Cyclonus
If you'd asked me a few months ago who the most likely remould of Silverbolt was I'd have said Starscream as part of a Decepticon jet combiner. When Cyclonus rumours surfaced I was sure then if he'd be a new mould. Outline images of his combined mode and an image from the game made a remould seemed more likely so we weren't that surprised by his toyfair reveal.In his robot mode he looks a lot like a purple and silver Silverbolt with a Cyclonus head on it. This is compounded when he holds the weapon which is Silverbolt's gun, but in grey. It looks nice but doesn't really feel Cyclonusy, lacking the rounded shoulders that we're used to. However when you fold the wings out behind him, *THEN* he becomes Cyclonus! Cyclonus has the benefit of two small extra weapons, a blade plugged into each forearm which can be removed and hand held.
The Transformation is a little different: fold the head backwards into the neck and then fold the nose closed over it. From there the legs fold up to become the rear of the jet and arms fold into them as before. Unplug the fin weapons and plug into the exposed hand backs. Fold the wings down over the arms, with the moulded detail inherited from Silverbolt recessing into a hollowed out space in them. Tabs on the wings plug into slots on the arms as before. Fold the fins up from the engines.
while the robot mode may have taken some stretch to be recognisably Cyclonus this is spot on, a large chunky purple version of the original Cyclonus. Just like Silverbolt the gun can peg in under the nose. without it, there's a fold down landing gear. Unfortunately without either you can see Cyclonus' face peering out from under the nose!
So assessing this toy we've got a robot that overall is probably OK, with reservations, as Cyclonus but the jet mode is very good.
Galvatronus
I could see how They got from Silverbolt to Cyclonus, both are 1986 released jets. But Cyclonus to Galvatronus? Hmmmm. Megatron to Galvatron as a combined mode power up I could understand. And Indeed I want.Corrupting the name is obviously meant to distance it from Galvatron but that fact is the name is still screaming Galvatron at us. The transformation from jet to combined mode body is nearly identical, the only extra thing you need to do is re-site the blades to the outer side of each leg.Galvatronus' combined mode on his box uses two Aerialbots and two Stunticons as his limbs, emphasising the bio's mention of mind control powers used to take over any limb bot and form the combined mode and the toyline's ability to interchange limbs. Oddly none of the toys used are the ones that are about to become spare limbs with the release of Quicksling and Brakeneck. I don't want to take two combiners apart and I'd quite like to compare the combined form to Superion while having Galvatronus fighting Defensor so I've used the Stunticon limbs, where the purple hands and feet are a decent match for Galvatronus' body. I'd like to use Decepticon jets but there aren't any.... yet.
Galvatronus is a little odd: he doesn't really look like the animated Galvatron character model, especially his head. Yes it's got a crest and horns but it looks more like the original Galvatron toy. Apart from the colour, which is purple all over, the most obviously Galvatron feature it the pattern of four red squares on his lower chest. Unfortunately the moulded portion above this looks more like an 84/5 Decepticon cockpit.... which in turn makes you look at the head again and think "this looks a bit like Starscream with his crown on". Was the original intention for this toy a Starscream who's combined mode was an Emperor Starscream? However the purple makes it look nice and Decepticony and the torso maintains the stability of Superion's so he qualifies as a decent combiner torso.
Future Repaints and Add Ons
There's two obvious routes I could see Hasbro going down for repaints here: The first is obvious Generation 2 Superion. I'd not be surprised to see this as this year's SDCC boxset.The other is as a Decepticon Jet combiner, either using the original jet line up, the Predators or as Destron Sixwing.
Having seen the Galvatronus combined chest and various fan photshops I'd like to see a Starscream version and the remoulding for Cyclonus makes me think a F16 from this mould is possible.
I've seen it suggested that a Stealth Jet Megatron retool might be possible which could put the Megatron Voyager to Galvatron combiner core idea to use.
But I still want a Megatron Voyager tank!
No comments:
Post a Comment