I waited - and waited - to pick up Armada Universe Megatron because I really liked the 2002 original, and didn't much care for the Combiner Wars remake in 2015. "They can't do better!" I thought, and when I saw it in person at SDCC and at a record shop (for reasons I don't know), it didn't really seem all that different than the one I had. Given it came out 21 years after the original, that's pretty amazing - they matched the colors nicely, the proportions are similar, and if you don't look at him too closely you'd assume this was the original. The figure does what a lot of the most vocal adult fans ask for - Hasbro gutted the many Mini-Con gimmicks and electronics, taking out the "toy" and replacing things like a surprise slide-out dagger or a Mini-Con grabbing claw with more joints. There were flip-out panels, moving levers, and all sorts of goodies on that $25 toy from 2002, all of which were removed - along with Mini-Con hardpoints. The sculpting was tweaked a bit so it looks more like the cartoon than the toy, too, so some fans will absolutely love this while others will be happy with the old one.
The toy lacks a Leader-1 Mini-Con, and removable rockets. But in a surprise fun move, you can pop off the tank cannon's tip, flip over one of his fists, and mount it there giving him a gun hand.
The 2023 edition drops pretty much every bell or whistle from the original. The "antlers" are now removable instead of grabby, so if you try to squeeze them together they'll pop out of joint. The slide-up face cover, activated by the Decepticon shield on the chest, no longer functions - instead you open the chest and flip it out. The one thing they kept was the ability to flip the tank turret to the front of the toy, giving him a powered-up "EvoFusion" mode. The robot mode is now slightly shorter too, standing about 8 1/2-inches at the tip of the tank treads. Those don't swivel either - but the arms do have shoulder joints and elbow joints, allowing you to swing them forward completely if you flip up the Decepticon panels. It's worth noting the shoulder pylons don't tab in place, so they're going to flop around as you pose the arm parts. But you're probably used to this with the more recent releases.
Sculpted detail is, overall, great. They left his left fist open, a nod to the original toy, and kept most of the panels, treads, lights, and other bits and pieces you remember. Some are moved a bit - but you can still see the black on the top of his feet, or the orange lights around his torso, or the silver panels on the legs. They're not exactly the same, but they're more or less what you remember, but with a blander face. The original had this great scowl, while the new one looks like he's mildly annoyed that his food order wasn't ready when he got to the place to pick it up. It has the feel of the cartoon, but without a lot of personality. Given that's how most 1980s toys looked, I think that'll make him popular with collectors for years to come.
Transformation is quite possibly the simplest toy at this scale in some time. I didn't need the instructions - there are a couple of panels you have to flip just-so, and unpack the arms from the tank treads, but you can probably figure this one out pretty easily. There are some rotating black torso fillers that came as a real surprise, and the fact the shoulders could rotate down was unexpected. The original toy wasn't very complicated either, so I'm happy they kept it simple rather than making it a mess like Universe Armada Hot Shot's messy and unpleasant conversion. There's really no reason to make these things a complex mess with parts that pop off, so I'm happy this one just works.
It is immediately apparent that the new tank is smaller, and all those fun features are gone. He still has rolling wheels under his reads, and a couple of orange laser cannons can flup up - but not forward. They don't launch and they only point up, and this means you probably won't want to move them in tank mode. It's only good for his "attack" mode. The turret turns, and that's about it. It's on par with most modern toys from this line, but one of his assortment cousins is Blitzwing - and he has a blaster, a sword, big red Hulk Hand accessories, and can convert from tank to jet to robot at the same price. I understand there are many complexities in the toy budgeting world, but there's just not much here to cite as being an awesome feature for the price. Hasbro also left some paint off the tank mode - there were a couple of rails molded in orange in the 2002 model, and here Hasbro only painted one side. It looks weird - I would have preferred all or nothing, because it does look like an error at first glance. They did keep the yellow headlights and many silver panels, though, so it looks mostly excellent.
This is a toy that fills its mandate nicely. It updates a popular older toy with improved articulation, identical colors, and a look that closely hews to the animation. It comes at twice the price, with none of the toy gimmicks that today's younger adults may remember. It has the articulation fans wanted in 2002, but once I got my hands on it I was looking for that sliding dagger feature and was sad that it wasn't there. This toy wonderfully captures the state of adult toy collecting. You get everything adult fans demand in the comments section, minis the soul of the original toy that made you want a remake in the first place. I actively tried to avoid buying it (and all 2023 Leaders) but for some reason I just had to give him a shot, and while he's a lot of fun to transform he left me going to get the original off the shelf so I could play with that. You know what you want as a fan better than I do, so articulation lovers? You must get this toy. It's great. People who want a tank with over a dozen places to capture or carry Mini-Cons? Keep (or go track down) the original toy, it's still wonderful.
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