There’s been some debate as to whether the movie Bumblebee ought to be considered a prequel to the Michael Bay Transformers movies, or a reboot. Filmmakers have deliberately hedged their bets on the issue, and as far as Hasbro is concerned, all continuity counts. (As far as Bay was concerned, even his own movie continuity didn’t.) Caught in the crossfire for the last two movies has been the franchise’s primary villain, Megatron.
All Hail!
Megatron was considered for the Bumblebee movie, but director Travis Knight ultimately erred on the side of continuity caution, noting that having Megatron active in the ’80s would directly contradict the first Transformers film. In that one, Megatron was frozen on Earth, as he had been for decades, and stored in cryo-sleep under Hoover Dam by the military.
Still, there was enough consideration to conceive of how Megatron might look in Bumblebee’s revised, Generation 1 style. And now we can see it, as Hasbro just announced a toy version. It pays tribute to multiple incarnations, as a triple-changer. In robot form, this is very much the classic ’80s cartoon Megatron silhouette. In his alt-modes, he can become both an alien jet like in the first Bay movie, or a tank mode similar to the Leader Class toy based on the Revenge of the Fallen (itself based on concept art).
Preorder Megatron online for $54.99 at most outlets, and expect him around February, just in time for the Decepticon leader to be your Valentine. If he makes it back into the movies any time soon, there’s no guarantee he’ll look like this — indeed, the next movie is an animated Cybertron prequel. This figure, however, lends a classic look to any collection of movie-based or inspired toys.
Take a look at some more official images below, and imagine what might have been on the big screen.
