Prompted by the recent reveal of a 'new' Shattered Glass Megatron,
fanmoded out of the uninspiring Siege tank mold with a few added parts,
I realised that my write-up of the original BotCon toy was long past
overdue... I mean, it's from an event in 2008, for crying out loud, so it's
more than ten years late.
The Shattered Glass concept certainly has its detractors but, for me, the idea of Evil
Autobots and Heroic Decepticons was a pretty obvious, just not entirely novel
take on the franchise. I've often said that the mottos of the two factions'
respective leaders are open to wilful misinterpretation: "Freedom is the right
of all sentient beings" could be offering the opinion that certain beings should not be considered 'sentient' - a parallel to the real world slave trade
of old - while "Peace through tyranny" could be a rueful observation that only
a world rigidly controlled can be considered truly 'peaceful', which echoes Beast Machines. Ultimately, Megatron
wants peace, while Optimus Prime wants to reserve freedom for those who are
deemed worthy of it.
And yet 'Shattered Glass', the comic book accompanying the boxed set, was a largely quite pedestrian tale which continued the adventures of Cliffjumper from the Collectors' Club membership magazine's ongoing story. It also did more with the Attendee Souvenir toys - particularly Megatron and Rodimus, sold at the show as a bagged set - than it did with the boxed set characters, and spent two of its mere 24 pages providing an infodump of the alternate history of the Shattered Glass version of Cybertron. Making matters worse, the Club had released a three page 'preview' of the comic ahead of the event - as an April Fool prank - which ended up being better (not least in terms of giving its characters discernible personalities) than the full comic published for the event.
All of which is to say that, if Hasbro are being a bit lazy with the Shattered Glass concept, it's not without precedent, to a degree. It wasn't one of BotCon's crowning achievements, but some of the figures - most notably those not part of the boxed set - were pretty good. So let's take a look at their Heroic Decepticon leader, Megatron.
Vehicle Mode:
While I skipped on the original Energon/Superlink Megatron, I did pick up the Takara's Superlink Galvatron General, the upshot being I already knew what to expect from this figure in terms of size. For whatever reason, the Energon version was upsized to Super class, while this is the smaller Ultra class version - a sensible move considering it was only one of the 'Souvenir' figures available at the convention, and the larger mold would probably have been too expensive to be practical, even as a solo product, while this - as mentioned above - was packaged with Divebomb and Rodimus.
At least in terms of his colourscheme, SG Megatron is not massively different from the original Energon Megatron toy, just with black substituting for the original's blue paint (plus a few additional applications) and a nice bold cyan in place of the minty blue/green paint, while the translucent parts are dark yet vibrant blue rather than the original's turquoise. Red is the tertiary colour of both plastic and paintwork - largely, I suspect, because of the need for red Decepticon insignias - and, while the plastic used quite a subdued, almost washed-out shade, the paintwork on the nose and on the hinges of the main guns is somewhat bolder. The yellow/gold paint of the original toy has been replaced with silver, which blends quite nicely with the slightly pearlescent off-white plastic used for most of the toy. In terms of paint distribution, the main difference is that there's less on the wings and jet engines but more on the nose. Where the Energon toy went for a more detail-oriented approach, and the Superlink version was (surprisingly) a bit more sparse, this feels like it fits in a middle-ground. Silver paint has been used to highlight the exposed techy parts, like the former, but the other paint applications on the wings are quite sparing, like the latter. Instead, there's a large, blanket coating of black paint down the jet's nose.
The translucent blue plastic looks nice in and of itself but, while on the two Energon/Superlink toys, there was a reasonable match in hue and brightness between the translucent plastic and the paint used for the nubs on the fronts of the wings, it feels far too dark in comparison here. Additionally, the cockpit windows are almost lost within the surrounding black paint.
As with the original toy, Megatron's 'Hyper Mode' can be achieved by pulling out the translucent wingtips which, by way of geared mechanisms embedded in the wings, causes the grey upper wing section to swing upward and the red weapon parts to deploy, swinging out to the front and back. These complement the applications of red paint on the weapons sculpted into the sides of the nose and certainly give the impression that he's been powered-up in terms of firepower. If that's not enough, this version of the toy retains the original's tank accessory - apparently referred to as Rumbler (though not identified as such - or even mentioned - in his bio card) - which can be attached to the panel between the wings via the four Mini-Con ports and the corresponding sockets on the underside of the tank.
In retrospect, I have to wonder if this mold is at least partially responsible for Megatron's space jet vehicle mode in the first live action movie... That or, at the very least, having his legs underneath his wings is remarkably similar to the toy of the first movie's CGI.
The strangest thing, for me, is the length of the landing gear. MP Starscream had an accurate-looking, retractable landing gear at the front but the wheels at the back barely cleared the small flaps they were pinned to. Comparatively, the massive ground clearance on this model seems quite irregular, not to say unnecessary, and it could be argued that the length of the rear wheels struts harms the appearance of robot mode... but it's nevertheless nice to see proper landing gear, fully integrated into the toy.
Robot Mode:
I'm beginning to find it really strange to look back on toys from the early 2000s... Particularly some of the larger ones, like this mold, where the engineering is not substantially more intricate than some of the Scout or Deluxe class figures of the same period. At the time, the Energon/Superlink Megatron/Galvatron mold was hailed as a great reinterpretation of the G1 Galvatron animation model. Now... it looks very chunky and clumsy, and it's articulation is bizarrely limited for its size.
The chest bulges out slightly over the recessed 'abs' panel, but he still seems weirdly flat, while his arms are almost comically boxy by today's standards, with elbows that seem to occupy the entire bicep area. The legs, meanwhile, are made up of tiny thighs and massive, barrel-like lower legs, with feet that look identical from the front and back. To have the vehicle mode's nosecone and wings hanging off his back seem like an absurd waste of plastic mass, even in comparison to the kinds of shellforming that still happens in Studio Series. He takes up more than enough shelf space in his standard form, but switching him into 'Hyper Mode' in robot mode leaves the grey wing flaps sticking out behind him and, again, judging with contemporary standards, looking ridiculous. All the more baffling is that this is the smaller version of the mold - the Super class version must have been insane in terms of both wasted plastic and wasted shelf space.
The colour scheme is, to be honest, a little dull. The off-white plastic used for the torso, forearms and lower legs at least has the saving grace of its pearlescent quality, while black plastic is used for the head, upper arms, hands, thighs, kneecaps and feet. Red plastic turns up as trimming at the elbows and shins but, on balance, doesn't add a great deal other than a subtle - and perhaps misplaced - reference to the red on the G1 animation model and toy. Paintwork is similarly unimaginative - silver on the shoulder details, kneecaps and toes (the latter two being components of his jet engines in vehicle mode), black paint appears on the bands around his forearms (where Rumbler connects), on the belly and the shins. For some reason, yellow paint has been added to some of the recessed details around the chest and waist, such as the pairs of small barrels on his sides and the screw-head sculpted details close to his shoulders. Perhaps if I had any idea what or whom this colour scheme was meant to represent, it might make more sense... Some Shattered Glass characters were recoloured according to their closest 'original continuity' counterpart, or in homage to some recognisable character on the other side, or simply repurposed from existing toy repaints. For example, in the comic, Ruckus's colourscheme was based on the Triggerbot Backstreet, the Constructicons were based on Ratchet/First Aid, Grimlock was based on Trypticon, and Starscream was based on Jetfire, with the movie line's repaint of Energon Arcee as Elita-One was officially repurposed as SG Arcee. Many others have no clear derivation, but there are certainly similarities between SG Optimus and G1 Shockwave, or SG Cyclonus and G1 Hot Rod. Megatron, much like SG Jazz, ends up with a colourscheme not too far removed from his standard G1 self - or the cartoon version of him, at least.
Rumbler, naturally, attaches to either arm via the same fold-out clips as the standard versions of this mold, and features the same spring-loaded missile gimmick. He's a very bulky weapon, though, so he puts enormous restrictions on the articulation of whichever arm he's mounted on. Perhaps even worse, when the sword accessory is recovered from Megatron's backpack. With the tank mounted 'backwards' on Megatron's arm, so that the sword blade points forward, the tank's gun barrel clashes with the shoulder and the wing. It might not be so bad if this toy had the same arm articulation as more recent figures, but there's no bicep rotation, so bending the elbow or shifting the angle of the shoulder generally just makes things worse. The rotation joint at the forearm is fairly useful when using Rumbler as a weapon in and of himself, but it's next to useless when using the sword.
Since I cannot understand the fandom's fixation on accuracy to the G1 cartoon, I'm utterly baffled by the fascination some have for the even-more-inaccurate head design given to Megatron in both the earliest Marvel comics and the animated sections of the early TV ads. Nevertheless, when the Club announced that was what they were aiming to homage with a unique head sculpt for their BotCon Shattered Glass Megatron, there was a lot of positive response and even I felt it was an interesting course of action. Of course, the final head sculpt, when revealed, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as - certainly according to some of the other Club members at the time - it retained too much of the G1 animation's 'bucket head' appearance, the helmet tapering out from the sides toward the bottom. What it does have is the larger, more protruding brow plate which gives the helmet a more regal, crown-like appearance. It's closer to the intended look than any of the artwork in the Shattered Glass comic from the show, but I'd have to agree with the general consensus that they could have taken more of a risk with it. The face isn't one of the Club's best either - they eyes seem strangely bulbous and heavy-lidded (similar to - but not to the same extent as - Timelines Astrotrain) despite being quite narrow, and the grim set to the mouth is a bit generic. Sure, Megatron tends to be looking a bit on the sour side in the comic, but the artwork generally was rather more expressive than this sculpt. The eyes are painted a nice (traditionally Autobot) blue, but there's something off about the paint used for the rest of his face - it's not quite so coarse as the stuff used on BotCon 2015's "The Boss" Megatron, but it's really not far off, and gives him a grainy appearance.
'Rumbler' Tank Accessory:
One of the most disappointing features of a lot of BotCon toys had their electronics removed to keep costs down, and Rumbler is no exception (even though Timelines Astrotrain, released by the Club just the previous year, not only retained its electronics, but had some unique sound effects versus Armada Jetfire). I did once look into transferring the electronics from Galvatron G into this toy, but Rumbler is held together with flat-headed pins rather than screws, making it a rather more difficult (and potentially destructive) process. It's a real shame, as the subtle lighting effect of the LED mounted in the rear socket and the cannon fire/metallic clashing sound effects were a really fun part of the Energon/Superlink toy.
It is, otherwise, identical to the version included with Galvatron G, bar its casting in black plastic with red and silver paintwork, and the couple of pieces of translucent blue plastic used on one side. This is apparently a sort of homage to another event exclusive figure - Megazarak, from the 2004 Official TransFormers Collectors' Convention, operated by 3H. Given that Energon/Superlink Megatron and Galvatron were essentially supposed to be using their Armada forms as weapons, this seems like a weird homage to make... but it's a neat cross-continuity 'easter egg'.
The choice of name is a little odd, though... since it appears to have been lifted from an Action Master. On the one hand, it might reference Rumble, normally one of Soundwave's minions, or it could be a parallel to Roller, G1 Optimus Prime's 6-wheeled drone cart. Personally, I think they missed a trick by not calling him Brunt, as a homage to G1 Trypticon's tank drone. That way, he could have been either purple, to match the G1 original, or the same off-white as Megatron, in reference to G1 Metroplex's tank drone, Slammer.
The first curious thing about Megatron's bio card is that not only does it do a surprisingly good job of examining his character, but it presents him as something like SG Cybertron's equivalent of Hari Seldon, from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series:
"As a young mathematician, Megatron lectured at one of Cybertron's most
prestigious universities. During the course of his own studies, he had
developed a set of equations that could predict social trends in a given
society. He was alarmed when these trends pointed to a civil war on
Cybertron. His colleagues dismissed his work as the paranoid ranting of a
lunatic. He saw them as simply misguided and he retreated underground
to prepare for the coming war."
Now, admittedly, it's been a while since I read Foundation, but I'm pretty sure that's very similar to Seldon's path... Though I seem to recall he got arrested at one point in the story, and there's no mention of anything like that happening to Megatron in Sideswipe's plot dump in the comic...
The second curious thing is that it seems to imply that SG Megatron developed the Cybertronian ability to transform - "When Optimus Prime began his march across Cybertron, Megatron was ready.
He had developed the art of transformation, refashioning his own body
into one capable of converting to an aerial vehicle of tremendous power." - which makes for a bold and vastly different take on TransFormers lore. Of course, that might just mean that he rebuilt himself into a new form, designed for war, where the G1 cartoon had Alpha Trion rebuild Orion Pax into Optimus Prime. However, the comic book makes it explicit - with this, from Sideswipe's plot dump:
"Through his own research, Megatron discovered a way to alter Cybertronian bodies so they could convert into other forms. Now able to disguise themselves as vehicles and everyday objects, the resistance fighters took on the name 'Decepticons'. They used their newfound capabilities to deadly effect in combat."
It then goes on to explain that Optimus Prime was able to replicate this for his own forces, thus balancing out the conflict once more. Now, far be it from me to tell a writer how to do their job but, given the setup - and the fact that Optimus Prime is depicted as a bit of a nutter who keeps the stripped carcasses of his victims in large glass vats - I'd have been inclined to say that he reverse engineered the process from the bodies of captured Decepticons...
Overall, while I really like Shattered Glass Megatron in spite of the clumsy mold and bafflingly ambiguous choice of colourscheme, it does feel very dated by today's standards. It's also not without its QC issues, though nothing like as bad as some of the Club's later offerings. The main one, for me, is that there's a button on the underside of the nose section which, in vehicle mode, is supposed to clip under the plate the robot's head is mounted on. It works perfectly on Galvatron G, but doesn't even make contact on this one. The main purpose of the button is to release the sword in robot mode, once the tank is plugged into the socket, and the bulky double hinge holds the nose in place adequately in both modes, so it's not a huge problem. Other issues are down to the density of paint (or the lack thereof), particularly on the black plastic.
Clunky as this mold is, though, it's still leagues better than the woeful repurposing of the Siege Megatron tank, with added, plug-in wing/cockpit parts, that Hasbro have perpetrated for their own take on the Shattered Glass universe. I get that, like the Club, they only want to re-use existing molds for their exclusives - and ideally quite recent molds - but, in most instances, the Club did a much better job of it than Hasbro so far has. But then, while the Club was operating, Hasbro weren't quite so heavily intent on just regurgitating G1 over and over again, and expecting us to be impressed by ankle tilt. One can only hope things improve - or that they make better choices - as Hasbro Pulse continues to develop its oeuvre.
Of the small handful of Shattered Glass toys I've owned - and certainly among those I've not since sold off - Megatron is definitely one of my favourites. As a toy, he's truly a relic of a bygone era and the loss of the original toy's electronics is truly a crushing blow considering how much they add. As a collectable, I'd say he's far more worthwhile than the upcoming Pulse exclusive... But not necessarily worth the current going rate on the secondary market. Given the choice between this £700+ oddity and the new £35 figure, I can easily see many fans settling for Hasbro's own alternative... But it does make me wonder what they could have done if Shattered Glass was more than a limited collection, and had enough of a budget to develop unique molds, or just update things like the Energon mold to improve its articulation and make it compatible with contemporary toys.
Mini-Con Partner Divebomb:
With his mold coming from one of the weirdest additions to the Classics lineup - random sets of all-new Mini-Cons which retained compatibility with the Unicron Trilogy without actually being part of it - and his name coming from the G1 Predacons, Divebomb is a real oddity. His beast mode is a robotic eagle molded in orange plastic and featuring a smattering of glossy black paint applications on his wings and head. Considering his size, he actually looks pretty good in beast mode... albeit without any articulation beyond his legs.
...But his robot mode is an absolute disaster. His wings split in half, with the fronts becoming the robot's legs - articulated only via ball joints at the hip, and able to stand only because the wingtips become massive heel spurs connected to his ankles. The rest of the wings - and the beast mode's tail - just turn into a massive set of butterfly wings on the robot's back. The beast legs become the robot's arms and, while it's a prudent, economical choice in terms of the robot's mass, the end result looks terrible. His shoulders can only move via their transformation joints, allowing the arms to swing outward, while the ball-jointed elbows offer about as much range as a more traditional hinge, albeit with added rotation. Sadly, these joints are so loose they're basically useless in beast mode, and only stay extended in certain positions in robot mode. The beast mode's claws make for oversized hands, that seem to be permanently twisted into a shape that's not quite a fist, and not quite 'poised for attack', as if he's afflicted by the robotic equivalent of Klumpke's Palsy. If that weren't bad enough, the beast mode's head makes up the robot mode's crotch... and, it's supposed to be angled such that his beak juts forward.
Since the Classics Mini-Cons were sold in sets of three, just like those from Armada, the other two molds from the 'beast' set were also used within the Shattered Glass toy set: Razorclaw became the small wolf in the main boxed set, while Rampage drew the shortest of the short straws, becoming the tiger packaged with Sideswipe and Blurr, a couple of Armada repaints. Thankfully, the rest of the Predacons were spared the ignominy of this downsizing.
In theory, Divebomb has what could be described as a 'head sculpt'... and, while it's largely quite indistinct - not helped at all by the heavy application of glossy black paint and a couple of tiny slashes of red for his eyes - it's not entirely dissimilar to the original Beast Wars Airazor toy, but looks more like it has mandibles rather than a battlemask.
Probably the most surprising thing about Divebomb is that someone within the Fun Publications/BotCon team clearly felt he merited a bio card of his own. It's written to the typical standard, but the art on the card makes him look far more awesome than the plastic reality... Although it does feature blue eyes, with the red details present on the toy becoming his eyebrows.
I don't feel that Divebomb added anything of real value to the bagged set comprising repurposings of Energon Ultra class Megatron and Classics Deluxe class Rodimus... and the same could be said for the other two Shattered Glass Mini-Cons. They were a neat inclusion in the comic, but there was absolutely no need to make toys of them... Especially not in a way that does the G1 Predacons such a disservice.
No comments:
Post a Comment