Pictorial Review for Transformers: Robots in Disguise Combiner Force Galvatronus
Monday, October 9th, 2017 2:24PM CDT
Categories: Toy News, Reviews, Site ArticlesPosted by: D-Maximal_Primal Views: 32,656
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Around 10 days ago or so, Amazon.com had a listing for Robots in Disguise: Combiner Force Team Combiner Galvatronus for the retail price of $29.99. That listing has since gone away, but yours truly was able to get a hold of one of the figures before the price skyrocketed, and with the figure now in hand, I would like to tell you all how the team combiners truly are an underrated gem in Transformers.
We will start with the individual robots first, before getting to the combined mode at the end. Up first, the arm bots and the female fliers of the group: Cyberwarp (yellow) and Skyjack (green). These 2 figures are interesting because they are very different from the Ultra Bee and Menasor arm limbs, which all use the exact same skeleton but with different parts. These 2 ladies actually roll up into their jet modes, and in robot mode they have a rake-ish jet nose behind their heads. The coloring is nice on them, even if there isn't much in the way of paint. The robot modes are alright, better than the other arm bots, and the jet modes are pretty cool as well.
Next up are the leg bots, the big bruisers Riotgear (red) and Treadshock (green). These molds transform the exact same as the Menasor leg bots, but they are a lot bigger and I really like the vehicle modes. These things are big wheeled bulky bruisers, and they remind me some of Bulkhead. I really enjoy them both, and I really with the Menasor legs were this size. Menasor would looks so much better with the bigger legs.
Up next is the torso bot, Cyclonus. Continuing his new combiner abilities, first granted by Combiner Wars Cyclonus/Galvatronus, this Cyclonus is a great torso bot, probably the most convincing of the 3 torso bots. The jet mode is pretty sleek, and the purple is rich and a really nice plastic color. Robot mode is pretty good too, though he continues the Motormaster trend of not having actual hands, and his robot mode head is a bit low in this mode. Overall though, he really isn't that bad, quite a decent, spiky bot with an interesting transformation.
Here we have Cyclonus with his team. I think they look pretty good together, and it's kind of cool to see a Hasbro combining Cyclonus finally get a team, since only the Takara Unite Warriors line had given him a team so far. These were some good choices, and overall I think this is the best of the 3 in terms of individual team members.
And now we finally get to the combined mode, which is a pretty sweet looking thing. Cyclonus has his shoulders swivel up and a new super Cyclonus head slams down over top of his regular head. I really like the legs on the combined form, and they are definitely my favorite of the line. The arms are cool looking, but the hands are a bit of an issue. They are really nice and spiky, but when he holds his gun, he can't really close his hands, so it looks weird for him to hold his weapon.
Speaking of the gun, here it is. It is a pretty decent mold, and he stands out as the other 2 combiners only have swords, so it's the only ranged weapon given to a combiner in the line. It can be held in robot mode and stores on top of Cyclonus in jet mode. It can peg into that same slot for jet mode in combined mode on Galvatronus' back, but mine will not stay.
Finally, here we have Galvatronus with Menasor and Ultra Bee. Check them all out together!
In summary, the Combiner Force subline really has been an underrated line. The crash combiners have been really fun, and the team combiners are pretty great too. All 3 definitely have something new and interesting to offer, and for smaller $30 combiners that aren't that complex and can't pose much but still transform, don't have leaning or stability issues. and can be combined and decombined quickly, they are pretty good.
Overall, Galvatronus to me is the more creative in terms of individual team members, while Menasor has the best overall combined mode and combined mode head and Ultra Bee is personally the coolest of the 3. They are all good figures, and between them cost less than a regular Combiner Wars combiner. they also gave us our first and second ever 5 bot combiners (Drift as a sword in the show counts!) that have both male and female transformers in them, which is pretty neat!
Final conclusion: pick up at least one of these guys. They are worth it, and they are lots of fun.
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Posted by Kyleor on October 9th, 2017 @ 3:00pm CDT
Posted by Flashwave on October 9th, 2017 @ 3:29pm CDT
Posted by Tresob on October 9th, 2017 @ 8:34pm CDT
Posted by Gauntlet101010 on October 9th, 2017 @ 8:39pm CDT
Posted by Kurona on October 9th, 2017 @ 9:19pm CDT
Tresob wrote:After looking at these images, I am declaring Combiner Force to be the true spiritual successor of G1. It shall henceforth be known as Neo-G1.
Not Animated or Prime?
Posted by primalxconvoy on October 9th, 2017 @ 10:26pm CDT
Anyway, the jets look like nothing if the sort, but the cars look like the one that came with Trypticon. I think some grey jets with extra colour for the arms (from Superion) and purple repaints of Rook would work as limbs for CW Cyclonus now.
Any customisers up for the challenge?
Posted by Sabrblade on October 9th, 2017 @ 10:46pm CDT
Pretty sure he meant engineering-wise.Kurona wrote:Tresob wrote:After looking at these images, I am declaring Combiner Force to be the true spiritual successor of G1. It shall henceforth be known as Neo-G1.
Not Animated or Prime?
Posted by President-prime on October 9th, 2017 @ 11:25pm CDT
Posted by SG Roadbuster on October 9th, 2017 @ 11:30pm CDT
Posted by Insurgent on October 10th, 2017 @ 2:41am CDT
And if there is a designated tav thread... Eh. I couldn't be bothered to go looking.
Posted by Windsweeper on October 10th, 2017 @ 5:50am CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 10th, 2017 @ 9:54am CDT
President-prime wrote:Seriously though. Do you really want to put these things in your collection?
Yes, I actually did. I like combiners, and these guys are really fun guys. They are about voyager-ish sized, which I think is a good size for them, and as was said, they are fairly G1-ish in their engineering, with the torsos being more advanced and the limbs less so, but they are still pretty fun.
And saying you got a combiner on sale for $30 really isn't a fair comparison to these guys. That was a massive sale because they would not sell.
Also, something that's funny: the review for Galvatronus, which was posted about an hour or so after the Grotusque review, has a significantly larger amount of views.
Now if they had made these combiners in a more Combiner Wars styled fashion, with warriors or such, they would have been better, but much more expensive. As a line for kids, the cheaper and smaller combiners worked, and I still enjoy them. I find them to be more creative and a bit better than any warrior or legion we got this year. They kinda went flat there
Posted by william-james88 on October 10th, 2017 @ 2:49pm CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on October 11th, 2017 @ 1:25am CDT
william-james88 wrote:Hey D-Max, I didnt know Cyclonus didnt have hands in robot mode, does he have slots of some markings making it look like the extremity of the arms are hands? And can he hold weapons in them?
I would doubt it since Bee and Motormaster didn't have hands or anything I'd consider a hint of hands. Don't forget the arms can't swing forward.
PS, I hate you D-Maximus.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 11th, 2017 @ 9:53am CDT
william-james88 wrote:Hey D-Max, I didnt know Cyclonus didnt have hands in robot mode, does he have slots of some markings making it look like the extremity of the arms are hands? And can he hold weapons in them?
Yeah, Cyclonus and Motormaster do not have hands. Bee does, but his arms can't swing forwards and they can't hold anything, and neither can MM or Cyc, so they're useless. You can say that the pin where the combiner ports swing out kinda look like hands, but that's about it.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:PS, I hate you D-Maximus.
Posted by william-james88 on October 11th, 2017 @ 11:04am CDT
D-Maximus_Prime wrote:william-james88 wrote:Hey D-Max, I didnt know Cyclonus didnt have hands in robot mode, does he have slots of some markings making it look like the extremity of the arms are hands? And can he hold weapons in them?
Yeah, Cyclonus and Motormaster do not have hands. Bee does, but his arms can't swing forwards and they can't hold anything, and neither can MM or Cyc, so they're useless. You can say that the pin where the combiner ports swing out kinda look like hands, but that's about it.
Ok so how does one enjoy a robot who has no hands?
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 11th, 2017 @ 11:37am CDT
william-james88 wrote:D-Maximus_Prime wrote:william-james88 wrote:Hey D-Max, I didnt know Cyclonus didnt have hands in robot mode, does he have slots of some markings making it look like the extremity of the arms are hands? And can he hold weapons in them?
Yeah, Cyclonus and Motormaster do not have hands. Bee does, but his arms can't swing forwards and they can't hold anything, and neither can MM or Cyc, so they're useless. You can say that the pin where the combiner ports swing out kinda look like hands, but that's about it.
Ok so how does one enjoy a robot who has no hands?
Like I said, the pins look close enough, and these figures are primarily meant for combined mode, so that's usually where I keep them. And they're not collector oriented, and I still enjoy simple goofy guys like this who may not have all the posability and parts that a standard generations figure has, so I can make due with imagining the pins are hands, for the small amount of time they are in robot mode
Posted by ScottyP on October 11th, 2017 @ 12:51pm CDT
TAV has been dead for about a year so this is fineInsurgent wrote:And if there is a designated tav thread... Eh. I couldn't be bothered to go looking.
As for Strongarm, probably the second best of the first wave of Warrior molds behind Bee. I think it does the job very well, and the version you picked up has a very super nice paint job!
Posted by Sabrblade on October 11th, 2017 @ 6:09pm CDT
The same way one enjoys Beast Wars Air Hammer.william-james88 wrote:D-Maximus_Prime wrote:william-james88 wrote:Hey D-Max, I didnt know Cyclonus didnt have hands in robot mode, does he have slots of some markings making it look like the extremity of the arms are hands? And can he hold weapons in them?
Yeah, Cyclonus and Motormaster do not have hands. Bee does, but his arms can't swing forwards and they can't hold anything, and neither can MM or Cyc, so they're useless. You can say that the pin where the combiner ports swing out kinda look like hands, but that's about it.
Ok so how does one enjoy a robot who has no hands?
Posted by Insurgent on October 12th, 2017 @ 1:17am CDT
ScottyP wrote:TAV has been dead for about a year so this is fineInsurgent wrote:And if there is a designated tav thread... Eh. I couldn't be bothered to go looking.
As for Strongarm, probably the second best of the first wave of Warrior molds behind Bee. I think it does the job very well, and the version you picked up has a very super nice paint job!
Cool. Happy to hear she's a good choice.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on October 12th, 2017 @ 10:50pm CDT
ScottyP wrote:TAV has been dead for about a year so this is fineInsurgent wrote:And if there is a designated tav thread... Eh. I couldn't be bothered to go looking.
As for Strongarm, probably the second best of the first wave of Warrior molds behind Bee. I think it does the job very well, and the version you picked up has a very super nice paint job!
I was under the impression that TAV was on hiatus until after the movie
Posted by Va'al on October 13th, 2017 @ 2:13pm CDT
Make sure to also check out our pictorial review of the set of figures, which you can find here, and happy hunting!
Posted by WreckerJack on October 13th, 2017 @ 9:20pm CDT
Posted by Deathsanras on October 17th, 2017 @ 9:29am CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 17th, 2017 @ 10:11am CDT
Deathsanras wrote:So what happened with this?
I've honestly no idea. that Ultra Bee really doesn't look like he did in the show, the arms are backwards, and the sword is clearly not Drift here. It may have been something very early, but in the comments from the show creators, Menasor was the combiner they had chosen from the outset to do, so....
Posted by Kurona on October 17th, 2017 @ 10:18am CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on October 17th, 2017 @ 10:42am CDT
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on October 17th, 2017 @ 3:19pm CDT
Deathsanras wrote:So what happened with this?
So that's where Bruticus came from. That said, it looks like nothing more than a mere pitch, a very rough representation of a concept for executives to decide on. Bruticus was probably used because he's more well-known, plus he's the only shown Combiner in the "Aligned" continuity that the games and Prime are part of. Just to have something more concrete you know?
Posted by Sabrblade on October 17th, 2017 @ 5:17pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on October 19th, 2017 @ 11:04am CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on October 20th, 2017 @ 1:25pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on October 20th, 2017 @ 1:45pm CDT
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I was thinking about figures we're still waiting on and wanted to check, are we supposed to get one-step versions of Starscream and Cyclonus?
No, there is no record of that that I know of. But the US is still missing the latest legions.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on October 20th, 2017 @ 9:36pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:I was thinking about figures we're still waiting on and wanted to check, are we supposed to get one-step versions of Starscream and Cyclonus?
No, there is no record of that that I know of. But the US is still missing the latest legions.
And the deluxes sorta
Posted by william-james88 on October 20th, 2017 @ 9:49pm CDT
chuckdawg1999 wrote:william-james88 wrote:chuckdawg1999 wrote:I was thinking about figures we're still waiting on and wanted to check, are we supposed to get one-step versions of Starscream and Cyclonus?
No, there is no record of that that I know of. But the US is still missing the latest legions.
And the deluxes sorta
Yeah and those might never come. The next wave the US is getting according to Entertainment Earth doesnt even have Bludgeon and Thermidor, just Twinferno.
Posted by william-james88 on October 20th, 2017 @ 10:52pm CDT
Cyclonus and Heatseeker are perfect additions to this stellar lineup.
Heatseeker reuses the Strongarm and Ratchet transformation scheme but the mold is all his own with two great looking modes that have unique looks. My favourite part is how all the red from the robot mode gets centralized in vehicle mode along with the killer headsculpt. There is some really minutious detail there with an immaculate spec of blue paint to show his monocle and bring out his Kopaka Nuova look. He also has articulated feet, which Strongarm and Ratchet don't have.
Cyclonus really blew my mind though. He retains his super sleek altmode but does something no other Cyclonus toy has ever done: show no signs of a robot mode underneath. Through some brilliant engineering, he ends up hiding every detail from his torso in alt mode. Minus the arms, of course, and it is to bad that they don't end up more compact in alt mode. However, they do peg in securely and do blend in with the cybertronian nature of the vehicle.
A large chunk of the alt mode is folded very neatly on his back in robot mode, but it does en up giving him extra crests behind his helmet. You will see in the images that you can always pose him with that backpack lowered to get rid of that look.
Speaking of posing, he has far more articulation than most other legion classes in the line (probably the most articulation) with his transformation giving him knees and his arms being on ball joints like Legion Starscream and Windblade.
He has a great colour scheme too, with two purples alternating in different areas, one being that rich deep purple you only see in the sweetest grape drinks.
My main issue with him is the headsculpt. It just looks too cute and animated, like it belongs in a show for much younger kids. Comparing his headsculpt to Heatseeker would have you believe they were from completely different shows. But aside from that, he is awesome for me.
I am glad to welcome them both to my team of Decepticons!
Posted by Kyleor on October 21st, 2017 @ 8:10am CDT
Although I wouldn't be surprised if someone already did that in some fanfiction or fanart.
Posted by zatara1701 on October 21st, 2017 @ 10:13am CDT
At first I enjoyed it to a point, then it went so far off from Prime I honestly didn't care about the characters, the story or anything else...just kinda faded from my mind.
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 21st, 2017 @ 1:35pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on October 21st, 2017 @ 2:03pm CDT
Posted by --B-- on October 21st, 2017 @ 7:37pm CDT
Posted by RustedCross on October 23rd, 2017 @ 1:25pm CDT
Posted by Rysquad on October 23rd, 2017 @ 1:39pm CDT
Posted by Rysquad on October 26th, 2017 @ 4:59pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:Cyclonus really blew my mind though. He retains his super sleek altmode but does something no other Cyclonus toy has ever done: show no signs of a robot mode underneath. Through some brilliant engineering, he ends up hiding every detail from his torso in alt mode. Minus the arms, of course, and it is to bad that they don't end up more compact in alt mode. However, they do peg in securely and do blend in with the cybertronian nature of the vehicle.
A large chunk of the alt mode is folded very neatly on his back in robot mode, but it does en up giving him extra crests behind his helmet. You will see in the images that you can always pose him with that backpack lowered to get rid of that look.
I would love a Cyberbattalion version of that Cyclonus!
Posted by Rysquad on October 26th, 2017 @ 5:02pm CDT
The Target Toy Book is going out now. There's a $10 Target car with $50 toy purchase offer on the back of the Toy Book.
https://www.bfads.net/Target-2017-Toy-Book-Posted
Starting on Sunday 10/29 through 11/11, texting TOY to Target (827438) will get you a 25% a single toy (or sporting good or kids' craft) item. It's probably one coupon per phone number so you probably can't get one each day. Also, starting on 11/1 through Thanksgiving, there will be a daily deal on a toy each day. I can't recall if any Transformers toys popped up there on last year.
Specific to Robots in Disguise Toys:
Transformers Robots In Disguise Combiner Force Activator Combiners $16.99 (Reg. 19.99)
Transformers Rid Force Team Combiner $24.99 (Reg. 29.99)
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 28th, 2017 @ 6:46pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on October 29th, 2017 @ 11:30pm CDT
Case of 8 individually packaged figures includes:
1x TRA RID WARRIOR BUMBLEBEE
1x TRA RID WARRIOR GRIMLOCK
1x TRA RID WARRIOR STRONGARM
1x TRA RID WARR POWER SURGE OPTIMUS PRIME
2x TRA RID WARRIOR AUTOBOT TWINFERNO
1x TRA RID WARRIOR DECEPTICON BLUDGEON
1x TRA RID WARRIOR THERMIDOR
Posted by worldsgreatest on October 30th, 2017 @ 6:36am CDT
Posted by WreckerJack on October 30th, 2017 @ 7:27am CDT
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on October 30th, 2017 @ 7:47am CDT
Posted by Prime Target on October 30th, 2017 @ 6:13pm CDT