TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
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SKL

dedicon's review of: Galvatron

Name: Galvatron
Allegiance: Destron (Predacon)
Function: New Emperor of Destruction
Sub-Group: NA

An evil emperor who plots to rule the universe, Galvatron is ambitious, yet shows unexpected affection for his underlings. He is often put to sleep by the Cybertrons' activities or . schemes, but when he wakes, he is the mightiest being of all. Of his three forms, his dragon mode's power far surpasses that of Lioconvoy. He has a habit of talking in his sleep.

In 1998/9, while the North American kids got the second (and later, third) seasons of Beast Wars, the Japanese children and fans had to wait until the end of 1999 to see what happened to Primal after the explosion in the end of the first season. In the meantime, though, they got 2 different Beast shows. The first (and more relevant) one was "Beast Wars the Second". This Galvatron is from that show, playing the role of leader of the Destrons.

I bet this has happened to most of you…looking at your collection, gazing upon it, and then taking a closer look…. You find out you've almost completed a whole set! In my case, it was the leaders of both factions. Sure, I don't have all moulds, but I have some key figures. So, I logged onto Ebay and started to search. G1 leaders were too expensive; BW Megatron (the first) is too….Barney; Lio Convoy didn't look good after getting my knockoff version. So, I decided on the "lesser evil"…BW2 Galvatron. I won it at $6.50, and with shipping it bounced to $23.75. I still looked at it as a bargain, until I opened and fiddled with the toy….

Dragon Mode:
This..is…bad. The toy is painted lavender with some purple and red fillings, gold painted feet/neck, and some black for the weapons/wings. The pros? The head sculpt is sweet, the tail is much better than TM2 Megs, and I love the wings that are made of blades. The cons? The entire lower part, plus the "neck". From the chicken legs, to the weird hips, this looks like a Trojan dragon. I mean, I understand this is supposed to be a Cyber dragon, but at least they could've sculpted some normal lower body. I can actually see small warriors coming out of his thighs. He also has machine guns in front of each thigh, so the little warriors can shoot too!! But without a doubt, the neck is the worst. Since the designers didn't know where to stick the drill cone, each half is stuck in the dragon's head. A mode with some good points, but the bad really outweighs the good.

Drill Mode:
This is one of my favorite 3rd modes ever made for a toy. The tail stays the same in this mode, but those ugly golden neck decorations cover the dragon head to make a very nice digger. The lower part looks sweet with the machine guns (now appropriate..) and the tank-like treads. Also, the wings are closed and folded down to each side of the driller, and, for some reason, make it look even more menacing. Also, this mode has a gimmick. When you press a black button, the driller will spin. My only gripe with this mode is that the colors make it look like a sex toy….something I still can't get over. Yet, it's still much better than the dragon mode…

Robot Mode:
Galvatron's robot mode keeps most of his colors, only he shows some more black, some silver and even some green in the chest. He has a yellow marble for a spark, but the worst are the BABY BLUE EYES. Yep, the evil Emperor of Destruction has baby blue eyes. He also has the Beast Wars Destrons' trademark: the grinding white teeth. Galvatron is upset, as he should be, what with being painted like a fembot. Another trademark of some of the former BW leaders that happens to be present is the bucket-like helmet. His body is mostly proportional, other than the big head. The wings can now either be used as a hand held weapon or mounted on it's back. It looks better on the back, in my opinion. The 2 blades at the tail can be used as hand held weapons as well, and they look really cool. The machine guns are back on his knees, and they look okay compared to how they looked on the dragon mode. He has the standard Beast Wars articulation, which is good, and his driller/dragon head doesn't take a thing from it, since it can be moved too. One thing that bothers me, though, is that Galvatron, the Destron leader, doesn't have a Destron symbol. He is the leader, and he doesn't carry the freaking symbol!!

Overall, this toy could've been great if only it had some different colors. I hope Hasbro will repaint and release it for the Universe line. But, even with different colors, the dragon mode would still be awful and, though cool, he still doesn't look like a Destron/Decepticon/Vehicon leader.

Transformation: 6 - It's a triple changer, and so it's a fun transformation. It's not that hard, though, and can be done without the instructions (which suck anyway).
Durability: 6 - The toy itself is stable, but the drilling cones/dragon neck color is prone to chipping, so watch out for it.
Fun: 8 - He is fun, but holds nothing special that will give him an extra "spark" (no pun intended).
Price: 7 - I got him extra cheap, but a lot of online retailers sell him for $30 (for the Japanese version, not the Korean one), which I think is cheaper than the initial release price those online retailers took.
Summary: 7 - This toy has bad colors, and does not portray an evil leader. Sad to say, he is a little stale, and the worst leader of the entire Beast era.