Transformers Combiner Wars Leader Class Armada Megatron: And people thought Optimus was stretching the definition of a combiner...

The move away from Generation 1 into Generation 2 was not kind to Megatron, was it? Well, that depends on how you look at it honestly as he was one of a few characters that got new toys in Generation 2, mostly because he wasn't allowed to be a gun anymore. Since then Megs has bounced around between alt mode, but the one he always comes back to after he's done being weird by being a space car, or a dragon, or a hand, or a Nerf gun in order to try and please both fans and people that have real power, is a Tank. Why? Your main villain is a gun, what else are you going to turn him into when you need to change him other than a giant gun on tracks? Normally that would be the end of it, make a new Tank Megs, make it a Voyager or a Leader, shove it out in a wave in a new toy line and be done with it. Combiner Wars Wave 1 though did actually try to keep the Combiner label for its Leader class figures. There was just one small problem... Megatron doesn't really do combining, does he? There are only two that I recall, being the Cybertron one where he combined with an evil Lion (cause they needed some excuse to keep the Nemesis name), and Armada, where he combined with Tidal Wave. To Hasbro though, connecting Minicons is close enough to combining so a few additions to the mould, a new head and a new colour scheme later and you've got yourself a Combiner Wars Armada Megatron!

Starting off in the Tank mode, and... we've already got a problem. Well, a problem depending on who you ask. Is it a good looking Tank mode? Yes. While the back's a problem, the tank overall looks solid, and the inclusion of working tank treads and a turret that can turn 360 degrees is great, don't get me wrong. The problem comes from its roots as a same wave repaint, in that this looks nothing like the tank mode Armada Megatron had originally. Is it a deal breaker? Not really, but it does help show the direction Hasbro was taking at the time, as it would be something reinforced further into the Prime Wars. Hasbro was starting to play the pure G1 nostalgia card even harder in Prime Wars, so any generation getting anything better then a single repaint in a years worth of toys was impossible. The one exception? Power of the Primes Optimal Optimus and that was because of a fan vote. The only other two characters that wouldn't play the G1 nostalgia as hard as the rest were Titans Return Tidal Wave and Nautica two box set exclusives that didn't come out everywhere in the world. "Thanks, Hasbro, I'm not still bitter by that, trust me!". What we did get though was solid, and I do think looks better than the Silver tank the regular Megs got. Main reason being is that all the paint on that one went to the silver. Because this one is moulded in dark green, they can use the paint on more parts of him, like some metallic blue on the plating and the turret. His gun for robot mode can be split into two small turret guns that do look good moulding wise, but the purple plastic does break up the look of the tank. On the plus side, this figure does have a spring-loaded missile in the turret! (Look, I like them, wish they didn't stop making them, so I'll gladly enjoy them when they appear again). Like what was brought up earlier, there are four Mini-con ports on this figure that don't do anything but let you connect Mini-cons to him. I personally stick to the one on the turret as the others can get in the way of the turret's ability to move.

To Robot mode then and... I want to love it, I really do, especially as this is my first ever Megatron. I didn't get a Megatron as a kid, but not only is this a bad Armada Megatron, this is a bad Megatron period. Is there anything that makes this figure one of the worst toys ever? Not really, this franchise has been known to make some really, really, really bad toys, but this is definitely a low point for Combiner Wars, and that's saying something. First thing I should bring up is that he does look ok when you initially get him into Robot mode when he's just standing up straight. It's when you want him to actually move around that you start getting problems. Why? Due to the way he transforms, his shoulders look like they're a quarter of the way down his chest, and not where you'd think the shoulders would be, where they connect to the arms makes the arms look flat, or very back bulky at best, and because the tank treads on his legs don't move his shins which take up 80% of his legs can only move 20 degrees. Along with this? No ankle tilt, no waist swivel (which in the case of the waist, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be there, even with the turntable engineering that was the cause of the shoulder problems). The arm cannon (another carry over from the regular Megatron mould), also feels out of place here, not because of the character, but because the way it's engineered, it kinda just floats on his arm thanks to a small panel. Granted, you G1 purists can give this and the Silver Megs the arm cannon position where it's on the front of his arm and not the side, but that takes away any movement the right arm has aside from that awful shoulder and a wrist swivel. The light pipe chunk in the head works well enough, and if it hits in just the right spot, the eyes will glow an perfectly evil red, but what little I can praise this toy for is weighed down by bad engineering for the sake of tank features no one will lose sleep over if they aren't included. What's frustrating is that the third party scene didn't really try to fix this mould. Most of what I saw were parts to make Silver Megs look more like what Gun Megs looks like. Only upgrade kit I saw for Armada Megs was a new chest piece and some extra turrets.

Toping this cannot be as hard as this new one makes it out to be.

Like I said earlier, I want to love this thing as not only is this my first Megatron toy, but its also a Megatron toy of the first Megatron I was exposed too. While I won't deny the faults Armada has, I still have a soft spot for the characters (for better or for worse). I just can't though for this figure. It's not fun, which is the most important thing a toy needs to be. It's fine in tank mode, great if you just want an overall nice looking tank. But the robot mode is just awful. Here's hoping that rumour the War For Cybertron Siege Hound is getting a Cybertron Defense Hot Shot repaint, maybe that might break the mould of poor excuse and bad attempts at new toys based on the Unicron Trilogy's designs. But at the same time maybe I'm a minority who actually cares about things like making it look like you care about post G1 fans in a larger capacity then "we hear you", who wants some variety in the toy lines other than G1 characters in G1 inspired designs. Not sure what's coming next Sunday, I'll think of something, this site doesn't have a huge schedule behind it. But on the main site, you can enjoy the next chapter in Digimon Adventure tri. next week, and between then, if you like Super Smash Brothers and game music, you might enjoy this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzbqFd7s0K8. See you next week though.