X- Transbot Apollyon

       Hello again boys and girls, today I'm going to make another 3rd party transformers review. This is a figure which is highly anticipated as he is challenging the masterpiece series itself, say hello to X-Transbot Apollyon ( Not Megatron ). Well, I'm sure the character Megatron himself needs no introduction, as he is the leader of the decepticons. He is always up to no good, and his hobby is to plan schemes to steal energy from the earth so that he can conquer the universe, to rule, to dominate... blah blah blah..... Well, personally I don't really like him as a character as he does not look particularly dashing as a robot in G1, has a weird alternate mode for a boss ( A pistol?! ) and is a total failure as a boss. ( Has a more powerful army which can fly, but gets defeated every-time by Autobots which can't fly , smaller in size, less firepower and travels the globe on wheels, come on Megs!) 

       Takara tried to do a masterpiece for Megatron in the form of MP5, but I could not make myself to pull the trigger and purchase him because he does not look right. He has chicken legs and an oversize gun barrel, and not to mention his ridiculous transformation sequence. His alternate mode looks OK, but the robot mode.... urgh.....  Well, I am happy that someone decides to step up and make an improved version of Megatron and X-Transbot might just have the answer. 

Some pictures I've taken from the internet.

MP5...... see what I mean about the legs.

Got a big @$$ canon on his arm, but transforms into a small pistol anyway...... LOL

Well, moving on, we will first have a look at Apollyon's box. He has an outer black box with a big "X" in front and you can remove the inner box from it like how you would remove a video tape in the 90's   :)

The inner box has a very good looking artworks in front and I like it very much. Looks menacing enough. Like the design.

A little close up at out not Megatron figure. Nice!

At the back of the box, we can see some other figures from X-transbot like not huffer , not pipes, not beachcomber , not windcharger,to name a few. we can also see not cyclonus and not scourge at the back of the box and I think those 2 looks good in their test shots.

Well, a little bio at the bottom of the box. He does have a stats sheet at the side of the bio, but its really poorly done, and looks very confusing and over-complicated. A shame really, considering everything about the box is awesome.

One of the cool features of the box is that it opens up like a book, revealing Apollyon and his accessories. 

Of course he does not come with the Decepticon insignia, I just have to apply it once I get him. :)

Apollyon comes with his instruction manual and biocard. He has an orange tip for his gun barrel as this is a law at the states, however it can easily be removed. Comes with lots of goodies like the helmet to control the fake optimus prime, Blitwing's gun that killed prime and the energon sword that wounded prime.

Also has upgrades for his alternate mode, an alternate chest piece, key to vector sigma and his energon flail. Nice accessories! Relly loved all these goodies.

A little close upon his accessories. He does also comes with spare parts for his shoulder joint as his shoulder joints are a bit loose on his original figure. Great effort and good news to collectors as we don't have to spend extra money on upgrades.

He we have a look at his biocard. It is made of plastic I think, very tough and shiny....... 

Again some bio at the back of the card, again, I don't know why they want to screw up the stats parts as they should do the colors the other way around. ( The lighter yellow as the stats and the brown at the blanks )

His instruction manual has the same design as the box.

At the back we have some comics.  :)

Next onto Apollyon himself. The reason why I ( and many other collectors ) bought him is that he is i scale with MP-10 and he has a much better body ration than MP-5 as you can see here. At first glance he looks very nice, with much better body ratio, great color and looks very much like G1 Megs.

The only part I don't like is the protruding parts on either side of his shoulders. Mine has minimal paint blemishes on him here and there, but not really bad, even MP has this issue, so no big deal. He also has die-cast parts here and there, but is does not make him very heavy, he is actually lighter that I've expected him to be.

Side view looks nice and clean

Well the back view, its just, just, well its complicated.

Not too bad actually just the parts with overhanging stuffs at he legs.

A little close up at Apollyon

Upper body

Lower body

Well there are panels on his chest which you can see here. the left side of the chest opens up and reveals the energy maximizer called the heart of Cycbertron I think. 

Here is a snapshot from the episode. So happens that Megatron has a compartment ready to install it.  Perceptor, Brawn and bumblebee then went on a mission to recover it. 

There is a compartment at the back of his neck where they even take the trouble to include a mold, featuring Brawn saving Perveptor. If a toy company go this far, you really have to give credit to them. Hats off. 

The head sculpt design looks great and spot on, a little nit-pick is that the lips looks a little thinker than it should be and there is no light pipping/led light-up gimmick. Imagine how awesome this figure will look!

His head does rotate a full 360 degrees.

Here we have some head tilting movements. (downwards)

Looking upwards.

His shoulder ball joints are a bit loose with the original joint, but once you've replaced them, the shoulder joints are nice and tight. His shoulders does rotate a full 360 degrees.

Shoulder abduction is about 40 degrees.

Elbow flexion to about 110 degrees.

He also has biceps swivel which allows internal rotations. ( It can turn a full 360 degrees )

The part I like most about his articulations are his fingers. He has individual articulating fingers. Each fingers has 3 point articulations while there is 2 over his thumb. His wrist does rotate 360 degrees. No fingers popping out so far :) 

Thumbs up for fingers articulations

Rock on Decepticons!

" Unicron, with this, I shall make you my slave.... " 

Opps, wrong villain, haha.

He has a waist swivel! a whole 360 degrees of it!

Thank the matrix

His arm canon design looks spot on and there are also several ways that you can position it.

This is the cartoon accurate position. His canon does light up red in color, but I did not purchase the battery, so I'm unable to show it to you guys.

Well, you can turn it around to make it like he is storing it so that he won't accidentally blast someone he's shaking hands with.

Or you can rotate a black plastic on his hand to attach the canon G1 toy style. Personally I prefer the cartoon accurate mode.

He can perform the perfect split.

His thighs are basically on a ball and hinge joint? I think ( not sure if I've explained it correctly )

Going the extra mile.

His hip flexion is actually about 90 degrees, but due to the fact that the lower half of his leg is a bit heavy, it droop down slightly during photo shoot.

Knee flexion is about 80 degrees.

He does have some decent outward and inward ankle tilt.

Foot tilting upwards and downwards.

Thigh exernal rotation

Next we shall see some pictures of Apollyon with his various accessories.

Here he is with his helmet for controlling the fake Optimus Prime. 

We even get to change Apollyon's right chest panel to include a piece of asteroid embedded in Megatron causing cosmic rust.

And here we have the gun which inflicted the fatal wound on Optimus Prime.

Apollyon can hold on to the gun securely without much issue.

Next we have the energon/laser blade that inflicted the wound on Optimus's left abdomen.

The key to Vector Sigma himself!

And finally we have the flail which Megatron use to battle Optimus above the Dam.

Megatron's weapon upgrade can turn into a battle stand/canon

This height is just nice for Apollyon and there are bars on either side for him to grab on and pose.

This is another configuration for his battle station, but its too short Apollyon. Probably designed for the 80's G1 megatron's toy.

Next we move on to Apollyon's alternate mode which is a Walther P38 gun

Though I won't say it is 100% accurate, but I think X-transbot is about 90% accurate. Sorry if there are panel gaps here and there, I've tried my best to make everything come together, but I don't want to push it too far because I'm afraid it might break. I think all the panels should come together nicely if all the steps are done correctly. Transformation is a bit difficult but can be done. I'm sure its much better than transforming MP5.

The Walther with the scope on.

Size is quite OK, a little big for me, but I've got small hands LOL

They've even went through the trouble to put a spring load mechanism for the trigger. He is really fun to play with.

Here we have Apollyon in his fully upgraded alternate mode. Man, this thing is huge and he looks amazing!

Putting him side by side with MP10 just for size comparison. 

He even has as actual safety lock mechanism. Man I'm really really impressed with X-transbot's effort and attention to details.

Really nice to hold and play with his alternate mode.

During transformation you have to be careful with a thin die-cast part at his back as it is quite thin, and it is suppose to bend at a weird angle. Mine became a little crooked because I was a little rough and didn't understand how to bend it initially.

Unlike his G1 toy, his trigger part is well hidden so that he will not require Starscream to pull his trigger in the middle of a battle. LOL

Here's a funny picture I've got from the internet. ROFL

Here are some poses for Apollyon 

" Such heroic nonsense..."

" Welcome Laserbeak, unlike some of my other warriors you never fail me."

 "Come, join the dark side"

" One shall stand, one shall fall!"

" Why throw away your life so recklessly?"

 " That's a question you should ask yourself Megatron.."

" No more Optimus Prime! Grant me mercy I beg of you!"

" You! who're without mercy, now plead for it? I thought you were made from sterner stuff..."

" No you don't Megatron!"

" Out of the way Hotrod!"

" Fall! ...... Fall!"

" I would have waited an eternity for this, its over prime..."

" Never!"

" Optimus, forgive me..... "

Some of the MP's that scale well with Apollyon.

Decepticons! Attack!

 " Where have you've been all these years Megatron? I've been so lonely, so empty... waiting for a worthy rival"

And here we have out old G1 toy.

Looks like a cycborg from terminator.

Pros: Above average plastic quality, best MP scaled Megatron and best looking G1 Megatron to date, accurate in both robot and alternate mode, great articulation along with individual articulating fingers, die-cast, tons of accessories, tons of gimmicks, great replay value, great box design. For me, it's a value for money figure, a must have for both MP collectors and 3rd party collectors.

Cons: Minimal paint blemishes here and there, slightly difficult transformation, parts hanging around at the legs when viewed from the back, no light pipping, no Kremzeek? LOL


Thank you for reading