To get it out of the way, Galvatron is the worst figure in the new Titans Return line.

I would go as far as to say this figure may be more at home in the Fall of Cybertron line.

The two vehicle modes are fine. The cannon looks great but everything figuratively falls apart in robot mode.

Speaking of the cannon here it is





The headmaster looks like Megatron



Transformation to jet mode is very simple and it too looks quite decent even if you have to squint to believe it's a jet.




Transformation from either vehicle mode to robot is very simple.



The robot mode itself looks fine.



Add the head and it looks ok, a bit of paint would have helped.



Now is where everything goes wrong. The white head can rotate 360. However the Galvatron crown deploys from the chest via a spring loaded gimmick.



This crown is barely capably of moving 20 degrees in either direction. This s down to being restricted by the sides of the chest cavity.

This wouldn't be so bad if not for the other major problem. His arms.

His arms have the tread attached to them at the underneath of the arm. Also no wrist swivel meaning no fist clenched cannon firing pose.

His bicep swivel would allow for this to happen if not for the other major problem. His cannon.

The cannon attaches to the upper arm and is so massive that he can't actually hold it in front of him without moving the shoulder pad all the way up. See below.



Now if you do move the shoulder pad upwards to allow the cannon to be held facing forwards you create another problem. He then can't turn the cannon outwards without hitting the shoulder pad.

You can fiddle with the various parts to get it facing forwards without lifting the shoulder pad but if you try to move the arms a few times it friction dislodges the cannon.

It's a shame because the figure itself looks good. Even has ankle tilts too. But the arms really kill this figures posability and enjoyability.

 

I specifically remember seeing a demonstration where the cannon folded specifically so the shoulder pad doesn't collide with it, and can be folded back on top of it to point forward without issue. Likewise in the video I posted in the Sentinel thread, it looked like the head could turn at least 30-45 degrees each direction.

Also, not to be apologetic on behalf of the toy but... under what circumstance would you need the cannon pointed all the way out to the side like in that last pic? Seems like the cannon coliding in that circumstance is forgivable considering, well, that's just what happens when you arm a figure with a cannon like that.

EDIT: Reposting the head video for consistency's sake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Dz-0nSKm0

EDIT2: Okay so it's a facebook video showing the cannon thing, so I don't know if this'll work or not.

https://www.facebook.com/unicroncom/videos/10153642000559912/

So yeah, you should be able to point the cannon all the way out to the side with both the butt of the gun and shoulder pad down, should you ever feel you need to.

Pretty much my only gripe with this fig is the hollow arms with no covers, but luckily the purple plastic seems dark enough to not make it very noticable.

 

Thanks to another poster, I found the Toy Dojo review of this figure and I'm impressed that he has covers for the back of the legs and that the "jet" actually does have a bit more to the transformation.

It really feels like the Headmaster thing was a late addition to the design (I know we saw the concept art which depicted him as a triple changer and so forth), but he's one of the few figures that has room for a full head where the crown goes, which should mean a plethora of third party kits.

Personally this feels very much like a YMMV figure. Everything I see doesn't scream perfection, but I'm still very much looking forward to getting Takara's Galvatron.

 

I hope third parties find a way to replace the entire headmaster/crown assembly nonsense with a normal head that can flip down into the chest cavity.

 

This would look so much better if there were purple paint on the headmaster so that we didn't have to use the dumb crown

I wonder if the takara version is painted

 

That whole head debacle is such a shame. I mean make it a headmaster if you need to, I dont really mind as such. But if youre going to, at least make it so that the (complete) head can still turn (like most other figures in the line).

The fact that the gun sits on the top of the arm instead of the side also kind of bugs me.

This is all in all quite disappointing because I was really looking forward to this figure based on the early pics.

 

we have so many seperate titan masters why not a larger version for voyager figures

 

Thanks for the review.

Still looking forward to the figure.

Regardless of flaws.

 

Because then they wouldn't be compatible with the seats in toys and the other accessories across the range.

The idea here is any Titanmaster can be used with any other toy.

Actually the unadorned head looks about the right size here, what's needed is one with details closer matching Galvatron.

 

You may have just saved this figure for me in just one post.

My wallet does NOT thank you.  

 

Wow, and this was one I was looking forward to...
Comparing the paint apps on the final version to the one in the videos Split Lip posted reveal what a shame this release turned out to be. I'm also completely floored by that stupid crest/chest gimmick.. and not in a good way. Really, what were they thinking?
The toy itself seems to be 90% of the way there. All the iconic elements have been touched upon, yet I haven't seen ONE photo that achieves a decent pose. Really disappointed in this.

 

I think the head feature is actually pretty cool. Kids will love it.

 

Yeah, this guy looks pretty great to me. I'm trying not to let the whole head gimmick ruin it for, because the rest of the figure looks pretty damn spot-on

Hopefully a Third Party company will come out with a new head for him that doesn't require the use of the flip up crown to actually look like Galvatron

 

Toy Dojo sold me on this figure with their review, he still looks amazing and to be a fun figure. And hey if I don't like something about his robot mode his cannon mode is all kinds of badass.

 

I would've liked it if his cannon was on the side of his arm instead of in front of it but oh well.

That sucks about the head gimmick but that won't stop me from buying it. I'm still looking forward to this even with its flaws.

 

Same here. If I'm feeling particularly courageous, I might paint the head part of Nucleon purple and then cut off the Galvatron mask and glue it onto Nucleon.

 

Thanks for the review, it helps to know the flaws when in hand. Shame to hear about the mask and arms being lackluster. Still looks like a decent figure though with possible fixes.

How tall is it in centimeters?

 

I'd like to know if it's possible to move the face closer to the mask, so it doesn't look so sunk in. Otherwise I think the robot looks great.

 

I wonder how hard it would be to cut the helmet off and just glue it straight onto the head, bypassing the cockpit feature in favour of a perfect head. I mean, I think it looks fine personally, and a clever spin on the gimmick, but maybe that would be a suitable alternative for some?

It can turn. It can turn exactly as much as Leader Magnus.

 

Yeah, I was wondering the same. It could possibly even retain the headmaster, only with a heavier backpack.