Toy Review - ARMADA LEADER MEGATRON (Legacy)
MEGATRON
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy
Hypo-line - Evolution
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - V2
Released here - July 2023
Approximate Retail Prize - $80-$100
Approximate Size - TBA (ruler and figure not in front of me right now)
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Armada re-do like Hot Shot, Starscream, and Prime I guess?
Alt-mode - Tank
Main Features/Gimmicks - Turret that can form various cannons in robot mode.
Main Colours - Green, purple, grey, orange
Main Accessories - gunbarrel
I never had the original of this figure , or the Combiner Wars re-do. When the original came out I didn't like it because of the lack of articulation,and also I was a child and couldn't buy leader class figures on a whim. I wasn't collecting much around the time of CW so didn't get that one either.
So, fresh thoughts on this figure of a character I have no attachment to:
Alt Mode
I normally don't like H tanks. They're usually really obviously just a Transformer doing a yoga pose. That's the case here, more or less, but it passes muster. Something about the proportions of the vehicle have been tweaked so it looks more like a Scorpion from Halo (? I haven't played one of those in a while) instead of a child's toy.
Everything holds together well and it rolls on the usual 'plastic wheels hiding under treads' design.
The turret can't do an unimpeded 360, however. It does have a fairly full range of motion, but there is a stopping point that prevents it from rotating entirely freely.
No gimmicks are present, really. The old flip up rocket launcher has solid molded cannons now, and it still flips up but does not go past pointing vertical.
Transformation
About what you'd expect from a H tank. The tread mass becomes limbs, the turret ends up on the back.
There's nifty mass shifting to bulk out the chest, and the chest opens to retract a cover that hides the (downward facing) robot face in tank mode.
Robot Mode
An imposing figure with a great silhouette.
All of the usual articulation you want is here. I love that (semi) fixed shoulder pieces with independently articulated shoulder joints have become part of the universal design language of Leader class for Evolution (see also: Blitzwing, Laser OP, Skyquake).
You can take the front half of the turret barrel and plug it into Megatron's forearm. This looks tremendously silly. Otherwise, you can have the armpit gun look from Armada (on both sides), or indeed just rotate the whole turret around the waist so that it sits on the front of the figure for some kind of apron of doom (tm).
The shoulder pylons don't really lock in anywhere, so if you don't handle with care they'll flop around while you're posing the figure. The lack of covers for the forearm gaps (fist flip out) annoys me at this price point. Also, the antlers are simply pegged in and like to fall out, so make sure you don't lose them.
Overall
It is a fun figure, great feel in the hand.
Photos pending
