Same. I went from robot to gun and back. No noticeable issues with the paint. I even carefully put the extended barrel on taking it off I don't notice any scuffing. It took me a while to figure out the transformation but I'm pretty impressed with Takara's ingenuity.

Edit: I've gone back and forth on the transformation a couple of times and I do notice some paint scuffing at the base of the side of Megatron's helmet... but since I can't see it from head on it doesn't bother me too much.

 

My main complaints with his transformation are the overly rigid panels that make up his biceps/shoulders, the amount of force it required to separate the leg panels and re-align them going from gun to bot, and most egregiously the final step rotating the arms up to form the rear of the pistol--there's no clearance to do it safely and it has to be scraped. That didn't feel like a TakTom jam at all.

 

Those pelvis swing arms on mine are way too tight as well! Half way through transformation.... and no screwdriver! Just moved and my tools are still packed up at the old place. Zoot!

Also, to straighten out the barrel of the gun was quite a chore. I had to exacto-knife shave down the ridges on the ratchet joint to be able to straighten it out!

 

Yikes. Sounds like one may have to own two copies; one permanently in alt gun mode and one permanently in robot mode just to have displayed in gem mint condition. Ughhh

 

This is the best Masterpiece figure to date. The proportions are just spot on. Don't believe those Social Justice Ranters...MP-36 is the real deal better than MP-10. This is highly poseable figure with excellent gimmick. He is like a coconut tree, no waste everything is used. From the stock barrel to the handle. Can anyone hack Frank Welker's voice into his Fusion Canon?

 

I imagine it would be possible to make your own soundboard of Mr. Welker in there. Also. What on earth is a Social Justice Ranter lol.

 

The brilliance of MP-36 is how it ditches the traditions and received wisdom w/r/t how to turn Megatron into a gun.

Like, Despotron STARTED to figure this out with its asymmetrical upper-half conversion, avoiding the thin, awkward arm-repositioning armatures that MP5, Apollyon, and Mightron all relied upon. Likewise, Despotron's asymmetrical leg design indicates a willingness to rethink the conventions Gun Megatrons have relied on since 1984.

However, of all five MP-type Megatrons to date, only MP-36 had the idea to NOT use the chestplate as the actual side of the gun (thereby retaining a symmetrical upper torso transformation WITHOUT armatures or struts or sliding joints).

Only MP-36 figured out that the thighs DON'T have to collapse into the shins, and can instead form the butt and hammer section. This is HUGE. It frees the lower-leg engineering, allowing the shins to flatten to one-half the volume because they don't need to contain the thighs within them! (Mightron had the THIGHS transform in order to take up less space within the shins, which was clever, but ultimately incompatible with the G1 toon curved-shin design). And since the shoulders no longer need to form the hammer-area, the arm engineering is FURTHER liberated - the shoulders don't need to be distanced from the main chamber, and can instead help to FORM it, making better use of mass and volume.

The beauty of MP-36 is that its complexity leads to simplicity. Sections of transformation are independent of one another. It transforms in symmetrical, defined chunks. And that means more room for articulation, more room to fine-tune proportions! MP-36 is an incredibly toon-accurate G1 Megatron that turns into a fantastic gun mode, and he ALSO HAS A WAIST SWIVEL AND A 90-DEGREE AB CRUNCH.

Takara engineering and ingenuity is next-level stuff, it really is. A few years ago they decided, "actually, there's almost always a better option than telescoping joints", and how many toys - mainline or MP or whatever - have had awkward, proportion-distorting slide-out legs since? I can think of, like, maybe five molds? Seven if you count the tiny sliding actions in the Ironhide and Tracks MP molds, which I don't really. We're entering a Renaissance of conversion design we haven't seen since ROTF/2010. Even my 60-year-old mom can appreciate these advances (she also keeps a PRID Vehicon as a desk toy at her office and transforms it frequently).

The world stinks but toys are p. good right now.

 

Couldn't agree more.

I hope all the peeps who keep saying "I'll never transform him" really reconsider. I feel his alt mode shines just as brightly as his bot mode.

Especially when all the bells and whistles are attached.

 

reposting from the news-thread:

Here are my thoughts on MP36 after transforming it into gun-mode last nite:

• not really that difficult a process.
  
• handle's way too fat. Not sure if an actual or airsoft P38 handle is as fat.
  
• very tight tolerances/thresholds, but should not be an issue unless you're really manhandling it or using unnecessary forcing.
• Wotafa's video really helped!

I can understand some having breakage and these could prolly be coz of the tight tolerances and/or environment (weather?) factors.

I would say that it would've been nicer if the barrel/barrel-joint and other stuff are made in diecast instead of the hard plastic just to avoid accidental breakage when installing and removing the silencer.

Still, there is a high probability that people will break MP36 during transformation even when carefully reading the manual. The manual is not really that helpful and is rather confusing, actually.

I really really suggest to watch Wotafa's video and to take your time when transforming to avoid potential breakages. Pause it to repeat the steps he did.

 

Easily the worst instructions on any MP I've ever owned.

 

I don't know I tried watching Wotafa's video and it didn't help me,but I came back later on that night and used the instruction book no problem. The hips didn't bother me because I read they were tight so I loosened them, the only problem I had was getting his legs back open, basically just pulling them apart works best. Otherwise the transformation is no where as complicated as people are making it. Its just a lot of steps but the way it's set up into sections is brilliant.

 

It's only challenging/difficult because it's unfamiliar territory. After a time or two, it all makes sense....instructions included. lol

 

Let's be friends

 

Kid you not, I was actually thinking the exact same thing when I was typing up my review about how the chest doesn't actually turn into the slide anymore and how this allows the upper body transformation to be mostly symmetrical! But since I don't actually own any of the 3p Megs and didn't want to make direct comparison with 3p figures in a official product review anyway, I left this thought out. But your insight goes much further and I couldn't agree with you more.

Commercial industrial design (or any commercial design for that matter) has been always about compromise and delivering the best result within the budget and delivery frame. The small compromise (which probably has upset a handful of people)of having the chest not turning into the slide, opens up so much more possibility for the rest of the figure. TT's design capacity is really scary, when you think how they nailed MP Ironhide and Megatron, two of arguably THE most difficult designs to realize in toy form, without all the time and budget freedom that the 3p companies have.

Thank you for this awesome comment sir.

 

Would anyone recommend a preventative coat of future on the paint to prevent the scratching that I'm hearing about?

 

I've transformed him twice now and the second time was definitely a lot smoother. I still have trouble near the end to get the legs to fold up and panels to form the grip of the gun nicely. Also not a huge fan of the last step where the arms form the back half of the gun because I feel like it's not a very smooth transition. But other than that the alt mode feels really nice in my hands. I don't really want to transform him again in the future for fear of chipping paint but maybe I will to compare it to the original MP05. haha.

 

hmmmmm, I'd avoid going overboard with it, for fear of it seeping into areas that will cause too much stiffness.

Personally, I just Futured the gun barrel, the faces and helmet.

 

I appreciate the positive response. I've been on a bit of a creative writing kick and I love talking about facets of transforming toys that get kinda overlooked by the community at large.

Like, Vangelus does some stuff like this in his video reviews and so do some folks like RAC, Maz, etc., but for the most part, TF toy discussion/criticism is a field lacking in introspection or real focus on engineering ingenuity. The core conceit of the entire franchise is, to so many collectors, just a matter-of-fact, or even an imposition, something to be avoided.

I devour new engineering. I crave new ideas and new tricks, iteration and revelation alike. The failures, the compromises, and the victories of conversion design all fascinate me because people come UP with this stuff. Someone came up with PRID Vehicon's legs. Some unknown genius decided that making MP Inferno's ladder disappear was going to be the core of the experience. Hisashi Yuki decided that RID Prime and Magnus were going to shake hands in order to combine. Joe Kyde came up with 2014 Springer. I could go on. But so many designers go uncredited - so many stories are left untold. And 3P is even more obscure, as "design houses" work under multiple companies under various pseudonyms.

I want to read journalism about this stuff. And if no one else is writing it, maybe I will.

 

Anybody have any recommendations for an off-the-shelf paint to do touch ups with for Megatron's silver? I had two blemishes on mine straight out of the box, and I'm sure only more will come after a few transformations, so that would be good to have on hand.

The engineering is mind blowing, but I wouldn't consider a toy a large success if you damage its finish by performing normal, intended actions with it. No idea why they can't use the same paint they did on Cybertron Galvatron- that's the most durable silver I've seen on any transformer to date.