Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 22, 2008 15:09:00 GMT
www.tfu.info/1998/Destron/Galvatron/galvatron.htm
Beast Wars II Galvatron is only the 2nd toy to bear the Galvatron name - and one of only 2 reuses of the name *not* to be a Megatron repaint.
The theme for BWII is Beasts (Cybertron) vs Machines (Destron) Galvatron serves as the Destron leader but is the only Destron to possess a beast mode until the Cyberbeasts are introduced much later on in the line. He & Lio Convoy are the only 100% original toys in the main toyline - the Cybertron side is made up of Beast Wars re-releases and repaints, whereas the Destrons are repainted G2 and Machine Wars releases - the Flipchanger jets not having previously been released in Japan and the Jet & Fire Engine autochangers never getting to the release stage in G2. The aforementioned Cyberbeasts seen later in the line are four Beast Wars toys and 1 G1 toy substantially remolded with new pieces. Galvatron appears in Japan as Beast Wars toy D-16 (the numbering system runs from BW through BWII, BW Neo and finishes in BW Metals) or in a pack with Lio Convoy as VS-16. Many D-16 were imported by Hasbro US's online shop in the early days and as such this isn't a particularly hard toy to get hold of.
As befits Galvatron he is sort of an upgraded Megatron - where Megatron is a T-Rex, Galvatron retains the basic 2 legs and a tail lizard form but gains wings to become a dragon - pre-empting the Transmetal 2 version of Megatron by a year. He comes packaged nearly in dragon mode, but with the legs in robot configuration ! Unpeg the panel from the front of the hips and pull the legs out to the sides, fold back the waist panel onto the underside of the beast. Fold the robot lower leg back until the upper leg recesses into the back of it. Fold back the robot feet then fold down the dragon lower legs and feet. Fold the robot feet into the upper dragon leg. And you're there. Remember this if you ever need to get him back in his packaging !
The dragon bends his legs at ankles and knees, has ball joints for hips - very limited by the legs, effectively they just rotate - rotating shoulders and bending elbows. His neck has 3 segments between the base and the head - they're all joined together by a piece that moves up and down at the bottom and ball jointed at the top allowing for a lot of flexibility. The head bends further down at the neck and the jaw opens. The wings bend up and can be posed forwards or backwards. The wings form part of an action feature - there's a slider on his back that ca be moved up and down which should make them flap. His tail ends in a claw which is made up of 2 missiles each of which can be individually fired. The dragon is well executed in lilac and purple. The only odd bit about it are the 2 massive gold shoulder pads hanging off the side of the neck ! I do like the 4 barrelled gatling guns mounted on each knee !
Like the rest of the Destrons he has a vehicle mode: straighten the neck out, fold the crest forward, and rotate & fold the gold shoulder pads round the neck. Fold the wings back and the arms up. Fold out the red foot at the top of the upper leg and fold the lower leg into the gap with the 2 pronged foot running the length of the lower beast leg and the one pronged heel spur resting on the red foot. Find the red wheels embedded in the upper beast leg and fold the panel they're attached to down and under the leg locking it in place on the underside of the leg. Fold the leg out to the side at the hip. Disconnect the hips from the plate between the legs and fold this upright. Fold the hips up so they lock together behind the plate, and the plate locks onto them. Peg the legs - now tank treads onto the 2 minicon style posts in front of the waist plate.
The resulting mode is that favourite of Japanese designs the Drill Tank. The front of the vehicle is a quite massive gold drill connected to a body which ends in the curved up dragon tail with missiles. The body is supported by 2 molded tank tread units on which (or rather the small wheels within) the tank rolls. There's some green painted detail on the front of the tank body to indicate a control room above the base of the drill. The drill itself turns - there's a crank at the base of the drill that when pushed turns the drill round - this gimmick works well. If any mode is the less good of the 3 it is this one though. However there is almost a hidden fourth mode here ! Fold the wings forward, turn the tank over and hold by the handle and you've sort of got a Galvatron hand gun !
TF: Unpeg the tank tread and pull out to the sides to form the robot legs - the knee is at the machine gun end and the hip further back. Fold the outside halves of the tank treads back onto the other side of the leg. Fold up the red robot feet (and gold beast heel spur mounted on it. Fold down the knee cannons to face forward. Pull the tail in two down the middle and fold to the sides. Bend back the wing section including the jet pack like thing in the middle. Pull the robot head up. Swing the tail halves back and lock onto the robot shoulders. Fold the chest plate up. Spin 180 degrees at the waist. Lower the drill behind the robot. Pull the tail halves forward exposing the robot's upper arms, and then turn at the elbow so the tail halves face down. Fold the tail halves to the sides and back at a hinge where the robot's wrists would be exposing the robot's hands.
Resulting robot looks more Japanese than virtually any other TF before it - something to do with the chest with a pair of wings/crests along the top a large marble in the middle and a pair of large pale green panels looking likes eyes. The head - while not immediately cartoon Galvatron does sort of have the multiple spikes round the top and a face resembling BW Megatron. Articulation: Feet bend at the ankles, knees bend, a swivel joint bellow the hip, universal joints at the hip, turns at the waist, neck and shoulders, shoulders also swing out to the sides, there's a bicep joint, bending elbow and rotating wrist. The tail claws are now sticking out the back of the elbow - they can be held as hand weapons. So too can the wing pack - which detaches from the robot's back. An odd dual barrelled blaster can be got out of it by folding the wings up and then bending them forward. The wings also split in two along the middle and separate out to form a serrated scissor like claw - again this can be held, or mounted behind the robot's head. In an undocumented feature it is possible to detach the massive drill from the robot's back and for him to hold that as a hand weapon.
To complete we have the TF back to dragon - assuming you've already detached the wings and if necessary folded the claws up to form the wings - fold the tail ends over the arms. Rotate forward 90 degrees at the shoulder and fold upwards at the shoulder. Turn the entire arm/tail halves round so the flat edge points up. Turn the waist through 90 degrees and fold the chest panel down. Fold the head away. Unpeg the tail/arms at the shoulder, swing down 90 degrees and then fold in across the chest covering the robot head and linking together. Reattach the jet/wing pack and fold back onto the beast's back. Pull the waist plate forward and separate the robot at the hips by pulling the legs out to the sides. Fold back the waist panel onto the underside of the beast. Fold the drill up till it locks in place. Fold the robot lower leg back until the upper leg recesses into the back of it. Fold back the robot feet then fold down the dragon lower legs and feet. Fold the robot feet into the upper dragon leg. Split the drill in 2 straight down it, fold the halves to the sides and spin round to form the shoulder pads. Fold the horn back onto the dragon's head. And there we go - triple changing without passing through the other mode first !
Overall: Great toy. Unique to this point beast mode, passable vehicle mode with working gimmick, good solid robot mode. Decent reuse of a classic name - leader after Megatron is Galvatron. One of my top Beast Wars toys.
Galvatron has never been repainted. IIRC there was going to be a black and gold repaint as Unicron in BW Neo but this never materialised.
