A long time ago, these figures were what I’d planned to do
my first review on, and then that didn’t happen. So why not do them now?
Just like Ultra Magnus, these two Leader class Megatrons are
marked under the Combiner Wars line, but don’t have any Combiner Wars-ability.
I think that these guys, along with Magnus, are probably continuations of the
Generations “Thrilling 30” line, which while hardly thrilling, was composed of
the Classics/Generations style updates of figures spanning the history of the
franchise. These two are updates of G1 Megatron (again . . . ) and Armada Megatron from the series of
the same name. Both of these figures catch a lot of flak: while the Armada
version gets some flak for being the repaint, it’s actually a real solid figure,
but the tank mode is wrong and robot mode is lacking some pretty distinctive
features; G1 Megatron bears the burden of transforming into a tank since gun
modes are pretty much off the table at this point in time. They also get heat
for the shoulders and legs.
The shoulders on these toys are pretty wimpy, and moving the
arms forward or up too much makes for a non-too flattering look. The shoulders
are pretty low on the torso, and that’s where the problem arises. They’re also
red plastic, so they are clearly visible in robot mode anyway, and that’s the
one part of G1 Megatron at least that looks cheap. G1 Megatron is a really
gorgeous metallic silver, and in robot mode he looks every bit G1 Megatron,
right down to the molded hammer details in the robot shoulders, a throwback to
G1 Megatron’s. That is a very nice detail; the designers tried to echo pistol
Megatron in a few places. The outsides of the robot legs have a black pistol
grip kind of design, again, a call back to the original Megatron. The tank mode
really works for Megatron in general, even though it is sometimes maligned. Ol’
Megs has worn many disguises over the years, and I’ve got to say that either a
tank or the helicopter from Animated may
be the best ones. I will always love handgun Megatron, but come on: he’s the
leader of an army of shape changing robots from space, bent on conquest. He
needs a bad alternate mode, one that carries the notion of his power and strength.
A tank ain’t all that bad.
Armada Megatron is a bit duller green than the original Armada figure, but it is a more
realistic tank green. For this version, the tank is all wrong, since the original
was a member of the great Transformers H-tank club, but this real world style
tank isn’t as bad as some might think. There have been all kinds of
Transformers with futuristic or imaginative alt modes over the years who have
been real-world-ed in lines like Classics and Generations, or even the
Alternators for that matter. And while this version is a repaint with a new
head – since that would be absolutely necessary to give this any chance of
being an Armada Megatron – there are enough things that can be done with the
figure to not only distinguish it from the G1 version, but also to make it more
Aramada-esque. For starters, the
front tank treads which peg together and slide down the back of the robot mode
can be positioned in a fashion that resembles Armada Megatrons’ shoulders. It’s not a perfect match, but it works
well enough for me. The gun barrel can also be flipped around so that the
narrow missile launching part is facing forward, which is actually the official
arrangement. On G1 Megatron, I spin the barrel backwards, leaving the larger
part pointing forwards, reminiscent of the Decepticon leader’s fusion cannon
barrel; on Armada Megatron, the official configuration reminds of the Armada Decepticon leader’s side mounted tank
barrel, and once again, while not a perfect match, it works, it looks good, and
it gives both enough distinction between the figures and enough of a visual
reference to the original figure that it makes me happy.
The figures both come with two turret mounting guns that
combine into a larger hand gun for the robot, but they aren’t very good looking
in the hands. I usually just leave them out of robot mode, although they do add
a little to tank mode.
The heads on these figures are the only actual mold
differences. The head for G1 Megatron is excellent looking, and the light
piping is strong and bold. It is probably the closest head to the G1 animation
model that any Megatron toy has. The Armada Megatron head is spot on to the
animation model, and looks real good. If there was any complaint I could raise
it would be that the head is a little small, or maybe the G1 head is too large.
. . either way, it makes Armada Megatron seem like he’d be much larger in
scale, almost the way a combiner head makes the combiner shoulders and torso
seem larger.
These figures are very nice, and they have a real simple and
smooth transformation. The turrets spin 365 degrees, and the tank barrel
extends to a pretty impressive length. There are two sets of treads, and they
are actual rubber treads that move on a set of wheels. The tank modes are
nicely detailed.
Personally I like these figures quite a bit. It’s nice to
have a Leader class figure that you can just putz around with, and can
transform in a few fairly mindless steps rather than having to pay all kinds of
close attention (ROTF Leader Starscream) or is plain impossible to do (DOTM Sentinel
Prime). But, they do absolutely have their flaws. The shoulders look bad in
almost all configurations except with the arms hanging straight down at the
sides, and the transformation is very simple for a Leader class toy. If I remember
correctly, I got both of them with some discount, so they were not the now ‘normal’
Leader class price, and that is certainly a factor that lets me be so positive
on them. They’re nice, they’re fun; they’re not worth $50 each, let alone over
$100 for the pair. I’ve found enough things that you can do with Armada
Megatron to distinguish him from the other, but if it’s not distinguishable
enough or if you feel like you shouldn’t have to do that work yourself, or
would just rather have a completely different, completely unique mold for the Armada version, that’s a perfectly valid
and understandable thing. If I had to choose one over the other, I’d have to go
with G1 Megatron, because despite the flaws of the toy, this is probably the
best G1-ish Megatron that we currently have, at least outside of the third
party realm, since that’s not a world I’m a part of at the moment.
As much as I like them, I’d have a tough time recommending
them, at full price anyway; but much like the Autobot Deluxe repaints from
earlier, at a discounted price, they would be a good pick up.
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