While both came from someone's imagination, one wants to be your friend, and the other will want to kill you on his temporal, semi-religious quest for power.
In the pantheon of reboots and alternate universes, if you were to ask a Transformers fan to name a version of Megatron that wasn't the original from the '80s, a common answer would probably be Beast Wars Megatron. Originally a small green Aligator that was the original Megatron in a new body, what many consider to be the true Beast Wars Megatron is the Ultra Class gimmick laden purple T-Rex, thanks to its use in the show. Now a stand-alone character removed from the original Megatron, he quickly became a fan favourite for his mix of serious villain endeavours and cartoony quirks. One moment he could be trying to change time; the next could him brushing his T-Rex head's teeth and having a bath with a rubber duck. His voice also became iconic, with David Kaye giving a stunning performance that gave him a Shakesperian tone and demeanour, as noted by the way he emphasises the word "yes". It comes as no surprise when Kingdom rolls around that the version of Megatron they go for is the original purple T-Rex look, but something a bit more of a surprise was his first repaint, T-Wrecks from Beast Machines's repaint subline Dinobots. Ironically, at least for me, the Jurassic Park themed repaint, Tyranocon Rex, was more predictable than T-Wrecks was. With both here ready to review, how has the 2020s treated the T-Rex with a god complex? I should point out that from this point on, while the official name is Megatron (Beast Mode), I'll be referring to him as Beast Wars Megatron, or BW Megatron/ Megs for short.
While I usually start with the alternate mode for Transformers, there is something that should be mentioned first, as the toys are packaged in robot mode. As a part of the transformation, you need to split the crotch of the robot to get the legs into position for beast mode. The first time doing this, though, is challenging and requires an alarming amount of force that feels like you're going to rip the toy in half. Thankfully, it gets easier with every subsequent transformation, but that one step does knock down the transformation in terms of enjoyment.
Looking at the Beast Mode once you get it there, though I wouldn't call it clean or refined, it is undoubtedly impressive. There are many visible panel lines and distracting gaps, particularly around the neck, but it doesn't ever really feel like a problem when seeing the result. This thing looks mean, deadly like a Jurassic predator should. I love the fact that articulation isn't compromised for the sake of the transformation when it comes to things like the tail and the neck. The tail isn't as moveable as an actual tail, but there's enough to do a convincing tail swing, and the way the neck panels move for the sake of letting the head turn is genius. I didn't notice until I got T-Wrecks into his Dino mode how seamless the robot mode bits integrate into the dinosaur, as Wrecks has these grey hinges for parts of the leg that look bad when compared to Megatron, where the pieces were cast in purple. What was a real shock when it was revealed was the use of rubber (well, rubber-like plastic) skin. Mainline Transformers can't even get rubber tiers, yet here's a leader class T-Rex wholly covered in the stuff while still having lots of beautiful paint to boot. It feels unnecessary but appreciated nonetheless. Like many T-Rex toys that go for the more natural position, Megatron and T-Wrecks are very front heavy. Getting them to stand in beast mode is an issue, but that's not the toy's fault, more so the initial inspiration. Considering as the first two leader class toys of Kingdom was a repack of Earthrise Optimus and Kingdom Ultra Magnus, a retool of the 2019 toy (see that review for my thoughts on him), this feels excessive, like they went above and beyond to make this as good as possible, which I respect. This is the first new mainline BW Megatron toy since 2006, so why not go all in and make the toy worthy of the event?
The event continues when you get to robot mode, primarily because of Megatron himself and not T-Wrecks. While the sculpting is mostly the same between the toys, with the only noticeable difference being different heads (though some versions of BW Megs have the T-Wrecks head), T-Wrecks has far less paint on him and doesn't feel as alive as a result. It makes T-Wrecks feel like a worse deal as you pay more for him than you would most Leader Class toys; due to him being a Target US exclusive, that one toy chain here decided to import directly from Hasbro Asia. The tan on the underside of the T-Rex, the silver and gunmetal on the robot torso, the black paint on the legs, and the faction symbol on the head make BW Megatron look a lot better than T-Wrecks. I cannot even find a faction symbol on T-Wrecks. I don't know if that's a QC issue, or he genuinely doesn't have a Maximal logo. Articulation in the mould is standard for WFC robots, with the only compromises made coming in the form of the arms and hands. Still, the reason for it is more understandable when you consider the fact that one hand is a T-Rex head, and the tail claw dwarfs the other hand. You don't need wrist swivels on this guy. One big problem this toy has, though, is the back. Beast Wars Megatron will always have a messy back, but this feels a bit too messy, thanks mainly to the Dino modes thighs. It's the one part that I wish was better refined, but the issue is that there's nowhere else for them to go with the way the toy was designed. Dinosaur part management was better handled in the Masterpiece toy from what I've seen. While this is far more durable, it's not something like Studio Series Hot Rod or Kingdom Cyclonus, where they look and feel like affordable Masterpiece toys.
While it might not be a budget Masterpiece, there's no denying that Kingdom BW Megatron is a gorgeous Leader Class toy. Like I said earlier, this feels like an event, something that some designer has wanted to do for a long time, with a few sacrifices as possible—an almost perfect representation of the character in the Generations scale. While it's nice to get him at all, T-Wrecks feels underdone when compared to his general release mould mate, which makes him feel worse than he is due to his exclusive nature. When even the mediocre Beast Wars characters in Kingdom are done with this much care, we could be in for a real treat if the beasts continue to appear on shelves. While the Generation 1 purists might not like it, this looks to be the case, thanks to rumours, leaks and the next live-action movie bringing the Maximals and Predacons to the big screen (something that I don't have a lot of hope for, but "hope for the best, plan for the worst"). Up next for review, the Cobra saboteur, Firefly.
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