Transformers The Last Knight Leader Class Megatron review

Can you believe it's been almost decade since the disaster known as Transformers: The Last Knight came out? We already know the mess that it is, but the one thing that made the least amount of sense was the handling of Megatron; in prior films (or at least the original trilogy), he at least had a major role in making his plans unfold even if he was with either his master The Fallen or partner turned backstabber Sentinel Prime. AOE had him as a drone (fair enough) while TLK had him as more of a dude who stayed in the back like with Nemesis Prime until the end has me wondering what the hell is going on with the production of the movie. Oh wait, they wanted to make MCU-style spin offs. As for the toyline, it was slightly better than the aged milk that was the preceding AOE line, and one positive it that we have a Leader Class Megatron long missing after ROTF. Seriously, you have a character who is a LEADER, and Hasbro thought giving that spot to Bumblebee made perfect sense. I know plenty of people made debates over whether or not the Leader beats the Voyager (or vice versa), especially when non-loyal Movie watchers only lile this design for being more humanoid (prior to ejaculating their tiny ding-a-ling-a-trons to the scrapped Bumblebee movie design), but after owning just the Voyager when brought up the Leader's flaws, it's time to see how well this holds up after now getting Calibur Optimus Prime for the shrine.

Here we have Megatron in his Cybertronic jet mode, and it is rightfully large for a Leader Class toy. Between the length of the jet going from the top of the nosecone to the edges of the boosters, combined with the width thanks to the toy's wingspan, this feels closer to what Leader Class toys used to have for scale compared to later figures which are now Voyagers with Benefits (ignoring figures like Dragonstorm and the POTP Leaders). In fact, it's so big I have to use a box to prop it up because of how hard it was to get it all in frame. While far from the usual Cybertronian motifs aesthetics with Megatron's first two designs, this at least retains an alien look with the Cybertronic glyphs, jagged surface areas, and non-Earth traits associated with a character probably disgusted with using two Earth modes before TLK. There is even a bit of weathering to make this feel less drab, and I dig it.

There is a button in the fuselage where pressing it opens the nosecone, revealing a cannon that almost feels reminiscent of the 2007 weapon on the old toy. Neat gimmick, right? Well, the problem is that there is no real security for the latch, with no proper spring to keep it in place either. Only the nosecone halves are spring loaded, yet without the proper security, they'll open on a hair trigger. Oh and the cockpit opens yet nothing can fit inside,.not even a Titan Master.

The flame effects are a nice inclusion, even predating the whole obsession with them from the War for Cybertron toys by including 5mm ports for the thrusters on the back. Not only that, but the sculptwork is at least convincing enough to convey bursts of fire blazing out of the back. Some paint gradient would be nice though.

Transformation is fairly involved for Megatron, and thankfully more than the new-mold AOE Leaders were. It also has a few differences in terms of what parts go where; the front section becomes entire fusion cannon while it was instead placed on the back (with the fusion cannon being a separate part). Likewise, the legs do not have the wings wrapped around them as they're instead folded on the back. We also don't have skirt armor made up from the thrusters. The resulting robot mode we end up with is mostly good, but the most glaring issue would be how massive the fusion cannon is. Past Megatron toys have had giant bazookas mounted on him, but the TLK design was far from oversized; I have seen some copies weigh the figure to the side, but I don't have that issue thankfully. I will complain that the forearms are more than just an asymmetrical eyesore thanks to the cannon; the biceps have a slight curve to them that makes them a weird S-shape, but leaving them with the sculpted details facing forwards leaves the elbows bending inwards like with the average gorilla arms. You can have the arms bend forwards with the wrists and the biceps swiveling in place, but the forearms are not only going to clash with the body from how deep or chunky they are, they are hollow due to transformation. A Leader Class figure not having these benefits is stupid as hell. On the plus side, ai always dug the asymmetry of this design, and the proportions are fairly good if we ignore how oversized the fusion cannon is (though he kind of looks a bit wide compared to the CG model).

You have the option to display Megatron with either an exposed face or a mouthplate, a feature we never had on a Megatron toy given that's Optimus's schtick. Ironically, he used the same lever gimmick we saw with Cybertron Prime while Calibur Prime instead used a face swap gimmick reminiscent of the MP Seekers. The head sculpt is generally good, and I appreciate that there is a bit of gunmetal to break up the grey plastic, but the mouth seems a bit more inset than the mouthplate.

Articulation consists of swivels for the neck, shoulders, biceps, wrists, and thighs, while the outward arm movement, elbows, knees, and ankles are on hinges. While the hips are ratcheted when moving front and back, that is not the case when moving them in and out. He also has his konda sword, which appears to be painted at the blade, yet displaying him in any slashing poses will be difficult given how much real estate his cannon takes even with the barrel retracted.

As mentioned before, the flame effect parts help make this figure more dynamic than without them, and they can easily fit on the barrel of the fusion cannon. Just remember that the barrel shouldn't retract. Also apparently TLK Megs was going to turn into a dragon, which may explain the flamethrower being carried over from the fire breath of the scrapped beast mode. On one hand, I love the altmode we end up with for a full circle thing of him being a jet again; on the other hand, it would have been a cool Transmetal II/RID2001 tribute. Not like replacing the jet with the dragon would save the movie.

Repaints for this mold include a gold chrome Lucky Draw repaint that is self explanatory and a Movie the Best release. The latter has a more screen accurate shade of grey, darker grey plastic, and a red scar. While I went the Takara route with Optimus Prime because of the Calibur retool, I don't see much of a need to go the MB route for a toy that is only slightly better in deco. If more engineering was added, I may change my mind.

For a size comparison, here we have the Leader with the Voyager. While there are some elements that the Leader does better than the Voyager, I still find the smaller toy much better as a whole. Much more refined as a whole, especially for not having an oversized fusion cannon. The grays are more or less identical, but the Leader has yellow while the Voyager is more orange.

And here he is with Optimus Prime, and we can say how much more love the Autobot leader got than the Decepticon tyrant. The metallic paint, chrome, and weapon versatility is why I went Calibur, something I can't do with Megatron because of his engineering not being good enough for the MB version. It's not like Megatron needs chrome that badly, but I know there is still more room for improvement. That being said, I kind of like this figure more than I thought I would; don't get me wrong, it's not that great of a Leader Class figure, but I can at least say the toy is decent enough for me to still keep on my Optimus/Megatron collection next to his former brother in arms. TLK Megatron is a figure I recommend more at a lower price than I would his original price tag. I spent nearly $30 for it, and it's a better deal than the average Leader Class figure we've gotten of late.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐