Transformers: Titans Return Galvatron

So, for Titans Return everyone is a Headmaster. While the original *-masters figures contained different types –Targetmaster, Powermasters and Headmasters – the 2016 version boils everything down to a transforming robot who becomes the head of the larger, established Cybertronian. That’s fine, as the *-master gimmick is pretty dopey in general, and streamlining it to only one type broadens the play pattern for the entire line, rather than having it separated by incompatible types. Sure, a Headmaster figure could wield a Targetmaster weapon partner; but if you’re a Powermaster engine, pfft. Get to steppin’. The wide reach of this gimmick is a little concerning, as it spreads to characters like Galvatron who have no history of being *-masters, AND specifically in the case of Galvatron in the IDW comics, really, really hate this kind of augmented Cybertronian, viewing them as abominations trying to compensate for some weakness that needs to be purged from the Cybertronian race. Man, Galvatron was so much nicer when he was just a crazed Megatron upgrade: when they try to make him a totally separate and distinct character, they just focus on the crazy.

Original and revised.

Building a better cannon.

But, here he is, Titans Return Galvatron, Headmaster and all. This is a really, really gorgeous figure, and has been from the very first official images. He is a marvelous deep purple, apparently going for the US G1 animation colors, and I think it works terrifically. The other major color is grey. A light grey, like a typical plastic grey, that makes the toy look and feel unfinished. Again, if the goal was G1 screen accuracy, then they totally got it. But given the bland appearance of the grey parts, and the feel of the plastic in general over the last four or five years, it’s not a contrast. But taken as whole, Galvatron looks excellent: my issue with the grey parts is almost exclusively if you focus on them alone, purposely removing them from the context of the overall toy. On the whole, this is a winner in the looks department.

Galvatron follows the trend that all of the larger than Deluxe class figures are following for the line: having a third mode for Titanmaster interaction. Since the robot head becomes a small robot, there has to be something for it to do when the large figure isn’t in robot mode. Galvatron retains, or I suppose reacquires, his classic cannon mode, which again apes the G1 screen model excellently, and adds a jet mode. Let’s look at them individually.

Bad comedy.

Cannon mode is great. I’m making this statement completely from memory, but the rear of the cannon was always short and kind of stumpy, but maybe ‘compact’ would be a better way of putting it. The cannon can be positioned so that it’s pointing forward or so that it takes up a three-point stance, made through the actual legs and treads and the back end of the cannon. Some people have argued that the cannon barrel, Galvatron’s robot weapon, is too large, maybe even comically so, but it certainly fits the profile of the cannon mode. The whole piece pops off and attaches to the front of the cannon.

The primary cannon mode is hampered by the underhanging cockpit part for the third mode, a Energon Skorpanok or Cybertron Megatron: the kind where the legs get repositioned a little bit and you look at the toy from a different angle and think, “Yeah, I can see it.” If someone posted a picture of this on a fan site and was like “Hey, look at this fanmode!” you’d probably comment and say it was neat, but you’d not be in any hurry to try it yourself. I understand it, and it works and is good for it is, but it’s not really a selling point or mode I’m excited about utilizing. Speaking of fan modes, it is possible to half transform the figure into the G1 third mode, that of a blaster, by making use of this cockpit part as the blaster handle. Kinda cute, and no worse than the jet mode.

kinda-jet. It’s not a terrible vehicle mode, but it is one cut from the same cloth of toys like

Robot mode is good looking, but has some issues. One of these is the elbows, but that’s related to the transformation scheme. The robot arms fold over themselves to form the legs of the cannon mode, so there is a separate piece that connects the bicep and the forearm. It’s like a double hinge part, and it means that no matter how you position the arm, other than straight at the side, it looks bad. This can be alleviated by repositioning the bicep mounted tread part,  but that usually looks bad as well. It’s a necessary issue for transformation, but it is ultimately compounded

by the second problem.

The mask gap is visible from pretty much all angles.

Galvatron’s Titanmaster Nucleon is a colorless lump of grey plastic with red eyes. But the robot mode sports a purple crown and facemask. This piece is not attached to the Titanmaster, but rather flips out of a panel in the chest. What it means functionally is that the head cannot turn, so Galvatron is stuck looking perpetually forward, having to turn his entire torso to look at the person standing next to him. What’s really worse though is that there is a clearly visible separation between the Titanmaster/face and this faceplate part, like the robot face is looking out through a window. The robot face does not always line up with the faceplate part well, so the face is often misaligned and obscured. This problem further limits posing options, and frankly the straight on look is not that great for Galvatron because of this head issue. I think that this will also impede the headswapping gimmick of the line, as the face on the Titanmaster needs to fit inside the frame of the mask on the robot body. And it appears that each Titanmaster figure grants some upgrade or ability to the larger robot – in this instance, Nucleon allows Galvatron to absorb more damage and repair himself while in combat – but I think if you were to go for that angle, you could always just store the faceplate mask part inside the robot chest, as it is not required to be deployed at all in transformation.

The transformation does this thing with the legs. The back of the legs are panels on swinging hinges that need to be moved out of the way to collapse the legs and feet for cannon mode, and they just rest underneath the legs in either alt mode. That’s it. They don’t open to fold parts away and then close over them. They just lay underneath the bottom of the rear of the cannon. They can’t be closed in cannon mode, because the legs tab together (poorly) to form the back of the cannon. It’s as if a step is missing, or there was something overlooked in the design stage where the team forgot about these panels. It’s not really something that impacts the figure, either in cannon or robot mode, as the panels mercifully prevent the robot from have huge, hollow legs; it’s just an unfinished part of the transformation. The figure feels very light in hand, but that it due to the empty legs: because the thighs and feet collapse into them for transformation, they obviously can’t be filled in or be solid pieces. They do look very bulky, but they are not. This is not a complaint so much as just something that I find to be strange: they don’t get in the way of anything, and they aren’t really visible since they’re underneath the body, but it is an odd thing.

Again, some people think the cannon barrel is too large, but in robot mode, I think it looks good. It’s a big, menacing weapon like a Decepticon command should have, or in the case of the IDW portrayal, the kind of weapon a self-noble sociopath would have. It plugs in to the top of the bicep, another limitation to poseability. He’s big and sturdy looking, and looks like Galvatron in a very solid, very “Classics” kind of way. Overall, I really like the look of him in robot mode and cannon mode. And he looks good with Combiner Wars Cyclonus, and both of them being Voyagers means that poor Scourge always has to be in the front row of the class picture.