I occasionally jump on the Kickstarter bandwagon, as there are some neat products offered. One such item was the Yolopark AMK Pro Series Megatron. Truth be told, I don't actually understand the logic behind these offerings, as Yolopark, as far as I know, has actual normal retail products (albeit more of the traditional model kit) and it's not like a Megatron wouldn't sell. Maybe it had to do with this being a new line of premium product? Well for whatever reason, it was solicited there and I got one.
The packaged arrived in a dedicated shipper box, and within you're presented with this pretty neat looking box. The colour slip cover can be removed revealing a white line drawing of Megatron on purple background (which I didn't photograph... *sigh*).
For about $80 CAD shipped (so maybe $58 USD), I have to say this figure offers a very good value proposition. The exterior box was nice and sturdy, which is more than I can say about my Haslab Victory Saber, but the inner trays are pretty bad.
So, a bit about the product itself. The AMK Pro Series is effectively what you would get if the Hasbro RED line didn't suck ass. Yes, this figure does cost more, roughly $65 CAD or lets say 50% more than the Hasbro release. Having said that, that extra $25 CAD certainly gets you a significantly better figure, being larger, actually having paint apps, some die cast, LEDs, a stand, several faces, an extra chest plate, as well as weapons and accessories we all know and love. As part of the Kickstarter program, my set also included some pins/magnets, a backdrop with plastic supports, and a sheet of stickers. There's rumblings of a poster, but to be completely honest I wasn't really paying attention.
Furthermore, it seems their non Pro stuff is basically the same price as the RED series is/was, and those probably lack die cast and LEDs but maintain the pre painted nature of the 20 cm tall. figures.
The one thing that Hasbro has on this figure is the fact you need to put this together yourself. Now, I'm not exactly sure why this choice was made - I was considering maybe it had to do with labour costs, or perhaps, more likely, it's to keep in line with their other product offerings.
Actual die cast content is of course, minimal - as far as I can tell it's the normal chest piece, the toes, and the Key to Vector Sigma.
Assembly of the figure isn't hard per se, but its safe to say these are Soul of Chogokin QC levels, though slightly tight is better than slightly loose - tight can be worked out over time. The finished product is pretty much the G1 cartoon model we all know and love. Proportions are fantastic, which is of course, much easier to accomplish when you don't need to worry about transformation.
The three face plates (admittedly would look better with the LEDs on, but I don't have batteries) are basic but cover the general mood of Megatron. The one more wrinkly looking one, or at least it's more wrinkly to me, I believe is meant to work with the battle damaged chest piece. Unsurprisingly, I'm partial towards the laughing face, because gosh darn it, Megatron is a happy, jolly soul.
So, considering every piece that you put together is a swivel joint, it should be no surprise that this figure is very well articulated. Outside the standard set of articulation points you also get ab crunch (crunch only), chest side tilt, forward butterfly joints, and head forward tilt. Hip flaps flare out to allow for leg movement. Fingers are articulated.
Paint Application is quite good, with a caveat. I believe that with the exception of the gun metal grey parts, everything is painted. and even those parts are provided with a bit of weathering and a clear coat to finish. It really is the weathering that makes all the difference on this figure versus other similar products, and it's handled very well, with some sections of the body featuring rust spots. There's just so much of it that I THINK there's a few spots of scuffing from rough handling, but I can't say for sure because of what's around it. Otherwise, more typical painting weakness (per the price point) are panel lines that are either incomplete are aren't uniform across the part.
Build Quality is surprisingly good - first time with a new brand, you can never be sure. So first off, as mentioned some parts are a bit tight being mated together, but overall that means nothing is going to be too loose, and that's kind of important. The good news is that the built in joints are the same, that is a bit tight but completely capable of holding poses. QC is above average. Certainly areas of improvement possible, mind you. The inside of wrist areas weren't sanded particularly well (among other areas), and the thigh swivel joint on my figure isn't perfectly square, resulting in a strange, randomly shaped gap, which I guess will help to prevent paint wear. Some of the finer details on the body are a bit sloppy, and I'm not sure if that's a bad mould thing or a poor manufacturing process. The hands do have a weird thumb, but it works to grip the various accessories tightly.
All-in-all a very strong premiere offering from Yolopark. There's a few things to work on, but considering the price point I'm not expecting perfection, and the end product is very justifiable for this price point. I see that G1 Prime is ready to be solicited, and I'm eager to get at least that to add to my collection. I see that the Yolopark webpage has this set up for preorder soon as well, which says to me that it's probably going to be a regular retail thing, minus the extra tidbits. For collectors looking for a non transforming figure of this guy, forget the rest and just go with this release.
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