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Megatron and Leader-1- Transformers; Armada Meat and Potatoes; 4.7 Perks; 4.7 Homer Factor; 5.0 |
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Description; Ah, Prime's nemesis gets the Mini-Con treatment, along with his side-kick Leader-1. Megatron is approximately 11" tall in robot mode and just as long in tank mode. 'tron is mostly green with purple and grey high-lights. In 'bot-mode, the back end of the tank folds down to form Megatron's legs, and Megatrons arms pop-out from the treads at the front of the tank. The tanks turrent becomes 'tron's back, with the main cannon swinging down and sliding below Megatron's right arm in a firing position. Leader-1 is a mini-tank that also transforms into a robot. He is mostly gray with black high-lights. Both figures have very solid sculpts with decent, but not great, articulation. Megatron comes with a variety of Mini-Con 'links' that do assorted things like fire missiles and activate firing sound-effects. |
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Alrighty then, NOW we're in business. Yeah, Cyclonus is a cool chopper, and it's nice to see Starscream back, but the main reason we're ALL waiting for Armada is for the two big-guys; Megatron and Prime! Prime should be out any day now, but Megatron is out in force, and in pretty decent numbers. Ok, after waiting since the NY Toy Fair, what are we looking at? The reincarnation of the most dastardly villain in robot-dom... or another cheesy gimmick to make us wince? It's not the ultimate version of Megatron... but it's pretty dang good. Meat and potatoes are very good over-all, but should have been better. The figure in robot and vehicle mode is pretty dang big; standing, the robot is almost 11" tall from foot to top of it's giant 'shoulder-pads' and in tank mode, it's about that long, and is rather hefty. To go with the nice size, the figure has a very nice sculpt; loads and loads of panel lines, vents, control-panel looking, the works. Articulation.... well... from the waist up, it's very good; shoulders and elbows move well, so there's a great range of motion. Unfortunately, there is no movement in the legs, not even an obligatory ability to kick forward. Considering the amazing work Hasbro did with ball-joints in Beast Wars, it's surprising to see something as simply as hips missing from this piece. Go figure. Like Crumplezone, Leader-1 is a pretty decent figure in it's own right with a surprising amount of detail for something this tiny and incidental Perks are pretty cool; the transformation from mega battle-tank to robot is pretty simple but a nice contrast from one form to another. Personally, I could do away with the 'attack-mode.' Normally, the turret is on the back of Megatron in 'bot mode, but in attack mode the turret is moved in front so all the weapons can be used. Personally, it's a rather horrible look, kinda like Megatron trying to walk around with bag-pipes. Now I LIKE bag-pipes, but 'tron just doesn't look cool with bag-pipes. The sounds and lighting effects aren't bad; assorted voices, a nice firing effect. The Mini-Con extras... well, they're a big improvement over Cyclonus, fortunately. One power-link releases a pair of missiles, another one activates a machine-gun noise. There is also a special 'trap' for capturing Mini-Cons, and another spot can 'store' a Mini-Con. In addition Megatron is literally covered with posts so you can attach up to 10 Mini-Cons on Megatron. However, it's still... well, so far there isn't anything 'wow' happening. Whatever is being done is kinda ordinary at this point; yeah, you can make sound-effects, and you can pop-open a missile launcher... and... and... oh, that's it. Homer factor, just the same, is still very high. Hey, it's MEGATRON. Ok, ok, so technically the tank thing has been done. Still, this is most certainly not just a re-make of an M-1 tank. This is a butt-kicking, gangsta-slapping, come-to-your-house-and-take-you-to-school tank. Over-all? It's still a good piece to own; the great sculpt, very solid transformation, and the neat Mini-Con extras all create a very fun piece to display, and mess with. Just the same, after the hype and wait, I'm still waiting for a 'OH MY GOD' moment from Armada. Oh well, there's still time. |