I think Titans return had a small spark of genius with the Blitzwing pretool. Idk just the thought of Megatron as the faster Russian version of Starscreams alt mode seems cool, but then again the decepticons already have enough Jets. Like someone pointed out a couple posts ago, it is weird that we’re having this discussion, but no one questions when there’s another truck Optimus. I guess it’s probably cuz Optimus’ has mostly been set in stone since g1 while megatron’s has kinda been all over the place.
People who say Megatron flew in G1 are liars. Megatron flew in the Sunbow cartoon. The Marvel G1 comics, which tried harder to adhere to less "magic technologies" only had those who had real means of flight fly. Megatron could not fly, or float, or do anything in either mode, as he didn't have the means to do so. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw could fly in condor mode and could carry their mass shifted smaller compatriots, the Seekers could fly in both modes due to the jet thrusters being on their boots, so they could fly. Often they'd carry Megatron and others in alt mode in their cockpits. Shockwave, Galvatron, and others could fly due to jets in their boots. Later on, G2 Megatron could fly for the same reason in bot mode only. On a different tangent, firearms are heavily regulated in Japan, not only are there strict requirements to own rifles and the like, no civilian owns a handgun. Police don't even carry firearms as a matter of normal duty or as part of their uniform. Even Air Rifles have half a dozen requirements and requires a course certification to get. On top of that, there's no firearm owning culture, there's about 1 firearm per 340 people in the country (Contrast that against 121 firearms per 100 people in the USA) So a replica handgun is seen very differently if a kid waves one around there, which they don't even do.
People keep saying Optimus is always a truck, and yeah, I guess that's generally true, but within that, like, sometimes a semi, sometimes a fire engine, sometimes an oil tanker, sometimes an oil tanker that turns into a weird jet, sometimes a super armored space tank truck. "Optimus is always a broadly Freightlinery cab-over" is as relatively new as "Megatron is always a broadly Abramsy tank."
Literally the second version of G1 Megatron, Action Master Megatron, drove around in a transforming tank. Immediately following in G2, Megatron had at least two different toys that turned into tanks (big green tank and later a smaller purple tank). In the Unicron trilogy he was introduced as a tank. He was a tank in Combiner Wars, Titans Return, WFC: Siege, WFC: Earthrise, and WFC: Kingdom as a core class figure. That's not even including Cyberverse, the evergreen toys in dollar stores, and other various exclusives or sub lines. Consistency doesn't mean he's the same in every single toyline. The only reason that Megatron was a gun in the first place was because some guy at Marvel took an existing gun robot toy and decided to make it the lead bad guy, probably because they had a negative opinion on firearms or it was really the only other toy that scaled well to Optimus Prime among the molds that Hasbro had purchased at the time (who knows). Either way, Optimus Primal and BW Megatron didn't start as a gorilla and t-rex respectively so does that mean their alt-modes aren't consistent?
I'm okay with Megatron not being a gun. Though I personally think toy regulations on the issue are a bit much, I understand the concerns and the pro-regulation argument is valid. When I was growing up, Megatron's alternate mode was always a bit of a mystery. I loved thinking about "What will Megatron turn into this time?" whenever a new Transformers series was announced. BW was a T-Rex. RID had a whole ton of them. Armada was a tank. Energon was a jet. Cybertron was a jet and a racecar. The movies had their unique spins. Animated was a helicopter gunship. The versatility was part of the charm. The tank is fine. A bit stale, but it's not any more stale than Optimus Prime being a semi. I think it's time Optimus turned into some other kind of truck than just a tractor trailer. We've had him as a fire engine before. Alternators had Optimus as a large pickup truck (which I think could work).
I'd actually like an all-partsforming, Diaclone-reboot style, Megatron with a big pile of parts you could assemble into bot, tank, jet, helicopter modes. That way you can kinda assemble the alt mode you want for him. I've always kinda viewed him as being the sorta dude who would change his alt mode when it suited him. Decepticon, and all.
So you're just going to ignore the 2 decades or so where Megatron was a sportscar, gator, T-Rex, dragon, dragon/jet/hand/bat/elephant, a few different space jets, batmobile/jet, Nerf gun, stealth bomber, mobile pile of shrapnel, helicopter, truck, and had a couple Japanese counterparts who turned into a drill tank/dragon and a trio of dinosaurs? Okay.
I grew up during G1 but I am fine with Megatron never being a gun again as well. It wasn't a bad thing back in the day but a more feasible alt mode like a tank has some more display value, imo anyway. But I do have MP-36 Megatron with his P38 alt mode just to satisfy my inner G1 fan. That being said though, I think G1 Megatron is due for a different alt mode than a tank just to shake things up a bit. In all honesty though, more than a tank alt mode, I'm ready for them to give the Siege Megatron mold a rest for a while and maybe give us something a little different. The Siege Megatron mold is my favorite of the recent Megatrons but we have had 4 different releases of that mold in the last couple of years. I do applaud Hasbro's remold on the upcoming Shattered Glass Megatron though and Super Megatron was a change of pace. I'd love to see them revisit some of his other previous alt modes though like Animated's double prop earth mode or maybe give us a Generations style release of his cancelled Animated triple changer form.
Megatron looks pretty cool as a T-Rex but he'll always be a Walther P38 to me. It's not better or worse, it just is. If that makes me a GEEWUNNer, so be it, to each their own.
And what, pray tell, makes you think that I "ignored" the 2 decades or so of non-G1 nameslaps that transformed into various other non-tank forms? I'm pretty sure this discussion has been around G1/Obvious G1 homage Megatrons turning into tanks and not into something else. Why would I reference other Megatrons that aren't G1 or meant to be G1 homages? You took my post way out of context.
And some of the examples I mentioned actually were G1 Megs, by the way. But the fact remains, the character archetype of Megatron has had a wide variety of altmodes, whether you limit your view to G1 Megs or not. The tank hasn’t been ubiquitous until recently. Hell, I’d go so far as to assert that the tank didn’t really become iconic as Megatron’s altmode until Armada. G2 didn’t make a particularly strong impact on the franchise, unless you count almost killing it.
I'm sick of Eath Mode Megatron, to be honest. I was never the greatest Bayformer fan, but there was something that was just so 'Megatron' about an alien leading a bunch of shape shifting, cleverly-disguised minions, but his pride as a Cybertronian won't allow him to adopt an Earth Mode. "I'm not here to BLEND!" Until, you know, Optimus kicks his ass a few times and he takes one anyway. And a Megatron with his pride crushed would look EXACTLY like DotM Megatron. Including the Mad Max truck mode that serves as a twisted reflection of Optimus Prime. So basically, an alt mode scheme that follows the first 3 movies. I don't need G1 redone. I need a villain that stands opposite to Optimus Prime. And like it or not, there's just no synergy between a semi truck and a gun.
I'm going to respectfully agree to disagree, what you may consider to be a nameslap probably differs from what I consider to be one. Okay, school me. Which G1 Megatrons weren't a tank or a gun? And with this, you've missed the point entirely. This, as far as I know, was never a discussion about all Megatrons and their various respective alt-modes. This is about G1/G1 homage Megatrons and how the OP is sick of them mostly being tanks. My post that you decided to reply to was with regards to the earliest use of a Tank with regards to the G1 Megatron character (Action Master Megatron riding around in a transforming tank). I did not reference any other Megatron from any other continuity because that was not what I was discussing. I even mentioned in an earlier post in this thread that any deviation from the traditional fusion cannon wielding gray/silver, black, and red robot mode would venture into the territory of non-G1 Megatrons which I said I was fine with. I never asserted that the tank alt-mode was iconic, just that there's been a precedent since very early in the line (and I sure as hell don't assert that the G1 Action Master Megatron Fusion Tank was iconic either).
