Kingdom Galvatron

Prelude: Behold: Galvatron! He who leads the minions! He of the big orange cannon! He whose madness can infect entire planets! He with the shoulder thing! You know the shoulder thing, don’t you? Everyone knows the shoulder thing! It has become such a huge thing that to talk of mighty Galvatron is to talk of the shoulder thing! So yes, we shall mention the shoulder thing as we review the mighty Galvatron! There is more, though, to mighty Galvatron than the shoulder thing. Behold: Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: One of the first things many people complained about (even before the shoulder thing, I believe) was that Galvatron was packed as a Leader-class figure while only being the size of a Voyager. Well, Voyager-class figures masquerading as Leader-class figures has kind of become a thing in the War for Cybertron line, but Galvatron is definitely not a culprit. While his height is that of a (large) Voyager-class figure, he is also very broad, quite sturdy, and has a pretty high parts count, so in my book he fully counts as a Leader-class. Never mind that being “only” as tall as a Voyager makes him more in scale with the rest of the line.

Okay, let’s briefly touch on the shoulder thing. Most Galvatrons out there have switched shoulder pieces, meaning that the shoulders hang a bit too low. You can ignore this (easily done, I believe, as I doubt I’d have noticed it if not for the endless onslaught of complaints about it), you can simply turn the shoulder pieces around and ignore the now visible silver stud, or you can go the hard way and switch the shoulder pieces. There are tutorials on how to this all over Youtube, never fear. Personally I’ll leave the shoulders as is, as it’s really just a very, very, very minor thing.

The robot easily pulls off the classic Galvatron look, no problem. He has the big orange gun on his arm (upper or lower arm, your choice), he has the big boots with the knee pads of doom, and he has those huge neck pieces right and left of his head. The only thing I’m kind of missing a bit is that button on his crotch piece the original figure had for its sound effects. That’s just nostalgia speaking, though. Overall, Galvatron looks great and is quite clearly Galvatron, so no complaints.

Articulation is fabulous, including double elbow joints, twisting hip, twisting wrists, the whole nine yards. The only thing that’s slightly bothersome are those tank tracks on the back of his arms, which get in the way sometimes, but apart from that: no complaints. The detailing also looks very cool and I don’t even mind the battle damage deco on his torso, forearms and feet. It’s subtle and nicely done, so it’s not as jarring as it was on some of the Siege figures.

Finally, I really like the head mold. It’s Galvatron, no doubt about it, and with a facial expression that can be anything between a stern look and a smirk, depending on the light. Very nicely done. So bottom line for the robot mode: I love this guy. Shoulders and all.

Alternate Mode: The original G1 Galvatron was a triple changer, though the only time you ever saw his gun mode was in a single issue of the Marvel Comics. Titans Return Galvatron was also a triple changer, which was not the main reason the figure wasn’t that great, but didn’t help much, either. Kingdom Galvatron, thankfully, is not a triple changer. He focuses exclusively on one alternate mode, namely Galvatron’s famous cannon mode.

The transformation is a bit more intricate than with the G1 figure, but it’s still essentially the robot going down on all fours and shooting out of his head. That said, the cannon looks very nice and is easily recognizable as a cannon or futuristic artillery piece. Very nicely done. The cannon can roll across the floor and... yeah, that’s pretty much it. It’s a cannon, it doesn’t really do much more than that. But quite a nice cannon, I must say. So thumbs up, a nice cannon mode.

Accessories: Apart from his big orange blaster, Galvatron has some more accessories with him. One is a Matrix of Leadership on a chain, which is at this point a semi-regular accessory for a Galvatron figure, I guess. The Matrix can be removed from the chain and Galvatron can sort of hold it up (jam it between his closed fists). Fun side note: he can also wear the Matrix chain in his cannon mode, there is even a tab to slot it on.

The other accessory is a pair of guns that resemble Galvatron’s space ship from the Movie and third season, the Revenge. The two blasters can combine into a single bigger weapon, can store on Galvatron’s back in robot mode, and enhance his cannon mode. A nice little extra, but nothing I would have needed.

Remarks: Depending on the medium, Galvatron is Megatron’s future self, a time traveler, a barbarian from Cybertron’s ancient past, a complete madman, a cross-dimensional agent of Unicron, or some combination of all that. Kingdom ticked most of those boxes, once again making Galvatron the future version of Megatron, who has travelled back in time to escape from the yoke of his master and acquire the Allspark as a weapon to regain his freedom. Spoilers: he fails and is gobbled up by Unicron. Before that, though, he had some pretty good scenes.

I was a bit skeptical after seeing the first pictures of Galvatron, but having the figure in hand, it has fully won me over. Sure, there is the shoulder thing, but personally I am not bothered by that at all. The figure is good, solid, and perfectly portrays Galvatron as we saw him in the third season of the G1 cartoon (and the more recent Netflix series, of course). I could have gone without the Revenge blasters, but that’s just about the only thing. So bottom line: an excellent figure, possibly the best official depiction of the character yet. Just be aware: there could be a shoulder thing!

Rating: A-

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