Galvatron Now in Delicious Truck Flavoring Transformers Age of Extinction Generations Voyager Class Item No.: Asst. A6513 No. A7947 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: Projectile, cannon Action Feature: Transforms from Freightliner truck to robot Retail: $24.99 Availability: June 2014 Other: M4 Series #004
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Precious few Galvatron toys are made of wholly new molds - a pretty steady clip of Megatron toys from roughly 2001 through 2006 were repainted and renamed, a traditional upgrade and part of the Hasbro Transformers Dancing Lesson. This step was repeated for years, until 2008 broke tradition with an all-new and pretty awful deluxe mold for the mad tyrant. This new version comes from the movie, which I likely won't see, so let's just review it for what it is - and it's decent.

The Decepticon now transforms into a truck - a Freightliner, so says a tiny line on the box in the copyright segment. He stands a healthy 7-inches tall and is cast in mostly silver/grey plastic, with some gold bits and blue painted highlights. With tons of exposed wires, it reminds me a lot of the unshelled C-3PO from the first Star Wars prequel but with gobs more articulation. 23 points of meaningful articulation (plus 2 shoulder pads) give his arms and legs an exceptional amount of movement, and in many respects this is a better action figure than it is a transformer - he can stand well, he's nice and beefy, and he has no problems holding his gun. In many respects it's an excellent robot, even if the Megatron-esque look feels like something we sort of saw for the last movie. I like it a bunch, the range of movement is more than acceptable. The selection of plastic color, though, I don't care for - depending on the light, it's hard to see the very detailed face Hasbro and Takara-Tomy created for this guy. Lit correctly, it's quite impressive - but if it were just painted silver or molded in a different color, it'd just look cool. And that's always nice.

Transformation is so pleasant for a change. The "backpack" pops out to form the cabin, and you can stuff the arms in there and fold the head back. His legs become the back chunk of the truck, and everything actually panels into place nicely. The box boasts "Transformers in 17 steps!" but I don't think it's anywhere near that complex - it's simple, and I love it for that. This feels like a great happy medium between the kid line and the Generations collector lines of before - any kid could do this. No parts pop off in the process. The figure is incredibly articulated. The truck looks shockingly good, even if we've had a few black cab Nemesis Primes before. It's just so pleasant.

The truck wheels roll relatively well and for some reason it has a clear plastic, dark-tinted windshield. It serves no purpose because you really can't see through it, but it does prove Hasbro listened to fan complaints about "painted" versus "clear" windows. This strikes a balance, although I guess it didn't matter much for this particular toy. A few other painted details, like the bumper, turned out nicely and silver paint along the front is a bonus. It's fun to transform and I can say that about precious few of the bigger toys... usually there's an annoying bit in there somewhere, but there's nothing frustrating about this one. The rocket launcher plugs in the top of the truck, and can be held two different ways on the arm - either as an arm cannon (like Mega Man) or as a normal gun. Nice.

The figure is impressive because it's not impressive - it's just good. Sure, there are a few hollowed-out bits here and there but as these kinds toys go, this is just a generally great example of how to do everything right. Nothing overreaches, and nothing comes up short (maybe other than that grey plastic color). I like how it feels solid and I hope this means when it shows up in the great toy graveyards of suburbia - known to you non-believers as a Goodwill or a Savers - he'll probably not be missing any limbs or significant body parts. I've seen so many dismembered toys in those final resting places it'd make your head spin, assuming that this was not the missing piece in question. So get Galvatron for you or your kids, unless they hate the design for some reason. It's fun.

Sample courtesy Hasbro.

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