Right first... the wiring is not Chaos. It is as neat as can be achieved in the space I have.
Why is 5 Buck regulators weird? I had them, so I have divided the load of all the LEDS across multiple regulators.
This is a prop, not an item I am selling. By their nature, they are a little chaotic in their final assembly. They are one off builds.
Yes, in hindsight, I would do things differently, but it changes as the build progresses.
This is kind of the layout now .... broadly speaking.
I unplugged everything from the Mega's output pins and the regulator still ran hot.
I just unsoldered the SMD reg from the Mega and replaced it. The new one runs cool.
But, it has it's own 5v external supply now anyway.