All right! Back on that barely monthly Megatron mission.
Wait - first off, let's just back up a second and look at something that just happened on the channel.
Okay? If you'll indulge me? Okay.
So there I was, just doin' my thing, checking out all the cool new releases
and bangin' on about forgotten old garbage nobody cares about,
y'know, my thing,
when outta nowhere, a certain video goes on an absolute rager and racks up like half a million hits
and I don't even know what happened!
I mean it might have been 'cause it was a rare set, it could have been that luminous-ass thumbnail,
but most likely it was just a quirk in that good old algorithm
that I barely understand but which my whole livelihood depends upon.
(resigned sigh)
But here's what I think - y'all want some video games
-adjacent Transformers-related merchandise.
That's what we do here!
Okay, roll it.
Yes mate, time to get into some nonsensical non-sequitur novelty nonsense
with 16-Bit Mega Drive Megatron, which came firmly out of left field in 2015
alongside that one PlayStation Optimus Prime figure for a delightfully downscaled personification
- nay, robotification of the 1990s console war!
Yes indeed, these two game goons transform from gorgeous miniature gaming machines
modelled after two of the coolest consoles of all time
into kinda generic robots just barely styled as
- and marketed as - two of the coolest Transformers of all time.
And out of the two, little Segatron here certainly seems to have had the more thought put into it!
I mean, first off, of course the Sega would be the villain, right?
Like, the Mega Drive was always played up as being the bad boy attitude console
for cool kids who wear leather jackets indoors
and get their eyeballs replaced?
By Jim Sterling?
But I feel like you can tell everything you need to from just the names!
Like, on the one hand, you've got:
Aah, forget it!
It's just so forced, man! It feels weirdly corporate.
But "Mega Drive Megatron", that's genius! It's so obviously the one they came up with first.
And side note, I love that they went with the Mega Drive name
over the presumably more bankable Sega Genesis.
Is it "Saygah" or "Segger"?
I mean, I always said "Saygah", 'cause (sings) "Sega!", y'know,
but I hear people saying "Segger" all over the internet. It doesn't hit right. Anyway.
Moreover, just the look of this figure works really well on its own,
like, independent of being a Megatron!
'Cos check it out! It's a sinister, scary-ass space robot
with a huge golden "16-Bit" proudly plastered 'pon its paunch
and these weird, slender proportions and heavy blocks of solid black
totally make it look like some kind of sketchy retro pixel ghoul!
Even the face has a bit of a best-we-could-do early polygon monster aesthetic
with its creepy glowy red eyes and terrifying final boss cheekbones.
D'you know what I mean? This thing definitely packs enough personality
that it only barely even needs to be Megatron!
Definitely could have got away with just being a Sega that came to life and happens to have a similar helmet.
But it is him, isn't it? There's like flashes of his signature flair in the cheeky red midriff
and visible silver skeleton, like he's just wearing the Mega Drive as power armour.
Like look at these arms. We know who's under there!
I kinda love the solid state punchy fists and these shoulder stacks look dynamite!
Like, even though they're visibly hollow, that is...
that is a LOOK.
Definitely gettin' major echoes of Megatron Black Version
(echoing) Even eviler.
(echoing) Alternate universe where he's even eviler...
(2016 Thew): So this guy's probably based on one of those Diaclone Micro Change Gun Robo guys
but I personally choose to believe he's from an alternate universe where he's even eviler.
(echoing) Even eviler. Alternate universe where hes even eviler.
(echoing) Even eviler...
So, not only am I IN Cyberverse,
but also,
I wrote it?
Anyway, posability's probably pretty impressive on paper?
Definitely packin' plenty of unusually mechanical and not terribly Transformery joints
which all feel either way too stiff or not quite stiff enough
and he's a bugger for holding poses, 'cos these feet are so very pitiful!
These truly are some pathetic tiny baby donkey hooves
and like, these barely-functional foldy-down heel spurs hardly help at all unless he's stock straight.
Even the legs themselves are extremely prone to riding up and exposing these scrub-ass shinbone struts.
But like, does that make it bad? No.
This thing is quirks all the way down, from the way it feels in hand to the reason it exists!
It's just a pure freak show! I knew that going in,
and I am EXPERIENCING VALUE.
I mean check out this giant arm cannon, which I'm gonna go ahead and call the Blast Processor,
plugged in Shockwave-style to the chubby cherub wing shoulder pads!
Shoulder pads.
Not sure exactly what the crack is with this USB-styled gun barrel.
Like, that's gotta be an abandoned real-world gimmick, right?
Suppose it would been pretty sweet if they could have preloaded it with like an emulator
with a bunch of Transformers-themed reskins?
Altered Beast Wars?
Golden Axor?
Cool Spot...
...but it's Scrounge.
Speaking of games, I suppose we should talk about the cartridge compartment!
The Sega slice!
The game gash.
Like, it's kind of a focal point, you can't exactly miss it,
Uhh, you can slot this miniature game pack in there
and he can bowl around town with Sonic The Hedgehog hanging out of his tits.
Cool.
I dunno. I guess it makes him go fast? Matrix of Speedership?
Please laugh.
Transformation's a very sensible compaction! Like, it's classic household-appliance-former stuff.
You're still just squishin' him down into a rectangle! Straight Rock Lordin' it.
And ahh, mate, isn't this miniature Mega Drive the most darling thing you've ever seen?
Yes, it is. I'm pretty happy to speak for you on this one!
I suppose it is kind of the dream object to make a Transformer out of
'cos it's such an iconic design with a built-in nostalgia factor
and like, it was already made of plastic, so as a toy, it looks completely authentic!
Even the panel lines sort of melt away into the simple elegance of the slightly raised circular plinth
and I love that you can pop off the power section for a kind of Mega Drive II-ish symmetrical fan mode!
These little controls here are so painstakingly represented -
like, it would have been fun if the switches could move and that, but they're so tiny. They'd just break.
And I kinda like it even more that it's permanently switched off. That's so mean!
That's so Megatron! Just, "No! No fun! Get off!"
Love the iconic fontage and semi-sensical flavour text -
Ooh, "multipurpose"? What, video games and different video games?
Shinobi AND After Burner? I'm not sure that's what "multipurpose" means.
But the real secret weapon here has gotta be this adorable miniature controller!
'Cos this is where the real action happens, man!
Like, on any console. This is the human connection!
And it's so perfect, man. It's got all the details:
the little reinforced cable nubbin and nine-pin plug socket,
the D-pad and the buttons with exactly the right kind of bouncy tactile response!
That's, uh, Cyrax's Brutality.
And sure, it comes in half a bit easy, but you can't tell me you've never wanted to snap your controller in rage!
This is the dream! The ultimate symbolic stress toy.
I think the only thing that maybe lets this down is the outputs 'round the back.
PlayStation Prime definitely crushed it in that subcategory!
Like, it's got all the AV component sockets and the link-up cable slot and all that,
but the Mega Drive's just got a vague sort of area.
Oh, who remembers?
I dunno, I'm just well into Mega Drive Megatron! I think it's a cute idea.
And while the toy is perhaps a bit clunksome, it still works wonderfully as a daft space robot!
It's just so cool and cohesive that I kinda wish it had been a standalone release?
'Cos Optimus Prime Featuring Original PlayStation - or OPFOP -
just hits me so wrong that it diminishes Megatron by association!
Not to keep raggin' on it, but this thing really feels like the appendix of this idea
and it's so weird to me that they did him as a PlayStation!
'Cos I don't claim to know how this idea came about or what order it happened in
but if we're doing console vs console,
I feel like the logical opposite to the Mega Drive would have been the Super Nintendo, right?
And preferably the beautiful PAL version rather than the fugly-ass NTSC one.
NTSC? More like, "Not The Sexiest Console".
I guess maybe Nintendo weren't into the idea? They wouldn't let 'em do it?
They ARE famously cagey.
But what I mean is, just the purity and easy charm of Mega Drive Megatron
just makes everything about the PlayStation feel like a cynical cash-in afterthought,
like, "Ooh, we'd better do an Optimus as well.
"Suppose if we make it the most popular console of all time, it'll be good."
No.
And this is definitely not a case where I wish they'd done more of these.
Two is plenty. One was plenty!
I dunno. Maybe a Mega Drive II that's Galvatron with a combining Tidal Wave Mega CD?
An Atari Jaguar that's Ravage?
Nintendo Wii-lie?
So where are we at? Is it good? Kinda.
Is it cool? Hell yes!
Is it worth tracking down?
I mean... if you want.
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I don't love Mega Drive Megatron,
but so much of it is just face value novelty!
It's the ultimate "it is what it is" figure.
God, don't you hate that phrase? "It is what it is"?
Like, of course something would be the thing that it is,
but that's what's up.
It's a Transformer that is a Sega, and nothing more, and that is plenty.
So massive thanks to TruckVsGun for hookin' me up with this 16-bit sexpot!
I'm off for a cyber razor cut.
See ya later, slow mos!
And that was that video! Thanks for watching it.
Massive thanks to all the Patreons! Thank you for supporting me this year!
And huge video game flavoured thanks to Onemariobro.
Game over!