Thanks for the insight. Its a bit pricey for me at the moment.

 

I understand, i'll get mine in 1 day more, but my friendo already have it (damit).

 

I am assuming he doesn't come with the silencer and the stock? That would be the deal breaker sense I have the Apollyon.

 

It have both like apollyon

 

There was no sound on mine at first. Discovered the problem is that the battery cover doesn't push the batteries all the way in. I resolved it by putting two layers of napkins between the batteries and the cover.

Overall, I wish Takara could have used better quality plastics, but a great Megatron nonetheless.

 

Where the hell have you been on these boards and not seen the initial pre-release video and uber thread on MP36? hahaha. Jesus. Christ.

Stop prasing and assuming 3rd party MPs are heaven sent bro, before seeing the official ones... mmkay? /rant

Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron 2.0 In Hand Video - Transformers News - TFW2005

 

Oh, and FYI to all, MP36 just dropped in Malaysia last week Saturday. Probabaly going to get my copy this weekend.  

 

Pretty much everything Apollyon included, MP-36 includes too. He doesn't have the meteor or Heart of Cybertron chest pieces, but instead has the beaten up face and chest sculpts from the movie, so you can re-enact the scene where he's about to deal the finishing blow to Prime.

 

Wow that looks great up close! Can't wait to see it in person

 

Only issue I have was opening the battery compartment. After trying to loosen the screw for about a minute, it appears to just keep spinning and backs out. No biggie, since I didn't know the figure had a sound chip till the other day, and didn't really plan on using it anyway.

 

I will give my opinion on mine.

I drove down to Austin personally to Toy Dojo to get mine. Megatron is pretty much my favorite. I was so excited for Mp 36. The wait was torture. After seeing that there were reports of paint chipping and scratches, I was very worried. I get that paint makes a figure look like it's premium. But I rather have my figures to be color molded plastic. Especially a figure that transforms where parts may rub or touch each other. Shockwave is the only figure that I have transformed many times with no worries of paint chipping. Yes it's a bit dull. But I can live with it.

Well I finally got mine and when I opened him up as we had a long road trip back home. He looked better than he did in all the amazing pictures from so many members here. He is by far the best representation of G1 Megatron to date. I was impressed how hefty he was. It was mid afternoon so I could see him very good. I wanted to inspect him, but I was just so caught up in his aesthetics and how well Takara pulled this toon Megatron off. But around the top of his chest area he had some obvious paint chip's. On his gun barrel there was a bit chip where it looked like someone at the factory tried to touched it up. It was a eye sore!

Bummer! Then I seen another chip on his lower chin on a panel. Then on the side of his leg. He had a pretty good scratch going across a painted section. I was so disappointed! I went back and forth telling myself maybe I can fix this. I will work my best to find paint that matches and fix myself. As over the years with official and 3rd party Masterpiece figures I have done my own fixing which many times is a PIA! And it's stressful. Then on his chest he had some splotches and some areas over his whole body looked like different shades of his color. Some areas looked to have more than one coat of paint. And some a very thin layer of paint.

I'm sure this one was one of the first off the assembly line. At least that's was the excuse I was trying to say. I was about 20 minutes away from Toy Dojo on my way back home. For a $200 plus figure that's just unacceptable. I planned on never transforming him due to the reports of paint issues. So another fucking statue in my display. For the longest I wanted a Megatron in Mp form that I could turn into a gun with all his accessories like the original g1 toy I had when I was a kid. And when I learned about Megs v2, and the test shot was shown. I was 100% sure this would be the one. Unfortunately no. I called and reported my paint issues. I was told to go back. So I did, so here I go on my way back. After my supplier seen it, I was offered another. They would only open one. Which is why I will always be a customer to them. I crossed my fingers that the one they opened would be better. I'm not looking for perfect. Just a real good decent one because a figure that cost that much should not have those paint issues. Upon looking at it. It did look better and no obvious chips. I grabbed it and ran. I was asked if everything else was good. I had faith that the accessories were good. After closer inspection this one had some splotches around the chest. Nothing major or very obvious. But noticeable at a good look. The gun barrel had a small sloppy paint applied, and the barrel was really floppy. Very annoying as it was just swing from side to side. Which some reported. The previous one it was pretty tight. It did not have that issue. So I was not to happy with this one. So I grabbed is Cannon out of the tray to put on his arm. And just my fucking luck. It had a paint chip. Right on the top and it's pretty visible. Imo that's bullshit!.

Again there seems to be a very thin layers of paint in many areas and some not so thin. Joints other than that barrel which I think they should have made where it tabs or locks so that it doesn't swing or flop. Again for my experience the figure looks so damn good! My issues is how the paint was applied in some area's and the paint chipping and scratches. For $200+ that's not acceptable at all. I will never transfor him. I will have to buy another copy for gun mode. And maybe sell this one or buy a 3rd that's not one of the first made. As I think and hope the qc on paint will improve as the factory gets use to making these. Accessories are pretty cool. The design and engineering with the amazing aesthetic is the best. If the paint issues were not so bad or inconsistent with the 2 copies I had. This would be hands down the best MP from Takara for me. And 3rd party. Again I know there is no such thing as a perfect figure. That's not what I was expecting. But the paint issues can be done better for sure. Overall he is a great figure. But paint wise I'm disappointed. Sorry no pictures as my camera sucks and I suck at photos anyway. And there so many pictures floating around. Also the hip area on mine that is painted like the arm Cannon has a few paint chip's on the front. I may just paint it black and his fusion Cannon. It may be that the batch mine came with was early production, or they had couple of new kids working that day.

 

The fusion cannon isn't even painted. It's solid plastic. Too bad you don't have a camera. I'd like to see all these paint chips that ruined your figure.

 

Yes.

 

My review:

The Kiss Player dude did the concept/aesthetic design for MP-36, but who actually did the engineering design has never been revealed. Even the instructions seems to have deliberately kept the designer's identity "nameless TT employee". Judging by the style of early sketches it could well be Kobayashi himself. The point I'm trying to get to, is that along with the Kiss Player dude the designer(s) did one hell of a job on MP-36. I can confidently say that for myself this is the best Masterpiece figure to date. He's not perfect, but he's exactly what I wanted for a Masterpiece G1 Megatron.

Gun mode:
It is an impressive gun mode.





People complain about the panel lines and I get it, but my take is that is the necessary evil. Both modes turned out great so I can live with it.




Even the rifling has been sculpted. When fitting the silencer, do be careful. Take it slow and gentle to minimize the paint scratches on the gun barrel. This is a painted surface being in contact with another piece that is supposed to be a tight fit. No matter how well the paint is applied there's bound to minor paint chipping. I personally don't mind it, as it gives the gun a slightly "weathered" look.


Amazingly, the pistol is pretty damn close to a 1:1 Walther P-38 airgun(photo c/o onnsake@tfw)



The gun has a nice solid feel to it and has a great grip. It feels just so comfortable in hand.





Transformation:
It's a time-consuming transformation, as in it involves many steps, but I wouldn't say it's complex. I always thought Ironhide and Megatron would be the ultimate challenges for G1 Masterpiece design. Ironhide's challenge lies in that he doesn't have much car kibble to work with in 'bot mode, while Megatron's is he needs to turn from a slim gun to a wide, bulky robot. With Ironhide at least the designer has the mass/volume to work with, but Megatron would involve a lot of mass shifting/re-arranging, which would unavoidably result in large number of transformation steps(again, not necessarily complex).

One major plus point for me is MP-36's transformation is divided to several chunks; you start and finish this section before moving on to the next, as opposed to having 8 million loose bits hanging around at any given moment of this process. I think you just need some practice. Take it slow first, then when you know which part goes where, you do it a lot quicker. I have transformed him 4 times and each time quicker than the last.

The transformation is full of "Masterpiece moment". After handling Megs for a while I found I'm most amazed by how the gun sides of the slide do a simple twist, revealing the flat surface inside to form the shoulder.


I don't like how you need to rely on the strength of the thigh joint to pull the legs apart though. It's a very tight fit and I feel like I was gonna tear the legs off every time I do it.

Again, there's some paint chipping simply because of how painted parts fit together. Personally I'm not too fussed. I just be careful and apply force gently when transforming. But I won't be scared to transform it because of some minor paint chipping. A Transformer figure is designed to be transformed (let alone one that has such a nice gun mode) and I won't have Megs as just an over-sized action figure on the shelf.

Robot Mode:
The robot mode is even better than I'd ever imagined it would be. It has incredible presence and personality, and is amazingly photogenic.

From the curvature of the shin, details on the back of leg, to the folded "rod piece" on the lower back carried over from the G1 toy, there's s incredible attention to detail put on this figure. And again I don't mind the backpack at all because of how accurate both modes are.






I've read comments of people disliking his proportions, but to me personally, he looks spot-on to the cartoon Megatron. In an interview about MP-10, Shogo Hasui mentioned that it took him a lot of effort to tweak the proportions to get Optimus' head right. I have no doubt the designers went through the same process with Megs, to get his proportions spot-on. It's just like sculpture, it's the subtle differences that separate "likeness" and "capturing the essence". I also like the new cartoon-styled hands, with them "tube fingers".




He's incredibly articulated, and very easy to pose and balance, thanks to abundance of ratchet joints, excellent joint tolerances, and die-cast parts. He's easily one of the most articulated Masterpiece figures to date.
Oh, did I mention the faces. They're awesome, and they swap out with ease.









The stock-turned-display stand has strong ratchet joints and is great to use with a hefty figure like this.


It's nice that the stock and silencer can be used the same way as they did on the G1 toy.


His accessory count is not as impressive as Ironhide, but all the essential ones are included to kill a Prime or two.






Some comparisons:





Verdict?
My definitive G1 Megatron, no ifs or buts. Best MP figure to date imo.

 

Excellent review Opoptimus....summed up pretty much all my sentiments exactly!

 

Idk to me I think it's painted. Because it's the same color as his crotch area. And there it's chipping. But I could be wrong. The scuff on the cannon is hard to capture on camera, but it there and more visible in person. I have buffed it so it did minimize it some. So I'm gold about that. But his chest with the spots I hate.

 

Yes it has alot of those specks in the unpainted parts. Most of the figure is painted. Use caution when you get yours. If it's anything like mine some areas will chip easily.

 

Does anyone have these issues on thiers?