Great looking figure and all but when you actually transform the thing a lot of flaws and QC issues pop up. So for that reason this figure goes from a 9 down to 6.8. Seriously this is great as a statute but as a transformer it sucks

 

Arrived today from TFsource with the rest of the stack well packaged and after reading/following Apollyon discussion thread was quite relaxed knowing to expect the worst. Opened crappy box carefully and after looking at product through window for a good 15 minutes was pleased to see it was scratch free, barrel was facing correctly and those tabs flapping around on leg were opposite halves. On removal from plastic tray my first order of business was to see if arm fell off which it didn't though did not hold pose. All fingers accounted for and on close inspection I can see the mold dents on an other wise flawless metal look chest. Being weary of damaging it I remember someone mentioning positioning the head forward which I have not yet as it is stiff, so all in due time.
Orange plug is in there, I will be careful removing this so as to not put any strain on the diecast barrel arm attachment.
This thing looks great though to transform it I would imagine I risk breaking it and MP5 or my G1 version can fill this void anyway, so display piece.
Personally I can not see why a toy producer can not just give us a solid Megatron that does not transform , but instead has opening body/chest compartments/electronics..ect as his transformation will never fit in another MP's hand and the MP miniature Megatron accessorie gun is fine for that.
Xtransbot done well I think given what cost sacrifices were made in terms of producing this, so in my opinion anyone who can do better please do.
I am happy I have this even if it is not as durable as a combinerwars Megatron, but really what MP toy is. I score this 10/10 for ambition and 7 for result.

 

faction symbol

 

What the hell is going on with that last pic?    

 

Agree completely. I really liked Ollie, and my customized Stax is still one of my favorite MP toys. I thought I gave XTB more leeway than most people would, and I was hoping they would pull this off, but they didn't. They just didn't.

The fit and finish of nearly every moving part is a testament to poor design choices. Everything feels like it will either break or come loose over time, and half of them are rivet pegs that couldn't be fixed if they did come loose. That shit on the inner legs is just sad. I have to commend XTB on that, it manages to get in the way in every dimension in every way possible. The arms are almost as bad, the extra parts showed their commitment to getting it wrong as many ways as possible. Stax felt like he was more solid and had more heft than this.

The transformation process is just a nightmare. Even after it's done, I'm like "Well, that's a decent gun. Now I have to transform it back. Fuck."

I understand that a Masterpiece collection desperately needs a Megatron at this point, and the overwhelming desire to have even a decent stand-in can lead us to make excuses for this. If it were any other character it would be dropped like the flaming bag of shit that it is. But since it's Megatron, the rules are different. I do have to admit that it looks good for the most part, it looks like MP megatron is supposed to, the silver paint is wonderful, and at first glance it seems cool, but as soon as you touch him you realize that something is just off about him, and the more you mess with him the more he disappoints.

I don't know what I'm going to do here. We're so very close to getting a good line of S1/1984 MP Decepticons, and despite what everyone thinks they know, I have a lot of doubt that a Takara version is inevitable. I'll probably keep this because we need it and there's no other choice, but I doubt I'll ever touch it again when there are so many other great MP figures that are a joy to both look at and to transform.

 

that symbol seems a little small imo.

i feel the same way, and i love complex engineering. having received him along with brawny and wardog, i can't help to compare the two companies' offerings: badcube's figures are well engineered, and the tolerances, even though exact, line up perfectly, and feels like you can manhandle it a bit without worrying. xtb, on the other hand, looks like the same level of engineering, but the execution was way sloppy where they just made the parts fit in "approximation" without really testing real-life tolerances. i've transformed apollyon twice now, and i can't get the panels to line up properly - if it IS possible to align properly, it's very unforgiving (and i'm really anal about lining things up). i knew what i was getting into when i ordered this guy, and while i don't exactly regret my purchase since he looks so bad ass (plus i wanted to support the designer), it leaves me very hesitant on ordering future xtb products again just because the upcoming characters aren't as iconic as megatron and i don't think their visual presence is enough to compensate for the dodgy quality.

 

Everything that has been said about Apollyon is true in regards to complaints, truth be told I never expected anything more than a show accurate figure, so its issue are trivial when I look at it on the shelf displayed doing the job that MP5 failed to do and G1 original... ... ..I actually bought this thing only for its gun mode and the fact that was all that was available in terms of my favorite cartoon character...so if someone can do better, please do.

 

I give this figure a B because it looks aw3some. If it wasn't that fragile it would be an A.

 

I used a 12mm, which is maybe a tiny bit larger than MP Soundwave's...but only slightly.

 

After having him for a couple of weeks, I'd put him around the same level as MMC's Cyclops; beautiful to look at but terrifying to transform. Certainly not the amazing toy some are making it out to be, definitely not a complete success. I don't regret buying it, but I'll think twice (or perhaps thrice) about Cyclonus and Scourge. Particularly with Scourge, I have to assume that with the much simpler transformation the engineering won't be as scary, but who knows.

 

Well, this is my first 3rd party figure, and I am thoroughly impressed! I was afraid of transforming it, since my MP5 had little tabs that broke during the first transformation, which really turned me off that figure. Apollyon is the real deal. His transformation is a little tedious (and required a mini flat head screwdriver to accomplish), but he didn't break! So now I have an amazing looking Megatron in both modes, who also holds lazerbeak!

A couple of helpful tips I used during transformation: the legs were hard to extend, so I used the screwdriver trick to help push the sliding tab and get the extension started (I saw someone mention this). The torso was also hard to extend, so instead of pulling, I opened the door where the head is stored, and pushed down on the torso from there.

Cheers, xtransbots! I know I'm lucky I got a figure without issues, but I'm glad to see they're willing to help out those who didn't. Also, got mine from tfsource, since some seem to be keeping tabs on that.

 

I have not transformed mine and probably won't. The only QC issue so far is the gun barrel is not straight up and down in bot mode. He looks good but is IMO too busy aesthetically to truly fit with the MP's. He's a nice try appearance wise but a near miss for me. A new official Megatron will almost definitely replace him if ever released but I may end up selling Apollyon much sooner that that.