Well, they were both the City Commander according to their techspecs and the 86 catalogue, so it makes sense to rival them.

But the cartoon arguably did the same. Rodimus and Galvatron only fought twice in season 3: an actual fight in "Big Broadcast" and an off-screen fight in "Starscream's Ghost". Magnus and Galvatron fought more often than that. I think Hasbro pushed the cartoon to promote the more expensive Magnus toy over the cheaper Rodimus toy.

Another reason why Rodimus should've had a better toy.

 

I won’t comment on the comics as I have a very limited knowledge of them, but as a kid whose media exposure was the animated series and movie, I always felt that Magnus had the presence of an Autobot leader. I was very disappointed in his leadership stint being cut so short in the ‘86 movie. Hot Rod has always been better suited for the young, brash Autobot role and one that should’ve lasted longer than it actually did. I suppose I would’ve been fine with Rodimus Prime if they fleshed out his ascent late in Season 3 or during the Japanese continuity as opposed to cramming it in a 90-minute movie, but whatever.

 

Everyone has their opinion, so I’ll add how I remembered my first impression of toy Rodimus and Galvatron. I was about 12 years old and thought they sucked. Rodimus was so dumb and ugly , I never bothered to buy him. HotRod was awesome, but the simple skinny and sleepy eyed Rodimus looked awful. I did buy Galvatron because I wanted to have the big bad boss but he couldn’t compare to my Shockwave. Those tiny Galvatron hands.....ewww. It was this reason I stopped collecting TF. Comparing the ‘86 characters to the 84 release, I thought the quality was dipping and started to lose interest.

As to why they weren’t so good. This was the period when Hasbro used up all the Diaclone molds and started to design their own figures. They reverse designed the robot to alt modes from Floro Dery’s illustrations. This was their first attempt and it was a real hit or miss.

 

I always thought G1 Galvatron looked kinda dopey, with his barrel chest, constipated face (seriously give this guy some fiber), huge biceps and almost non-existent forearms. He looks less like a fierce villain and more like a target-practice dummy. And don’t even get me started on the alt-modes. Some of the worst along side the Sparkbots.

Rodimus Prime is a downgrade from his previous form, and the animators must have thought so too, as his show design is just a tweaked Hot Rod. He’s thin, lanky 80% of his alt-mode is just put aside for a goofy turret and only in the 80s would putting flames on a camper remotely be seen as ‘cool’.

 

Fun fact 2: There is some evidence that Galvatron was created by the same team\company as Shockwave. Both in design (electronics, leg construction etc) and that Galvatron, unlike all the other TFs of that era, was made in Korea (like Shockwave).

Yeah I totally agree with this, Hot Rod was a good character and deserved more airtime. Again he got this to an extent in other media thankfully.

 

You’re going to have to back that claim regarding Shockwave and Galvatron having been developed by the same people. That’s new to me.

 

Well that is why I said "some evidence", I'll see if I can dig anything else up. I will let you come to your own conclusions, but it is not a stretch that Hasbro upon taking over the designing for the movie toys, subcontracted this out to ToyCo (Shockwave's producers in Korea). It could just have been for manufacture, but as I say there are design elements.

Evidence for:

• The only other Transformer of that era made in Korea.
• The first "Hasbro design" that needed electronics.
• Also happened to be a laser gun
• Shared design features such as the sliding leg waist on a metal bracket (Which I don't recall ever being used elsewhere).

Evidence against: Nothing official from any source, could all be coincidence.

 

I don't think that's correct. Last year (or possible 2019), Takara showed off the wood working model and hardcopy of Galvatron. They probably wouldn't have the wood model if they didn't make it since it would be so early in the design process. Also I believe the patent for Galvatron had one of the Takara designers listed. By the same logic you could say Trypticon was designed by the same team who did Omega Supreme and Sky Lynx because they both have walking gimmicks and were made in Japan.

TheSpaceBridge had an image of the blueprint for Galvatron. He might be able to pull the name off it.

 

Fair enough, and I would like to see evidence either way. For arguments sake, I would say that if HasTak had involved Toyco in either design or manufacture they could\would still own all prototypes and rights etc.

To your point about the logic in linking Shockwave to Galvatron being similar to linking Omega Supreme, Sky Lynx etc, that could negate the point I made about Electronics, but possibly not of being "made in Korea". Why would HasTak choose to make one single figure in Korea?

 

Maybe for the sound electronics Korea was cheaper? With all other figures that were produced by other companies, they had the company name on them. Sky Lynx and Omega both have ToyBox on them and Shockwave has Toyco, etc. You would think if another company designed it, they would put their stamp on it. Quite frankly I can't say for certain either way and you very well could be correct.

 

pull legs
fold arms
attach the actual gun

actually:

pull rodimus
fold trailer
lift the gun

 

 

It's commonly accepted that after the release of Transformers branded Diaclone and Microchange toys, Hasbro responded to feedback and play testing when developing new toys. This resulted in larger, more robust and more colourful toys. This obviously alienated some who enjoyed the intricate style of the original products, but anyone with memories from that time can picture quite a few fragile or broken toys from kids who weren't that careful with them.

Another factor of course was affordability. It seems like Hasbro wanted to make the new hero of the film relatively accessible. Many of the examples you've given of subsequent releases were prohibitively expensive and not distributed in anywhere near the same quantities. Galvatron was clearly priced higher than Rodimus, as a result of electronics. Another unpopular inclusion considered detrimental to toy design by the community.

 

This is why I own the energon galvatron.. it feels like a much more fun figure for me than the original because of the gimmicks

 

Yeah, I saw the thread title and couldn't believe it. G1 Galvatron is an excellent figure by G1 standards. Rodimus is absolute trash though lol.

Seems plausible to me. Similar articulation, size, and electronics.