Thrilling 30 Megatron

That's a horrible title, but it can't be helped.  There have been so many different versions of Megatron released just in the Generations line that merely titling this Generations Megatron would have been woefully insufficient.  Really, I had no idea how many iterations of G1 Megatron there have been since his debut in 1984.  Seriously, there have been a ton.  While I thought that the Thrilling 30 version of was unique, I was proved wrong.

If there's one thing that can reliably be counted upon in the world of Transformers, it's that Megatron is always a gun.  Unless he's a tank.  Maybe a T-Rex.  One thing Megatron has never been?  A plane.  Well, at least that's what I thought until I looked at TFWiki.  Well, there goes my entry into the discussion of the newest release.  I'm still going to try.

Fine, Megatron has been a jet before.  It was only once, as far as officially released toys go.  Here is Megatron's first release as a jet.

Picture from tfwiki.net

That is from the Machine Wars line.  As everyone knows, Machine Wars was a line introduced in 1997 and carried exclusively by Kay-Bee Toys.  It was such a huge success that one wave of figures was ever produced.  Can we say success?

Regardless of this minor setback, I'm still determined to discuss Megatron as a jet.  Besides, have you seen the Thrilling 30 Megatron?  He's sweet.

He's a stealth bomber.  In a way, I guess that this is a callback to an unreleased Generation 2 version of Megatron that was itself a redeco of Generation 2 Dreadwing.

Picture from tfwiki.net

 The new version of Megatron was designed by artist extraordinaire Don Figueroa, who is the second greatest artist to ever draw a Transformer.  The greatest is, of course, Andrew Wildman.  Back on track, I originally thought that this figure was designed by Nick Roche, perhaps the third greatest artist.  It isn't hard to come to that conclusion since this Megatron first appeared in Transformers Spotlight: Megatron which was written and drawn by Mr. Roche.  Roche also designed Sandstorm/Springer, so I had just assumed that he had designed Megs as well.  All of that was put to rest when I read this article on Bleeding Cool.  I should have known that Figueroa had a hand in the design based on just the fusion cannon.  It's pure Don.

Here's a closeup of the front of the bomber mode.  The canopy is very reminiscent of a classic 1940's style design.  That could be just me.  This is a very compact toy, as it isn't immediately visible that the bomber will unfold into Megatron, mightiest of the Decepticons.

After removing the wingtips and doing a little unfolding, the bomber is in robot mode.  Megatron, being a Deluxe, isn't that tall, but he's still a nice looking figure.

Even at the Deluxe size, Megatron is pretty imposing.  I think it's the broad shoulders.   The black and purple look sharp.  I'm not a big fan of purple, but it looks pretty good here.  Megatron's head is a little small for my tastes, but it's still a good sculpt.  There is a 5mm hole on either arm that you can attach the fusion cannon to.  I opt for the normal right hand placement.

I really like the look of the new cannon.  In the comic, it's referred to as a rail gun, but for the figure, Hasbro has decided to stick with tradition, I suppose.

Due to the nature of his size and transformation scheme, Megatron is kind of hollow.  This leads to some difficulty with posing.  The shoulders on mine don't really want to stay at the most upright position.

I love the look of that fusion cannon.  It looks like it could double as a melee weapon as well.

When I first heard about this newest iteration of Megatron, I was unsure.  Megatron as a plane?  That's not something that I'm used to.  However, Don Figueroa just knocked this out of the park.  Add in the bonus trivia surrounding the concept, and I think it's a great design.  The hollowness of the actual figure coupled with the small head leave a little something to be desired, but overall I think that this is a great figure.  Still, I think I'd to see this as a voyager.