Galvatron (Robots in Disguise)
Galvatron is a fictional character from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Transformers series. He is an upgraded version of Megatron, known as Gigatron or Devil Gigatron in Japan.
Contents
Transformers: Robots in Disguise
This version of Galvatron started out as Megatron a six-changer, powerful enough to transform into five additional modes besides his robot form - twin-headed dragon, bat-gargoyle creature, race car, spaceship and claw (GigaDragon, GigaBat, GigaFormula, GigaJet and GigaHand in Japanese).[1] Each form has its own different frightening capabilities, making Megatron a very unstable and unpredictable fighter. (In Car Robots, each mode even had its own personality.) Unlike his namesake, Megatron would often sit back from a conflict and allow his subordinates to do the dirty work. Like his counterparts, he is arrogant, but unlike them, he also was incompetent, as most of his schemes were badly planned and badly executed.[2]
In the original Car Robots series, the character was developed as a new, unique villain character, rather than a Megatron/Galvatron, however the names were used in the US due to recognition, as well as maintaining ownership of the trademark.
Animated series
A Predacon warlord before coming to Earth, he is believed to have decimated numerous planets in his quest for energy. Optimus stated that Megatron left entire planets as "lifeless barren rocks". Needing ever more energy, Megatron targeted Earth's energy; to that end, he kidnapped the human energy-research expert, Doctor Kenneth Onishi, using his psycho-probe to drain information on Earth's energy sources from his mind. But even his subordinates were unaware that Megatron had a greater scheme in motion...
His attempts to amass energy thwarted by the Autobots and the incompetence of his own troops, Megatron sought to bolster his forces, locating six Autobot protoforms in a crashed Cybertronian spaceship, bestowing them with military vehicle modes and corrupting them with his own Spark energy, creating the Decepticons. However, their leader, Scourge, happened to scan Optimus Prime along with the tanker that would form his alternate mode, and as a result became something of an "evil clone" of Prime, whose cruelty and cunning eventually extended to plotting against Megatron.
In the pursuit of his greater agenda, Megatron began seeking the mysterious O-Parts, which led to the Orb of Sigma, in a subterranean pyramid. The orb would lead to Cerebros, the power key to the huge Autobot battle station, Fortress Maximus, who, it was revealed, he had actually come to Earth to obtain. When Megatron was buried in the ruins of the pyramid following a failed attempt to steal the orb from the Autobots, he underwent his most startling transformation of all, as the energies of the pyramid resurrected him as the vampiric Galvatron (known in Japan as DevilGigatron), able to enhance his own strength by draining the life energy from others. As Galvatron, he possessed four additional transformations - a hydrofoil, a gryphon, a pterodactyl and an elephant, used to terrifying effect when he drained the energy of Fortress Maximus and engaged Omega Prime in a final battle at the Earth's core. Thankfully, Prime was able to defeat him with the gathered energy of Earth's children, courtesy of Fortress Maximus, and he was sent back to Cybertron for imprisonment.
Dreamwave Productions
The character of RiD Megatron made one appearance in Dreamwave comics Summer Special issue before the company went under, sending his bickering lieutenants Scourge and Sky-Byte to steal a nuclear generator while he led the other Decepticons and Predacons to distract the Autobots. There was a contest in the issue as to whether RiD or Beast Wars would be the next Dreamwave comic series, which Beast Wars won.
Fun Publications
"Ask Vector Prime" featured a number of possible futures/alternate timelines involving Megatron/Galvatron, which usually ended poorly for him. In one reality, he joined forces with the villainous Predacon from the future Cryotek, welcoming him aboard the Megastar in exchange for being upgraded into Megabolt Megatron, a form that enabled him to take control of Fortress Maximus. However, their plots were thwarted by the combined efforts of Optimus Prime and his own time-traveling ally, Air Attack Optimus Primal. In another version of the Robots in Disguise universe, Megatron was killed by Omega Prime, but his remains were used by Megazarak to create Megabolt, only for the monstrous construct to be whisked away by Unicron to join the Universe Battles.
Yet another alternate version, this one under the name Devil Gigatron, later struck a deal with the monstrous Devil Z and was reformatted into the mighty Gigatron Z (a nod to the Korean release of Beast Wars Galvatron being considered the same character as Robots in Disguise Megatron/Galvatron). He then led a prison break from Garrus-7, where he had converted several guards to the Predacon cause. [3] Another Gigatron (whether some version of this character or an analogue of Overlord) also appeared among the forces of Bio Ranger Iga as one of the Thirteen Great Demon Generals.
Toys
- Car Robots Gigatron (2000)
- An Ultra-sized figure that transforms from robot to two-headed dragon (GigaDragon), bat-gargoyle (GigaBat), Cybertronian race car (GigaFormula), Cybertronian jet (GigaJet) and giant hand (GigaHand).
- Car Robots Devil Gigatron (2000)
- A white redeco of Gigatron retooled to transform into four extra modes: hydrofoil, gryphon, pterodactyl and elephant.
- Robots in Disguise Ultra Megatron (2001)
- In Japan, Car Robots Gigatron has 6 modes, while Devil Gigatron has retooling to support 10 modes. However when the line was brought to the US, RiD Megatron was based on the retooled Devil Gigatron mold, but with the black Gigatron color scheme, and is therefore capable of the same 10 modes as RiD Galvatron.
- This figure was also remolded as the BotCon 2005 exclusive figure Deathsaurus.
- Robots in Disguise Ultra Galvatron (2002)
- The US version of Devil Gigatron.
- Megabolt Megatron (2003)
- A repaint of Megabolt, a figure based on the Grand Mal from Beast Machines.
Generation 1
IDW Publishing
The design for Megatron was later used to the character of Gigatron, a Decepticon featured in The Transformers line from IDW Publishing.
References
- ↑ The African American entrepreneur: then and now By W. Sherman Rogers page 321
- ↑ TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE Returns! Hasbro Launches Product Line Based on Original '80s Theme; Fox Kids Series to Debut September 8th. Business Wire September 5, 2001
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/AskVectorPrime/posts/741546689310637
