... just probably not the kind of train you were thinking of.
Today, we'll take a quick look at the Transformers Legacy: Velocitron Speedia 500 - Galaxy Shuttle figure.
So like with all of the other Velocitron releases, this one was found at my local Walmart. Unlike the other ones, however, this one was incredibly easy to find when first released, as I don't think too many people are familiar enough with the character to drop $80 on, let alone for a repaint/retool of a toy that wasn't that well received in the first place. In fact, it continues to be easily found at stores, though to be fair it does seem easier in general to find Velocitron items.
But, being a sucker for Japanese exclusive characters, I bit hard. It's just that usually they're the product of TakaraTomy, which generally guarantee a better than Hasbro level of QC, though at an elevated price. So being able to find it at a retail store for once was a nice bonus.
So it's been a while since I've opened up a Transformer, and I forgot things have gotten so bad from a packaging perspective that even having a plastic tray is considered a luxury. Explains why Hasbro figured they were doing us all a favour with their Victory Saber set. You also can't beat that class act of wrapping the accessories in tissue paper and taping that to the liner.
For the unfamiliar, Galaxy Shuttle is a recolour of the Siege Astrotrain figure with a new head. Which basically means it shares all the same strengths and weaknesses of the figure, the greatest weakness being that they couldn't even get me to buy one on clearance, and we're talking like 1/3 the regular price here.
The actual main figure itself isn't bad. I mean, it's a mainline release so it's not going to be MP level of QC and design. From that perspective, the figure does its job. Some paint issues, some tolerance issues, and the usual lack of paint, but the thing transforms and holds together well. Transformation between the three modes is relatively straight forward, and reminds me a bit of Mega Octane n the Titans Return line up. It is nice though, having the shuttle being white and the train being black, so there's a very stark difference colour wise between the two modes.
Robot mode features an acceptable level of articulation, , and the painted thigh pieces are nice. No crazy posing, of course, but at least you have a waist. Better anjkle articulation would have been ideal to have, as it always drives me nuts when a figure can't stand flush on a flat surface. There's also a ridiculous number of guns that comes with the figure because you can never have enough firepower.
Where the set falls apart is how a Voyager sized figure effectively ends up at almost double the price, and the justification for it is basically by adding a trailer of sorts - it's not always a literal trailer, but rather just a block of plastic or something that is intended to make the main figure more fancy, but in reality doesn't really do anything.
For Galaxy Shuttle/Astrotrain, what you get is a mess of panels that becomes a coal car in train mode, a platform thing for shuttle mode, and the greatest of them all...
.... this set of "battle armour" consisting of a pair of shoes, and a really useless and awkward backpack. I truly believe they were scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one, though I'm sure that I'll run into something one day that makes this look absolutely brilliant.
So overall, Galaxy Shuttle is neat, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't know about the sheer uselessness of the add on accessories. At MSRP, I'd say there's no rush to go out and find one per se, as they'll be there for a while, unless you're hellbent on finding one with a perfect box or something.
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