I can’t believe I didn’t want to get this guy earlier. I mean, just look at him.

Something about the super detailed design bothered me because it looked so Bayverse to me, and I just can’t get down with bugbots in general, as I’m super G1-biased. Especially that head sculpt. Well, specifically, the face. It’s a monstrosity of a visage. Hey, I get that it’s a concept. I also get that it’s part of a collection of other concept bots too that didn’t get featured in the Bumblebee movie, my favorite live action movie in the franchise to date. The face is just so Terminator-esque with its beady red eyes and veiny line detail, I couldn’t associate him with my favorite heroic villain of all time. The bucket helmet is fine, and it’s a nice headnod (pun intended) to the G1.

But then I thought, “What if this is what Megatron’s face looks like under the hood?” Kind of like how the Bayverse movies, Transformers Animated, and some other works in the franchise depict Prime’s mask as just that, a mask. So what if this is Megatron, au naturale? A silly thought, of course, but we are, after all, talking about fictional characters based off toys. Let’s not forget that. Isn’t that the whole point? Just enjoy it for what it is. Love what you love.

And so after seeing so many incredible photos by other collectors of this figure, I caved and picked him on eBay for under MSRP, around $40. And after having had him for a weeks now, I think this might be my favorite pickup of 2024. So far. I’m really anticipating the SS 86 Prime to be a top contender for this spot in my books, but I’ll have to wait until November when BBTS ships. That’s my bday month, so I really hope it meets or beats my expectations. That figure is another one that I deliberated on whether to get or not, and it looks like it’s a must have. We’ll see… Back to Megs.

After playing with this guy, I think this figure is just so… Megatron. It meets all the de facto requirements for Megatron. Tall. Silver. Menacing. Buckethead. BFG. I like that it’s a triplechanger too, with some obvious references to his various incarnations, of all versions most closely resembling Transformers Animated Megatron. From the color scheme to the tank and spacecraft alt modes, SS Concept Megatron looks more like a conceptualized version of Animated Megatron than the original G1 toy and character, but of course this is just a typical example of iterative design. This guy exhibits elements of all previous Megatrons, and in doing so, is a fantastic version in and of itself.

The poseability on this guy is just off the chain. The build quality and paints apps are way better than any of the other SS figures to date, and the silver just really shimmers so nicely. It’s hard to take a bad picture of this guy. The details are super intricate all over and having individual fingers is quite a treat.

In terms of alt modes, Megs has been messing around with tanks and spacejets since his Actionmaster days with the “Neutro-Fusion Tank” and he himself started transforming into a tank since G2, so I never have any issue with Megatron as a tank, with one caveat – he’s gotta have his fusion cannon mounted on his arm. That’s all I ask. The tank mode can be crap for all I care. Being a concept, this little cybertank is pretty cute IMO, but I do wish the chest part and head had some more thought put to it, because it’s just obvious that his head is just hanging out there under the turret. I guess it’s because they need to also account for an additional alt mode, but it seems kind of lazy.

Now the cyberjet mode, however, actually surprised me in terms of design. It has some really nice angles and detailing that isn’t typical for Transformers. I love the sharp, angular, pincer-looking parts in the front. It almost resembles some Zoids or Diaclone, especially the nose of the jet. It’s definitely not a great jet by any means, but with all the details combined, it’s a pretty cool looking vehicle and overall a nice (bonus) alt mode.

There was apparently even an unreleased design for Transformers Animated of a “Marauder Megatron” that featured a spacejet mode with some striking similarities to the SS concept:

But c’mon man, where’s a gun mode? We know they can’t release a proper toy pistol anymore without an orange plug, not just limited to Megatron, and not at all in some countries – especially in the US. We have some serious gun violence issues, since 1776 (wink). Besides, this is supposed to be a super futuristic Cybertronian concept, not the Microchange era in which the robots were really “in disguise”, so why not have him turn into some sort of ray gun? Is there some sort of inside joke going on with the Hasbro and Takara Tomy design team where they secretly devise ways to allow for “fan mode” of Megatron to turn into a gun, or is it purely serendipitous that fans have figured this out? It makes you wonder if this was an intentional secret mode to slip through toy gun laws. In any case, here it is:

In the 80’s, we always heard the urban legend of the kid who was playing around with a G1 Megatron and got shot by cops because they thought it was a real gun. After all, it does look like a realistic Walther P-38 from far away. But what kid has access to a Nazi standard issue 9mm gun from WWII? (A few, probably…) This was just the typical rumor on the grapevine that kids rationalized as to why toy guns always had to be made with orange plugs after 1988, according to US toy gun law. Because that was definitely happening – kids were getting shot by cops for playing with realistic toy guns. I remember having all kinds of toy guns before 1988 without orange plugs, from electronic AK47’s to cap guns that made actual firing sounds because they had a tiny bit of real gunpowder in them! I’m not even sure they still sell these, with or without the orange plug.

It’s truly atrocious how things have taken a turn for the worse regarding gun violence in the US, and as a result, even toy guns are pretty much extinct on American soil – whereas in Asia and other countries where gun-related crimes don’t exist, airsoft toy guns are exact replicas of the real thing and you see kids playing with them in public all the time. Ironically, it’s easier to get a real gun than a toy gun in the US, and people have been caught adding orange tips to real guns to pass as toy guns, so go figure. I’m not commenting on gun control or politics, but facts are facts. There are mass shootings on campuses on a seemingly daily basis, according to the news. And so that’s why we will probably never see Megatron in his pistol form ever again (including the upcoming SS 86 Megatron, confirmed to be a tank).

I have to say that this is the funniest and yet most successful fan mode for a transforming toy I’ve ever experienced, and you can’t unsee it when you realize his one leg is just folded onto the other thigh. But making the plane nosecone into a trigger is pretty clever. So whoever came up with this, I tip my hat off to you good sir.

There’s very little criticism I can give to this figure, and even if this isn’t really a review per se, I’d easily give this guy a 9/10. If the face sculpt were a bit easier on the eyes, he’d be a perfect Megatron in my book. Then again, the perfect toy doesn’t exis—-