BEAST
WARS: TOY REVIEW
Name: MEGASTORM
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Duke of Destruction
Machine Mode: Tank
Average Price: 2980 JPY
MACHINE MODE
Length: 29.5cm (including gun barrel)
Height: 9cm (not including searchlight)
Width: 10.5cm
A primarily green (with jungle camouflage fatigues) tank
with purple for the barrel and parts of the turret. There is only one real
point of articulation, and that is the missile launcher/barrel's ability
to move up to a 45 degree angle and back. Other than that, it has no points
of articulation as even the turret itself cannot move. The wheels in the
treads are purely decorative, however, there are four wheels underneath
the toy, allowing the player to push it along the ground.
The missile launcher gimmick is a rather interesting
one. Up to four black 75mm missiles can be loaded into the top of the launcher.
Then a slide rail is pulled back to cock the weapon, and a trigger behind
it fires the missile. The launcher must be re-cocked before it can be fired
again.
Three stickers can be seen in vehicle mode. There are
two Destron (Predacon) insignias each side of the turret, each with the
word "Destron" written on it.
There is also a sticker wrapped around the barrel's midpoint
- with "Big Stick" written on the right and "Peace Through Tyranny!" written
on the left.
TRANSFORMATION
The sides of the turret fold out and down, with the rear
halves turning around, bingo; arms. On the back half of the underside,
are two panels (where the rear wheels are). These open up, exposing more
robot parts. Pull the back half out, then flip out the top section of the
tank to form robot legs. Swing the entire section down 90 degrees and push
up to lock. Flip out robot feet. Slide the entire BFG to the right and
the robot head springs up. The gun can be placed in either fist. The transformation
scheme on this toy is stupendously simple considering its size and the
fact that it doesn't have the "one step" transformation gimmick like the
original Rattrap and Thrust.
ROBOT MODE
Transformation to robot mode was surprisingly easy. Megastorm
effectively retains the same colour scheme in robot mode. The main appeal
of Megastorm in robot mode is the size. Standing at 26cm in height, he
is one of the largest Japanese Beast Wars figures; larger than all the
gattaisenshi (gestalts) and Lio Convoy!
The only Japanese Beast Wars robot larger than Megastorm
would be Gigastorm (a re-issue of Trypticon) and the only Western Beast
Wars Transformer larger than Megastorm is Optimal Optimus.
I bought Megastorm as part of the Taihou no Taiketsu
("Big Guns Versus Set"), and Megastorm's size is certainly a striking contrast
to that of his Cybertron counterpart, Apache (who only measures
at 17cm in height).
The toy is rather bulky - then again, he transforms into
a tank - a vehicle known more for bulk and destructive power, rather than
grace. ^_^
The face has been slightly repainted with the immediate
areas around his eyes coloured black (giving him a sort of "Zorro" look).
Nice!
The main drawback on this toy is it's relatively low
amount of articulation. It only really has seven main points of articulation,
most of which come from the arms (kinda sounds like the original Optimus,
eh?). The hand gun also looks quite small, especially when it's being held
by his bulky arms... and in contrast with the missile launcher... it seems
like a pea-shooter.
RUB STICKER LOCATION
Visible only in robot mode, on the 'solar plexus' region.
MEGASTORM vs MEGATRON
Several of the toys released in the Japanese Beast Wars line
(colloquially referred to by some fans as Beast Wars II in order
to further differentiate it from the US line) are actually repaints of
toys from the Transformers Generation 2 line. Megastorm was originally
released as the Decepticon leader Megatron in the Transformers Generation
2 line.
Some stickers have been removed and changed. These included tags mentioning "Autobots" or ones which bore the Decepticon insignia. The G2 Megatron toy also had a sound chip, so that the toy would make a "lock and load" sound when the switch was cocked back and a launching noise was made when the trigger was activated. Also, if the player pressed down on the wheels as
s/he rolled the toy forward, a rumbling noise was made. In robot mode,
a laser sound was made when the arms were raised. Transforming back to
tank mode, as Megatron's head was pushed down, the phrase "Megatron attack!"
was made. Megastorm has no sound chip, hence all these effects have been
lost.
Ben Yee hypothesised that the "Megatron attack!" phrase was
the main reason why Takara removed the sound chip in Megastorm. I don't
know the technicalities behind sound chips, but I wonder how much trouble/expense Takara would've had to go through to modify the sound chip by either rephrasing it to "Megastorm attack!" or simply removing the "Megatron attack!" phrase and leaving in all the other sounds.
However, the fact that Megastorm is not Megatron, should
alleviate any confusion and/or frustration in comparing the two toys. In
fact, it's rather unfair to compare the two toys because they do not represent
the same character, but such a comparison is inevitable since - let's face
it - Megastorm is a rehash of Megatron (toywise).
OVERALL
In terms of play value, Megastorm isn't as nice as G2 Megatron, due to the lack of sound gimmicks. However, I think Megastorm has nicer colours and is still really nice toy in its own right.
MACHINE TRIVIA
I'm not really sure as to exactly what kind of tank Megastorm transforms
into. If you know, drop me an Email!
Anyway, here's some information on a few different main battle tanks:
Name: Challenger 2
Manufacturer: Vickers Defense Systems Ltd.
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Crew: 4 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Weight: 62500 kilogrammes
Length: 8.3 metres (11.5m with gun forward)
Width: 3.5 metres
Height: 2.5 metres
Speed: 59 km/h by road, 40 km/h by cross country
Range: 450 km by road, 250 km by cross country
Armament: One 120 mm L30 gun. One 7.62 mm L37A2 anti-aircraft gun
Name: Leclerc
Manufacturer: Giat Industries
Country of Origin: France
Crew: 3 (Commander, driver, gunner)
Weight: 56 tonnes
Length: 9.9 metres
Width: 3.7 metres
Height: 2.5 metres
Speed: 70 km/h by road, 50 km/h by cross country (reverse speed at
over 35 km/h)
Range: 3000 km
Armament: 120 mm 52 calibre APFSDS and HEAT
Name: Merkava
Manufacturer: Various Israeli and US companies
Country of Origin: Israel
Crew: 4
Weight: 61 tonnes
Length: 8.8 metres with gun forward
Width: 3.7 metres
Height: 2.8 metres
Speed: 55 km/h
Range: 500 km
Armament: 120 mm smoothbore gun (x1), 60 mm mortar system (x1), 7.62
mm machine gun (x2)
Name: M1A2 Abrams
Manufacturer: General Dynamics
Country of Origin: USA
Crew: 4
Weight: 63 tonnes
Length: 9.8 metres
Width: 3.7 metres
Height: 2.4 metres
Speed: 68 km/h by road, 48 km/h by cross country
Range: 427 km
Armament: 120 mm M256 smoothbore cannon (x1), M2 machine gun (x1),
7.62 mm M240 machine gun (x2, one is on a skate mount).
Bibliography: KFARAD's
Military Units Database.
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