After all these years, Galvatron gets his own mold. How does this mold stack up, though? Are all those theories about a Deluxe being too small come to light here? Check out the ruthless new ruler of the Decepticons by clicking this link.

god that looks horrible, SWTF design FTL

This is the only Universe deluxe I've had second thoughts about buying while in the store. The rest of the bots, no hesitation. The problem is the bot mode...it's just messy and lopsided. The right arm is longer than the left, the cannon is as long as 3/4 of his entire body and the legs are just complete crap. I agree with the reviewer. This should have been given the Voyager treatment. Doing so would have likely helped to clean up the look of the figure at least.

Come on, Hasbro! Universe has been awesome up to this figure and the Ultras! Stay focused! More awesome figures like Sunstreaker/Sideswipe and less poorly designed crap like this!

His back looks kinda weird and like all of the tank is just piled up onto his back in robot mode... Eh, nothings perfect. Still looks like a good fig to me.

I like the figure for the most part and the alternate mode is the best but I just have two complaints about it I wish it robot mode was a little more stream lined and not as clunky and most of all it really should be a voyager size figure...I think Hasbro was wrong to size it as a deluxe...still a fairly decent figure.

and here I thought the size was the only problem. That thing looks like SH*!

Man, those knees are pretty high up on the leg. I really want to like this guy, too.

But I have issues with tfs that don't have knees, and knees that high are almost not knees at all.

*glares at Alternators Prime*


Also, to anyone that owns him: Does the, um, 'skirt piece' in the back hinder moving the legs back or is it hinged or something? (Probably, as everything seems to be hinged on this figure.)

Here's a picture for reference.



If that thing doesn't at least flap backwards that seals the deal on me not getting him.

~Matt Booker

all these traits of bulky mis-proportions Ive noticed are becoming a trait for this universe series...they're just looking more bulky and unmovable I guess if your a purest of the g1 toy era you'll like it but I personally like my figure to have good styling and an equal amount of articulation....I agree I don't think Ill be getting this figure its a disappointment...and a waste of a great character.

I'm really going to wait and see what TakTomy does with this figure (other than chrome it up)

My guess is "polish a turd".

Yes. It is on two hinges and can be rotated up a full 180 degrees. obviously this involves rotating the "backpack" piece as well.

Click to view attachment

shiny shit is still shit right?

Thanks. Still not liking those those knees, though. :/

~Matt Booker

I like how everybody bags on this figure based on three images and one persons view.... tsk tsk. He's far from perfect but I wouldn't go so far as to call him shit. I will say he would've been better as a voyager but honestly he's a great figure as is and certainly worth owning. Aw but, my bad,..... he's not to scale and he's not capable of robosex either. Darn! What ever will we do? What's that? The turret doesn't move up and down?! You mean to tell me he's just like every other deluxe sized tank out there? Aw shux!!!!

Alright, enough playin around. I wasn't really looking forward to this guy until I happened upon him and picked him up. As soon as I got him into bot mode in person he imediately took a place on my shelf. This is one instance where the toy truly does look different in your face. His knees may seem high up but they're are actually nearly perfectly place when you take into consideration the placement of his hip joints. Also; it's a bit of an optical illusion because of the silver caps. FYI: his arms are not two different lengths. All you're seeing is one arm with an open hand and the other with a closed fist. If he had two closed fists/opened hands they'd be the same length. The only thing I can really bag this figure on is lack of side to side movement in the cannon arm. Other wise he's tip top for a deluxe and miles better than anything we saw throughout A/E/C, G1, G2.... s

*hugs Galvatron to ease his insecurites*

Just picked him up today...and now having transformed this figure & posed him, I can confidently say that his weakness IS the deluxe size that the designers chose for this figure. However, I say this NOT specifically for his stature in comparison to other Classic figures (although I still have issues with that decision)...but rather, I believe some of his parts would be more secure/adjustable/fit better in a larger class figure. This figure is very reminiscent of similar issues that I encountered with deluxe movie Brawl vs. leader movie Brawl. Besides the overall fragile feel of the deluxe size, there are parts (or kibbles) that aren't properly secured (backpack in this case). I think bulking this figure up to even a voyager (or ultra) size would ease the ability to 'tighten up' this figure & take care of a lot of these problems. Other than that, I think this a very nice looking Galvatron with some great articulation that surpasses the original...however, it falls a little 'short' in it's fragility and YES, size comparison to other classics...still, I wouldn't pass it up if I spotted one of these. He looks great posed between Universe Tankor (Octane) & Henkei Astrotrain!

The tank mode pics are win, very very cool and badass. For a split second I was thinking "just maybe" but unfortunately the bot mode kills it. Looks sloppier than most if not all the Star Wars figs.

As a voyager/Ultra I'd have no hesitation buying this for a new age Galvatron but a deluxe it just looks sad and laughable.

More like the legs for me. I still think he is worth getting, just to have Galvatron, but keeping it MISB.

Well, one of the main things I don't like about this toy is his paint scheme. If it gets prettied up I'd be a lot more inclined to buy him.

finally found this fellow.... if there was ever a case for a figure to be made on a larger scale this is it. ther e is way to much packed into this delux form. and what is with all of the extra joints and pieces?

Looks like a giant alien life form to me. Looks like he is insane. Looks like he is genius. Looks like he is dangerous. Looks like GALVATRON.

1/ Hasbro Energon Galvatron is probably the BEST Galvatron we have ever had (ironically, it could be said that the "Megatron" colours were a "prequel repaint" of the later Galvatron figure as the MOLD is more Galvatron than Megatron).

2/ I predict that Takara will either remold this bigger and/or paint him almost 100% blue-purple (like his movie/anime colours)- with metalised purple bits too.

Why Power Glide is Ultra, but Galvatron is deluxe?

What kind of logic is that?

Hasbro must lose its mind.

I'm weary, but still looking forward to this figure.

And yeah, Powerglide as an Ultra still doesn't make sense to me, on the whole, an awesome figure, but still a head scratcher. I have a feeling I'll feel the same about Galvatron.

Yeah, in my collection, Energon Megatron is Galvatron(Cybertron Megtron went back to his old name though).



I hope your right, but I can't see them retooling a figure to that extent. That may be just because outside of scaling down a figure like Energon Megatron or Cybertron StarScream, I can't recall this ever happening.

Also, are they gonna do any type of promotion for Universe, a commercial or something? I wanna see this line do great, but just putting them on the pegs isn't enough, they need some marketing.

I think Hasbro is betting that people will buy this toy based on the name alone. Looks like they might be right.

Heres my thought. Its not the PERFECT answer but its one Hasbro reps have said. They are trying to give them a REAL LIFE effect. That said, Powerglide as a A-10 wouldnt look 'REAL' as a small plane next to a big car. Galvatron is only a tank which isnt as big as a plane. I would say that POWERGLIDE was made his size for 'REALISTIC' size comparison.

*do want*

I have a question though, when these first were out in canada, they ALL had a ball joint that 'popped' off all the time and had to be re-sculpted to fit. Is this not the case anymore? If so i will be ALOT more inclined to get him then if i had to CARVE him and whatnot. Please answer this everyone that can, not just ONE answer. Thanks

No.... he still falls apart when you touch him.

The gallery over at Seibertron.com shows it looking kind of ok posing next to G1 Galvatron.... which is all that I really intend to do with it.

Will they repaint him? Probably, with EXTRA CHROME!
A resize though? I doubt it. TT has only resized two figures; Energon Megatron/Galvatron and Cybertron Starscream. In each case the Hasbro versions were made smaller for TT's Japanese releases.
If anyone wants a larger version of this guy they'll have to wait for the KOs.

As for the figure itself, my opinion hasn't changed, as this review was pretty much what I expected.
I have two real complaints....

He's just to small. Never mind the "GALVATRON SHULD B BIGER!" complaints. He's just to small for his design. They crunched an intricate design that would have been great on a Voyager into a Deluxe package, and the figure suffers. Had he been a Voyager I would be more tempted to pick him up.

His alt mode is also a problem. Galvatron shouldn't be an Earth-styled tank. Galvatron should be some kick-ass space thing.
That aside though, the tank idea in and of itself is forgivable if Hasbro was serious about the whole "realism" theme of Universe. Sadly, they failed trying to make Galvatron a realistic tank.
He's got a giant orange space cannon as a turret So the attempt to give him a realistic alt mode falls flat. Either give Galvy a space themed alt mode, or commit 100% to the realistic alt mode. Don't try to mash the two together.

Energon TRU Megs > Universe Galvy when it comes to Galvatrons.

I agree with much of this. Although I do question the "he would be magically non-sucky as a Voyager" line. That's one craptacular toy right there. Take the Galvatron head off and replace it with some random Marvel / Star Wars character head and see how many people still love it.

Sounds as if you have some bad QC. I've had no such issues with mine.

If it wasn't for the Galvatron head, the Galv25 script or the orange cannon, people would bag on it more. Yeah, on the surface this figure is sweet... but it's just poorly engineered for a deluxe.

Well the thinking is that his transformation, and hence design, is so complex that the figure's small size suffers because of it. A larger size would give the designers more room to work everything in. It's no guarantee that he would be better, but hey, it can't be worse then the Deluxe version we got.
That said, I'm not going to call for a larger version of this figure from either TT or Hasbro. Lets just call this mould a swing and a miss and move on.

Yeah, I'm not seeing those legs looking any better in a larger size. The whole design of them is kinda f*cked to begin with.

I'm kind of disappointed with this figure actually. I went from "HELL YEAH HE'LL BE MY NEW GALVY!" TO "I'll get him to pose next to my Classics VS pack Megatron" to "Hasbro would have to pay me to get this guy."

The sad thing is, I see this being very popular with the kiddies. He looks menacing and he's a tank. That's all a seven year old kid needs to want it. The result? Many Universe Galvatrons in piles of broken sadness and a lot of disappointed kids.

yes. larger scale would mean the joints could be bigger/better. my problem with this toy is how easily the tiny joints come apart. they made a deluxe with minicon sized joints to accomodate his voyager sized intentions.

its odd because as a swtf fan i am less critical, but

the fanboy in my sees this as a failure to reuse an old mold in the form of energon tru galvatron. that little guy with a head tweak and a g1 esque paint job would have made most folks happy


he is better than acidbutt fwiw

He's a fairly ambitious design. I actually think he's about as well-engineered as he could be within the size constraints, as there's a fair bit of complexity in the transformation. Upgraded to Voyager or Ultra, you'd have room for things to fold together a bit more elegantly. I also concur that he looks a bit better in person than these photos would imply. The comparisons to the early-wave SWTF toys are entirely unfair. This is probably some of the more inventive work I've seen out of TakaraTomy's toy engineers. Doesn't quite come together into a cohesive whole, but by far not the worst figure I've seen.

I went ahead and got him when I saw him.

He's much better in person than the pictures would have you think.

Still, I wouldn't want to think of what a rough kid would do to this guy.

I really have to wonder if there is truth to what people have said about him originally intended to be a voyager. So many things on him seem like they were designed hastily in order to get him a deluxe as fast as they could.

No idea what the hook on the shoulder is for, and the right arm doesn't even want to rotate if you slide it into the slot used to lock the shoulder in place. (He has better posability if you don't slide it in there, anyway.)

Also, there is space enough (and seems to be designed to) let you fold the right arm's shoulder hinge all the way down into the slot on his back during tank mode. If you do that, the turret is lopsided and can't rotate.

It looks fine if you don't put it in that slot all the way, but it makes a bigger space under the turret.

The treads on the backs of his heels should have had a swivel joint so they could fill that gap behind his feet.

In spite of all this, I still like the figure. I like the transformation and the menacing look of him in both modes.

Plus he's balanced enough to pull off a shoulder charge with his fist ready for a follow up.





~Matt Booker

Matt Booker,... that's one pose!