Transformers: Rise of Tyranny 2-Pack Miner Megatron is Something That Exists

Bloody hell. It was difficult to just stop writing this one.

A panel from Megatron Origin #4

Recently released as part of an exclusive twin pack, thanks for splitting with me, mate,  Miner Megatron as a concept originated in the comics series Megatron Origin, circa 2007. Said comic does largely what you'd think. It was intended as the origin for Megatron, the original big bad of the Transformers brand. It was penned by Eric Holmes for Dreamwave originally, although IDW scooped it up when they got the licence. Holmes built on some earlier ideas from comic continuity, seemingly drawing on the very influential prose story State Games by James Hill, which featured megs' early days as a gladiator in a declining city state. Holmes added the details that Megatron worked as a miner before he was a gladiator, that the Decepticons grew out of a disaffected underclass, and ended the story with Megatron's first major victory. Later on, James Roberts would greatly expand on this period of Megaron's life with his Chaos Theory story circa 2011, and later still with the More Than Meets The Eye  ongoing series. Roberts added further nuance to this depiction of Megatron, or soft retcons if you're feeling unkind, as the despot renounced the Decepticons and did the whole Magneto-joins-the-X-Men bit for a while. There's a lot of political theory and historical allusions tied up with this take on Megatron, and this undoubtedly has influence on more recent versions, like the one in Earthspark.

A panel from MTMTE #34

Now, I'm glossing over some things above, but its fair to say that this take on Megatron wasn't for everyone, and maybe had a few problems. With several different writers and interested parties involved over several years, the concept of Miner Megatron runs into some unfortunate implications and a bumpy character arc. I think the Alligned continuity and Hasbro lore bibles maybe played a part in that, but I don't know enough about the timeline here to be sure either way. I also have this suspicion that as all three of the writers I've mentioned are British, there may be a cultural lens of some kind being applied that needs to be unpacked, as an obvious connection can be drawn to the Miners Strikes of the 70's and 80's. I almost want to describe this interpretation of Megatron as "Spartacus basically became Lenin and then Stalin in sequence, only to regret the Stalin phase much later on.", because that's the influences I'm recognising as a fellow brit. I've also not mentioned or discussed Functionism, the whole your-vehicle-mode-dictates-your-job-forever-and-ever caste system that Megatron was rebelling against. That was pretty horrific, as was the Decepticon's subsequent application of Technoism to the wider galaxy, aka genocide of organic species. Regardless, if you apply the imagery discussed above to the Decepticons and Megatron, it can be read as "downtrodden masses should remain downtrodden, lest they become militant communists, and the Autobots are warriors for the status quo." . That's not great, as unfortunate implications go, although as suspect the actual intent was more like "If you keep abusing people, they might eventually do it right back to you and everyone else, but worse.". I suppose that's what happens when you have an 80's toy franchise, and attempt to add more shades of grey. You can fumble the execution as creatives cycle in and out.

.A better writer than me needs to take a swing at all this, but its something to think about... 

A sequence of panels from The Transformers #22, Chaos Theory Part 1

Having put politics right in your Transformers: Miner Megatron. Young Megatron. The working class man whom wrote political treatise on the horrible caste system he was born into. The intellectual whom liked poetry and hung around with Impactor. The Megatron whom was mostly OK, until the state took issue with him. Mostly OK until, finally, Whirl beat it out of him. Dammit Whirl. Megatron before the Decepticons. What's he like as a toy? Well, he's a retool of a mould we've seen about ten times now, the Siege Megatron toy. That was a pretty decent voyager, but not top tier. I'd probably say it was "good enough" capturing the essentials of the character, but otherwise having OK articulation and an OK-if-rough-around-the-edges tank mode. As the mould has probably been used more than its merits actually justify, its use once more is probably not a plus for people at exclusive prices, but at least the basics are there. Mind you, it doesn’t feel great. I had the bad luck of getting one with the incorrectly swapped knee joints, something that took the shine off things for me, I do admit, and transforming the thing feels more of a nuisance than it was previously. So, assuming you have a decent one, let's talk about the changes made.

First off, the accessories are new. How new is open to debate, it's possible this one was on the blueprints from the start, but this is the sort of change I like. Adding or otherwise changing accessories adds play value and meaningfully changes the experience. Miner Megs goes full melee, with a pickaxe and drill that combine. I feel these fulfil the brief very well. These are tools first and foremost, although not something you'd want to be hit with, with the drill foreshadowing the fusion cannon, but also putting me in mind of the Impactor connection. The pickaxe has a lovely purple blade on it too, a flash of a colour otherwise absent. Visually, the robot mode gets the natural focus for the retooling, with a very Alex Milne head and a general reworking of the chest. It's a mix of both the Origin and Chaos Theory character models,favouring the latter, cast in dull metallic colours with hazard stripes. The general vibe is one of industrial machinery, which is largely how the Functionists viewed him, or the before picture used in an advert for a personal fitness program. He's not the silver toned tyrant yet, he needs to get some actual armour on him, a new paint job, and the fusion cannon, but you can see that potential. It is perhaps the most successful of the Rise of Tyranny toys for that, which which is why I suspect they might have been planning this from the start. It's not without issues though. While a great look, this retooling has resulted in the shoulders gaining a tab and slot arrangement for storage/integration in tank mode at the cost of two 5mm ports. Said tank mode is... Well... I want to say it's alright. As you might expect, it's a cybertronian drill tank, and it looks like what it is, a military vehicle repurposed to have alleged applications in mining. Mind you, the drill extends outwards far enough to be useful, and thanks to the fact the colours of the accessories match the main body, its more coherent than it might have been. I suppose you aren't really buying this for the altmode, and the axehead just kinda pegs to one side, but they gave it a proper go.

My point? Only that Miner Megatron is something that exists. As you may gather from the immense amount of waffle versus plastic above, I do find this version of Megatron to be  fascinating, and its nice to have a toy of it, especially one this pretty. That said, you are paying a premium for something we've already seen an awful lot of, and maybe the Quality Control is an issue. Don't overpay.