Once upon a time there were two Decepticon leaders. One was officially Megatron, or as close to Megatron as Hasbro could get these days. The other was Apollyon, the third-party creation from X-Transbots.
The $US44.99 Hasbro Combiner Wars Megatron tried very hard to be the best Megatron he could be. He had a very Megatron-like head, for instance.
And a very Megatron arm cannon.
But bits of him were very un-Megatron-like. His backpack, for instance, was not very Megatron.
And while fans of Megatron from the second generation forward have grown accustomed to a Decepticon leader that transforms into a tank…
…original series fans crave a Megatron that changes into a much more portable sort of gun.
Combiner Wars Megatron tried very hard, and got many things right. His transformation is simple yet satisfying. His robot mode cuts a striking figure. Hasbro even packaged him with Autobot stickers, for fans following along with IDW comic continuity, where the Decepticon leader has been trying something new.
But we were just too far removed from a time when major toy companies could release a toy that transforms into a realistic gun. At least he tried.
The $US149.99 X-Transbots MX-I Apollyon, on loan for review from the fine folks at Toy Dojo, tried very hard to be the best Megatron he could be. He had a very Megatron-like head, for instance.
And a very Megatron arm cannon.
In fact, most parts of Apollyon were very Megatron-like, and while Hasbro’s own Megatron must resign himself to tank mode, the third-party Apollyon was completely free to be the gun you and me know Megatron to be.
A giant-sized Walther PPK is what Apollyon would be, and by being that he deftly out-Megatron’d Megatron himself.
Apollyon was massive and beautiful in gun mode, possibly even more impressive than in his nearly properly-transformed robot mode. Note that the review sample of Apollyon did not come with instructions, and the reviewer did his best.
But Apollyon did not stop at just looking like Megatron. He gathered items that would remind fans of the fabled leader as well. Items such as a special key to something Vectorish and Sigma-like. A clone control helmet. A special chest panel depicting what he would look like if struck by an asteroid. An energy sword, in case one needed to stand while another fell. And a mace, for any dam-based combat that might arise. Does that pistol look familiar? It would if you were Hot Rod, Transformers’ biggest jerkoff.
Doesn’t he look dashing?
Apollyon packed up all of his Megatron things, crawled inside of a gorgeous box and waited until he officially started shipping, sometime next week.
For all his ambition, Apollyon wasn’t without his faults. His transformation was insanely complicated, at points requiring the mightiest of fingernails or small tools to complete. An attempt to transformer him live on video resulted in much heavy breathing and cursing on the part of our reviewer.
Being made up of many small, fragile-feeling tiny pieces, Apollyon wasn’t the sort of Megatron one takes to the park for a play date. He’s the sort of transforming robot one changes once or twice, picks a form and pose and then places on a shelf to lord over all the other motionless Decepticons.
When all was said and done however, Apollyon wound up being a better Megatron than Hasbro Megatron, more faithful to the original Decepticon leader in both looks and complexity. Combiner Wars Megatron is a fine toy, but compared to Apollyon? He’s bad comedy.
Once upon a time there were two Megatrons. One was quite good. The other was much better than that.
A production sample of X-Transbots MX-I Apollyon was provided the reviewer by the folks at Toy Dojo. It has since be returned, glistening with drool.
Comments
25 responses to “A Tale Of Two Megatrons”
Sooooooooooooooooooo how long til they’re sued for copyright?
Surprisingly enough, Hasbro are very cool with third party creations/recreations.
Well. Thats pretty awesome to see a company is willing to help the fans!
That, and legal loopholes 😀
i wonder if takara/tomy feel the same,
they tend to do the first version then hasbro make their version of it.
there are alot of fake takara versions out there.
I’ve already pre-ordered my Apollyon. Can’t wait to have another Decepticon join my Masterpiece ranks. I wish Hasbro/TT would actually give the ‘cons some love. All we’ve got on the ‘con side of things is repaints for the last few years.
I want my MP coneheads! (and not pay the stupidly high prices the igear ones aer going for on ebay)
I too would love to get it but im worried it would get taken by customs if it has anyt hint on the box and packaging of it turning into a gun
There will always be a risk, but he is being shipped in robot form and the box doesn’t have guns on it. Of course there are different laws in different states too.
If you live in QLD you shouldnt have any troubles 🙂
why buy either?
why wouldn’t you just get a mp-05 masterpiece megatron from takara?
I’ve got one and that apollyon is just a cheap knock off copy of it.
http://www.seibertron.com/transformers-toys/gallery/masterpiece/megatron-mp-05/1141/1/
Sure, you could buy that. Got a spare $500+ for it?
wow where the heck is that price from?
i paid about $250 with free shipping
Scale; MP-5 is too large to fit in scale with the other Masterpiece figures (apart from Mp-1 )
Price; MP-5 averages around the $250-$500+, Apollyon is $180, and CW Megs $70 when Target had their 20% sale.
Aesthetics; MP-5 is widely criticized as being ‘Lanky’ and nigh on impossible to get into any sort of decent pose, Appolyon and CW Megs don;t have that problem
Transformation; MP-5 is notoriously difficult to transform, and there is many many horror stories of limbs being snapped off. Apollyon admittedly seems to be in the same camp, but far less likely to break on you. And CW megs is straight forward to Transform.
Now personally, I have MP-5 (with the 3rd party add-on kit), CW megs and waiting for my Apollyon to arrive (which is hopefully next month) so I am not trying to put down MP-5 in any way, but you did want to know why someone would bother purchasing either Apollyon or CW Megs instead of MP-5.
I have noticed the scaling issue now that you mention it and it can be annoying that they changed it and didn’t re-issue him like they did with the rest, but as long as the other masterpieces are on their included display stands to raise their height its not that noticeable as Megatron doesn’t have a display stand. I haven’t had posing issues except when i connect the cannon to his arm.
What was in the 3rd party kit?
Yes, the size difference doesn’t bother me either as I always have him alt-mode, but you wouldn’t believe how hardcore some TF collectors are when it comes to scale (majority favour MP-10 optimus over MP-1, and all the other MP releases scale with MP-10)
The add on kit came with the barrel extension and shoulder stock, plus replacement handle parts so that the stock could attach (both parts are die-cast, the barrel is plastic) basically it is to give it the full g1 look in alt-mode. It usually goes for around $125 on ebay if you can find one, luckily robotkingdom had them for $50-75 (I can’t remember exactly now) including postage. Definitely worth it though, and you can build the stationary-cannon-thing that Megs can hold on too just like the G1 toy 🙂
youtu.be/wH7SciqZ0zA
Skip to around 26 minutes to see why people might not prefer the MP-05. It’s too skinny and oddly proportioned, and way out of scale with other MP figures. Yes, most of the time the official MPs are better (e.g. Ultra Magnus vs Citizen Stack) but sometimes the 3rd party figures trump TT and this is one of those cases.
Mega Drive Megatron is the superior model: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hEY5bvAEoWE/maxresdefault.jpg
But does it have blast processing?
Original Megatron is best (OMG expensive) Megatron!
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/megatron-g1-/291438069668
I’ve seen an original in box sell for a lot more.
People go nuts for him.
I remember he was impossible to find when I was a kid & there was a rumour that he was banned because the police shot a kid with it because they thought it was a real gun.
Wasn’t MP-4 Megatron the one that turned into the gun too?
*MP-05 Megatron
MP-05 did turn into a gun, however the series rebooted it’s scale at MP-10 and then they started doing it again so takara avoided doing an official megatron again..
I had the gun-Megatron back when I was a kid. Damn thing was the most difficult toy to transform, I think I ended up accidentally breaking his arm off.
Now it is a tale of only one Megatron: MP-36.
Once again, the official entry stomps all over the pretenders. MP-36 looks like Megatron stepped out of the cartoon without Apollyon’s pinched head, squinty eyes, child-bearing hips, bizarrely low and wide waist like a hula skirt, and weak joints.
Apollyon is officially irrelevant.