TOY REVIEW
Name: Gigatron
Allegiance: Destron
Sub Group: Destronger
Function: Dark God of Destruction
Alternate Modes: Mecha-Bat, Mecha-Dragon, Jet fighter, Race car,
Giant mechanical hand.
Average Price: 2980 JPY
1: ROBOT MODE
Most Transformers come packaged in their alternate modes
as opposed to their robot modes. A few exceptions have been some of the
Autobot mini spies and the Jaguar toy that
came out last year. Gigatron is one such toy. However, Gigatron is not
the first major character or Destron leader to come packaged in robot mode.
G2 Emperor of Destruction Megatron (known in the States as "Combat Hero
Megatron" and in the United Kingdom as "Archforce") also came packaged
in robot mode. But I suppose when you have five other alternate modes to
choose from, you'd be inclined to package the toy in robot mode. But enough
of that...
Gigatron is a superbly crafted toy. The parts from
the other modes intertwine almost seemlessly to the point where at first
glance you may pause and wonder if this toy is really a Transformer or
not. The toy truly gives off an awesome feeling. There is no doubt that
this toy encompasses all that is vile and wicked. It commands respect.
The toy is primarily black and dark purple. The head is black with gold
accents. The face is white and the eyes are chrome-red. There is a transparent
red crest on top of the head. There are two small wings (called "ears"
on the instruction booklet, *shudder*). These are chrome-purple. The torso
is black and the chest plate is chrome silver that fades to a chrome-blue
towards the bottom. There are some chrome-green and black decos. The abdomen
is purple and the waist is black with silver deco. The shoulders are black
with a very nicely sculpted and painted gold pattern. It tends to give
Gigatron a 'regal' touch. The upper arms are dark purple and the lower
arms are black. Each lower arm has a black round shield with a transparent
red centre and a chrome-gold crescent covering. The wrists are purple with
two transparent red beast feet with gold toes (this is the only major alt
mode kibble that sticks out badly). The upper legs are dark purple with
grey decos. The moulding here is quite... unworldly. The lower legs are
black with transparent red knee caps. The feet are purple. This colour
scheme carries on throughout Gigatron's other modes.
One the back is a large wing array. The structure is mainly
black with two gold tips and two transparent red hinges. The flaps of the
wings are translucent purple with a very nice scale-like moulding. Gigatron
also has two missile launcher-sword weapons which can also combine into
a double-bladed Darth
Maul thing. ;-)
As mentioned before, the overall sculpting of this toy is
very menacing. Unlike previous leaders such as Megatron,
Galvatron and Magmatron,
Gigatron's mouth is not moulded into a constipated grin. The mouth is sculpted
with both corners pulled down and the eyes are also frowning. This guy
looks like he's really pissed off, not like he's busting to go to
the loo!
This toy stands proud at 19.5 centimetres and boasts
25 points of articulation including two joints on each foot alone, a fully
poseable ankles and an additional six points of articulation in the wings
(so there are 31 points including the wing structures).
TRANSFORMATION GIGA-BAT MODE
They've stopped using photographs and gone back to using
technical drawings on the instructions again. Fortunately, Takara's instructions
are very well drawn (wish I could say the same for Hasbro, but I
can't - their instruction art sucks).
Lift up the nose of the plane structure on the back.
Twist it around 180 degrees. Level the nose back down. Fold robot feet
in half so that the toes touch the heels. Pivot 90 degrees. Raise both
robot legs backwards so that they are resting along the back of the robot.
Fold down beast feet. Pull lower arms (lower beast legs) down until they
lock into place. Fold shoulders down. Open the chest panel and pull out
the Giga-bat muzzle, so that it attaches onto the robot face. Close chest
panel. Attach weapons to outer sides of wings. Open gold claws on wing
hinges. Open wings all the way.
2: GIGA-BAT MODE
Hey, this mode looks like Gigatron had his legs amputated,
a MacDonald's Cookie box strapped to his face and now he's walking on his
hands -- that's pretty much what it is!! This is a rather unimpressive
beast mode. Mainly because they seemed to have put in minimal effort for
the bat head - which is just a robot head with something stuck onto the
mouth. It's not that bad of a bat mode, mind you. Actually, it's
not too bad at all. Except for the face and somewhat ungainly looking legs,
the rest of the body looks alright. My main gripe is that I wish they would've
made a separate bat head, rather than attaching a bat "mask" onto the robot
head.
TRANSFORMATION TO GIGA-DRAGON MODE
Remove weapons from wings. Open the chest panel. Fold Giga-bat's
muzzle back in, fold in head 'ears' and push robot head down. Close panel.
Pull out dragon arms. Raise beast legs up 90 degrees and rotate them 180
degrees. Fold the Giga-Dragon tail down 180 degrees. Fold the tip of the
tail up. Fold out robot legs (dragon necks). Pivot both 180 degrees. Lift
up top coverings of robot feet, revealing dragon heads. Swing wing section
up, locking post into hole. This doesn't work perfectly on my toy, but
it seems to stay there with reasonable stability.
Attach weapons onto back of wings.
3: GIGA-DRAGON MODE
A much better beast mode than the Giga-bat mode. The
tail doesn't click in very strongly so I wouldn' recommend using it as
a supportive strut. The toy is rather top heavy, but in the appropriate
posture, the toy can stand itself up without too many major dramas.
TRANSFORMATION TO GIGA-JET MODE
Remove weapons. Level wings out. Close the covers on the
dragon heads. Pivot heads 180 degrees. Pivot necks 180 degrees. Bend necks
back. This can be a bit tricky. Remembering that the dragon necks are also
the robot legs, the trick is to pull the kneecaps forward, exposing the
purple knees beneath. Otherwise you'll find it nearly impossible to fit
both legs into that gap. Pivot nosecone 180 degrees and straighten it until
it locks into place. Swing down beast legs. Swing down beast feet. Push
lower best legs up (thus exposing robot fist). Pivot beast legs 90 degrees
so that the gold crescents are facing forward. Pull beast legs out to the
sides. Fold in dragon arms. Open robot chest panel, pull out landing gear,
swing robot arms down by the shoulders. Close panel. Close gold talons
on wing hinges. Insert weapons to sides of plane..
4: GIGA-JET MODE
It's the Blackbird from hell!! This is actually a very nice
looking mode. It looks like a demonic stealth fighter from your worst nightmare!
This jet has a wingspan of 40 centimetres and a length of about 28 centimetres.
Having three wheels allows the toy to roll on the ground as well as providing
stable support. This would be my favourite alt mode for Gigateron. :-)
TRANSFORMATION GIGA-FORMULA MODE
Remove weapons. Open robot chest panel and place landing
gear back in. Close chest panel. Fold down and extend robot legs. Swing
wing section upwards. Fold wings in. Fold wings in on mid section. This
joint on my toy is extremely tight and I always need to use a bit of excessive
force to get those suckers down! Swing robot arms up 180 degrees. Pivot
forearms 180 degrees and bend arms so that the elbows form a 130 degree
angle. Pivot robot feet 180 degrees. pivot legs 90 degrees outwards. Separate
the lower leg sections and swing them up. Attach weapons to rear of vehicle.
5: GIGA-FORMULA MODE
If the Giga-jet is the stealth figher from hell, then
the Giga-Formula is the Batmobile from hell! I prefer the jet mode though
and I think the execution of this mode could have been done better.
TRANSFORMATION TO GIGA-HAND MODE
Remove weapons. Reconnect lower leg and swing robot legs
to face forward. Straighten robot arms. Extend lower arms. Fold wings back
up. Shift wing section down and lock. Lift cockpit up 90 degrees. Turn
the mid section 180 degrees and unlock the nose; this forms the thumb.
Curl the four fingers over (the robot arms and legs). Raise black section
of groin to form lever.
6: GIGA-HAND MODE
It's actually not quite as silly as it seems. A giant
demonic hand terrorising Tokyo's not a pretty thought. Especially when
it crashes through buildings and descends upon haples humans below, the
cartoon has demonstrated this to be one of the most frightening modes used
by Gigatron. The hand symbolises power, control and manipulation. I must
admit that this mode is actually better than I expected it to be.
And yes, it can give the one-finger salute. :p
SPARK CRYSTAL LOCATION
Right smack in the middle of the chest panel!
OVERALL
It's not easy to make six good looking modes and combining
it all into one toy. Sixchangers are not easy to make... historically there
have only been three sixchanger moulds made to date: Sixshot, Quickswitch
(who was later repainted for Sixknight, but it's the same mould) and now
Gigatron. Throughout Transformer history we've seen many triple changing
Transformers, but only three sixchangers (or four if you really want to
count Sixknight). I believe the sheer difficulty to engineer so many modes
into a single toy has been the primary reason for their rarity.
However, I think they've done reasonably well. I'd recommend
this toy for the more serious collector though.
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