have u seen the fix…? It’s really not that bad

 

doesn't it involve heating the shoulders with hot water, popping the joints apart, swapping them around and then screwing them back into place (with different screws that aren't the original pins?) I saw an infographic style listing of a fix like that on some facebook page when I was looking for comparison shots of the correct/incorrect shoulders.

I don't like the idea of having to pry stuff apart when it's softened because if it snaps or warps in the process I'm out like $70 Cdn. It's not the same as fiddling around with a Deluxe bot or doing something low-risk like swapping heads on the Siege seeker bots to give Starscream the smirk face.

 

The "fix" is not damageless, results in major stress marks and warps (hidden under panels so some people think there's none), and loosens the shoulder joints. Some people already snapped off shoulder panels too.

So far from multiple confirmations, Target and the recent flash sale from Gamestop have the correct shoulders. I think someone reported seeing incorrect shoulders at Target once, but I get the feeling that was a 'return'.

The early RK Galvatrons also had the wrong shoulders. We had wrong shoulders from BBTS but eventually got a set of correct shoulders from Target.

 

Early “fix” adopters used screw drivers which are more likely to damage the area; since then folks have figured out to use plastic prying devices, from an auto parts store

I guess everyone has different tolerance for “damage”, but it seems minor enough and I see no ill effects on mine beyond minor scuffing

 

This is what I'm afraid of.

I'm leaning towards returning this one and going with another retailer. I know one that's advertising their stock as something like "Second run" which I'm hoping means "mostly not screwed up". So I'm waiting to hear from them about the state of their inventory and if it all goes well I'll get from there.

It's just a shame the stock situation in Canada is so godawful otherwise I might be able to just search in the wild until I find one that's not borked. But I've literally never seen a Galvatron on a store shelf here. And even the Amazon one I got was a case of "buy it and we'll ship when we have some" which has now turned into them not having any and the marketplace being nothing but scalpers selling at like 150% of retail.

 

The pin situation is genuinely awful. It's even worse than a bar pin because those can at least be removed with a pin push, or failing that a screwdriver and a hammer. But this is just un-fixable without special tools or breaking the thing. Not to mention the shoulder being sandwiched inside the bicep, which is secured by three more capped pins, forcing you to pry it out. You either have to buy 3rd party pin plugs (which look awful) or try to find one in the wild, and with the pandemic still going on makes it harder. Of all the times they had to drop the ball, it had to be with the hardest type of pin to remove during the worst time to be going to brick & mortar, and on a Galvatron. I thought for sure the Galvatron curse was finally over, and yet it lives on. I don't think we're ever gonna get a Galvatron that is decent and not plagued by some manufacturing or design error.

 

Yeah, Hasbro really dropped the ball. A very basic rule of design for mass production is to design the parts in such a way that you can only assembly the parts correctly. If an item can be flipped around and installed incorrectly, you can be sure that it'll happen at some point. Murphy's Law and all that.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think it would have been possible to design the shoulders to only be installed one way since it's a joint and needs free range of movement. Even stamping an L or R into the mold would only do so much. It's another inevitability like when some people got dupes of the same Helicopter twin in the Victorion giftset. The only way this could have been prevented was with screws, which Hasbro hasn't been using a lot of for reasons (cost of metal increasing due to lockdowns/making it harder to disassemble so knockoff companies can't make their own molds/design by committee).

 

There is a way it could be done. I've had to do something similar in my line of work. You just have to design it such that each half can only fit on a specific side with differing diameter rings and grooves molded into the parts.

 

Oh, you know what? Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Good thinking.

 

My copy arrived earlier today (purchased at $49.99 via GamesStop, changed to "awaiting product" even though it was in-stock, then price corrected to $39.99).

I was apprehensive about this purchase because, while it's by far the best mass release general retail version of Galvatron, it wasn't everything that I want. My line of thought while opening Kingdom Galvatron was "this is going in the trash as soon as someone makes a Leader size MX-4 Abaddon" but that crumbled and flaoted away faster than Megabolt Megatron did once I had Kingdom Galvatron out of the box. It's still not everything that I want (nor will it ever be) but, this is one of those really rare instances where something turned out to be better than I expected it to be.


Robot mode:

I really don't have many complaints about robot mode other than wishing the "tank" treads didn't restrict shoulder rotation when they are tabbed into the shoulders (due to the treads being attached on the elbow joint. This area isn't a floppy mess when the treads aren't tabbed in, it's just one of those "damn this was so close" moments. Being able to telescope/collapse the treads to make then shorter would have also been really nice because that is really my only aesthetics issue with the robot mode.

No, Kingdom Galvatron doesn't look like it jumped off of an animation cell. However, this is an incredibly well done representation of what makes G1 Galvatron G1 Galvatron.


#GetRekt Starscream mode:

This is where my dislikes pick up a bit.

This is where MX-4 Abaddon would start to walk away like Kingdom Galvatron hit the breaks if they were racing. For anyone that's thinking "that's not a fair comparison, FFS that's not even released yet" you are 100% correct. Bars aren't always set under fair competition though (e.g. any random sport and the rampant use of PEDs). MX-4 Abaddon's alt mode is just a lot cleaner but, it's not flawless (those waffles on the underside of the struts tying the tank treads to the cannon, the horns/crown sticking out, and the underbelly of the cannon probably looks a little rugged).

Kingdom Galvatron starts to catch up because the back half of the cannon's underbelly is really clean. Sure, the legs are just chilling there but it's well known where G1 Galvatron's legs are at every conceivable angle (including in the cartoon/movie) so, it's just not a big deal that I can see the thighs from an ant's eye view (it's perfectly valid if you're reading this and can't stand the fact that you can see them). Now that having been said, the front half isn't remotely clean at all. The purple plastic is 100% G1 Seeker aesthetics. At the same time though, that kibble (when seen from the back) makes the purple "ring" look very Tetrajet/Spacebridge and, I am here for it. From the front though, that triangle gap makes me roll my eyes as it could have easily been fixed by making the cannon's barrel holder clip or peg in (like a user here has done; I don't recall whom nor where the pictures are).

Kingdom Galvatron starts to fall behind because, it uses a double elbow joint to fold the forearm up against the bicep/shoulder. To Hasbro/TakaraTomy's credit, they did a really good job at making the sides of the arms not look like arms (this is why they aren't animation accurate from the side in robot mode). I would have far less of an issue with how bulky that "strut" is if the forearm section looked like it attached to the cannon body (via an optical illusion). It looks like it's just floating there and sticking out since it doesn't sit anywhere close to the cannon body.

I have mixed feelings about the treads needing to "toe-in" in order for the treads to sit flat when the cannon isn't sitting level (e.g. to vaporize Starscream). It just looks off. That having been said, a toe-in and/or a toe/out would help plant/dig the cannon into any surface that isn't hard (e.g. soil/dirt/etc.). While a giant robot that turns into a massive cannon with tank treads shouldn't need toe-in, this particular one uses a fusion cannon reformatted by Unicron so I'm going to give it a pass as being reasonable. This is always going to be a really awkward piece of the toy though because you will have to mess with the shoulders every time you change the angle of the cannon (and the kickstand if you are using it).

I have two other issues but, they are going under engineering because one could have easily been done differently and the other affects more than aesthetics.


Both modes:

The cannon barrel is too long. I didn't feel that way looking at pictures, but it's just far too long in person. It's fairly obvious this was done to be proportionate to the length of the alt mode but, that only matters in direct down bird's eye vie and a direct up ant's eye view. I simply can not understate how absurdly long it is, it's like prop comic meets caricature long. The 3rd party & aftermarket crowd will eventually address this though.

I thought I wasn't going to like the orange translucent plastic but I really do. However, I did expect to lathe the paint app on it and a I do indeed loath the paint app on it. I probably wouldn't care if it was purple, or gunmetal, or silver. The "orange" (let's call it what it is, a hue of Vermilion Red) paint just looks garish and cheap though (I can't even with those "spatter" edges).


Engineering flaws:

The shoulders should have had ratchets in them to control the lateral raise movement. The left (your right if looking face to face) shoulder's lateral joint isn't as tight as the other shoulder so it doesn't support the weight of the alt mode like it should. That's a lot to ask of a universal shoulder joint (especially if you aren't using the kickstand).

The kickstand is what really drives me up the wall though because you can't have the feet "attached" to the legs/cannon when you are using the kickstand. This is the trickier fix because, the entire reason it works the way it does is a result of the ankle rocker joints being attached to the sections on the inside of the lower legs that swings down to form the kickstand. The ankle rocker joint would need to be permanently attached to the lower leg and, that means the piece that wings out would be shorter. It also means that the pieces that fold into the lower legs (the pieces that have the wheels in them) would need to be moved off the foot and onto the plastic that swings down which would also make them shorter. That would make the kickstand too short to touch the ground when the cannon is level (the cannon is really well balanced though and doesn't need the kickstand when level; not even when the kickstand is fully folded away). The plastic that swings out though is super thick so, it would have been possible to provided the extra length while slimming down the width of the kickstand (which would look better and closer match the animation as it's really only there for support and to act as a pseudo rudder). The kickstand is by far my largest problem with the toy as almost everything else went well beyond swing down this really wide and thick chunk of plastic. It would honestly be deal-breaker territory for me if I didn't like the rest of the toy so much.


Closing thoughts (purchase):

I was able to purchase Kingdom Galvatron for $40 so I have no regrets (I can't issue an opinion for $50 because I can't objectively arrive at one). I have no regrets. What I can objectively state is that barring something better in the future, I would 100% regret not having purchased Kingdom Galvatron once I would have eventually seen it in person. It's not perfect nor even close to it but, it checks off vastly more boxes than it doesn't and it does that without making the stereotypical egregious compromises that we have seen in the past on several characters. The inevitable 50th anniversary mold that will use Kingdom Galvatron as a springboard will most likely be something that is indescribable due to how overwhelmingly spectacular it will be.

 

Man that was a lot of work to get the figure to a point I'm happy with. Did the shoulder fix and removed the weathering, then to top it off added a real chain to the Matrix. Heating up the shoulders and using the plastic trim tool from an auto store really helped.

 

Just got him in the mail.... goodness this thing is wonderful. That head sculpt though!!! I haven't been particularly excited about most new releases but I just could not pass up on this. So glad I got him!! Finally gonna replace Titans Return Galvatron on my display.

 

Curious if I'm the only one but is there something very odd about the proportions of the head? I don't know if it's the size or the shape of it but it just looks off and I can't really describe why

 

Maybe it's the face? Face may be a little too narrow for the helmet

 

Yeah I think maybe it was the helmet, I ended up trimming the bottom of it and I think it looks a bit better but I'm sure it's a personal preference thing

 

I think part of it is that on the character model, the cheek guards connect to the crown. On the Kingdom toy, the bridge between them is missing, exposing a weirdly egg-shaped helmet underneath. It bothers me less in person than it did in pictures though.

 

Finally did the fix myself. I went the extra mile and used a soldering iron on the pins to make removing them easier, first by covering the entire shoulder and any surrounding parts I was worried about in tin foil to avoid damaging them, punching a hole in where the pin hole is while making sure enough tin foil is left over to fold into the hole, and heating the pin up for about 60-80 seconds, being careful not to let it touch the surrounding plastic. Didn't have what people are recommending over a screwdriver on me, but a plastic paint scraper worked just fine and the pin popped right out on the second shoulder. The first shoulder I didn't heat the pin up enough and took much longer. Even then I think there's a very minute gap in the joint from bending it to get the shoulder off that's not gonna go away. It's very unnoticeable.
I wanna say it was easy, but I'm not gonna kid myself. The whole process felt like a chore. Worth the effort given the final result, but also tedious and scary. I would not recommend getting this guy unless you're certain you're getting one correctly assembled or one that's heavily HEAVILY discounted. If you get him on discount, you can use the money you saved to actually buy the tools you need to fix him and then some, not only allowing you to fix the manufacturing error but all manufacturing errors in the future. Rumor has it he's getting repacked in the next line, so either wait about a year or more and hope the next one is alright or preorder the toy-accurate Galvatron 2 on Pulse because from what I've heard that one is assembled correctly.
I'd also recommend getting use to modding and disassembling in general. Get some screwdrivers, a good pin punch set, soldering iron, really anything kitbashers would recommend, and practice disassembling some broken/junk toy lying around. Doesn't even have to be a Transformers. That way when something like this happens again, and it will, then you can quickly and easily solve the problem, and be much happier because of it.

 

For me, it's that the helmet is too tall and too egg shaped. The face being gaunt/narrow is only a small part of what throws it off for me. The face width would likely be fine if the bottom of the helmet wasn't as thick as it is.

Ultimately though, it's the angles and distance. Everyone is used to the animation being drawn at very specific and limited angles rather than being able to view something in 3D at any angle/distance we desire. That amount of control can exacerbate how off it looks but, It can also make look like it's super close.

There's also no telling what footage inspiration was taken from (the continuity was literally all over the place):

 

Great post. The design is all over the place. I think that gives enough artistic license to make the changes I did.