Energon Galvatron

Prelude: Yeah, I’ve reviewed this figure a few times now. I did the original Super-Class Megatron from Energon eleven years ago, the Ultra-Class Megatron a few months after that, and the Superlink Galvatron General version six years ago. What can I say? I really like this figure in either size class.

Robot Mode: Galvatron’s robot mode is a beauty to behold. Big, powerful-looking, and being a great homage to the look of the original Galvatron, he looks every bit the evil space robot leader. Thanks to the big wings on his back he is almost as wide as he is tall and the dark purple paintjob, accented with metallic red, orange, black, and grey just looks great on him. Articulation is good, only hampered by the massive proportions of this figure, and the detail work is pretty nifty as well.

Galvatron is equipped with multiple weapons. He has those big orange cannons on his shoulders (I love shoulder guns), plus he can use his tank drone clipped to his arm as a big cannon. Turning the tank drone around, you can find an opening for the sword blade Galvatron has stored behind his head. I would have preferred a hand-held sword here, such as the Energon Saber that came with Galvatron General, but it still looks pretty good. And for additional effect you can unfold the wings on Galvatron’s back into hypermode, giving an even more spectacular visual.

Overall there is nothing wrong with this gorgeous robot mode at all. From today’s standpoint the articulation could be a bit better still, but I really can’t find any other fault here. Two thumbs up!

Alternate Mode: Galvatron transforms into a huge science fiction style space bomber. While the aerodynamics are highly questionable, the thing just looks great and sufficiently alien. It’s also liberally covered in weapons. Apart from Galvatron’s shoulder guns, which are now pointing forward, and the robot head turned weapon pod on the underside, there are multiple weapon ports built into the wings (even more becoming visible when you unfold the wings into hypermode) and for additional firepower you can attach Galvatron’s tank drone on top. The bomber has a working landing gear and many, many details to discover. So bottom line: a gorgeous science fiction style mode. No complaints at all, except maybe that the robot head could have been concealed a tiny little bit better.

Partner / Add-On: Galvatron comes with a tank drone that looks like the tank mode of his Armada incarnation. It doesn’t transform, but it can either operate independently, attach to his arm as either a cannon or a grip for his sword, or attach to his bomber mode. It also contains the figure’s sound module. So all in all a useful, versatile add-on to the figure. Whether it was intended in-fiction for this drone to actually be Megatron/Galvatron’s former body was never explicitly stated.

Remarks: In the Unicron Trilogy Megatron became Galvatron several times, always switching back to the name Megatron in time for the next series to begin. In Energon it happened near the end of the series, after Unicron had been destroyed for the third(?) time. Megatron, guided by the spirit / essence / spark / whatever of Unicron journeyed underneath the surface of Cybertron and found a convenient pool of SUPER Energon. Immersing himself within, he got his latest power boost, new coloring, and renamed himself Galvatron once again. No, it doesn’t really make much sense, just roll with it.

The Energon Megatron/Galvatron mold, be it in Ultra- or Super-Class size, is, to me, one of the best figures out of the entire Unicron Trilogy. Which one to pick as the best of the lot, though? Hard to say. Generally I like the figure a tiny tad better in Ultra-size, mostly for scale compatibility, but I have to admit that I like this figure’s paint job here the best of them all. So my perfect Energon Galvatron would be the Ultra-sized mold with the Super-Class paintjob. Either way, though, this is a brilliant figure. I recommend owning at the very least one of variants and multiples don’t hurt, either.

Rating: A