Toy Review - Titans Return Galvatron

[philby]

hmm. i ordered this from PC ages ago, it was cheaper than the retail price so decided what the heck. It hasn't arrived yet but I'm getting some negative vibes about it so far. almost regretting it I don't own any other Galvatron figures though so I have nothing to compare him with.

[Sutton]

I saw a bunch of peeps over at TFW cutting off the mask and attaching it permanently to the head:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transf...lvatron-3.html

[Sutton]

You lose some of the headmaster functionality but from what I've seen the whole head can just flip into the chest cavity...

[GoktimusPrime]

You lose some of the headmaster functionality but from what I've seen the whole head can just flip into the chest cavity...

^I was about to say. I take it that Nucleon can no longer fit inside the cockpit either.

I've also made up this fan profile for TR Galvatron.

[doublespy]

I voted no. As the lack of head articulation kills it for me. I think it's a must have for any modern action figure. It gives the figure personality.

I agree with you Goktimus that it's absolutely unnecessary to make Galvatron a headmaster, but I personally don't have any problem with him being one. In fact I'm enjoying this gimmick a lot more than I thought I'd be. The problem I have is surely they could've found a better way to make the gimmick work better and preserve the neck rotation. I don't think an external helmet would work though as it'll make the head look too big on a Voyager body. That's why only the Leaders have integrated masks (with roughly the same sized heads across the board, Deluxes look a bit bobble headed and Voyagers without any add on mask like Astrotrain and Alpha Trion look quite beefy)

I've seen him in person and he's so close to be that perfect modern Galvatron for me. The sculpt is incredibly strong and expressive and the cannon mode just captures the essence of that ridiculous design so well, better than some of the 3rd party takes imho.

Think I will pick him up eventually and mod the neck. But I don't want to compromise the head master gimmick and compatibility either.

[GoktimusPrime]

The problem I have is surely they could've found a better way to make the gimmick work better and preserve the neck rotation. I don't think an external helmet would work though as it'll make the head look too big on a Voyager body. That's why only the Leaders have integrated masks (with roughly the same sized heads across the board, Deluxes look a bit bobble headed and Voyagers without any add on mask like Astrotrain and Alpha Trion look quite beefy)

I would've preferred for Hasbro to entirely forgo the mask and just stick with Nucleon. Because Nucleon is actually sculpted to resemble Galvatron's head anyway, just not as pronounced and the detailing is obscured by the completely bland lack of colour. But if you look here and here, you can see that if Hasbro had instead just added purple to Nucleon then the head would already look like Galvatron without the mask.

[Zommael]

Blah blah blah Universe Galvatron this, blah blah blah Universe Galvatron that. Can we all stop pretending there's more than one toy this thing needs to be compared to?



The proper comparison is clearly to Superlink Galvatron General! Because unlike Universe Galvatron, Galvatron General isn't a damn mess, and unlike his larger counterpart Energon Galvatron, Galvatron General scales relatively well with modern figures.

Honestly, it's tricky to actually say which is the better version of Galvy. There are a few elephaorcas in the room we need to get rid of beforehand, though. First, neither is really meant to be G1 Galvatron. Galvatron General is a separate character from a separate universe; TR Galvatron is based on the IDW comics which is kinda-sorta-not-really based on G1. Both are based on G1 Galvatron, but neither is exactly the guy people remember from cartoons and comics 30 years ago. Both are clearly based on that design, but "level of G1 accurateness" isn't exactly a fair consideration here.

Secondly, weight. Galvatron General is notably heavier than TR Galvatron, which will probably upset the people who are concerned about such things. However, this is because TR Galvatron has the advantage of 10 years of engineering developments over General (I'm just gonna call him General now, okay?), which aside from allowing the designers to do more with less actual material, also result in better articulation and a more intricate transformation. However, improved engineering alone does not a better toy make.

TR Galvatron is let down a bit by the Titanmaster gimmick. Well, not the Titanmaster gimmick exactly. It's the battle mask that's the problem. Back in Combiner Wars, Hasbro failed to make every character actually be a combiner, with the leader class toys missing out completely on the gimmick. Someone at Hasbro clearly thought that was a misstep, and so with TR everyone has a detachable head, which is cool. But unfortunately, when they were designing Galvatron, some bright spark decided that instead of integrating the head sculpt properly into the Titanmaster component, they'd save on paint (I guess?) by making Galvatron's iconic helmet into a mask, and leave the Titanmaster mostly Hasbro grey (blech). I really wish they'd just changed "Nucleon's" (it's really Megatron, everyone can see that) design a little bit so the helmet was incorporated somehow, or at least painted it a matching purple, but they did not, and the result is... frustrating. I plan on customising my Galvatron anyway, so I'm going to see if painting the head purple salvages it, but the battle mask just doesn't quite work. It limits head articulation when it is up and is hardly ever in just the right place. When down, Galvatron has an unpainted grey head that doesn't match the rest of the body at all. It's irksome, most irksome. On the other hand, General's gimmicks, I'm glad to report, aren't so limiting. So 1-0 to the older toy, so far.

I mentioned paint and Hasbro grey in the previous paragraph. I'm sad to report that while TR Galvatron is a beautiful deep shade of violet (the same as CW Cyclonus), he also has a copious amount of Hasbro grey on his legs and kibble. This is really disappointing. Hasbro grey has never once in its pathetic existence done anything other than blighted this toyline looked anything like silver or metallic or anything other than unpainted plastic. Sure, Galvatron has a vaguely similar colour on his legs in G1, but it just looks lame translated to 3D. General, on the other hand, doesn't use this awful colour at all. On the other hand, his purple is slightly less awesomely vibrant, and he doesn't have the detailing on his abs that TR Galvatron does. He does use a copious amount of black which kinda makes his purple parts look oddly disconnected from the rest of him. It's actually tough to call this one, because despite the Hasbro grey, TR Galvatron does look good... but that boring shade just ruins it for me. I guess it's 2-0 to General.

Where TR Galvatron wins hands down - like his wavemate Sentinel Prime - is sculpted detail. There's a copious amount of panel lining, tech detailing, every kind of sculpting you could want in this toy. It's a shame Hasbro's budget doesn't stretch to actually highlighting this, but they've never been early 2000s McFarlane Toys as far as paint is concerned, so I'm not surprised. General just doesn't have that. He has some, sure, but it's not as intricate or as well designed as TR Galvatron's, so 2-1.

Finally, articulation. TR Galvatron is significantly better here, with ankle tilts (who doesn't love ankle tilts), a full range of motion in the legs, and the same in the arms. General on the other hand barely moves. Well, not barely, but Energon/Superlink was a sort of transitory line between the absolute bricks of Armada and the more articulated toys that were the bulk of Cybertron. His legs and arms are impeded by ratchets that are way too wide. TR Galvatron's only impediment is the tank tracks on his arms. So 2-2, with this one going to TR Galvatron.

The alt modes of both toys are much of a muchness. I probably prefer General's just because I like the design of the spaceship, but people have different standards. TR Galvatron's is more Geewun, I'll allow, but that shouldn't be a consideration. What is is that it works remarkably well, unlike the third mode which is just a little odd and underdesigned. It's like someone said that they needed to have a third mode because all the other toys in the line did, so they decided on spaceship to homage Energon/SL Galvatron, but then didn't manage to make it look anything like General, gave up, went home, and moved on to the next toy in the morning. It's okay, I guess, but I can't really compare a toy with two modes to one with three and find it better because the third mode is a bit of an afterthought. It's a tie, so no point.

Honestly, the reason TR Galvatron is going to win this one is because of availability. Really, it's a fine toy, at least as good as its predecessor. You should definitely get it if you don't have a modern Galvatron or only have Universe Galvatron which is a disaster. To be honest, with the way the design of these toys has been going, being as good as a toy from ten years ago might be seen as a compliment by some fans. But TR Galvatron is a good toy in his own right. It's just that some of the choices made are perplexing. All that said, I would definitely recommend it. It's a good toy. Just only as good as a ten year old obscure Japanese repaint.

[shockNwave]

At one point I was put off buying this toy because of the horrible spaceship mode (you're right Zommael, it looks like an afterthought) but as the Meatloaf song goes "Two out of three ain't bad" and so the robot and cannon modes save the day. Also the only other Galvatron in my collection is the Universe one, so I'm happy to find one that has a ton of integrity for the spirit of the G1 movie and the memory of Leonard Nimoy RIP.

[philby]

I just acquired mine this morning and it opened it up. This is my first ever Galvatron toy. Initial first up thoughts are that this mask thing is stupid and why can't he have rotating wrists. Hmmm.

[Dimi194]

Just got this guy today and hmmm....

I think he looks great (except the head), but the actual figure is a bit painful. Legs are nice, but the tiny side armour pieces keep popping off on mine and disappearing into the never never.

Arm are okay, but the awkward attachment of the big cannon is a pain and the hollow forearms are the worst on any TR/CW figure that I've noticed (not sure why, maybe the colouring?)

Jet mode is fun, cannon mode doesn't mean anything to me (know nothing about G1 hahaha).

Now the head.... I actually think it looks okay (would be nice if Nucleon was purple like TT) but the biggest annoyance for me is the lack of rotation; considering they knocked Alpha Trion, Sentinel/Astro and Blaster out of the park re: add on mask-y things, idk why they mucked this one up so much, esp considering the need to turn the figure sidewards to get any meaningful poses with the arm cannon!

Overall great idea, but a lot of small niggles... he was the Voyager I was most keen for but he's coming in a solid last :P