TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
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INT
SPD
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CRG
FPR
SKL

Clay's review of: Superlink Galvatron

Name: Galvatron
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Destron Commander
Sub-Group: NA
"I shall rule the entire universe...that is the future!"

Galvatron has acquired enormous power from an ancient force known as super energon. The Destron emperor will achieve his goal by any means, and his might has struck terror even among his own forces, not to mention the Cybertrons. Now the time has come for him to bring the eons-long war with the Cybertrons to an end so that he can become the true ruler of the universe.
[Tech Spec translation by Doug Dlin, and taken from BWTF.com]

Continuing the theme of recent years, towards the end of Superlink, Megatron (Galvatron for SL) gets recolored into Galvtron (Galvatron General for SL). This time, however, the mold actually looks like the classic Galvatron character, and the recolor accelerates this reference into what is easily the best toy bearing that name (though that might not actually be saying very much). At the very least, he looks more like Galvatron than the original toy did!

Vehicle Mode:
He's still packing around the Seibertronian gunship for the alt. mode. He projects the aura of maliciousness he did before, but now it's grape-flavoured maliciousness. He also retains his little tank drone, but to be honest, I've never attached it to the vehicle mode because it still looks... well... tacked on. Literally.

Robot Mode:
Ah, paydirt! The biggest appeal to this toy is probably his resemblance to the cartoon version of the original Galvatron. Wait, what the hell do I mean 'probably'? It IS his reincarnation of the original that's the main buying point. The only overt difference is that his crown is highlighted blue/grey to match the Superlink show, and not solid purple as its forebear. Yeah, this is G1 Galvatron revisited. The right color for the cannons, the crown, the chest design... it's all there. Except it doesn't suck.

The last points of note are that, like Takara's other Superlink recolors, he comes packaged with his own energon chip and a translucent purple version of Cruellock/Dinobot's sword. This is important, as the orginal release had a sword that could only be wielded by mounting it on the tank, which in turn was mounted on the arm. The original accessories are included of course, but now he has a sword he can actually hold.

The other bit of info is that this is the Takara version of the mold, meaning it's noticably smaller than the Hasbro version. It's a hair bigger than the mega range toys, though. I own both Hasbro versions (big and small), so I went after the Takara Galvatron because I wanted the smaller mold for the character, though admittedly I don't usually persue repaints. The problem I have with the big mold is that, while nice, I have no way to put him on the shelf without removing a lot of the other toys. I was keen on the 'lite' mold, and I'm very happy with it.

Transformation: 9 - Simple, but really well designed. It's almost automatic, but not quite, which is neat on a figure this size. The crown points can be used as little turrets on the underside of the jet mode.
Durability: 9 - The only reason he doesn't get a 10 is because the crown points pop off instead of breaking under stress, and as such may be lost.
Fun: 10 - Just. Too. Cool.
Price: 8 - I was surprised that I could get it for about $30 US from an online store. That's less than what the US version will cost when it comes out, and that's pretty much all I was after. Besides, every Wal-Mart around here still has dozens of Megatrons, so I'll probably not see the Hasbro Galvatron anyway.
Summary: 9 - Considering how disimilar the original toy was to its cartoon counterpart, this thing is cool beans. Even if you don't go through the trouble of finding the Superlink version, keep an eye out for the bigger Energon mold. The only reason I clipped him off from a 10 is that the Hasbro 'little mold' retails with the deluxe sized Prime for $25, and this was slightly more than that (though it is an import). With Energon and Superlink coming to a close shortly, I doubt that they'll have the timeframe to release the little Galvatron stateside, so I decided to SUPERLINK! [/gags]