TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE GALVATRON
(DELUXE CLASS)

Review by Matty Boy

Alternate Mode: Galvatron comes packed in tank mode. It looks nothing like his 1986 cannon mode, but it does look great. It's a futuristic grey tank with an orange barrel, like the end of original Galvatron's arm cannon. The cannon barrel looks nice, but at the same time, it kind of looks like a highlighter pen. Accents on the front and the top of the turret are silver, as are square vents on the flanks. The body of the tank is broken up with a lot of fine details, panels and vents and the like. The turret rotates 360 degrees (more on that in a minute), and GALV-25 is "stencilled" in black on both sides. If I had to guess, I'd say the 25 is for the anniversary next year, and its attendant hiphooray and ballyhoo.

The barrel of the turret launches a missile, which is also translucent orange. Unfortunately the trigger that launches the missile is made of the same orange plastic as all the faulty parts that make him fall apart. It doesn't blend into his design at all, and with the barrel already looking like a highlighter, the trigger completes the effect by looking like a pocket clip.

The tank treads are painted black and look great on mine; I had to really look at them to see they weren't actually just black plastic.

Transformation: This is the ugly part. This is where all the negatives come in, and frankly, I'll wager that other people will really tear into this guy because of it. Is that fair? Read on.

First part to come off is his left lower leg. It's the soft orange plastic again. Ultimately the legs snap together tightly, but I've yet to do it without a piece dropping off.

Second part to come off is the turret, at the interior shoulder T-bar. Again; soft orange plastic. This is a bitch to get back into its slot, by the way. I've had to do it everytime I've transformed him (about 3 times).

The turret again came off, at a different joint. It just tears your heart out, because you can see how ingenious the transformation is; some of the plastic just doesn't hold up. Not only that, but almost everyplace I found that wouldn't lock together securely had clear evidence of effort on the part of the designers to make it snap tight. It just didn't work, mainly due to the softness of the plastic I keep harping on.

When I transformed him for the purpose of this review, he only fell apart three times, compared to the initial five. The other two would be his right leg at the hip, and his left arm at the shoulder.

Robot Mode: Aside from his floppy backpack and the aforementioned durability issues, Galvatron looks absolutely incredible. He is primarily a traditional Galvatron purple, which wasn't visible in his tank mode. The turret compresses to form his right arm and cannon, but despite how good it looks, it has the side effect of causing his already loose backpack to not sit properly. His backpack is "fiddly", and raising his arm cannon just knocks it askew. There are "legs" that extend out of his backpack, but I can't find a purpose for them in any mode. They aren't mentioned in the instructions, which were particularly addled in this case.

Galvatron's right hand is open, with accurate pointy fingers, while his left is closed in a fist (no hole for a weapon; why would he need another one?). His open hand is really well-sculpted and expressive, and really lends itself to some terrific poses. However, his arms are almost a little too asymmetrical, and the GALV-25 on his bicep just looks out of place. His silver Decepticon symbol looks great against the purple though. A hook extends from his right shoulder for no reason I can discern.

Galvatron is short. Shorter than OcTankor, by which I mean Universe Tankor, whom I call Octane. I mean, it's who he is, gimpy arms and all. I was hoping Furman was using the actual Tankor as part of the Dead Universe crew in the comics, because that's who it looked like, but as it turns out it's some dude named Grindcore. And it's not the Grindcore from the Reign of Starscream comics, who's an Autobot. But I auto-digress.

Galvatron is shorter than Astrotrain, and his head, though very nicely sculpted, is teeny. His face has a sort of Freddy Krueger vibe to it, which works for him, and his tiny head bears the familiar trident crest. If you have a Cybertron Supreme Starscream like I do (the really huge chunker), you could, if so inclined, literally smash this Galvatron to bits with him. You could probably even crush him with the CROWN. O fate! Such tragic reversal!

Anyway. If yours is anything like mine, you will be able to do little but gaze at him on a shelf. Any kind of play risks apart-falling. And like Cybertron Downshift, he will shoot you RIGHT in the eye with his missile.

Poseability: Forget it. Technically he's got around ten points of articulation, but sometimes what feels like articulation is actually a piece coming off. It's lucky that he looks so good standing still, because that's about all you can do with him.

However, if you stand him in front of a window, you'll see what is likely the best use of light piping ever. His eyes glow like they should (and orange).

Conclusion: If you've actually read this whole review and can live with the flaws I've described, then that's the closest I can come to a recommendation. As I said, I don't regret buying him, as I think a lot of TF fans wouldn't; I'd rather have him than NOT have him. The talent and effort involved in the toy's design are obvious; the final product is just marred by a subpar ingredient, in this case the mushy orange plastic.

So, A for effort, D+ for the end result. Quality control issues are pretty rare in Transformers anyway.

At left (click to enlarge in new window): Ad from the back of the latest Master Collector, with Galvatron, Sideswipe and Silverbolt. Note the irony of the "he's a little unstable" remark. Not pictured: Bad comedy.