MakeToys: MTRM-08 Despotron

G1 Megatron is one of those characters that toys never seem to get quite right. MP-05 was an admirable but flawed effort, and the recent MP-36 is apparently terrific yet fraught with paint issues and fiddly parts. There have been several Third Party attempts as well, of various degrees of success. The Coffin found its Masterpiece-like G1 Megatron in MakeToys’ excellent Despotron.

Buried away in storage, the Coffin did purchase MP-05 once upon a long ago, and for a time, it was a good representation of the iconic Decepticon leader. It fairly rapidly became a figure that was more a point of collectors’ pride to own, because of the hoops that needed to be jumped through at the time of its release to obtain one, rather than a piece that was on display in the collection. Boxed up for many years, MP-05 remains a piece that has a fun memory attached to it, and as such stays in the Coffin collection; but time had come to get a new Megatron, a better Megatron, to stand in the Masterpiece detolf. MP-36, totally gorgeous and all, was above the comfort zone price-wise, and honestly, outside of the interest range, as we’ve turned our eyes more and more to the 3P market first, and some things read about MP-36 weren’t exactly filling me with enthusiasm. So a great deal on Despotron came along, about a month deep into my super-fandom of MakeToys’ products, and I jumped on it.

Despotron is large and bulky, exuding Megatron-ness in terms of strength and power and menace. Unlike the gangly and lanky MP-05, Despotron looks like the powerful and intimidating and indomitable Decepticon, with just a little bit of the puffiness that Dreamwave artists used to draw in him when Dreamwave was still around. His lines are sharp and thick; his body built from rectangles and squares, depicting that impenetrable, “No Known Weaknesses” idea forged right into Megatrons’ person. There are a few parts that cause Despotron to look a little too stocky and thick, like the panels on the legs that will eventually form the grip in alt mode, and the hip pads which will also eventually contribute to alt mode, but there is nothing that can be done about them. If those parts were removed, or if they could be folded behind the leg (they can’t be. I just checked now, in case I’d simply missed that option before. –mr) Despotron would be flawless looking. The legs in particular jostle the overall look of robot mode by being too large, making the legs too wide and throwing the total look off. The leg panels make Despotron seem more rectangular when viewed from the front, as the panels are even with the edges of the chest instead of being a little slimmer which would have emphasized the chest.

 

The figure has an ab crunch, thanks to a transformation hinge, but it allows Despotron to hunch over forward just a little bit at the waist, which aides in posing and balance. This is a heavy figure, and while his balance is greatly assisted by largely unadvertised heel panels that fold out from the bottom of the feet, being able to shift at least some of the weight via this waist hinge helps a whole lot. The upper body could not possibly be more G1 Megatron, and with a faction sticker applied to the chest, there is almost nothing about Despotron that would make a person think it was an unofficial figure. I’m not entirely sure why I mention that, as by and large 3P figures are not really so wildly different, unless they are done that way intentionally, because they are trying to emulate a certain branch of the fiction or whatnot. Despotron looks more like Megatron than MP-05 does, that’s for sure.

Accessory-wise, Despotron is a little light, coming with his fusion cannon, the purple energy mace, and a few interchangeable faces. The best accessory this figure has actually comes with MakeToys Meteor, that being an interchangeable Despotron fist wrapped around Meteors’ neck, a classic Megatron/Starscream pose. Over the summer when Meteor arrived, I found this piece cute but not very useful; when I was searching for 3P Megatrons the memory of this piece helped cement Despotron as the right choice. The other MakeToys G1 Seekers, Lightning and Skycrow (who will both appear here, eventually. –mr), come with this piece as well, even though it really only makes sense for Meteor. The fist plugs on to Despotron and then the head plugs on to Meteor, but this requires a lot of balancing and fiddling with posing to accomplish.

Despotron is pretty poseable, although the size of his legs does impede movement there a bit. The way the elbows bend is also a little odd looking, as they reveal the red bicep piece and then cut a 90 degree angle that looks a bit weak. But this isn’t a figure intended for dynamic poses; this is a figure intended to exude power, and it does that exceptionally well.

Alt mode is the traditional G1 pistol, and yes, this figure did come with the orange safety plug, and yes, said plug was easily removable. That plug has been the constant worry of G1-esque Megatrons for years now, dating back at least to MP-05, and etailers talk about it being affixed with glue and that it’s not removable. This is the second MP-esque G1 Megatron I’ve owned, and I’ve never had an issue removing the plug. Come to think of it, I think Encore G1 Megatron had one too, and that was easily enough removed.

The idea behind the plug is that it’s supposed to help distinguish G1 alt mode Megatrons from actual guns. This has been the argument against G1 Megatron having a weapon alt mode for years now, and while Megatron has worn a lot of alt modes over the years, it’s generally a positive that he seems to have settled on being a tank of some kind. Makes sense, looks good, and it also alleviates concerns for safety that, in the easiest country on Earth to obtain a real gun, now kids won’t be able to get plastic robots that convert into things that are pretty clearly not even real guns, even to the untrained eye of a simple observer, such as myself. Despotron converts into a comically oversized weapon, so one would hope that even a trained law enforcement officer would be able to distinguish it from an actual gun, but who knows. That may be asking too much, honestly. Alt mode does lack a little for not having the stock and barrel extensions, and I don’t know if MakeToys or anyone else has produced those parts as an add-on set, but the Coffin doesn’t need an alt mode Megatron in it, so if said set exists, that’s cool, but not necessary for me. Frankly, these photos are likely the only time Despotron will ever even be in alt mode, and for as much of a Geewunner as I am, it is beyond time for Megatron to choose a different disguise. He was a pistol in G1 because that is what the preexistent toy was, and we all know that. Let’s move on, and let that part of the past go. We won’t even get in to the arguments of how dumb it is that the most powerful Cybertronian turns into something that needs to be wielded by someone else, and thankfully no one ever tried to Shockwave it and claim that Megatron turned into a fully capable giant pistol that could operate itself. Just leave the pistol mode in the past and let’s move on.

The transformation is a little taxing, mainly due to the bevy of panels that fold around to complete the grip of the weapon, but it is a satisfying and mostly fun transformation. It’s a lot of moving parts but it makes sense, and is not the kind of transformation you can divine simply by looking at Despotron, which is generally cool. This is one of those figures where I am really glad MakeToys has a YouTube channel dedicated to transformation videos.

 

Despotron looks excellent alongside official Masterpiece Decepticons, making him a perfect add to your Masterpiece collection if you find MP-05 lacking and MP-36 too expensive. My collection is slowly turning over to the 3P side anyway, with several pieces being exchanged for their 3P incarnations, and so Despotron seemed like another great opportunity to upgrade something as well as have it fit in among the official figures that are already great and don’t need to be replaced. Something really great is that, once MP-10 prices hopefully go down after the ludicrously costly MP-44 releases, MP-10 Optimus Prime should look just fine next to Despotron as well. If your collection needs a G1 Megatron and you’re not into the MP-36 price, MakeToys Despotron is absolutely a worthy addition to your shelves.