“MEEEEEGAAAAAAAATROOOOOOOOOOONN!!!”  Optimus Prime said it best in “More Than Meets The Eye part 3”.  I'm certainly no Decepticon at heart, but there's no denying that Megatron is one of the most badass characters in Transformer history.  He plays at least, if not more than, half of the part of Transformers history.  He ruled the Decepticons with an iron fist, schemed countless ploys to rob the Earth of its precious energy resources, and his one undying dream is that of total and irrevocable domination of the entire Universe.  Now THAT'S ambitious.  But most important of all, Megatron was no coward.  He stood tall at the vanguard of every Decepticon attack; from the good ol’ days on Cybertron to the battles here on Earth.  He fought dirty and brutally, ultimately killing Optimus Prime in 2005.  Because of the necessity of portraying bad guys as the foolish or star-crossed villains, capable only of unstoppable defeat, in cartoons and comic books (after all, what are we trying to teach our kids here....that the big guns will get you what you desire in the end?), it is still important to those who have already come through the formative years to recognize that this tyrannical despot really has the juice to take over the Universe.  What other character could lead half of an entire race of beings into a war that lasts millions of years, promising only that he will control all when it is over.  What must a character have to still be able to control legions of warriors after countless cruelties and constant mistreatment of those who still fight for him?  Megatron promised nothing to anyone, including those who followed him to battle, except the fact that he himself would rule supreme, and would always reward failure with death or worse.

It is for this reason that I chose the 1/100 scale High Grade Gundam Heavyarms Custom for re-fitting into the legendary Decepticon leader.

Beyond his color scheme, Megatron is most recognized by his enormous forearm-mounted fusion cannon.  The difference here is that I took my inspiration for my version of Megatron from the ‘Super Megatron’ and ‘Ultra Megatron’ of the “Return of Convoy/Battlestars” series.  For those of you who did not know, Ultra Megatron was the first Megatron ever to transform into a tank.  Though no toys for these characters were ever produced, I decided that I had gotten what I needed from the incredible pictures of them.  So why Gundam Heavyarms?  Simple:  the double gatling guns.  Megs uses one while the other charges on his backpack.  The beauty of this feature is that it allows for both weapons to be stored on his back.  This way, they won’t get in the way like the old arm cannon did when he’s doing everyday things, like playing PS2 or surfing the internet.  Gundam Heavyarms stood out as a prime candidate for Megatron for another reason, also.  He’s LOADED with missiles, and some of them are hidden.

From the dawn of the Transformers concept, the leader of the bad guys has screamed one  vital aspect of his essence:  FIREPOWER.  The leader of the Decepticons embodies one ideal above all others; MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.  I think Megatron should have hidden weapons like rockets in unsuspecting areas like his chest, shoulders, and sides.  Every possible area that can handle the load should be full to the brim of surprise attacks and massive demolitons.

Honestly, I wanted the guns to store on his back so they would be in a forward firing position when he transforms into his alt mode.  Now, as Kitbashing projects like these are never really done, I plan to add tank treads, as well as redo some of the joints to make his alt mode mobile.  But first, I have to design an alt mode. ;-]   The hardest parts about this bash were the head design/construction and the painting.  After numerous failed attempts at creating a custom head, I took the head from a broken G2 combat hero Megatron.  While I would have preferred to have the construction of an entirely original head under my belt for this beauty, I had to opt for the cannibalization of an existing figure.  

I applied a thin coat of paint to the helmet, and left the face purple because I thought it looked cool.  To paint the rest of the figure, I used Tamaiya colors Gloss Black, Gloss Red, and Flat Grey.  The Flat Grey did a great job of making the upper arms, legs, head and chest look exceptionally good.

Don't forget to check out Q's other Kitbash projects on the current Kitbash page:  Click Here!

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