Toyworld’s TW-01B Hegemon figure!

While I’m technically a Generation 1 (or G1) Transformers (TF) nut, I’ve always avoided any other scales apart from the deluxe/voyager and the occasional leader class scales. My G1 TF collection has always been centred along the main characters that I’m familiar with when I grew up as a kid in the excellent 1980s. Having said that I’ve only recently ventured into a new ‘scale’ i.e. the Masterpiece scale with my recent purchases of MP-20 and MP-21 respectively (see my previous post on this) and that was only because the MP-scaled Wheeljack and Bumblebee were so gosh-darn perfect I almost forgot I loathed the scale difference issues altogether!

So with that in mind, I was always in the hunt for the so-called ‘perfect’ Optimus and Megatron to grace my TF display shelf so that they’ll look good standing amongst the rest of my collection. I was never into the MP Megatron. He looks rather frail/flimsy to me and does not give justice to the menacing leader of the Decepticon as we came to know him in the cartoon series (those who have him will know exactly what I mean). For the record, I sold off both my Henkei (TomyTakara) Convoy/Optimus Prime and (NERF) Megatron figures because I wasn’t really happy on their aesthetics. I mean....a NERF gun/Megatron with ‘wings’ & an odd-ly shaped truck cab that doesn’t scream ‘classic flat-front’ design weren’t really interesting to me. Still I held on to them until I got to know that 3^rd party companies were actually producing our beloved ‘Bots/’Cons almost exactly how they appeared in the classic cartoon series.

I got myself iGear’s PP-01 Faith Leader (Optimus Prime) a couple of years ago and he is by far the best G1 Optimus Prime outside the Masterpiece scale. I have my grouses with him (recently I got really annoyed with its plastic brittle issue) but he’ll do just fine standing amongst the Autobots for now. I don’t even transform him anymore into his cab mode in fear of involuntary disintegration...LOL.

Right. With an almost perfect lookin’ G1 Optimus Prime leading my ‘Bots, I got to find an equally good Megs to lead my ‘Cons! I missed out on the 1^st release of Toyworld’s Hegemon, therefore I jumped when I first heard that a 2^nd version (albeit supposedly without an accessory from the 1^st release) was coming our way.

3^rd party releases are notorious for being pricey (hey, nobody’s regulating the whole darn unlicensed ‘independent’ releases anyway!) so you know what you’re getting yourself into here. Sub-par paint job, risks of plastic brittle (I can vouch for it!) AND odd random names slapped onto the releases e.g. Faith Leader, Uranus, Warbot, Hercules...Hegemon; are just part of the deal. But knowing that Hasbro would never (or slow) in responding to fans’ demand for screen-accurate TF toys will probably persuade you to give these 3^rd parties a chance anyway. I personally like the Hercules (Devastator) for its sheer size and design but I’ve always held back from splashing more than USD400 (or RM1500++) for the set. Hegemon’s here was no exception. I sold off a couple of unwanted items through eBay to get him. Pricey....yes, but I finally have the Megatron I’ve always wanted for my TF display.

So how does he fare? Let’s take a look.

The packaging is rather simple. I think I like how my Faith Leader (Optimus) was packaged over this one. This one feels cheap with its thin cardboard box as opposed to Faith Leader’s thick ones. Nevertheless it gets the job done. I took Megs and its contents out from the box (let’s just call him that shall we? Hegemon sounds so....weird) and immediately chucked the box away.

Hmm...as per the 1^st release, I wasn’t too happy with the colour scheme. Here’s a toy which has been cast in grey plastic and that represents the main color scheme of ol’ Megs. The leader of the ‘Cons was supposed to look metallic or silvery to say the least. I wasn’t gonna let the drab ol’ shade of grey dampen the look of the mighty Megatron! And so I applied some Citadel paint on him. I wanted a silvery look but I wasn’t too keen on an overly bright silver tone hence I avoided all the bright ones. I think he looks just right with the medium silver grey tone that I picked for him. He looks way better now than how he did when I first took him out of the packaging.

Megs here came with two accessories. First is an alternative black helmeted head. I’m guessing that this is how he looks in some comic version of him. Cool addition but I don’t think I’ll be ever swapping the head. I like my Megatron’s head the way it is right now. It reminds me a great deal of the G1 cartoon series already. I wouldn’t want it to look any other way.

The second accessory is the laser-mace, complete with chain. Unfortunately for me, the chain snapped away when I tried to pry the mace from its handle. After about a couple of seconds cursing my bad luck the feeling immediately went away as I realised that I’d probably stow it away because i prefer not to display Megs with it anyway. So that’s that.

I don’t really want to talk about his alt mode. He transforms into a Walther (or Luger?) hand gun. Everybody knows that. But he is such an a** to transform. I did it once with some help from my son and that’s probably the last time I’m gonna do that....LOL.

Let’s get him back into robot form shall we?

So how exactly does he fare against the Generations/Universe/Henkei (GUH) figures? Well, as a start, he looks in scale enough when he’s with his fellow ‘Cons. He towers over everybody inside the picture above except for that Soundwave (that’s not even a G1 version of ol’ mono-eye but I put him there anyway).

Perhaps the most disappointing (and annoying) issue I have with the figure is that he is noticeable shorter than the Faith Leader/Optimus figure. I mean come on....they’re both supposed to cater for the GUH scale but why in the world would they even be taller than the other? I can understand iGear and Toyworld NOT talking to each when they each embarked on their respective projects but at least Megatron here should be at a ‘voyager-class’ height, right? I’ve seen some customisers adding some height via some extensions underneath his feet but that ain’t just my thing. I’ll just have to be content with Megs and maybe play around with camera angles to make him look alright when paired with my Faith Leader.

Well, with that I’d like to end my short review on the figure. He really is a dream come true for most. Like I’ve said before, we haven’t gotten a decent Megatron to go with the rest of our GUH figures. The height anomaly bothers me but I can live with it. Right now I’m rather anxious and curious to see if Hasbro or TomyTakara’s gonna retaliate and give us an official Megatron in the GUH scale any time soon. So far they have been keeping quiet so it seems that Toyworld’s version is by far the best Megs out there for us. If you have the moolah to spend on a 3^rd party TF toy then this is one of those surely to be in your must-get list.