What's better than finding a new company worth purchasing from? When a favorite company starts a new line, without neglecting their previous lines of course. Rioter Despotron is an interesting take on Megatron.
He looks great as a futuristic, double-barrel space pistol. There is even a springy button for a trigger. He has a few gaps that I wish were filled in or covered. His little purple Matrix doesn't seem to be in any danger of falling out of its holder. I couldn't figure out anyway to attach his sword in this mode. His scope is not usable.
Going to gun mode, a bit of parts-forming may be required depending on where you had his various barrels attached. Removing all of them probably makes the process easier anyways. I had a little bit of difficulty opening his forearm flaps to store his fists, but managed it after prying the sides of his forearms to release the clips for the flaps. Opening the flaps to fold out the fists is much simpler because you can just stick your finger into the holes and pop the flaps open. The rest of the transformation was a cake walk. Unlike Maketoys Gundog, for example, there was no fiddliness in lining up the various tabs. A purple Matrix fell out of his chest when I opened it to store his head. Going back to robot mode was also pretty simple. Too bad the other three Masterpiece Megatrons did not have as fun a transformation process. I can only hope that Megatron 2.0 will be this enjoyable to transform.
Rioter Despotron is covered in detailed line work and cleanly applied paint applications. I'm really loving the direction of this Cross Dimension series. There is just so much visual interest on the figure. The head sculpt is done particularly well. I really like the design of his abdomen and his lower legs.
His head is on a balljoint, with an additional hinge at the base of the neck. Looking down is no problem, but he can't really look up. His shoulders are on swivels and hinges. The shoulder pauldrons are on their own hinges. He swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs. His thumbs are fixed and his fingers are single pinned, with the pointing fingers articulating separately from the rest. He has single-jointed elbows that almost get to 180 degrees and double-jointed knees that can do the same. I do find that straightening his legs sometimes engages the transformation joint at the knees, causing one leg to be longer than the other. He has a slight ab crunch, but it's not as usable as the one on Striker Manus. His hips are on universal joints, with ratchets along the frontal axis. His feet are also on universal joints that are combined with separate toe and heel tilts.
His arm and shoulder cannons come in separate bags for assembly. His iconic arm cannon is black with a decent amount of sculpting. The ends have some sort of reflective plastic so you can't see through the barrel. The other two cannons are identical to each other and have a splash of cleanly applied yellow paint. All three can slot onto his back or either arm. He also includes a sword and an alternate crest for his chest. The sword is purple transparent plastic with a little line work near the hilt. It fits well in his hands, using the same slotting mechanism found on Striker Manus and Copula. The extra crest is solid grey instead of transparent purple. Despite the bit of plastic flash, I'll probably stick with the purple crest. These figures can usually use an extra splash of color. Buried in his chest is a purple, clear plastic Matrix.
Riotter Despotron is another great addition to Maketoys' portfolio. I'm glad they started with the two leaders to get us excited. I hope that the other Optimus Prime in this line will get the Ultra Magnus coloring it so deserves and can't wait to see who else is planned. This is now the fourth line of figures from Maketoys that I'm probably going to be all in on.
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