It was a bold plan by Hasbro to rekindle their flagging sales figures in 1990 – ‘Lets make super-poseable TV accurate Transformers that don’t Transform!” someone says – “But we can’t call them Transformers if they don’t transform” says someone else – ‘Ah, hadn’t thought of that.” says the first, “What if we give them vehicles and guns that transform?” – “You mean like Targetmasters? hmm, worked before…” or so such a conversation could have gone.
In truth the action figures resulting from such a conversation were neigther super-poseable nor TV accurate & Action Master Megatron, with his Vehicle the Neutro-Fusion Tank, is a case in point.
As with all Action Masters (excluding the Elites), Megatron has a grand total of only 7 points of articulation, the lower-legs & arms can swing up and down, the neck can turn left & right, only the upper-legs have really good articulation, but the molding is such that they can only really be set in one of four positions – sitting/crouching, standing/kneeling, the splits or bent right back in a position most people would find to be excruciatingly painful.
As for the TV accuracy in the detailing – all I can say is the designers must have been watching a cartoon series unreleased to the general public – remarkably though the toy does bear a striking resemblance to the Megatron who appears in the TV Adverts for the Action Masters. At this time Hasbro was already aware that it wouldn’t be able to reissue the original Megatron toy (due to it changing into a realistic looking gun – not without putting some thought into making a blaze orange barrel plug and sticking a 16+ age restriction to sales) – and the new Megatron looked nothing like a gun – so much so that if you knew nothing about Transformers, you’d never know that his now non-existant alternate mode was meant to be to a Semi-Automatic Walther P-38 Hand Pistol.
Give a 'bot a lift?
Anyway, the brilliance in the Action Masters is not in the action figure – it’s in the accompanying play set. This idea is actually a modification of the earlier Micromaster Bases/Stations/etc and they even use the same size posts, allowing both Action Masters & Micromasters to ‘bot’ the vehicles/bases. And if you can’t Transform, you can’t expect a ‘bot’ as powerful as Megatron to have to walk everywhere, now can you? Megatron’s Neutro-Fusion Tank even has five positions where Action Masters can stand or sit (seven if you open the rocket racks) when in Tank Mode (useful for all those stupid Action Masters who didn’t think about how they’d get around once they couldn’t transform, like Treadshot, Banzai-Tron, Shockwave, Krok, & Devastator. Of course Megatron & Soundwave never gave much thought to transport when getting their original earthen alternate modes anyway).
The Tank Mode divides into two parts - Megatron’s preferred mode of Transport/Attack, his Jet Throne, and the Missile Launcher, fitted with four smoke shells and a Fusion Missile (which is the Tank Barrel when in Tank Mode). Split like this there are now 6 positions for the Action Masters to man (including the cockpit of the Jet Throne).
All-in-all Action Master Megatron comes with:
Why walk when you can ride in planet dominating style!
- Megatron (only his arms can be removed without breaking it or removing the screws holding it together)
- Anti-Aircraft Photon Machine Gun (Able to be hand held by any Action Master figure, or mounted on either the Jet Throne or Missile Launcher)
- High-Impact Battle Tank (Neutro-Fusion Tank)
- Ground-to-Air, Wire-Guided Missile Launcher
- Fusion Missile Rack (removable from the Missile Launcher without breaking it)
- Corrosive Smoke Shells, Four
- Search and Destroy Jet Throne
- Wings Left & Right (removable from the Jet Throne without breaking them)
- Fusion Missile/Fusion Cannon Tank Barrel
Unlike most earlier Transformers, Megatron’s box wasn’t a window box, and he was twist-tied to a cardboard insert. Included in the box was a small plastic bag conatining both the 1990 toy catalogue and the transformation Instructions Leaflet. Also unique to the Action Masters boxes was the inclusion of a set of Power Plans printed on the back of the box along with the usual Tech Spec & box art (Power Plans have just – 2009 – been reintroduced in the instruction booklets for the Alternity figures released by Takara-Tomy). The front of the box featured artwork of Megatron piloting his Tank into battle.
Technical Specifications - readable without a decoder - guess he stopped caring who knew his weakesses...
Power Plans
The robot doesn’t transform, the vehicle is very blocky, it only has a simple transformation and the rockets & missiles aren’t actually designed to be launched 
, when I bought mine (back in December 1990), these faults didn’t matter too much to me, It was at that time the only chance I had of getting a toy version of the Decepticon’s Leader. At the time the only complaint I had with the toy(other than Megatron not transforming) was that Megatron only had some silly red hand gun – where was his Fusion Cannon?
Megatron gets his Fusion Cannon back after looing it behind the sofa...
and didn't he look naked without it
For me this question was answered in 1998 when I learned that back in 1992, a Japanese Transfan had actually made a Fusion Cannon for Megatron. A custom then, no big deal… but then I learned that Takara (who had never actually released any Action Masters) had actually given the custom their seal of approval and allowed it to be sold bagged with a label bearing Takara’s copyright stamp. It was sold for ¥2,000. It fitted to Megatron’s arm by pushing a post (on the sight-end) into the same hole that attaches Megatron’s arm to his shoulder.
The pictures of the Neutro Fusion Cannon that I’ve included I downloaded from someone else’s website back in 1998, I apologize for not crediting the source, but I just can’t remember where I got it from, and a quick search online couldn’t help me – if it’s your picture leave a comment and if I can confirm it, I’ll credit you 
.
Thanks to Botch for the Box & Tech Spec images.
I’ll get a better set of toy pics soon – expect this to be reposted with a full gallery soon 
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