I am Megatron....!!
PROLOGUE
I'm quite a fan of Transformers picture books, especially Transformers:Generations where photos of Transformers toys released are shown inside. They are important source of reference for me in building my own LEGO Transformers the past 20 odd years.
More than 10 years ago... I acquired Allspark Almanac II, the second instalment of publication focusing on Transformers:Animated (TFA) cartoon series in the late 2000s.
In the book above, I was particularly interested at the toy photos , especially the unreleased prototypes. One of them is Marauder Megatron.
This version of Megatron was meant to appear in cancelled Season 4 of TFA. And he's a triple changer, my favorite type of Transformers! From that point onwards, I vowed to build him one day.
ABOUT PROJECT MEGATRON
This project was started about 2 years ago, and despite being 90% completed within months... it suffered from development hell. Back then, I wasn't sure of the final color scheme too, so it was prototyped in multicolored parts.
One the most challenging part was building his arms because they must "twist and turn" to form 2 alternate modes , and still must be articulated !!
The red tips on the center cannons were last minute finishing touches, to make them more visible in the sea of black and gray color scheme.
Prototype photos showed the rear treads being part of the arms. This is something I couldn't replicate. So they will be folded elsewhere in jet and robot modes. And this design choice proved to be a blessing in disguise!
TRANSFORM TO JET MODE
Fold up the rear tank treads.
Fold down the tank treads back again.
There's actually an alternate configuration where these tank treads can be folded to the back of the jet mode.. with the round wheels mimicing jet engines.
JET MODE
The cockpit windscreen would look best if it's semi-transparent, but I couldn't acquire such a lego piece.
TRANSFORM TO ROBOT MODE
The tank treads now positioned at the back , will serve an important purpose in robot mode.
ROBOT MODE
The light gray hinged piece on his armpits helped to prop the arms from sagging inwards due to heavily cannonized forearms
His knee joints are pretty weak and he collapsed easily in action poses .
Pointing the arms and cannons straight ahead requires some help from the tank treads, now swivelled to down to reinforce the armpit!
FINAL WORDS
Well, I wouldn't be building any new Transformers from TFA series too, since I don't have particular bots I preferred. Perhaps I should reread TF Almanac II again to get inspired. In the meantime, you can view all the LEGO Megatrons I made so far!
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