In the early 2000s, riding the 1980s nostalgia wave, Hasbro re-released MANY of the old Transformers toys. However, because toy safety standards had changed so much since 1984, the original Megatron toy’s realistic Walter P-38 gun mode did not fit the 21st century’s new laws.
So, Hasbro attempted to release Megatron in a color scheme that would hopefully never be mistaken for a real gun. Citing the end of the first season of the original Transformers cartoon where Optimus Prime throws Megs into a volcano, they were apparently going to call this figure “Lava Megatron.” However, fans gave him the much sillier name of “Safety Megatron.” It was decided that this also never passed the new toy safety laws, and so the figure never got released. But look at it:
It’s just absurd, and I love it. So of course, I had to paint one of my own. I had a fairly closely-matching orange, but to replicate that chrome blue torso, I decided to use a metallic blue paint. I didn’t have one that dark, so I ended up having to mix my own, which means if I ever have to touch this guy’s paint job, I’m pretty much going to need to re-paint his entire upper body. Ugh.
Like the Hero Megatron repaint I did, I decided to give this one a bright orange Decepticon logo, that would pop against the metallic navy blue torso. But, also like the other figure, I had some trouble painting those small details as cleanly as I would have liked. I definitely plan to go back and clean this one up at some point, once I figure out the best way to do so that doesn’t require mixing more metallic blue paint.
Speaking of paint, I don’t know if you know this, but orange paint (also: yellow and red) is very thin, and requires a lot of coats to appear on toys. So here’s a half-painted, work-in-progress shot:
And all three of my R.E.D. Series Megatron repaints so far:
“Megatron Attack,” indeed.