Megastrorm - Beast Wars II - Figure


Name: MEGASTORM
Allegiance: Destron(aka. Destronger)/Preadacon
Function: Duke of Destruction
Machine Mode: Tank
Average Price:$ 69.99
MACHINE MODE
Length: 29.5cm (including gun barrel)
Height: 9cm (not including searchlight)
Width: 10.5cm

A primarily green (with jungle camouflage fatigues) tank with purple for the barrel and parts of the turret. There is only one real point of articulation, and that is the missile launcher/barrel's ability to move up to a 45 degree angle and back. Other than that, it has no points of articulation as even the turret itself cannot move. The wheels in the treads are purely decorative, however, there are four wheels underneath the toy, allowing the player to push it along the ground.

The missile launcher gimmick is a rather interesting one. Up to four black 75mm missiles can be loaded into the top of the launcher. Then a slide rail is pulled back to ***** the weapon, and a trigger behind it fires the missile. The launcher must be re-cocked before it can be fired again.

Three stickers can be seen in vehicle mode. There are two Destron (Predacon) insignias each side of the turret, each with the word "Destron" written on it.

There is also a sticker wrapped around the barrel's midpoint - with "Big Stick" written on the right and "Peace Through Tyranny!" written on the left.

TRANSFORMATION

The sides of the turret fold out and down, with the rear halves turning around, bingo; arms. On the back half of the under side, are two panels (where the rear wheels are). These open up, exposing more robot parts. Pull the back half out, then flip out the top section of the tank to form robot legs. Swing the entire section down 90 degrees and push up to lock. Flip out robot feet. Slide the entire BFG to the right and the robot head springs up. The gun can be placed in either fist. The transformation scheme on this toy is stupendously simple considering its size and the fact that it doesn't have the "one step" transformation gimmick like the original Rattrap and Thrust.

ROBOT MODE

Transformation to robot mode was surprisingly easy. Megastorm effectively retains the same colour scheme in robot mode. The main appeal of Megastorm in robot mode is the size. Standing at 26cm in height, he is one of the largest Japanese Beast Wars figures; larger than all the gattaisenshi (gestalts) and Lio Convoy!

The only Japanese Beast Wars robot larger than Megastorm would be Gigastorm (a re-issue of Trypticon) and the only Western Beast Wars/Beast Machines Transformer Close to Megastorms height is Optimal Optimus/Primal Prime.

I bought Megastorm as part of the Taihou no Taiketsu ("Big Guns Versus Set"), and Megastorm's size is certainly a striking contrast to that of his Cybertron counterpart, Apache (who only measures at 17cm in height).

The toy is rather bulky - then again, he transforms into a tank - a vehicle known more for bulk and destructive power, rather than grace. ^_^

The face has been slightly repainted with the immediate areas around his eyes coloured black (giving him a sort of "Zorro" look). Nice!

The main drawback on this toy is it's relatively low amount of articulation. It only really has seven main points of articulation, most of which come from the arms (kinda sounds like the original Optimus, eh?). The hand gun also looks quite small, especially when it's being held by his bulky arms... and in contrast with the missile launcher... it seems like a pea-shooter.

RUB STICKER LOCATION

Visible only in robot mode, on the 'solar plexus' region.

MEGASTORM vs MEGATRON

Several of the toys released in the Japanese Beast Wars line (colloquially referred to by some fans as Beast Wars II in order to further differentiate it from the US line) are actually repaints of toys from the Transformers Generation 2 line. Megastorm was originally released as the Decepticon leader Megatron in the Transformers Generation 2 line.

Because I was Not born in the time G2 TFs were on the shelves , but primarily because I don't own the G2 Megatron toy, I now refer to Benson Yee's review of Megastorm (mainly because Mr.Yee made direct comparisons between Megatron and Megastorm).

In his review, Yee mentioned that some stickers have been removed and changed. These included tags mentioning "Autobots" or ones which bore the Decepticon insignia. Yee also notes that the Megatron toy also had a sound chip, so that the toy would make a "lock and load" sound when the switch was cocked back and a launching noise was made when the trigger was activated. Also, if the player pressed down on the wheels as s/he rolled the toy forward, a rumbling noise was made. In robot mode, a laser sound was made when the arms were raised. Transforming back to tank mode, as Megatron's head was pushed down, the phrase "Megatron attack!" was made. Megastorm has no sound chip, hence all these effects have been lost.

Yee hypothesized that the "Megatron attack!" phrase was the main reason why Takara removed the sound chip in Megastorm. I don't know the technicalities behind sound chips, but I wonder how much trouble/expense Takara would've had to go through to modify the sound chip by either rephrasing it to "Megastorm attack!" or simply removing the "Megatron attack!" phrase and leaving in all the other sounds.

However, the fact that Megastorm is not Megatron, should alleviate any confusion and/or frustration in comparing the two toys. In fact, it's rather unfair to compare the two toys because they do not represent the same character, but such a comparison is inevitable since - let's face it - Megastorm is a rehash of Megatron (toy wise).

OVERALL

Yee complained that it was an inferior re-release of G2 Megatron, however, fans like me who don't have G2 Megatron, wouldn't notice the difference. :p A really nice toy in its own right.



ReviewerVisitor  
DateAugust 31st 2002  
Score 8 stars (8 out of 10)  
Reads11924


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