Armada Megatron is very different from the other David Kaye Megatron we had in the Beast Era; this guy combines the smooth performance of the BW namesake with the classic G1 power for hunger, only much more driven to extreme measures that make him a force to be reckoned with. He would first want Mini-Cons for himself, then take all of Unicron's power in Energon, and finally use the Chaos Bringer's remains as armor for his third form in Cybertron for his quest of the Cyber Planet Keys and twist the universe in his image. This Megatron was even described by Optimus as once caring for his men before every subsequent upgrade (and name change as Galvatron) led to his hunger to grow beyond what his teammates are capable of. With that said, let's see if the Evolution take of Megatron is worth buying.
Here is Armada Megatron in his tank mode. A great H-tank all around, this guy retains the appearance of his old self, albeit with his gimmicks scaled back significantly. So gone are the Minicon traps, the trio of panels on the left tread that would unfold, the twin missiles on the turret, the barrel pump, abd the electronics. If you feel ripped off by that given how current Leaders are, maybe this guy isn't for you. Aside from that, he remains as faithful as one would hope, something that sadly doesn't apply with the early TFP guys. And at the very least, his colors are complete and accurate. I especially love the orange on this guy, combined with the forest green and purple (in bot mode) to make an extreme color scheme compared to Prime.
The turret is able to only rotate at 135 degrees, making it a massive shame it really couldn't move around entirely. At least the barrel does go up and down.
For a size comparison, here he is to Voyager Starscream from the same series. While Leaders have gotten smaller, the scale between these two at least keeps Megatron in a size that makes him feel bigger than the swordscon, which I appreciate. Makes me wonder how Cyclonus and Demolishor will stack up.
Megatron's transformation is very much like the original figure, but this time, you shift the front treads down, flip out the hands, and you open the chest to hide the face cover rather than shifting it down despite it being sculpted to look like you could pull it down. Armada Megatron's design is just as awesome as it was in 2002, with the H-tank influence carrying over to make him look like he stands for HELL. I also like how heels big with the chunk put into his shoulders. And lower legs, making this guy feel even bigger than one would expect. More purple is introduced, but it at least works well with the gray/silver also added from the torso and arms in addition to the green and bits of orange. His turret hangs from the back, though the angle it is currently in makes it look like a weapon that is stored on the back.
Head sculpt is perfectly suitable for the design of Megatron, with the giant antlers that do admittedly make me want to replace them with sturdier ones because these ones come off easily, and they are made of a PVC material. I kind of wish the face was purple but silver is show-accurate at the very least. His articulation is basically improved from the regular version. Head movement is about the same, though the shoulders move beneath the flaps with the Decepticon insignias rather than the treads containing the front and back shoulder movement, an issue that we saw with the original and RTS Laser Prime/RID Scourge mold vs the Legacy versions. The arms still move out no problem, biceps swivel, elbows bend, both wrists swivel in addition to the differently sculpted hands (no knife on the left hand though), the waist swivels, hips move front and back this time around, in and out, thigh swivels, proper knee bending that was altered on the old toy, and ankle pivots. His cannon can be slung on his hip like with the old toy, though no Leader-1 in sight.
You can pull the waist up (and hinge the turret out) to rotate the assembly as well as point the barrel and missile rack forwards, making the full blast mode that can't rotate a full 360 but at least isn't using a breakable lever. Alternatively, the barrel of the tank can be removed and be some kind of weapon in place of either hand...is it me, or does the extra 5mm port make me smell an incoming Tidal Wave?
For a robot mode size comparison, he appropriately towers over both Hot Shot and Starscream, even if you exclude the added height from either the horns or the shoulder treads. Genuinely can't wait for Optimus to arrive at my doorstep.
Overall, this guy is very good for what he has to offer, even if he trades gimmickry for articulation. I do still prefer Skyquake as far as the new mold Leaders introduced for Legacy are concerned, but he still makes for a great addition to your collecton unlike the Combiner Wars version. Now we await for Leader-1 and Tidal Wave...
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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