So for those who don’t know, back in the day we had a Takara Masterpiece Megatron and… he wasn’t good. Reportedly designed on a super-tight deadline, the bot mode was fugly (which at least was authentic to the toy) and the transformation was insufferable.

Then last year we got our first proper third party Masterpiece Megatron, X-Transbots’ Apollyon. He wasn’t ugly on the surface, though try and transform the fucker and his inner ugliness was revealed. The process was, again, hellish, and simply getting it done without breaking the fucker was a real achievement. A bit snapped off mine the first time out. Even his box fell apart. And those shoulders…

He looked good on the shelf, but Masterpiece quality this guy was not.

Nowadays things are very different. An official Takara v2 Megs – finally scaled with the post-MP10 Masterpiece era – in on the way. And looks OK. In the same way that MP Shockwave looked ‘OK’ in the pre-release snaps and turned out to be an absolute belter, hopefully.

In the here and now two very fine options are currently available – Maketoys Despotron and DX9 Mightron. The former, I think, is an absolute corker. Should I ever review him he’ll be getting 5 stars, I tell ya. This kind of ruins the surprise, I realise, but he’s a figure I want to celebrate.

That’s why Mightron is currently on my sales list. Don’t get me wrong, Mightron is brilliant. He has a better alt mode than Despotron and arguably a better transformation. But those hips and skirts are a bit of a bitch, the hands are a travesty, his behind a bit kibble-tastic and his posability limited.

So he’s been sitting on my desk for me to enjoy until he’s packed off to a new owner. The thing is, he hasn’t sold yet, and in the interim I’ve found myself being increasingly drawn to him. Catch him from the right angle and, while not a better toy than Despotron, he IS a better G1 Megatron.

Look at him.

Phwoar.

Hunky.

From the belt line up he’s almost perfect.

As long as you don’t look at the hands.

a/s/l

I try very hard to have a strict limit of one MP per character in my collection. I can’t afford to be collecting every version of every character. Four Infernos, seven Trailbreakers and thirty nine Springers is the road to madness. Optimus Prime is an exception, of course, as anyone who has seen my pictures will realise. And I can’t bring myself to part with Quakewave. He’s currently hidden at the back somewhere so I can better ignore my shortcomings. Surely Megatron is worthy enough a character to be another rule breaker?