TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

zeoman4.5's review: Galvatron

Name Galvatron
Function Decepticon Tyrant,Lord of Chaos,Decepticon City commander, Herald of Unicron, etc...
Group Universe Deluxe Decepticons

My power is everything, defeat is absurd!

Arrogant, powerful, and ruthless, Galvatorn has emerged to seize control of the scattered Decepticon forces. He has formed what was once a loose confederation of assassins and warlords and turned it into an army capable of threatening the entire universe. Rumors abound, but no one knows where he came from; they only know that he arrived, and swiftly crushed all opposition to his rule. Some Decepticons hope another leader powerful enough to challenge him will soon emerge, but most are too afraid of him to even hope for someone better.

It seems like every other year we are blessed with a new Galvatron. Why not? He is the toughest Decepticon Leader, and he always looks so cool in his trademark Purple color scheme. He started off with humble beginings as the reformatted version of the original Megatron, who was badly injured at the hands of Optimus Prime in the 1986 Transformers film. He was the leader until the end of G1 in 1987. He would show up later as a Predacon leader in the Japanese series Beast Wars II, and return in the sequel series Beast Wars Neo. He also appears as an upgraded Megatron in RID, Armada, Energon, and Cybertron series. Now he has returned to become the leader of the highly anticipated Unverse line. He's got the will, but does he have the goods to get the job done right? Lets find out.

Vehicle Mode
Galvatron is an awesome G1-like particle blast cannon... actually he's a tank. Well they got it sort of right, he's got a particle blast cannon on his tank form. Now, I'm not an expert on vehicles, especially military ones, but I am certain that Galvatron is not a real tank; he might be very similar to the shape and structure of earth tanks, but none of our military forces have particle blast cannons on there tanks. I can see why they would make him a tank though. It would be hard to believe a powerful leader would turn into a stationary gun, this provides the "modern" leader with greater mobility. It could also have something to do with the other tank Megatrons and Galvatrons out there. He is pretty plain though, just a flat tank base with couple hooks on the front, and some rockets on the rear sides. The weapons platform is the eye catcher, the cannon very cool, plus he's got a lot of little detail sculpts and a secondary missile pod on the right rear.

In this mode Galvatron is almost entirely grey, a very plastic grey. This is not to impressive, I would have expected more from a figure this caliber. He has some silver on the front scoop like bits, on some side vents, and at the mid section of the turret. From the rear a little bit of purple is seen on the under side of the turret. Once again the cannon takes center stage in this mode. The translucent orange brings back fond G1 memories, and makes you remember that he's Galvatron in there somewhere. The one thing color wise I could do without is the wierd off-peach color of the trigger, it looks awful. He has the text "Galv-25" written on the both sides of the turret. It is a reference to the 25th anniversary and of course his name. The colors are just plain, period.

Of course the most important part of the vehicle mode is the play, in my opinion. Galvatron has a decent bit of fun rolled up in his vehicle mode. The turret rotates well and the cannon is a projectile launcher with excellent launch distance for a deluxe class figure. It almost hurts to get hit with it. The projectile is shaped like a small rocket on the tip, but its the same orange as the cannon so it looks a bit better without it in the barrel, for display. The only problems I've got with his vehicle mode are its wheels. There are 2 main problems with them. 1. They are my bane the fake-a-tread type of wheel embedded in the molded on plastic tank treads. 2. They are painted, no not colored, actually painted the stupid peach color, which means they can't roll because the paint sticks to the axles. Awrgh! That set aside he can be somewhat fun to play with and is not bad for display.

Robot Mode
Now is the very unfortunate part of my Galvatron review, his robot mode. At a glance one can see the obvious similarities between the G1 and the figure sitting in front of you. The crowned head, the set of red squares on his abdomen, the hexagon knee caps, the huge arm mounted cannon. Get closer and suddenly you are assaulted by the masses of vehicle parts jutting out everywhere. His legs are big, hollow blocks. His right arm is the tank turret, with a open claw like hand. The back is a mass of tank armor. He looks like an improvised version of his G1 self, not a revolutionary new form of his character. He looks too scrawny for a deluxe. His body doesn't match up with his limbs, except for the left arm. The hands on the different arms don't even match up. One is an open claw, the other a clenched normal looking fist. His face makes him look scary, managing to at least retain the insane ferocity of the G1 character.

The colors are a bit of a saving grace. He finally shows his true colors, the purple. The shade is more of violet so its a bit less accurate than that shown on the box. His body, upper left arm, feet, waist, and helmet are this color. The rest of his armor is the vehicle mode's grey. Nearly all of the joints are that stupid peach color, which totally wrecks the Galvatron look. There are some silver detail bits, and the orange cannon to mend it a little bit. He looks close, but the joint bits are very distracting.

He is decently articulated, but the kibble makes doing any posing or play difficult. Unless your only planning on moving his arms at the shoulder, he is a pain because his lower legs, and back pieces fall off easily. His arm cannon is once again the main fun factor involved. It is still very fun. He is too back heavy. That coupled with his lack of well balanced feet makes it nearly impossible to pose him well. He can stand menacingly though... I really wanted him to be the awesome fun toy that Galvatron should be, but this one really let me down.

Points out of ten for the following:

Price 6/10 For the Deluxe price your basically paying for the name and his cannon. Glad I got mine for $3.27 USD instead of the normal $10
Durability 7/10 He falls apart a lot in robot mode and the plastic over all feels cheap and wobbly.
Transformation 6/10 for difficulty, it took me a while at first, but 3/10 for fun he brakes apart to much, to easily.
Fun 6/10 The score is mainly for his Galvatron-like nature, his vehicle is plain, his robot is hodgepodge and wobbly.
Overall 6/10 Not the great Galvatron I was hoping for. This figure is an O.K. representation of his G1 namesake, but lacks on so many levels. The disappointment is the reason why I must insist unless you are a completist or a fanatic Galvatron lover, you should think twice before getting this one.