Cliffbee.com Galaxy Shuttle Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Galaxy Shuttle
Series: Japanese Generation 1
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Interstellar Transport Warrior
Alternate Mode: Space Shuttle

Thanks to evil autobot for loaning me Galaxy Shuttle for this review



SHUTTLE MODE
Height: 10.5cm Length: 25.5cm Width: 17.5cm

   A white shuttle with black on the nose, wings, tail, thrusters and some kibble on top, Galaxy Shuttle has blue windows on his cockpit and Autobot logos on either wing (on white stickers) and behind the cockpit. He's more realistic in his colours than most Transformers space shuttles, aside from the lack of NASA badges. There are some stickers sporting blue stripes on the tailfin and sides of the cargo bay, the latter feature yellow "V"s, which is something of a badge (I assume it's alluding to the Victory cartoon, in which he appears). It's a straightforward and fairly realistic colour scheme, if not an especially interesting one.

   There's some play value here, and while it's all by the numbers, it's above the level you'd expect of a G1 toy that's not a base or city. Underneath the front there's a retractable front wheel, and tow at the back, allowing him to roll. I wouldn't recommend retracting the front wheel until you transform him, since he'll slump forward. The cargo bay opens to reveal a small storage area - enough for say a Headmaster head or Powermaster engine. The cockpit opens up to reveal a very rudimentary cabin for say a Micromaster to pilot Galaxy Shuttle. It doesn't open in a realistic way, but it's a nice feature. Galaxy Shuttle can plug into the launchpad of Countdown's base, standing upright for launch (although without the boosters & fueltank shuttles actually use).

   The sculpt is decent - good for the era, rounding out a good shuttle mode. The colours work and the play value is impressive here. Galaxy Shuttle is big compared to most G1 toys, but doesn't feel overly simple compared to most of them. A solid shuttle more which provides some action.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Fold away the front wheel, rotate the wings forward, open the cargo bay. Pivot back the rear of the shuttle and split to form his legs. Fold down the front as his chest, flip out his head. Fold down the feet, detach the tailfin from whichever legs it's plugged into (if it hasn't fallen off). Lift up the kibble panels on the cargo bay doors (his upper arms) and flip down his forearms. Close th panels and place the tail in either hand as a weapon.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 23cm Width: 17.5cm

   Again white and black, Galaxy Shuttle is dominated by white with black on his knees, arms, head and the wings forming a cape behind his arms. The face is silver with a blue eyestrip, and is very well sculpted for a G1 toy. The Autobot logo behind the cockpit is now on his chest, and this red is joined by some red stickers on his groin and feet. Again it's a very simple colour scheme and this time it does feel a little too simple. It's by no means a bad colour scheme - there's just not much happening here.

   This is a fairly simple robot mode for his size, but it does feature some well positioned shuttle parts, like the cockpit on his chest and the wings as a cape. There's a white tab in front of his face which blocks Galaxy Shuttle's view to some extent, and the arms sit awfully close to his body - aspects I dislike. So he's a mixed bag now.

   Play value here is very limited. The forearms swing up and the legs can lift out to the sides, otherwise he's pretty much immobile. The tail works well as a gun considering there's a giant fin attached to it.

   This is his weaker mode, thanks to the limited movement, the tab in front of his face and arms hugging the torso. Galaxy Shuttle does feature some well positioned shuttle parts and great facial sculpt, so he has his plusses and minuses. A decent mode despite the simplicity - the play value focus is simply on his other mode.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of.

OVERALL

   A fairly tricky toy to find, but probably not worth the effort unless you're a real fan of Victory - even then he didn't do much in that cartoon. Don't get me wrong, Galaxy Shuttle has a good shuttle mode and some decent aspects to his robot mode, but there's no wow factor here, at least not for his current going rate. If by some chance you can find him at a price comparable to a similar sized G1 toy (say Blaster), I'd recommend him, since the shuttle mode is impressive. Price & rarity aside, a solid toy - 7/10

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