Grand Galvatron (Transformers Generation 1)

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Name: Grand Galvatron
Allegiance: Decepticons
Function: Great Emperor of Destruction
Sub-group: The Haunted
Timeline: Generation 1

United, our power is everything; defeat is absurd!

Profile:

Grand Galvatron is as far beyond Galvatron as Galvatron is beyond Megatron. Utterly ruthless and possessing no mercy or remorse, Grand Galvatron is the realisation of all Galvatron's ambitions: phenomenal physical power and endurance, directed by a mind free of the insanity that has plagued Galvatron in the past. This is because he is not the insane Galvatron of old, but the disembodied spirit of another Galvatron from a parallel reality, known as Galvatron II. Galvatron II possessed Cyclonus and forged a new alliance with Unicron, promising to rebuild Unicron's damaged body in return for a new body of his own. And so Unicron granted Galvatron II his powerful Grand Galvatron combiner body, reformatting Cyclonus as the core of the combiner, and plucking four other warriors - known collectively as The Haunted - from across the expanse of the multiverse to become Grand Galvatron's limbs. Unlike other combiners, when The Haunted merge into Grand Galvatron their personalities are completely suppressed by Galvatron II. This makes Grand Galvatron a rare example of a combined warrior with a single focused mind. As a result, Grand Galvatron is able to unleash the full potential of a combined Cybertronian. Add the fact it is the shrewd, ruthless military mind of a sane Galvatron directing the combiner, and Grand Galvatron is one of the most powerful combiners in existence. Unicron, knowing that placing so much power in the hands of any individual named Galvatron would be dangerous, installed various failsafes into Grand Galvatron. These include a killswitch that forces Grand Galvatron to disengage if he so much as thinks of betraying or otherwise allowing any harm to come to Unicron. Grand Galvatron is aware of Unicron's many safeguards, and is seeking a way to overcome all of them and remain in his combined form forever - as when Grand Galvatron disengages his consciousness is effectively dispersed until The Haunted merge once more.

Powers and Abilities:

Grand Galvatron is immensely powerful. Every one of his physical attributes transcends what should be mechanically possible for a Cybertronian to achieve; he is physically strong enough to lift 2,000 tonnes and one of his punches is enough to daze a Titan-class Cybertronian. Grand Galvatron's reaction times are unmatched; he can respond to threats within 0.01 seconds, and he is surprisingly fast and agile for a 'bot of his size. Grand Galvatron's stamina is without limit; he maintains a constant connection to Unicron which continuously replenishes his energy reserves.

Grand Galvatron's primary weapon is an upgraded version of Galvatron's particle cannon. In addition to firing super-heated plasma like Galvatron's particle cannon, Grand Galvatron's particle cannon can draw upon the cosmic energies that bind together the multiverse to unleash powerful blasts of antimatter. These energy blasts are extremely destructive, disintegrating whatever they hit in a powerful explosion. Grand Galvatron's particle cannon can also connect directly to the "unspace" that exists between realities to fire beams of pure uncreation which can theoretically wipe out an entire planet. Grand Galvatron finds this ability requires a tremendous amount of energy and mental focus, and so prefers to make use of his comparatively less destructive but more readily usable energy blasts.

Grand Galvatron has access to all of the special abilities of his individual components. He is able to use Thrust's cloaking field to turn invisible and evade all but the most advanced sensor sweeps. His right arm is formed from the ghost of Starscream, who was reformatted into a half-living, half-spectral form by Unicron. Grand Galvatron can make use of Starscream's ghostly nature, phasing his Starscream arm through opponents to cause them immense pain or simply to crush their spark with his bare hands.

Grand Galvatron's component Transformers, The Haunted:

Grand Galvatron is formed from four Decepticons and one Autobot who has been corrupted by Unicron's evil. Those individuals are:

• Cyclonus, the team leader, possessed by the ghost of Galvatron 
• Starscream, a ghost cursed to forever wander in the space between life and death 
• Thrust, a tactician from the Unicron Trilogy timeline, cursed by his ambition to control Unicron and set himself above all other Cybertronians 
• Breakdown, an undead warrior from the Aligned Continuity, raised from the dead once more by Unicron's dark power 
• Roller, a wandering former Autobot who was twisted to evil by Unicron due to the bitterness he feels in his spark at the loss of his dear friend, Optimus Prime 

Sometimes the group is also joined by:

• Terrorsaur, a warrior from the Beast Era who was revived by Unicron after years of being entombed in Earth's crust. 

Weaknesses:

Grand Galvatron has few weaknesses that are easily exploitable. His most significant weakness is the killswitch built into his systems that forces him to separate - but nobody who has faced Grand Galvatron has yet found a reliable way to trigger the killswitch.

When disengaged, Grand Galvatron's component Cybertronians are not always willing to combine back into Grand Galvatron. While each member of The Haunted are formidable warriors in their own right, they are less powerful than the combined whole that is Grand Galvatron. Disabling even one of The Haunted is the only known way to ensure that is Grand Galvatron is disabled.

Author notes:

Writing Grand Galvatron I basically just wrote "Galvatron turned up to 11" - everything Galvatron can do, Grand Galvatron can do more powerfully and effectively. Plus, he's not insane - so he's bringing all this power to bear with no restriction or hesitation. I also set out to give Grand Galvatron powers based on his component's special abilities although I struggled to think of much for Breakdown or Roller to contribute to the array of powers.

I call these guys "The Haunted" for two reasons. One is the set has an occult / demonic possession theme - Starscream is a ghost, Thrust is cursed because he made a deal with the devil, Breakdown is a zombie, Roller is a fallen hero who's turned to evil, and Cyclonus is possessed by a vengeful spirit. The other is because the box refers to the set as the "Destron Haunt Leader Grand Galvatron". "The Haunted" fits the tone of the set, and I wanted to name the combiner group - it's one of the few combining groups whose members don't have a sub group name.

All in, it's a great illustration of the crazy but fun stuff Takara-Tomy can come up with when their creativity is fully unrestrained. It's a pity that brand alignment has put an end to some of the more unique and creative ideas.

Toys of Transformers Generation 1 Grand Galvatron

Transformers Combiner Wars Grand Galvatron

Grand Galvatron is such a cool set, and I'm really glad I picked him up. What attracted me to the set was the simply wackiness of a combiner team made up of a random group of characters from four different Transformers continuities. It's an idea which by all rights shouldn't have worked - but it did and it is awesome. I love the paint details on each member of the team. Each one really shines as individuals, with Cyclonus looking excellent in his cartoon deco. Roller really shines with his silver paint, too. He really stands out to me, not least because he's also the IDW version of Roller. Overall, I just love this set. It's one of the absolute best "left field" random characters I've ever seen, with a level of quality you simply don't see too often.

More information on Transformers Combiner Wars Grand Galvatron at TFW2005