as opposed to a jet like being gives him a much tougher look. I'm impressed with the detail and looks of his legs this time around. The foot treads look really cool. The more robust nature of his legs and feet allow for deep and impressive posing. His right arm is a humongous gun - seriously it's huge - while his left is a spindly little thing with long fingers. That's not to say it looks bad but it does look a little funny in comparison to his tank gun arm.
While never as much as there could be what paint is here is clean and looks good. He's molded in a light grey to approximate silver. The treads are black and there is some black paint to point out some details of his face like his tiny sharp teeth. There's a pretty good amount of detail painted into the machinery in the treads. His eyes and some areas under his chest are clear red.
The transformation (especially compared to Optimus) is almost a piece of cake. In very simplified terms it involves swinging his arms back and around (the big gun may pop off during transformation but easily pops back on), tilting his legs correctly and flattening them out into the tank treads, moving the jets to the back of the tank and clicking the gun in place then finishing off with little detail flips and clicking tabs as usual.
Tank mode looks great. It's an alien looking affair but not so crazy looking as to be unidentifiable. The layout of the treads gives it an interesting look and the jets at back make you think this is one tank that could set some land speed records. If the gun could rotate it would be the only improvement I can think of.
Action features include three sounds - A gun firing sound as you move the gun arm around or fire it from tank mode, a transformation sound during the leg part of transformation and of course, "I AM MEGATRON!" in a booming voice as you push the lever in his chest down. Pushing the lever causes the gears in his chest to move and bright red lights to flare in his chest and eyes. He has a shooting projectile and the back of the gun can swing forward and at the push of a button a sword pops out.
I have to say this is a better looking and much more fun toy than I expected. I have to be fair and say there is nothing that bothers me about this guy. Usually there's something - some aspect of the look or paint or the difficulty of transformation - that's not the case here so I have no reason not to give him five stars.
