Dave's Universe Classics Rant: Deluxe Wave 2
Acid Storm - Fighter Jet (not reviewed yet, if ever)
Galvatron - Tank
Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/UDeluxe2
Wave 2 is two each of the Wave 1 figures, plus either two Galvatrons
or
one each of Galvatron and Acid Storm. Acid Storm is a recolor of
Starscream
(http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Deluxe1)
meant to evoke one of
the
unnamed "Rainmaker" Seekers who made it pour acid rain in the G1 cartoon.
CAPSULES
Acid Storm: A Recommended mold, but this is the third mass-market
version of it (fourth if you include Ramjet), which is starting to push it
in
terms of reuse.
Galvatron: Nicely detailed vehicle mode, challenging transformation,
and
a robot mode that really needed a much bigger budget to have a chance of
working. It falls apart in so many ways it's not funny. Mildly
recommended. $9.99 at Target.
RANTS
Packaging: Same as wave 1. Galvatron's painted art isn't as
zombie-like
as most. His co-sells are Sunstreaker and Acid Storm.
Presumably Acid Storm has Galvatron and Prowl or Tankor as co-sells.
Mottos and functions are my creations. And just a reminder, when I
list
previous name or mold use, I only mean U.S. mass market...I leave out
Japanese and convention-exclusive releases.
DECEPTICON: ACID STORM
Altmode: F-15 Fighter Jet
Function: Rainmaker
Weapon:
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: Classic
Motto: "Into every death, some rain must fall."
Bio to be added later.
STR INT SPD END RNK COUR FRB SKL Avg
First there was Starscream. Then there was recolor with tiny tweak
Skywarp. Then more extensive remold Ramjet. Then a barrage of BotCon
exclusive recolors of both molds. And then they dragged the mold out for
another go, having used up all the original Seeker names, but for once
they
didn't go with Sunstorm for the next version.
Packaging:
Color Swaps:
Paint Apps:
Other Notes:
Overall:
DECEPTICON: GALVATRON
Altmode: Tank
Function: Emperor of Destruction
Weapon: Particle Cannon
Previous Name Use: G1, RiD, Armada, Energon, Cybertron
Previous Mold Use: None
Motto: "It's a pity you Autobots die so easily, or I might get some sense
of satisfaction!"
Arrogant, powerful and ruthless, GALVATRON has emerged to seize
control
of the scattered DECEPTICON forces. He has formed [sic, should be
"taken"]
what was once a loose confederation of assassins and warlords and turned
it
into an army capable of threatening the entire universe. Rumors abound,
but
no one knows where he came from; they know only that he arrived, and
swiftly
crushed all opposition to his rule. Some DECEPTICONS hope another leader
powerful enough to challenge him will emerge, but most are too afraid of
him
to even hope for someone better.
STR 10 INT 9 SPD 9 END 10 RNK 9 COUR 9 FRB 9 SKL 10 Avg 9.375
Speedy little tank, eh? Odd that his Rank is only 9, though. Sorta
implies that he's acting as a front for someone else. That might explain
why
he's only a Deluxe (other than not wanting two Ultra gray armored vehicles
on
the shelves at the same time), as we'll see an Ultra or larger super
Megatron
or something later.
Yeah, yeah...I know it's kinda pointless speculation on my part, as
future toys have been laid out far enough in advance that the odds of
there
being any "true leader" figure in the 2008-9 range are slim to none, but
even
pointless speculation can be amusing.
This is the first Galvatron to be made first AS Galvatron since G1.
Every other Galvatron has been the go-to recolor for Megatron, ever since
they decided that "Devil Megatron" wouldn't fly in America during RiD (Car
Robots had Gigatron upgrade into Devil Gigatron, RiD had Megatron upgrade
to
Galvatron). The next three series followed the pattern and had Megatron
get
recolored into Galvatron, and I wouldn't be surprised if the movies
eventually do it too. At least Megatron's upgrade in TF:A was still named
Megatron. :)
Packaging: Two twist-ties hold the tank into the blister, a third
holds
the missile in. No rubber bands. The rocket pack at the rear right of
the
turret is folded down horizontally, but should be bent up by 90 degrees
for
tank mode.
Comes with the first version Animated/Universe catalog.
Vehicle Mode: A semi-realistic tank with some sci-fi elements (mainly
the energy cannon) but not tightly based on any actual tank that I
recognize
(The TF Wiki thinks it's close to the Israeli Merkava, which doesn't
contradict my previous point since I'd never heard of that model prior to
checking the wiki for G1 colors scheme info). The main body is 5"
(12.5cm)
long and 3.5" (9cm) wide, 2.5" (6cm) wide if you ignore the rockets
strapped
to (well, molded onto) the rear sides. The turret is 5.5" (14cm) long
with
the missile loaded, and the center of rotation is 3" (8cm) back from the
front. The whole thing is pegged together pretty extensively and is
fairly
stable, but the turret is liable to pop off.
Mainly the same "feldgrau" (thanks Susp!) color as Onslaught, with
some
silver accents and bits of safety orange. The main gun's barrel is clear
orange plastic (very strong UV glow), shaped like the G1 Galvatron's
animation model's cannon. The trigger is safety orange (also a very
strong
UV glow) with a sort of shape at the top that might be thought of as a
hatch
if it weren't right on top of the barrel. Safety orange is also used for
the
strut on the rocket pod. A bit of Decepticon Purple (moderate UV glow)
plastic is visible at the back of the turret. Like most tank toys, it
rolls
on four little wheels...and these are made of clear orange plastic but
badly
painted safety orange. Not only is the pain job mottled, but it also
prevents the wheels from rolling well. The rest of the tank is feldgrau
(greenish gray armor color) plastic, slight UV glow.
Silver is the main paint color in this mode, found on the barrel, the
front "fenders", vents on the sides and on the center of the turret. The
treads are painted black, and a black "GALV-25" (Galvatron 25th
Anniversary,
perhaps? Despite this not being a 25th Anniversary line toy, and
Galvatron
being only 22 years old now) is stencilled on both sides of the turret.
No
Decepticon logo visible in this mode.
A black or brown wash would have been nice to bring out all the
molded
details on the toy. One nice touch is a set of folding panels at the
front
and back between the treads to hide the robot kibble. The only robot bit
visible other than from below is one hand at the back of the turret.
The tank rolls along...badly. The turret turns, but is prone to
popping
off. It does not elevate at all. The rocket pod at the right rear of the
turret can be swung around a bit, but this can make the hand emerge.
Walker Tank Mode: There's been some speculation about the weird feet
things that form the caps of his backpack in robot mode. Some think it's
simply an attempt to get his silhouette more in line with the G1 animation
model without having to make the vehicle mode look odd (I don't think it
does
a good job of evoking either animated or toy versions). The other main
school of thought is that the TakaraTomy designers decided to add in a
legged
tank mode, but Hasbro didn't care for it and left it out of the
instructions.
Getting the front "feet" out is fairly simple, but the rear ones can
only be pulled out if you pull apart the rear flanks some first. The rear
feet are a bit taller than the front feet, so the lack of elevation in the
main gun is made worse. You might want to just flip out the front ones to
let the tank point up a little and leave it at that.
Transformation: The front two thirds of each tread unit unfold to
become
the legs, although they're liable to pop apart in a few ways. There's a
lot
of twisting and folding to get the lower legs into shape. The rear thirds
of
the treads become a backpack, with the "feet" positioning fairly
arbitrarily,
and looking at both the animated model and the G1 toy I really can't see
what
they're supposed to look like if it's an homage. The backpack pegs
together
okay, but you kinda need the instructions to figure out where everything's
supposed to go, since the package photos hide the backpack and it doesn't
really look strongly LIKE anything.
The turret folds around fairly cleverly into the right arm, with the
side halves sliding together into shoulder armor once the cannon has been
pulled out. The left arm is folded up under the rear of the tank. A
block
folds over the top of the shoulder to cover the joint, but doesn't lock
into
position on its tabs like it seems intended to. A small gray hook folds
up
from its top, as shown in the instructions but not on the package photos.
The head slides up from inside the chest by means of a slider
connected
to a panel that folds down to form the front of the chest. There's some
nifty molded details inside the chest, only visible during transformation.
Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall, with a color scheme that owes more to
the
animation model than the original toy, but deviates from the animation
model
in some odd ways as well (such as the feet being purple instead of gray,
and
the knees being gray rather than purple). There's a lot of little bits of
safety orange, but that's in keeping with the original toy to some extent.
The purple is darker than the more violet color seen in the cartoon (and
on
the 2005 Japanese re-release of the G1 toy).
The overall look is an odd mix of influences. The head and torso are
very close to the G1 animation mold, although the purple is too dark. The
right arm has a turret-shaped shoulder that's new for this version. The
kneecaps are hexagonal like Energon Megatron/Galvatron (and as I stated at
the time - http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Energon/Super2
- that mold was
actually made to be Galvatron and "recolored in advance" as Megatron).
The head, torso, pelvis front, most of the left shoudler, the hands,
the
right forearm outside, upper arm inside, toes and lower ****nguards are a
darkish Decepticon Purple plastic. Safety orange plastic is on most of
the
hinges and joints and on the buttplate. The cannon barrel on the right
arm
and the head's lightpiping are clear orange plastic. The rest is
feldgrau,
including that odd little hook on the left shoulder top.
The face, abdominal border and kneecaps are silver painted, and a
silver
Decepticon symbol is printed on the left shoulder. The four abdominal
windows are painted red. That's pretty much it for dedicated robot mode
paint. Some purple paint around the silver of the kneecaps would have
been
nice, and some have already done that touchup.
The right hand is in an open position, slightly clawed. The right
hand
is a fist, with no peg hole. The waist is really skinny, as if they
intended
to have the joint collapse into the torso during transformation but had to
cancel that early in the process. The knee joints are rather high up on
the
legs, his thighs barely an inch long. A big chunk of his deckplate armor
forms a skirt in back.
A very restricted ball joint forms the neck, while the waist is a
swivel. (Take as given that no joints on this toy are ratcheting.) The
right shoulder is the turret peg swivel, which pops apart easily. Also,
the
turret bits get in the way of the backpack and vice versa. The left
shoulder
is a ball joint that's going to need stiffening up with glue or nail
polish.
Both arms have upper arm swivels, but in slightly different places. The
right elbow is a single hinge, the left elbow is a double hinge. No real
articultion on the right wrist, the left can swing down on its
transformation
joint but can't turn. Universal joint hips, disc-style swivels in each
thigh
like those found in Prowl. Hinge knees a bit too high to do much good.
There's swivels below the knees, but these are transformation joints and
are
pegs that REALLY easily pop out. The toes have a lot of transformation
joints involved, but there's almost no practical articulation.
There's a huge problem in this mode of nothing holding together
properly. The backpack comes unpegged. Joints pop apart. The looser
joints
cause it to sag due to upper body weight unless you're really careful in
posing. It might be possible to fix most of these problems, but the
design
is simply FAR too ambitious for TakaraTomy's ability to manage quality
control and tolerances.
Overall: Really needed the budget of a Voyager or Ultra to work. It
feels like a downsized bootleg of a design that was never intended for
Deluxe
size. Points for ambition, but near-total fail on execution. The vehicle
came out pretty well, but the robot mode just needs so much more budget to
work.
Dave Van Domelen, really hopes they don't reveal that Classics
Megatron
turned into Galvatron. It'd be nice to have a totally separate character
for
once.
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