Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 29, 2008 22:41:10 GMT
Galvatron and Acid Storm are here.
Galvatron's a tank. OK, so Megatron's been a tank, and Galvatron started off being a cannon with Tank Tread so I think we can live with that. There's 2 things that do bother me about this toy straight odd though. One is that I've always thought of Galvatron as being somewhat futuristic. But in his first original mold since Beast Wars II he's a perfectly ordinary tank. The other is size. I've argued a lot that the Deluxe line if TF's lifeblood and your main characters should go in there. Cars, Dinobots, Jets. But Galvatron I've always envisaged as being somewhat bigger. Certainly no smaller than the corresponding Megatron toy (a Voyager).
The tank itself rolls along courtesy of 4 small wheels imbedded in the tracks. Some nice molded in missile detail towards the rear on the sides reminds me of Euro G1 Stalker (MW/Universe Soundwave), and he's also got a molded in missile box at the back of the turret. The turret rotates, but the gun barrel doesn't raise. Said Gun Barrel is shaped very much like the Cannon on G1 Galvatron's arm/front of his cannon & gun modes. The cannon is also a missile launcher - takes one clear orange missile the same colour as the barrel.
TF: Pull the sides of the turret apart slightly and raise the gun barrel up on the arm it's connected to. Chances are the cannon will pop off at the ball joint connecting it to the arm at this stage. Fold the rear of the turret back 90 degrees, lock the turret halves together, fold down the missile box and then swing it into the (folded back) rear of the turret to pop a hand out. Wiggle the rear sides of the tank - everything the rear wheels and backwards - out to the sides slightly. They will move honest. I didn't the first time I tf'd the toy and popped a leg off at the swivel joint. Then pull the front sides - mainly tank treads - out to the sides and forward a bit. Fold the rear of the front sections out to the sides, fold the top of the front of the tank up and bring he front sections in and down to form the legs. Turn everything bellow the waist round 180 degrees, and the turn in on the upper leg swivel 90 degrees. At the lower leg swivel turn out 180 degrees. Fold the panels now sticking out bellow the lower legs down - this should move the lower legs forward a bit - if it doesn't or the panel won't fold move the lower leg forward a bit yourself. Turn the purple panels on the front of the lower leg round 180 degrees, and fold down the feet. Turn the tank over so you're looking at the top of the tank and the back is facing up. Rotate the tank turret so the cannon points to the left, fold the turret up and out to the right and once it's folded push it down about 1cm so the turret forms the arm - the orange plastic at the base of the shoulder slides into a groove at the top and bottom of the shoulder slot.. Fold down the top of the back of the tank onto the back of the robot, fold up the rear panel of the tank, and fold the rear of the tank treads in - these peg into place, but that's not obvious from the instructions or until you look really carefully and identify the tabs on the Tank back panel and the holes on the inside of the tank tread.. The left arm is folded up above the robot's chest now - fold that out to the side - it may well pop out of it's ball joint - fold the arm out, fold out the fist and close the panel on top of the arm. Fold the chest plate down 90 degrees, use it as a lever to raise the head, and then fold the chest plate down another 90 degrees and lock into place.
That was complicated for a deluxe.
The toy is obviously Galvatron - the chest and head are very close to the G1 Animation model. Head is especially good with the 5 bands on the helmet and an orange lightpipe for the eyes. Some of the rest of him doesn't look too Galvatronesque - it's almost as if there was Galvatron parked in the middle of a tank. It just seems small and delicate for a deluxe - and for Galvatron - and is reminding me of BM Mega Megatron a lot in that there feels like there's a lot of small parts. I've heard some say that this is a larger toy scaled down, and I think I'd subscribe to that theory - there's a lot of parts that are too small for what they're doing.
Articulation - feet are on ball joints, a swivel bellow the knee, folding knee, swivel above the knee, hips that swing to the side and then forwards and backwards where they're attached to the pelvis. Waist turns as does the head. The gun arm swings up at the shoulder where the other is ball jointed. Both arms have a bicep and bend twice at the elbow, and the right (gun arm) hand bends up or down allowing the missile box to pop out as an extra weapon. The toy's balance isn't terribly good - far to back heavy and heavy on the side of the gun arm.
Thus far I've popped off the leg at the bellow the knee and above the knee swivel joints, the left arm at the shoulder ball joint when folding down, the gun from it's ball joint and the tank treads at the back in 2 different places. He's not the worst fallaparticon I've ever owned but he's certainly trying his best.
So ..... Good intentions but the execution isn't terribly good in places.
Acid Storm
<deep breath>
Why would I be wanting to pay out money for a £13 repaint of a toy made to resemble something that's in a 20 year old cartoon for 5 minutes
?? Instead I could be getting a jet repaint of an established TF character. But no, they had to give that to the convention. What were they thinking that day ? It was obvious Classics was coming back - they announced stuff at that con itself IIRC. It's obvious from the first wave of Classics 2 that repaints are at the forefront of Hasbro's thinking as there's 2 inline repaints of both the Autobot cars available - and then some convention milking with Diaclone specials. Whoever was in charge at Hasbro really dropped the ball that day as TF fans would keep coming back in their thousands for G1 jets redone. This should have been an exclusive along with Sunstorm and whoever else as the appeal is really for the most die hard of G1 fans. Just such an odd decision. As such I'd intended to boycott this toy completely but there was a decent deal on eBay for the pair so I snatched it and have sold it on quick.
<breathes out>
Not keen on the colour scheme much either.
Galvatron's a tank. OK, so Megatron's been a tank, and Galvatron started off being a cannon with Tank Tread so I think we can live with that. There's 2 things that do bother me about this toy straight odd though. One is that I've always thought of Galvatron as being somewhat futuristic. But in his first original mold since Beast Wars II he's a perfectly ordinary tank. The other is size. I've argued a lot that the Deluxe line if TF's lifeblood and your main characters should go in there. Cars, Dinobots, Jets. But Galvatron I've always envisaged as being somewhat bigger. Certainly no smaller than the corresponding Megatron toy (a Voyager).
The tank itself rolls along courtesy of 4 small wheels imbedded in the tracks. Some nice molded in missile detail towards the rear on the sides reminds me of Euro G1 Stalker (MW/Universe Soundwave), and he's also got a molded in missile box at the back of the turret. The turret rotates, but the gun barrel doesn't raise. Said Gun Barrel is shaped very much like the Cannon on G1 Galvatron's arm/front of his cannon & gun modes. The cannon is also a missile launcher - takes one clear orange missile the same colour as the barrel.
TF: Pull the sides of the turret apart slightly and raise the gun barrel up on the arm it's connected to. Chances are the cannon will pop off at the ball joint connecting it to the arm at this stage. Fold the rear of the turret back 90 degrees, lock the turret halves together, fold down the missile box and then swing it into the (folded back) rear of the turret to pop a hand out. Wiggle the rear sides of the tank - everything the rear wheels and backwards - out to the sides slightly. They will move honest. I didn't the first time I tf'd the toy and popped a leg off at the swivel joint. Then pull the front sides - mainly tank treads - out to the sides and forward a bit. Fold the rear of the front sections out to the sides, fold the top of the front of the tank up and bring he front sections in and down to form the legs. Turn everything bellow the waist round 180 degrees, and the turn in on the upper leg swivel 90 degrees. At the lower leg swivel turn out 180 degrees. Fold the panels now sticking out bellow the lower legs down - this should move the lower legs forward a bit - if it doesn't or the panel won't fold move the lower leg forward a bit yourself. Turn the purple panels on the front of the lower leg round 180 degrees, and fold down the feet. Turn the tank over so you're looking at the top of the tank and the back is facing up. Rotate the tank turret so the cannon points to the left, fold the turret up and out to the right and once it's folded push it down about 1cm so the turret forms the arm - the orange plastic at the base of the shoulder slides into a groove at the top and bottom of the shoulder slot.. Fold down the top of the back of the tank onto the back of the robot, fold up the rear panel of the tank, and fold the rear of the tank treads in - these peg into place, but that's not obvious from the instructions or until you look really carefully and identify the tabs on the Tank back panel and the holes on the inside of the tank tread.. The left arm is folded up above the robot's chest now - fold that out to the side - it may well pop out of it's ball joint - fold the arm out, fold out the fist and close the panel on top of the arm. Fold the chest plate down 90 degrees, use it as a lever to raise the head, and then fold the chest plate down another 90 degrees and lock into place.
That was complicated for a deluxe.
The toy is obviously Galvatron - the chest and head are very close to the G1 Animation model. Head is especially good with the 5 bands on the helmet and an orange lightpipe for the eyes. Some of the rest of him doesn't look too Galvatronesque - it's almost as if there was Galvatron parked in the middle of a tank. It just seems small and delicate for a deluxe - and for Galvatron - and is reminding me of BM Mega Megatron a lot in that there feels like there's a lot of small parts. I've heard some say that this is a larger toy scaled down, and I think I'd subscribe to that theory - there's a lot of parts that are too small for what they're doing.
Articulation - feet are on ball joints, a swivel bellow the knee, folding knee, swivel above the knee, hips that swing to the side and then forwards and backwards where they're attached to the pelvis. Waist turns as does the head. The gun arm swings up at the shoulder where the other is ball jointed. Both arms have a bicep and bend twice at the elbow, and the right (gun arm) hand bends up or down allowing the missile box to pop out as an extra weapon. The toy's balance isn't terribly good - far to back heavy and heavy on the side of the gun arm.
Thus far I've popped off the leg at the bellow the knee and above the knee swivel joints, the left arm at the shoulder ball joint when folding down, the gun from it's ball joint and the tank treads at the back in 2 different places. He's not the worst fallaparticon I've ever owned but he's certainly trying his best.
So ..... Good intentions but the execution isn't terribly good in places.
Acid Storm
<deep breath>
Why would I be wanting to pay out money for a £13 repaint of a toy made to resemble something that's in a 20 year old cartoon for 5 minutes
?? Instead I could be getting a jet repaint of an established TF character. But no, they had to give that to the convention. What were they thinking that day ? It was obvious Classics was coming back - they announced stuff at that con itself IIRC. It's obvious from the first wave of Classics 2 that repaints are at the forefront of Hasbro's thinking as there's 2 inline repaints of both the Autobot cars available - and then some convention milking with Diaclone specials. Whoever was in charge at Hasbro really dropped the ball that day as TF fans would keep coming back in their thousands for G1 jets redone. This should have been an exclusive along with Sunstorm and whoever else as the appeal is really for the most die hard of G1 fans. Just such an odd decision. As such I'd intended to boycott this toy completely but there was a decent deal on eBay for the pair so I snatched it and have sold it on quick.<breathes out>
Not keen on the colour scheme much either.
