Hmmm...interesting choice and certainly one I didn't see coming.

 

Kind of weird how they're mixing toys with different aesthetics. Prime molds don't really blend well with Generations. The Skywarp and Obisidian molds, originally ROTF/HftD were so-so, but this is pushing it.

Anyway..I still feel it could have worked - if only it had a Megatron head. It doesn't - now it's just a different color Dreadwing. I'm sure they will have some kind of in-fiction explanation for it, but that doesn't matter. They totally dropped the ball with this one (sorry Pete & gang   )

I'm sure coming up with a whole boxset (+ additional souvenirs) is hard, when you can only select from certain toys and are limited in the amount of new heads, but if you can't do the idea justice, then don't do it.

This Megaplex feels similar to last year's Overlord/Gigatron: a great idea, but no molds available to make it REALLY work.



Just to be clear: I was never going to buy this boxset, so it's not like Botcon lost a sale here. Just looking at this from my own personal design standpoint, or whatever you want to call it (the position of the guy who thinks he knows better   ): I feel this boxset was already balancing on a rope and could go either way: Skywarp and Hoist are not that interesting. Decent, but not interesting. Strika and Obisidian came as a surprise, but look great (Obisidian's colors might put some people off but I think it's understandable). This last mold, the biggest one even, should have tipped the balance to the positive side, making this set worth the purchase. It does the exact opposite.


Different people, different opinions and all that. Not trying to trash anyone's party here. I'm sure there are people here who love the shit out of this set.  

There's no reason they couldn't have changed/tweaked the color of his deco and still have it be Megaplex. They're the designers. BUT:I don't think it will look so boring when seeing it in person. This is just a photoshop job, so that always looks kind of different. Even if he's a dull grey, I'm sure he will look good in plastic form.  

But it's still not Megaplex. The appeal of that character is that he's a clone decoy of Megatron. Kind of hard when he doesn't look a thing like Megatron. Like I said, I'm sure they can/will explain it in fiction, but whatever way you want to twist it: that's not what probably most people would want to see.

You can still appreciate the toy for what it is, of course - but why would you shell out Botcon price for a toy you can already own at retail price, when there's nothing that pushes him from 'just another recolor' to 'totally awesome new character'?  

 

Welp, Megaplex is doomed to die within a year's worth of fiction.

 

People who are questioning the head choice, I'd suggest you look up RID_Nightviper's twitter account. He just tweeted out their whole rationale for sticking with the Dreadwing head, and it makes sense - boils down to this:

1. The BOXART head for Megaplex (which is different than the toy head) has several common elements with Dreadwing's helmet.
2. They looked at it next to other Decepticons in the set (Skywarp and some of the attendee figures) and thought it had common design elements.

Fair enough.

 

The photoshop looks... unfinished. Maybe it's the bland Machine Wars color scheme. I dunno... Not what I wanted to see for the final reveal.

 

"It's a jet."

 

to quote Gomer Pyle " Surprise , surprise , surprise"

I thought for sure they would not go with a Prime mold until 2014 at the soonest, although i would expect them to tie into the 30th anniversary some how for Botcon 2014.

I do agree the mold isn't perfect for Megaplex but at least its not as far off as Overlord from last years set.

 

Ugh. The aesthetics are just too varied to work for me. There's no cohesion to the set. I dig Strika and Obsidian, but that's it; At this point I may just sell my box and pick up a loose Strika and Obsidian, or piece out the three I literally have zero interest in.

 

I like it. My only gripe will be if they (and I kinda mean when they) kept with the soft rubber head on this guy. That was the only thing I couldn't get over and why I returned the one that I bought from the store.

 

Meh, that's the same shit he says EVERY year.

We'll get a few figures out. There will be some criticism. Pete will respond "Yeah, but they look great when you see all the box set figures together!"

So then we get the rest of the reveals. Some people express disappointment at the total offering "Yeah, but they look great when you see all of them together with the add-ons!"

So then we get to the con, get them all, and people still say the set doesn't look great. "Meh, we got your money now."

I mean, we do it to ourselves by continuing to buy toys we don't like. But it's the same pattern year after year.

 

Well... it is a neat thing for next year if FP can use Prime molds.

 

2013 subscription service Slipstream is from the Prime Starscream mold. So its not a big deal to go with a Prime mold for Botcon 2013 too.

 

Without a classics-verse head, the Prime aesthetics of Skyquake's face among the rest of the set is a little jarring. He got no nose, but got some funky eyelashes. Yeah, no.

 

I was REALLY hoping they'd save the Prime molds for a Prime Botcon someday.... I hope this doesn't mean they won't revisit this mold again should said Prime Botcon ever happen...

As it is, I'll keep him, but he'll be Prime Megaplex to me and go on the Prime shelves where that mold belongs.

Obsidian and Strika will join the G1 shelves.

 

Guys, guys. Walky on the Allspark found out the guy on the preview was either Megatron or Megaplex. And he said it had three horns not in the comic. Who else has three horns? Dreadwing.

 

...Holy.... crap... this is amazing.

 

Are any of these able to be purchased individually?

 

Hells no! I'm so sick of Starscream...

Megaplex rocks! Well done Pete! Can't wait to see the alt mode!