For a while X-Transbots Apollyon was the option for a Masterpiece Megatron. The official one has weird proportions and is now absurdly expensive. In quick succession, we now have two more options to choose from.
First thing to do is remove that ridiculous orange plug. At least with mine, it twisted off very easily; no tools required.
I'm not a gun enthusiast, but it's probably fair to say you won't really be fooling most people even if you were dumb enough to wave this thing around outside. The stock seems to be oversized, and unfortunately the panel lines and gaps detract from the aesthetics. Besides the normal screw holes, there is a very unsightly gap where the barrel slides for transformation. This is a pity because in other places folding and sliding panels attempt to hide gaps in the form. The trigger is spring loaded, but there is no feedback like you would find on a toy pop gun. The scope probably works for people with a very specific diopter. There are nobs on the top and right side, but they don't seem to adjust anything.
As is typical of these things, transformation to alternate mode is a lot more fiddly than to robot mode. The panels of the stock are a pain to deal with. I couldn't get all the pegs to line up probably. As I squeezed one set of pegs in, others would pop out of their ports. In the end, I gave up after getting close enough. The one part I absolutely hated was pulling out the panel to hide his head. It is pegged in so tightly, I had to resort to a tool. Even with a soft spludger, the surrounding panel got a little deformed. Coming out of gun mode, pulling out the head also requires something to provide you some leverage.
He is certainly a lot less kibbly than Apollyon. Of note, the insides of his legs are clean and the gun stocks stay flush against the outside of his legs. I love how the trigger and guard disappear into his torso. In keeping with Masterpiece styling, the line work is simple and clean. What little paint application there is looks to be well applied. His eyes are a shiny metallic red. It's unfortunate how the screw hole on his barrel faces forward. I should have left the faux hammers up on his shoulders.
His head is on a ball joint. His elbows are on hinges and ratcheted swivels. He has fixed thumbs and single pinned fingers, with the pointing fingers articulating separately from the rest. His pointing fingers also articulate at the second knuckles. He swivels at the elbows, wrists, waist, and thighs. I don't believe his waist is ratcheted, but there are stops at each 90 degree position. He also has a little bit of a ratcheted ab crunch. His hips are on ratcheted universals. He has single-jointed elbows and double-jointed, ratcheted knees. His feet are on swivels and hinges for rocking and tilting. His heel spurs are on hinges.
He does have a little wonkiness in the ankles, causing him to lean forward, but it's not as bad as on Apollyon. Unfortunately, his right leg is prone to collapsing back along the slider. This is why I hate sliding mechanisms for legs. This appears to be a systemic issue. Neither side locks into place when extended. Kuma Style has a video on how to fix it, by removing the surrounding panels and hammering the pins. It seems to help a little, but since I'm not transforming him again, I simply shoved some putty into the slider on both sides.
His accessories include his morning star and three alternate faces. The morning star is purple transparent plastic and rather large. It is about a foot long. The chain itself is about 9 inches. If you remove the screw and open it up, you can wind the chain inside to your desired length. His default face has a bit of duck face going on. The other options are a smirk face, an angry face, and an evil laughing face. I'll probably stick with the angry face. The face swap mechanism is how all face swaps should be handled. The helmet comes off ala Darth Vader, allowing you to untab the face, tab in the new one, and slide the helmet back on.
I'll continue to use Apollyon on my Masterpiece shelf. There is something about Despotron's head sculpt that is not quite doing it for me. I will use him for photo projects as his arms don't simply fall off, but use Apollyon where it is helpful to have removable arms. Despotron wiill hang out on a shelf with some other Maketoys and Fanstoys figures that are or will be duplicated by official figures or other options for me; a second Masterpiece grouping. Although we don't really need one, I can only hope that a Masterpiece Maketoys or FansToys Optimus Prime is in the works to complete the pair. I'm looking forward to see how DX9 Mightron compares.
