Transformers (Korean) Galaxy Force: Autovolt

The Transformers Unicron trilogy of Armada (Micron Densetsu), Energon (Superlink) and Cybertron (Galaxy Force) was a mixed bag for me. Just getting back into Transformers with Beast Wars, I was super excited to see vehicular toys coming back after dealing with animals for several years. Armada was (mostly) great and the addition of the Mini-Cons were fantastic. When Energon came around it just didn't have the same punch for me, but the trilogy ended on a bang (for me at least) w/ Cybertron (Galaxy Force).

During this time of my collecting, I was opting for the Takara versions of the toys as much as I could due to their superior packaging and decos. When the Galaxy Force toys started hitting Japan I was enamored by the gorgeous packaging. The differences in the decos was just the icing on the cake. I also loved that Takara included character style trading cards with their releases...which is a big reason for today's topic.

While I imported nearly the entire Galaxy Force series, I had ignored the Korean released toys. Takara had a long standing agreement with a Korean company called Sonokong to market their toys in Korea. This license lasted until 2007 when the license shifted over to another called Mocom Toy. What recently caught my eye was that it appeared these releases contained a different character card than what was packaged with the Takara issues. Sadly I missed the boat on being able to buy a majority of these toys on clearance from the likes of Big Bad Toy Store or TFSource, but I was curious enough to keep searching the web. While my searches never turned up any concrete information on the included character card, I did find an online retailer that had Autovolt in stock for a decent price...so I took the plunge if nothing else to sate my curiosity.

It only took a few days for the parcel to arrive and for me to free the toy from the shipping box. Immediately upon holding the packaging in my hand I could see the Japanese Galaxy Force inspiration. The angled box corner and especially the blue background with the yellow trim of the box top and bottom were dead on references to the Japanese packaging. The rest of the box design however was unique for the Korean market. Windows on the front of the box reveals a good portion of the figure along with the car's spoiler/gun, projectile and the Planet Key. All of the items are packaged in a form fitting plastic tray that has it's own plastic cover taped to the tray. 

The included instruction sheet is again very reminiscent of the Takara release, complete with the light faded red design and grey toy models used for the step by step transformation. Also included was a catalog that shows the other figures that Mocom Toy released. Absent from the Takara line up are the smaller blister carded figures.

I originally had Autovolt from the Galaxy Force series and as far as I can tell, there are no differences between the Japanese and this Korean release. The quality of the plastic is on par with the previous release and the paint apps/deco also seems to be the same as the Takara release. Autovolt was far from my favorite toy from this series, but since he's was the cheapest one I could find let's go ahead and take a closer look at the figure itself.

Autovolt's alt mode is that of a Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron. If you aren't familiar with this sports car I wouldn't blame you as it's a super expensive and limited vehicle. Autobolt is cast in black with silver painted accents on the front of the vehicle. The head lights are painted a shade of orange. A red tampographed Autobot symbol adorns the center of the car's hood. On the rear of the vehicle, the main tail lights are painted red with some smaller lights underneath painted light orange. The spoiler has silver accents with a light orange stripe across the back of the tailfin. The top of the car has a small section painted silver. The windshield and side widows are a translucent blue plastic, which allows you to see the robot bits crammed together inside the vehicle.

If you're not a fan of kibble, then you may not care much for Autovolt's robot mode. The car doors/windows hang off the top of his shoulders and the windshield is attached to his left forearm. On the back of the figure are two large sections of the rear portion of the vehicle. While all of these pieces can be maneuvered (somewhat) out of the way, they are there. The door sections attach via ball & socket so they are easily removable if you wish.

Looking past the kibble, the rest of the figure has a good overall look. The car hood makes a nice, tight, robot chest. It's not so big that it juts out and throws off the rest of the robot's proportions. I do like the design of the robot head. While there isn't any light piping used, Autovolt does have a nice translucent blue visor that covers the top half of his face. The bronze portion of his head coupled with the silver used for his face meshes well with the aforementioned blue plastic. While the feet don't have ankle rockers, they do have heel spurs that fold down to give the figure great balance. 

The figure has a decent amount of articulation. The head is on a ball joint and has free movement side to side and up to down. If his shoulder missile launchers have been triggered, these will limit the movement of his head. The arms are attached with ball & socket joints, as are the elbows. The legs attach to the waist with socket joints. The knees are also ball & sockets. This allows for some dramatic poses...if you have the talent...something I lack!

All of the toys from Cybertron/Galaxy Force series feature a gimmick that is unlocked by a key. While I'm not the biggest fan of gimmicks in my toys, for the most part I didn't mind it with these toys. Autovolt's gimmick are spring loaded missile launchers activated by the insertion of the key into the port in the rear of the vehicle. These launchers can be activated in either vehicle or robot mode. The vehicle's spoiler also doubles as a hand held weapon. This will launch the included molded flame projectile, which I believe first debuted with Hot Rod in the Classics/Henkei! Henkei! series.

 

Getting back to the character card and the whole reason I was lead to purchase this Korean packaged toy, the card is in fact different from the Takara release. Autovolt's card is made of a clear plastic that features a lenticular design with 3 different images. The back of the card is similar to the original with the main difference being the language. While I've been known to buy a toy just for the included card, this time around I'm excited to not only acquire a new Transformers character card (which will eventually be added to the Transformers Bio Card Database), I'm genuinely excited about also re-acquiring some excellent Galaxy Force toys. I hope to be able to expand my search to find more of these Mocom Toy releases in the near future. As I'm able to pick more up I plan to share them here on the blog as well.

Transformers Galaxy Force: Gasket Police Type

There are times I go a little import crazy and buy more of Takara's version of a series of Transformers than just going down to my local Target or Walmart and buying the Hasbro toy. Galaxy Force, or Cybertron, was one of those series where I imported more than I bought domestically. Looking back I can't recall any specific reason, so I'll just chalk it up to the better paint apps and the inclusion of tech spec trading cards!

In 2008, Toys 'R Us stores in Japan had a promo where if you spent 4,000 yen on select Transformers product, you got this exclusive toy. Limited to 20 (or 25) per store, I knew this guy would be hard for me to acquire. I believe I ended up grabbing mine via a Yahoo! Japan auction.

As far as I can tell, this is the same mold as the regular (red) issue of Gasket (Ransack in the Cybertron series), only done up in a black/white police design. 

The motorcycle's windshield, tires and guns have all been cast in a smokey translucent plastic as opposed to the normal solid black. This gives the toy a really nice overall look. The word 'police' has been added to the windshield. I'm told the Japanese characters on the side also translate to the word police as well.

I've always liked this mold, especially the alt mode. Transforming motorcycles have been hit and miss across the span of Transformers (sorry Wreck-Gar), so to find a cycle that didn't suck is an accomplishment in my book. I love the stretch design of the bike, almost reminds me of a light cycle from the movie TRON. I love the fact that the tires are wide enough that the cycle can stand on it's own without having to use a kickstand for added support.

The gimmick of the toy is unchanged too. Inside the Planet Speedia Force Chip into the rear of the seat and the guns spring backwards. This gives Gasket some offensive firepower behind him when the Cybertrons/Autobots are giving him chase.

While I do think Gasket's cycle mode is the better of his two forms, his robot mode isn't bad. He has wide shoulders, a slim build and his feet look like high heels...I'm really surprised this mold wasn't used as a fembot. Like most modern Transformers, Gasket is well articulated and can pull off some great poses. Too bad the guy behind the camera sucks at getting those dynamic poses!

This mold would be later used as Ransack GTS in the Cybertron series and again as the excellent 2006 Botcon exclusive, Rattrap. There was a time I owned every version of this mold. Yes, I like this mold that much. Today this is the only version I have. I couldn't part with it when I was thinning out my non-G1 TFs. Finding him on the secondary market could prove tough. At the time of this post I could only find one on eBay, sealed for $75. If you want to just experience this mold, track down one of the Hasbro versions.

Transformers Galaxy Force: Megalo Micron Team

Back during my days of collecting every single Transformers Mini-Con / Micron figure, the Megalo Micron Team had to be hands down one of my favorite sets. The molds themselves were pretty cool, but I really loved the white/blue/red unified color scheme. Combine that with the fact that they were made to go side by side w/ Megalo Convoy (Cybertron Metroplex) and you had a winning combination.

Like many of the Japanese Micron sets, these figures were released individually as store exclusives. Megalo Gritbit and Megalo Zapmap were made available on September 29, 2005 with the purchase of any new Transformers product. Megalo Gritbit was exclusive to Hello Mac stores while Megalo Zapmap and Megalo Zigzag were exclusive to Joshin Denki stores. Tokyo didn't have any Joshin Denki stores so you'll probably find that two of the 3 figures are harder to find and will command more on the secondary market.

Megalo Gritbit is my favorite of the three. At one time I owned every single version of this mold, a task that took me some time and money to complete. I kinda wished I still owed a few of this mold.

Megalo Zapmap sorely needs some additional paint apps on his robot form. I'm not sure why red wasn't at least used to highlight his visor. Something other than the blue is needed to help break up all that white.

Megalo Zigzag is one of those molds that just takes some getting used to. I used to loathe this mold, but I guess when I started to accumulate the different variations of it the mold started to grow on me. He certainly is colorful in robot mode, more than I can say for Megalo Zapmap.

I haven't kept up w/ the secondary market prices of these exclusive Microns, but I know I had to shell out a decent amount when I picked them up new. My guess is that have gotten crazy expensive...if you can find them. Great molds, even better colors, the Megalo Micron Team really is a sight to behold.

Transformers Galaxy Force: Fang Wolf GC-14 Toy's Dream Project Exclusive

A year or so ago I decided to downsize some of the modern TFs and one of the first group of toys to go was my Unicron Trilogy stuff.  Armada, Energon and Cybertron all went bye bye.  However I kicked myself for getting rid of a few pieces and eventually bought them for a second time.  Thanks to my friend at Lost Treasures, I finally was able to add this limited piece back into my permanent collection.

Exclusive to Japan's Galaxy Force line and a limited Toy's Dream Project item.  This black version of Fang Wolf (Cybertron Snarl) was released in 2005 and was limited to just 3,000 pieces worldwide.  Fang Wolf comes packaged in the same packaging as the regular toy with the only difference being the Toy's Dream Project sticker.

The back of the box is the exact same from the regular release of Fang Wolf.  I only included the picture because I love the battle scene in the upper left corner.

I'm not always a fan of the black repaints that Takara likes to do, but in some cases the black version looks better than the original.  I believe this is one of those cases.  I already liked this toy to begin with thanks to the awesome not quite organic looking wolf mode.  As much as I enjoyed Beast Wars, I love his this time around Takara infused the organic and Cybertronian look together. There are several areas on the toy that have molded fur (front legs), while other parts retain the robotic feel (rear legs).  Throw in the black and dark gray with touches of silver and you've got a much more menacing looking Cybertron/Autobot.

One of the things about the Galaxy Force / Cybertron toys that I didn't care for was the key gimmick.  Most of the "action features" were silly to begin with, but you also now had an accessory that you had to keep up with.  At least with Fang Wolf you could clip the key on his hip so you didn't have to worry about losing it.  It may not be the most fashionable look, but at least it's an option.

The Cybertron keys all had codes imprinted on the back side that would unlock content on Hasbro's website, but the Japanese versions lacked the code.

Speaking of the key and the features it unlocks, Fang Wolf's gimmick is decent.  There is a port on the back side of the wolf's neck that accepts the key.  When the key is inserted and pressed in, the lower jaw drops and reveals two large fangs.  I believe the regular Fang Wolf used translucent blue 

plastic.  The pieces of "fur" behind the ears also rotate up and down with the jaw as the key is depressed.

Now I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to animal Transformers having the beast head forming an arm/hand, but I can tolerate Fang Wolf's design more so than other Transformers.  The large wolf head does obviously hinder some poses you may want to put Fang Wolf into, but it's not as bad as it looks.  The rest of the articulation is very well done.

The robot head reminds me a lot of the Beast Wars Fuzor, Silverbolt.  It has that canine looking snout.

Fang Wolf's missile launching gun also doubles as the wolf's tail, however it's hard to tell that is the case.  Like with the fang gimmick in beast mode, the plastic used for the missile has been changed from a translucent blue to a smoky translucent color.

I no longer own Cybertron Snarl so I didn't have anything to use for comparison pictures.  I didn't even think about grabbing my Botcon Weirdwolf to compare and contrast against.  Anyhow, this is one of the better Unicron Trilogy molds in my book.  The large animal head / hand will be a major turn off for a lot of people, I get that.  However if you can ever grab this exclusive black version of the toy for a decent price I'd say do it.