Galvatron [Legacy United/Core Class]

Say what you will about Energon, but the series had some really cool designs. I have vivid memories of Hasbro unveiling it at OTFCC 2003 to thunderous applause. I still like it to this day and feel like a look at the Transformers Legacy United Core Class Galvatron is in order! Galvatron, is not merely a repaint of the Core Class Energon Megatron, it's a repaint of him in (mostly) show accurate colors!

That's important as the original toy had it's differences while the Takara version was much closer (but not exact). Finally, 20 years later, we've got a (mostly) show accurate color toy. While I've covered much of the details about this toy in the Megatron post... I felt the urge to talk about something else as everything is the same here from that toy aside from the colors. The tank/sword weapon. What a weird combination, right? Of course the tank is meant to represent his former Armada body, the sword is an oddity. Instead of being a normal hand held weapon, it plugs into the tank. That's always been a bit strange. In the original toy, the sword would light up and a 'clang' noise would emit from the tank if pressed against something. That's a neat gimmick, sure, but most folks would rather a traditional sword for Megatron/Galvatron to hold. I can't say I'd be opposed to one either, but just took the whole thing in stride.

At the time, lot's of fans were finding work around for the toy so that it could hold the damn sword traditionally. From gluing handles, to using bread ties (I'm not kidding), to tethering it to his hand... folks were really focused on making it a hand held sword. I recall a garage kit version of the sword making the rounds. There was a Wonderfest Exclusive set to convert a Microman female body into Misha to match with Kicker. Maybe it came with it? The specifics of that are a little fuzzy but I remember a friend creating a harness with wire crystal clear. It was a strange, but fun time.

Bios: Signal Flare

"My imagination is the key to winning."

Signal Flare is an Autobot Omnicon and one of the greatest energon welders of his kind. His Omnicon brothers depend greatly on his skills and experience. In vehicle mode, he projects a powerful energon beam from his radar dish that can take the shape of massive tools or weapons. Signal Flare is a silent warrior that prefers mastering the artistry of his energon weapons to battle.

Strength: 8 Intelligence: 9 Speed: 4 Endurance: 5
Rank: 9 Courage: 8 Fireblast: 10 Skill: 9

Bios: Beachcomber

"I never spotted a Decepticon I didn't dislike."

Beachcomber is a young Autobot warrior responsible for the seaside patrol of Ocean City, one of the Autobot bases of operation. He is programmed with infrared optic scanners that allow him to spot an approaching enemy up to five miles. Whether it is day or night, few Decepticons have been able to infiltrate Ocean City during Beachcomber's watch. Although he is very serious about his job as guardian, Beachcomber likes letting loose with his Autobot comrades. He is a known trickster and enjoys telling a joke or two...especially when the subject of the joke is Megatron.

Strength: 8 Intelligence: 7 Speed: 9 Endurance: 8
Rank: 5 Courage: 7 Fireblast: 7 Skill: 6

An Energon Mirage

One of the more interesting toys from Energon was Mirage. A Decepticon, Mirage turned into a boat. His 'hyper mode' (one of the gimmicks from Energon was Hyper Mode, a sort of attack form for the Decepticons) was wings that extended in boat mode for a flight mode. Mirage was a pretty unique toy to say the least.

In fiction, Mirage had sort of a dual persona. According to the toy packaging he was an individual Decepticon, while on the cartoon he was a new form for Tidalwave. Common complaints for Mirage were the complex transformation and those who didn't like established names being reused. I liked a lot about Mirage. He looked like a holdover design for a Beast machines Vehicon, or maybe even a planned design for Transtech. He had this neat armored alien look and his boat bits always gave me the impression of a cape. I could easily imagine him as an higher ranking officer. Not to mention, I loved his colors.

As you could expect, Mirage's toy mold got reused later in the line as Dreadwing. Dreadwing was a straight repaint of the toy as a new character. Cast in lighter blues with some purple and yellow highlights, Dreadwing is a really nice looking figure. He shared the same complaints as Mirage, so really it was a subjective at best if you took issue. Some fans used him as a new Scourge toy, which paired with Energon Galavatron and BotCon 2002 Cyclonus worked pretty well. Dreadwing didn't show up in the cartoon, but did make an appearance in a Fun Publications story.

A few years went by and it seemed like the mold had been forgotten when it popped up as a BotCon exclusive in 2009. Serving as a new Banzai-Tron toy... it worked pretty well. Another straight repaint, in the colors it looked like Banzai-Tron so much one has to wonder if that was the character the toy was originally intended to be. Speculation aside, it was nice to see the mold get another use. I doubt they'll ever be any sort of homage to Mirage, which is a shame as it was such a neat and different looking toy.

You see, he kicks.

While the cartoon at times felt like a fever dream, I absolutely loved Energon in comics and on tv. In fact I was a big fan of the Unicron Trilogy as a whole. Just like any incarnation of Transformers (past, present, future, whatever), it had it's detractors (surprise, surprise). Personally I had a ball with it. 

Following the events of Armada, Energon was a jump forward into the future. Alpha Quintesson was utilizing his huge Terrorcon army led by Scorponok to take all the energy they could (by force!) to revive Unicron (whose corpse they were floating around in). Megatron gets revived and brings his Deceptions into the fray (because there wasn't enough going on already). Optimus Prime and the Autobots were left with the only choice they ever have, go save the day! But this time with combination powers giving them a much needed power boost in this far out space opera cartoon.

It was insane.

The toys were super neat. The Autobots from deluxe sized and up could almost all combine with each other in some way or another. The Deceptions from deluxe up  mostly had an attack mode gimmick following in the idea that they were much more dangerous this time. The basic class of each faction had weapons that were essentially a building toy with parts for creating your own weapons. It was a super modular themed toyline that was fun to play around with.

I still remember waiting after the new product panel at OTFCC 03 for the toys to arrive on shelves. Armada had finished and it's last figures were still on shelves with the first incarnation of Universe. Christmas shopping season had rolled around and as usual, during the rushed restocking, the new Energon figures found themselves on shelves just before Christmas day. I had just gotten off work and was grabbing the new toys at my local Walmart.

I had my lanyard with work id badge on still with a BotCon Europe t-shirt on. That's specific, because that shirt had an autobot symbol on the left side of the front and the art on the back. Being winter, I had a jacket on. So here I was holding new toy boxes and reading the back when various parents started asking me about the various Transformers toys. Being a nice person, I tried to answer all their questions as polite as I could. After a bit I took my toys and left as soon as I got an opening from all the questions.

As I walked through the aisles towards checkout, I began seriously wondering about the onslaught of questions that just happened. Taking a shortcut through the clothing area I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Jacket, cargo pants, lanyard with badge, kinda nice looking t-shirt with obvious branding...

They thought I was a product rep.

Good thing I was in a good mood. I can only imagine what could have happened if I was grumpy or something. That potentially could have been hilarious.

Energon and it's Japanese counterpart Superlink was around during the 20th anniversary of Transformers. Which at the time seemed unreal, can you imagine it's really been 20 years (mind you, we're approaching the 35 anniversary pretty soon)? At the time Masterpiece first raised it's head with a showcase figure intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Transformers (which in turn became a successful line in it's own right). However as not only Transformers was celebrating it's 20th anniversary, another related line was celebrating it's 30th.

Microman, which several of it's molds were used for Transformers in those early years was turning 30 in 2004. In Japan, a special figure pack was released to commerate the occasion. A Superlink gift set featuring a deluxe sized Optimus Prime (with wonderful chrome) and a Microman version of Kicker (the human companion of the Autobots at the time) in his trademark armor, also with wonderful chrome).

The two pack was a nice set and while I wanted it, I had learned that the smaller Optimus was to come in a set with the smaller Japanese version of Megatron in a Toys R Us exclusive gift set (sans wonderful chrome). The Kicker was also released as a stand alone Transformers edition Microman (also without wonderful chrome).  So I bought the standard Kicker and held off for the TRU set. Figuring I'd save some money and also get that Megatron.

 

In hindsight I should have got that set, just for the special edition-ness (and wonderful chrome). A few years prior, I had really gotten into Microman/Micronauts and was in heaven with the newer (at the time) Microman toys as well as the Palisades recreation Micronauts toys. The Microman Kicker wasn't released as an American version, though Hasbro did release a Kicker using GI JOE engineering and giving him a scale version of the High Wire Mini-Con to ride. Which was a cool toy in it's own right.

By the time Energon/Superlink reached it's end, I was ready for the next series : Cybertron/Galaxy Force. It had been almost 2 years and time for something new. The comic had ended early due to the bankruptcy of its publisher and while I did enjoy the cartoon, the tail end was very hard to enjoy (that's a nice way of putting it). Looking back though, I can only remember all the fun had with the series and how much as a whole I enjoyed it. The Unicron Trilogy as a whole was a very good time for me in Transformers, with each component being great in it's own right and own way. It's something I'll always have enjoyed while it was going on and look back fondly on despite how much hate it gets from others​.

(with wonderful chrome)