Decepticon City Commander Galvatron
Function: City Commander
Motto: "My power is everything, defeat is absurd."
Galvatron is a cold-hearted robotic villain. Determined to lead the Decepticons.
Possesses enough strength to pulverize an Autobot into scrap metal.
Unconquerable. Arrogant and compassionless. Plots against his allies, thus
weakening his position. In robot mode, he carries a laser that emits
chemically-produced, direct-current electricity.
STR...10; INT...9; SPD...9; END...10; RNK...9; CRG...9; FPR...9; SKL...10
Many of the characters in the 1986 animated Transformers the Movie were designed
by Filipino illustrator Floro Dery, continuing his role from the first 2 seasons
of the original Transformers cartoon. Unlike Seasons 1 and 2, the majority of
the cast were not going to be based on existing Diaclone / Microchange figures
so Floro Dery designed all new character models for the likes of Cyclonus, Hot
Rod, Kup, Ultra Magnus and Galvatron.
|
|
Galvatrons Initial Design by Floro Dery in watercolour
|
Incidentally Ultra Magnus' character model was not used as Hasbro opted to use
the exiting Diaclone Powered Convoy toy, leaving the initial design unused.
However the design was simplified and used in the Season 2 episode "War Dawn" as
Orion Pax (Optimus Prime's original form). Floro Dery created the animation
model first and then these were sent to Hasbro & Takara. In this
interview he talks about how he came up with the design of Unicron.
|
|
Galvatron's approved character model. Note the similarities with the
actual toy
|
Galvatron's initial complicated design is very similar to the finalised
character model with the crown and shoulder pads being quite different although
similar to the final toy version. The initial design was simplified, approved
and then sent to Hasbro (design above); it was this design that was the basis of
the toy design which was developed by Hideaki Yoke. It is the cannon mode which has colours very similar to the
final toy model with the grey colour on the back of the canon mode and the rear
stand.
 |
| Wooden block model of Galvatron, note the thicker handgun top right |
 |
| Resin prototype very close to the final version |
The robot mode cannon / cannon barrel is a smokey grey colour which is seen
in the non transformable mock up of the Galvatron toy which was also shown
within the 1986 pre-Toyfair catalogue.
|
|
1986 Pre-Toy Fair Catalogue. This is the non transformable Galvatron
pictured above but with added stickers. Source:
TFWiki.net
|
It is usual for character models to drastically change long after potential
toys have gone into production leading to many inconsistencies between the
final toy and what is seen on the screen.
|
|
Galvatron, scanned and edited from my G1 box.
|
Galvatron's box art is also coloured slightly different from the toy which
is seemingly based on the non transformable prototype of Galvatron seen in
the 1986 Toy Fair catalogue (but with the corrected colours for he arm
cannon). In between Hasbro & Takara creating the toy design for
Galvatron, the animation studio Sunbow amended Galvatron's character model
again which is the design seen on the screen. The helmet was modified, the
shoulder pads are now upright and attached to the body and the knee design
is hexagonal rather than rounded and not to mention that the colour scheme
for Galvatron was now all purple. The Marvel comics design on the other hand
used Floro Derys design for the body and included an amended head which
closer resembled Sunbow's final design.
|
|
Galvatron's final animation model design
|
|
|
Galvatron from the Marvel comics
|
Another inconsistency with the G1 Galvatron toy is his background - in his
bio it states he is "determined to lead the Decepticons" and his rank is 9.
This would indicates Galvatron is not the Decepticon leader and is simply
the City Commander, an equivalent to Ultra Magnus. There is no mention in
his bio that Galvatron was once Megatron, again as the the backstory being
used for the Movie was not finalised. Additionally Galvatron was scaled
against Ultra Magnus as it was not known at the time that Rodimus Prime
would the new leader, indeed Rodimus Prime's bio states his function is
"Protector". Considering Floro Dery designed Galvatron with an arm cannon
like Megatron's, you would assume it was envisaged Galvatron was an updated
Megatron at the time.
Things are slightly different in the Japanese continuity, although the toy's
tech spec still has a rank of 9 and his function is "City Commander" on the
back of the box and character card while his function on the front of the
box is "Fortress Staff Officer" (this was changed to "New Emperor of
Destruction" for the 2005 reissue), the bio states that Galvatron is the new
Destron leader. Additionally when the Japanese only episode entitled
Scramble City was released on video in April 1986, it was followed up by a
"non canon" episode, again entitled Scramble City. This episode featured the
transformer toys and was animated by the stop motion technique. The episode
featured both Megatron and Galvatron as separate robots with Megatron
ordering around Galvatron. This episode however was simply a toy advert.
Although Transformers the Movie was not released in Japan until 1989, a
voice over at the beginning of the Transformers 2010 series (Transformers
Season 3) which aired in November 1986 explained the events of the movie
including Megatron's transformation into Galvatron.
Galvatron comes boxed in Cannon mode and the box also advertises a third
hand gun mode which is never seen in the animated series. The cannon mode is
very static and there is no articulation in this mode whatsoever however the
cannon is on wheels and can roll.
A 9v battery fits within Galvatron's torso and powers flashing lights and 3
individual laser sounds which can be changed with a switch on the back of
the figure. In cannon mode there is a black button (on the robot mode waist)
which you press to activate the lights and sounds. There is a light within
Galvatron's head where the translucent orange barrel connects to so this
makes the orange barrel glow when activated. Unfortunately with Galvatron
the sound effects will degrade over time.
Sound Effects:
Hand gun mode is a simple transformation from the cannon mode, you basically
pull the large handle down and there is a red trigger to press for the
lights and sounds.
Transformation to robot mode is basic and easy. Galvatron stands as tall as
Ultra Magnus in robot mode and towers above Rodimus Prime. Galvatron is also
one of the most articulated G1 figures with bendable knees which are not
part of any transformation and poseable shoulders. As well as his arm cannon
Galvatron has a hand gun as well which was not seen in the animated series
nor is really necessary considering the large arm cannon.
Galvatron was reissued in 2005 by Takara with a cartoon accurate deco and
his eyes had been slightly remoulded. This Galvatron was also altered to
take x2 AAA batteries instead of one 9v battery. Instead of three annoying
80's laser sounds, this Galvatron has 5 phrases from the original voice
actor Seizo Kato:
- "Ha ha ha ha! You fools!";
- "Hrr - Crush the Cybertrons!";
- "Destron Army, transform!";
- "Grr, I'll destroy you!";
- "You're useless!"
The switch on Galvatrons back alternates Galvatron's sounds between the 5
voice clips to a laser blast sound and then the transformation sound
effect.
A second exclusive Galvatron, named Galvatron II was released the following
year in the original toy colours. The figure comes with additional stickers
to emulate the sparks from Studio Ox's well known illustration of Galvatron
battling Ultra Magnus atop Metroplex. He comes with the same voice phrases
but one, instead of saying "Destron army, Transform!", he says "Will you
join me?". These voice clips were also reused for Masterpiece MP-36
Megatron.
|
|
My MIB Galvatron (left) pictured with my original Galvatron (right)
from Christmas 1987.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment