Galvatron (Beast Wars Transformers)

Home > Transformers Profiles > Generation 1 > Beast Era > Galvatron

Name: Galvatron
Allegiance: Destrons
Function: Emperor of Destruction
Timeline: Generation 1 (Beast Era)

Power... at any price!

Profile:

A self-styled "New Emperor of Destruction", Galvatron emerged in the period of uncertain peace that followed shortly after the signing of the Pax Cybertronia. Galvatron's followers, the Destrons, are a splinter faction made up of Predacons and former Decepticons who refuse to recognise the peace. Unlike the Predacon Megatron, Galvatron does not use smooth rhetoric to win support to his cause. He is a demagogue, pure and simple, speaking plainly and with the passion of one who believes in the ancient Decepticon ideals. But Galvatron is also a father to his men. He demands the absolute obedience of all those under his command, but he treats his men with great respect, even his brother Megastorm, who openly plots against him. Megastorm is family, after all, and Galvatron believes family is very important. Hugely ambitious, power-hungry and ruthless, Galvatron sees himself as the true successor to the Decepticon leaders of old. This is why he claimed the name of the most powerful Decepticon leader - Galvatron - as his own. After nearly 200 years of skirmishes and raids, Galvatron has discovered the planet Gaia and its vast reserves of "Angolmois Energy" - Galvatron believes if he can acquire enough of it, he will be able to overthrow "the corrupt governments of Cybertron" and conquer the galaxy. The only ones standing in Galvatron's way are a force of Maximals led by Lio Convoy - and Lio Convoy has quickly learned that even without Angolmois Energy, Galvatron is an enormously powerful opponent, not to mention a tenacious one. The Maximals have found that no matter how many times they defeat Galvatron, he always comes back.

Little does Galvatron know that his obsession with Angolmois Energy will ultimately condemn him to the fate of his namesake and many others bearing the name "Galvatron": he is destined to become little more than a souless shell inhabited by the dark essence of Unicron.

Powers and Abilities:

Galvatron has a rare "super spark" that only occurs in 0.01% of the Cybertronian population, which makes him naturally stronger and more powerful than the typical Cybertronian. Galvatron has undergone several experimental procedures to increase his power, which has resulted in the creation of the "Galva-Matrix". A mockery of the legendary Matrix of Leadership and the energon matrices bestowed upon Maximal commanders such as Lio Convoy, Galvatron's Galva-Matrix is the source of his tremendous power and magnifies his own super-spark's substantial capabilities. As a consequence, Galvatron is enormously strong. He is physically one of the strongest Cybertronians of his generation, if not the absolute strongest. Very few can rival Galvatron's strength. Galvatron is extremely resilient to damage, having survived falling into a volcano on one notable occasion. In addition to enhanced strength and durability, Galvatron's spark has an unusual affinity toward Angolmois Energy. Galvatron can process the mysterious and powerful energy source, using it to greatly enhance his physical capabilities, and grow to gigantic size. Galvatron's Galva-Matrix serves as a means of connecting to and controlling Galvatron's powerful war-world, the artificial planet, Nemesis.

In robot mode, Galvatron possesses a fearsome array of weapons. His most dangerous weapon is his Galva-Claw, a pair of serrated scythes which normally form the "cape" of Galvatron's robot mode. When activated, Galvatron can deploy the blades over his shoulders to slash opponents at close range, or disengage them as a handheld pair of gigantic scissors to grab and cruelly slice opponents in two. The hand-held portion of the Galva-Claw also contains ballistic weaponry. Supplementing the Galva-Claw, Galvatron wields a pair of heat-hatchets which generate intense heat to melt Maximal armour with every strike. For medium-range combat, Galvatron has a pair of gatling guns mounted on his knees which fire slugs of molten metal at any unfortunate enough to stand in Galvatron's path.

Galvatron is a triple changer, possessing a beast form - a dragon - and a vehicle form - a drill. Galvatron obtained the specifications for his alternate modes by using Gaia's mother computer to research the most powerful forms to have ever existed on the planet. The strain of scanning both alternate modes overloaded Galvatron and would surely have taken a lesser Cybertronian offline permanently; it is a testament to Galvatron's incredible strength that he not only scanned both alternate forms but mastered them, too.

Galvatron's dragon mode is incredibly powerful. Physically, it is almost as powerful as Galvatron in robot mode. In this form, Galvatron is capable of flight, and can lift up to sixty times his own weight with his powerful clawed feet. Galvatron's dragon mode is capable of breathing fire intense enough to melt metal. Galvatron is able to produce the fuel for his flame breath by ingesting oil and energon, which is then converted into a volatile incendiary liquid that ignites on contact with the air. Galvatron's internal systems are also capable of processing base metals and converting them into a searing molten sludge which Galvatron can spray in the same manner as his flame breath.

Galvatron's drill mode is almost impervious to damage. It can tunnel through solid rock as effortlessly as a fish swims through water, moving at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. The drill has an explosive tip, which Galvatron can use to lethal effect when he chooses to direct his powerful drill mode against Maximals rather than the rock beneath his feet.

Weaknesses:

Galvatron is a 'bot of many vices. His brother Megastorm accuses Galvatron of being obsessed with Angolmois Energy - that he prioritises obtaining the mysterious power over other, more sensible, tactical considerations. Galvatron tends to over-energise to the point of entering a drunken stupor - and Galvatron is a mean drunk, often going on drunken rampages where he attacks friend and foe indiscriminately. Lastly, Galvatron tends to spend an enormous amount of time sleeping - not out of a need to recharge in between exercising his tremendous power (or to sleep off a drunken rampage), but because he is quite slothful and lazy.

Dragon mode:

Drill Tank mode:

Author notes:

I had a bit of fun writing the bio. When writing Galvatron's abilities, I wanted to play up the concept of the Galva-Matrix and why this guy is so phenomenally powerful. I decided to use the concept of the point one percenter from IDW comics. Point one percenters are generally extremely powerful - which fits Galvatron - and they also have unique abilities - in Galvatron's case, the ability to process exotic energy sources.

In deciding where to place Galvatron in the wider continuity, I considered where Beast Wars Second occurs relative to the rest of Beast Wars (I'm working on the basis that a version of Beast Wars Second occurs alongside the original show we got in the west). IDW used the idea that Beast Wars Second occurred earlier than Beast Wars, which made sense to me. I decided to run with the idea that Galvatron emerges a little time after the Pax Cybertronia was signed, and is one of a group of leaders who didn't like the Pax Cybertronia, rallying other like-minded individuals to their cause. I figured I'd respect the original source material for my version of Galvatron, much like IDW did, and call his splinter faction the Destrons. They're a better organised militaristic group compared to Megatron's band of Predacons.

When I wrote the weaknesses, I really wanted to put back in some of the things that IDW dropped in their version of the character. IDW's profile was a bit weak in this area - it said only that Galvatron was obsessed with Angolmois and this was his undoing. It missed a lot of the other, fun aspects of the character like how he'd sleep for entire episodes at a time and how he's get drunk on energon and go on rampages. I really wanted to get these aspects into the profile since to me that is an important part of who Galvatron is, and is a way to balance out what is otherwise a completely overpowered villain. The only thing I missed was that Galvatron talks in his sleep, which I'll loop back to at some point and find a way to incorporate.

Toys of Beast Wars Transformers Galvatron

Beast Wars Second Galvatron

Beast Wars Second Galvatron is a toy that I absolutely adore. I got Galvatron and Lio Convoy's two pack release back when it came out in Japan in 1998 thanks to a family friend visiting Japan on a business trip, and he's been a solid favourite in my Beast Wars collection ever since. There's a lot I like about this toy. The robot mode is very nicely designed, very stocky and nicely poseable. One of the cool things about the robot mode design is that marble in his chest, the Galva-Matrix. It makes the character look very striking. I'm a fan of the deco, too. Galvatron is a very colourful toy and it all works to create a very striking appearance.

Galvatron's a really cool one to transform between modes. The dragon mode is a little contrived, but it looks impressive. It's a hybrid between western and eastern style dragons, with the narrow head and small arms of a eastern dragon but with the gigantic wings of a western dragon. It is a cool look, and has a bit of poseability. The drill mode is really cool - unlike a lot of the Transmetal third modes from around this period, Galvatron's drill mode is an actual distinct alternate mode and not his beast mode with some repositioned parts. The drill is really impressive, too - it is the shoulder pads of the dragon mode, folded up to conceal the head and neck of the dragon. Between that and the way the dragon legs fold up into tank treads, Galvatron's drill mode does a good job of hiding the beast mode. The drillbit spins, thanks to a button on the top of the drill mode. I had a lot of fun driving this one around, making the drill spin and having him run over my Maximal toys.

More information on Beast Wars Second Galvatron at TFW2005

See more Beast Wars Second toys in my collection.