in Robots in Disguise Galvatron is the "powered up" version of Megatron and he now describes himself as a Decepticon - though his function is still "Predacon leader." There seems to have been no change between Megatron and Galvatron aside from colour, so either Megatron does use the Devil Gigatron mould or there is no difference between the two.

ROBOT MODE:
Galvatron's robot mode is far and away the best proportioned, most articulated and most humanoid of all the figures in Robots In Disguise, and for that matter, possibly any transformers series ever. This is not a presumptuous statement though, since the figure appears to have had the robot mode designed first and then had bits added on to make it transform. Nevertheless the colour scheme is matched only by Megatron and Cryotek in terms of eye candy. His chest is either vac metal silver or silver paint with a gold colour air brushed on the lower part and blended upwards, there are two vac metal green 'jewels' around his collarbone area, gold painted hinges around the sides of his waist and, of course, a Predacon spark crystal smack dab in the middle of his chest. Four gold talons - a carry-over from Beast Wars Megatron - surround his now grey face and vac metal red eyes. The rest of his head is white save for a translucent red spire on his forehead with a patch of gold paint at the front and gold vac metal "wings" at either side of his head. The majority of his body is black in the same way that black is worn under a partial costume in a play - the black is dominant but the white is made to stand out, with his forearms, shins, pelvis and shoulder protectors white. The pelvis has gold and purple accents, and his shoulders have some gold accenting, and where there was gold on Megatron's shins it has been replaced by silver - though they also have a great big translucent red ball in the middle of them, and his forearms have his beast mode claws - which are red accented with gold - and his vehicle mode wheels, which are white with gold and red accents. His black and translucent red swords-cum-missile launchers can be held in either white hand or joined into a staff for one hand, they can also be attached to either forearm as the obligatory big-arm-gun that every Galvatron MUST have to qualify as a Galvatron. The wings are translucent purple-cum-blue with white surrounds and details, gold vac metal 'claws' and some translucent red.

In this mode the mighty Galvatron has 23 points of articulation, including two for each foot (ball joints and hinge joints), one at each knee, a swivel joint on the upper leg, his hips (2 each). wrists, elbows, swivel joints on his upper arms, shoulders (2 each), and neck. Each wing can also be extended and has two hinge joints folding in opposing directions; but they don't really count.

TRANSFORMATION (BEAST MODE):
Begin by removing his weapons from wherever they happen to be and set them aside. open his chest and try and dig your finger in under his head to flick out his bat maw and cover his face with it then close his chest. Pull down his forearms gently and twist them toward his body to hide his fists then fold down his beast mode claws. Fold his legs up behind him, push the shoulder pads down, extend his wings, open his claws, attach his sword/missile things to the pegs behind each claw as seen in the picture above and stand. you now have a Megabat.

BEAST MODE:
I've heard this mode described as everything from 'Megabat' (which was apparently in the show at some stage), to Gargoyle, to bat, to Galvatron standing on his hands with his legs behind him and a Halloween mask on (technically all one word). Call it what you like but I think I'll stick to "beast mode" just to be safe. This mode has no real dramatic changes from his robot mode since, as you may have guessed, it's really nothing more than Galvatron folded up with a Halloween mask on, so the colour scheme is pretty much the same though the gold and red of his forearms and hands are more prominent; accenting the gold detailing of the rest of his body well.

Galvatron looses some of his articulation in this mode, notably his legs since they're now his back, and his neck which cannot turn with that bloody great maw on. His wrists are also hidden by his claws, so all counted he has 12 points of articulation - mostly thanks to his arms and shoulders. The only point he gains is the feet/hands, which can fold up to make him sit forward.

TRANSFORMATION (BEAST MODE TO DRAGON MODE):
Begin by removing the sword/missile launchers from his wings. Open his chest and fold he bat mode face back down, then fold his head wings to the side and push his head down. Fold the tail from his back up and clip it into the hole where his head was then close his chest. The very top of the tail needs to be detached and spun around. Spin his torso upright so the tail is between his arms - now his legs - and spin his legs around at the upper arm joints. Fold the dragon mode arms our from his pelvis, but be careful; they detach easily. Extend his legs and turn them around so that his shins are facing backward, then bend his knees. close his feet and fold the foot guards back to form his dragon mode ears. Swing his wings up and fit them on the plug at his butt. Attach his swords/missile launchers to his back. Galvatron is now in Dragon Mode.

DRAGON MODE:
Of all of Galvatron's Alternate modes, this is probably my favourite, followed closely by the Gryphon mode. His two heads look menacing and the fact that they can be bent at the knee or at a joint just below the knee allows for an amazing variety of evil snarls. I'm incredibly happy that Takara resisted the urge to give these faces 'personality', since I can quite easily imagine them doing one evil face and one dopey face. As it stands, however, the heads look pretty much as a dragon should. they can look ominous; standing tall and proud, or they can be menacing and evil, looking down on you ready to strike. This mode doesn't introduce any new colours save for the small amounts of white for the dragon teeth and the red paint of their eyes, though the Black does look a lot more predominant now. There is no detail inside the mouth on Galvatron like there was for Megatron. The wings look good splayed; like a dragon ready for flight, showing their colour and translucency, or closed, like a perched bird of pray.

Galvatron gains back most of the articulation of his robot mode that he lost in beast mode. He looses his neck again, but the beast mode arms add another two points each and his ears are another two points, and while he looses his wrists he gains the dragon mode feet. All in all he has 35 points of articulation; though most are minor such as his wings being able to spread and bend backward at two places, his ankles, his ears and his mouths. He has two hinge points along each of his necks, one swivel point each and two points on each neck at his 'shoulders'. His legs have 5 points each, his dragon arms have two, and his tail has one.

TRANSFORMATION (DRAGON MODE TO GRYPHON MODE):
Begin by detaching the weapons from his back then fold his dragon arms back into place. close the dragon ears over the heads and turn them around to face the other direction, splay them so that they become the hind feet of the Gryphon. Lift the wings and attach them to Galvatron's back as you would to transform him to Robot mode. Leave the neck straight and the head facing outwards. turn all four of the legs down so that the Gryphon can stand; rotating the front legs 180º so the feet face forward. Form the staff weapon and attach it to the peg on his lower back.

GRYPHON MODE:
This mode quickly became one of my favourites. In fact it was probably one of the things that tipped him into the buying category (since his other modes are, for the most part, utter ass). The Gryphon appears to be mostly white - owing to the fact that his silver chest is showing and his head, the back of his neck and fore legs are all predominantly white. His open wings add a nice splash of colour and give him a more dramatic look that he carries well, there's a lot of shiny gold and silver to look at and it is complimented well by the abundance - but not overly so - of translucent red.

In this mode Megatron has 27 points of articulation; all those of his legs - though granted in different directions - four for each front leg, three on his wings, and his neck. None of his joints are noticeably impeded, and he stands well doing almost anything you'd logically consider making him do.

Though it's really not capable of it, the Gryphon mode does carry Galvatron and make him more appealing then Megatron in the long run (colour scheme not factored). And he stands proudly beside Dragon mode Megatron in my collection.

TRANSFORMATION (GRYPHON MODE TO ELEPHANT MODE):
Detach the staff weapon from the back of the Gryphon and set it aside. Turn Galvatron over and open his chest, then detach his shoulders from the trunk of his body, fold them to the side and close the chest. Rotate the upper arms so that the beast mode talons are facing the front. Detach the Gryphon head and neck, close and lift the wings so they are pointing straight up, attach the back of the Gryphon neck to the centre of the wings and turn the trunk at the middle. Separate the staff weapon and attach either of the weapons to the pegs on both sides of the Elephant next to the chest as tusks.

ELEPHANT MODE:
I'll be frank, I don't like this mode all that much. It was a good idea, but it looks like something that was thrown together and given a name. the body is almost non existent making the whole thing essentially a big head - which is never a good look. All that aside, though, it's not the worst of the new modes (we'll get to that next).

The Elephant's head is white with red translucent 'eyes' and purple/blue translucent 'ears' while most of the rest of the body - particularly the part with the tusks - is black, making the head stand out significantly. This mode looses the posability of the upper shoulders of the Gryphon but aside from that little changes. This isn't a vary attractive mode and is best thought of as a 'filler' - designed to add something else to the packaging rather than serve any useful purpose.

TRANSFORMATION (ELEPHANT MODE TO FLYING DRAGON MODE):
As always, start by removing the Elephant's tusks and setting them aside. Open the chest and put the arms back in place, then close the chest again. close the rear feet and fold them up across the chest, detach the trunk of the Elephant mode from the wings and turn it around, clip it back into the slot over his robot head and fold the wings down as for robot mode. Open the wings, turn the forearms around so they face the opposite direction and then fold his arms down by his side. Attach the weapons to the thighs on either side.

FLYING DRAGON MODE:
Easily the worst mode ever. Worse even than the claw mode. The only articulation in this mode is the head and maybe wings (you can open and close them). There's not a lot more to be said. He looks very mechanical with the bulk of the robot mode back making up almost his entire body and with nothing even suggesting organic detail he really does look drab. For the sake of diplomacy I will say that he is most solid in this mode - so if you don't have Galvatron's blister then this is probably the safest mode to transport him in.

TRANSFORMATION (FLYING DRAGON MODE TO JET MODE):
Again, detach the swords/missile launchers from his thighs and set them aside. Clip the small part at the end of his tail back on and turn the neck around. Turn the arms around, open his chest and fold the shoulders down, while you're there you may as well fold out the landing strut from the chest panel. Fold the legs back down and turn them around so that the knee joint bends the right way, lift the wings and attach them to the pin on his butt, then fold his legs behind him again so that the fins under his Dragon mode chin become the tailfins of his Jet mode. Fold his shoulders down, rotate them so that the shoulder pads face up toward the wings, bend them about 30º down and the the same upwards at the elbow. Keep the forearms extended so that the wheels face the ground and the Beast mode claws look like fire from the jet engines. Attach the missile launchers to the pegs where the shoulders used to be, fold his wings out and Galvatron is now in jet mode.

JET MODE:
This is another of my favourite modes. The style of the Jet obviously isn't terran, and it isn't anything I recognise as being cybertonian save for slight and incidental similarities between it and Cyclonus such as the reverse pointed wings. Though where Cyclonus was a fighter jet the cockpit at the front of Galvatron's nose implies that he is meant to be a warship capable of housing a crew, it also makes the mode look more menacing, carrying a tone of a Bird of prey hunting for its next meal. The colours are predominantly the same save for the fact that the chest is hidden as the underbelly of the craft, so that white is much more dominant a colour, making up the nose and most of the rear of the craft's body.

The cockpit section of the nosecone can be detached and swivelled around - a neat carry over from the dragon mode - though it's by no means as articulated as Beast Machines Ultra Jetstorm it provides the same effect. His wings can also be 'flapped' if you're desperate for articulation.

TRANSFORMATION (JET MODE TO CAR MODE):
firstly, as always, detach the missile launchers. Extend his legs and leave them there for now. Unclip his wings and fold them around. fold the outmost hinges up 90° to reveal his wheels. Rotate the arms 180º so that the wheels on is arms are in line with the wheels on his wings. Turn his legs to outwards and bend them up so that the lower legs cover the upper legs. Attach the missile launchers onto the pegs on his inner thigh. Now you've got something that loosely resembles a car.

CAR MODE:
This isn't the worst of Galvatron's 10 modes, not by far. Though when you consider his beast mode and his claw mode and that God awful flying dragon mode, he might not take that as a compliment. While the wheels are looser than those of Megatron, they still turn on linoleum and not much else; carpet is too thick and provides too much friction for it to roll and wood or tile is too slippery for what can only be called the treads of the wheels to grip so it just slides like a bobsled. I'm much more impressed with this mode now than I was before, solely because the instructions for Galvatron included a little cut away that showed a peg where his arms can attach to his legs! So now they stay in place perfectly and I must say it's a drastic improvement. The car mode is now a lot more stable and actually seems to roll better, too.

TRANSFORMATION (CAR MODE TO CRUISER MODE):
Firstly, do what you've always done as the first step of all of Galvatron's transformations. Done that? good. Now turn Galvatron's legs around 45° upwards, open his feet slightly and fold out his dragon mode forearms, then fold them down over the top of his thighs. Pull his forearms out and bend his shoulders and elbows so that they are at right angles and the beast mode feet and vehicle wheels support him, then fold the wings down at the innermost hinge so that the wings support him at the front. Attach the weapons to either robot mode forearm and voila.

CRUISER MODE:
Designed (which is to say made up) with a larger speed boat - reminiscent to my mind of the police boats used in Water Rats or that Bruce Willis/Sarah Jessica Parker movie - in mind, this mode is actually somewhat attractive in its own way. To be sure it would never float (if it did that would be a major boon, but alas), and it shares so much in common with the car mode that they're almost interchangeable save for the lack of wheels, nevertheless I like it in an "it ain't the Flying Dragon mode" kinda way. There's a good blend of black and white here that manages to avoid looking gaudy, and the silver paint on his shins and chrome of his chest stand out to be noted very nicely. All up a nice vehicle mode - and also allows Galvatron to now cover land, sea and air in vehicle forms, nothing is out of his grasp now!

TRANSFORMATION (CRUISER MODE TO CLAW MODE):
Start off by folding his wings down - Aha! Gotcha! - and then detach his launchers. Set them aside and extend all of his limbs. rotate his legs so that the knee joints face the right way and rotate the arms so that the shoulders bend the same way as the pelvis rotate the cockpit at the centre so that it points at a roughly 100º angle, unclip the top, spin it around then shift the whole thing over to one side to form the thumb. Attach the launchers to the side, unclip the black pelvis panel (it becomes a trigger that you can use to clench the fist). Now you've got a great big claw.

CLAW MODE:
To start with, easily the best thing about this mode is the fact that it's roughly the same size as a human hand. Unfortunately it pretty much goes down hill from there. The fingers - while all having three points of articulation - are out of proportion unless you try really hard to remedy it (though that's more of a gripe then a fault with the toy). The trigger on the back of the hand is a nice idea and a cool gimmick but it's hard to grip the claw and make use of the trigger at the same time, it tends to slip out of your grasp, although that may be because it was designed with smaller hands than mine in mind. It's not a terrible mode, but it reminds me of astrology; it kinda resembled something they'd seen before if they squinted and turned their head a little this way, so they named it, slapped an extra picture on the box and made it official.

This mode has 15 points of articulation. including three for each finger, two for the thumb and the palm hinge. It isn't all that terrible, but it has no real play value aside from being able to pick up Optimus Prime and use him as a club, "'Flying Fist' this ya pussy! >wham!< Yeah!" But that gets old in shorter time than it takes to get him in this mode to start with.

OVERALL:
Galvatron is an excellent figure for what he is, he has an amazing colour scheme - though I'm still undecided as to who, Megatron or Galvatron, I prefer. I suspect Galvatron thanks to the fact that his ears don't seem to peel as easily as Megatron's do - and at least six great modes. He's got a lot of play value though he's a little fiddly to transform into some of his modes. his joints for the most part stay good and stiff, though the ball joints at his ankles get loose very quickly which can make him appear a little drunk. That is, though, about my only complaint. I could say he has four modes that are utter crap, but if those modes didn't exist I would still buy Galvatron for the remaining six and the gorgeous paint job. I shy away from recommending him if you have Megatron, though, since they're the same mould. I'm certain that any of Galvatron's modes could be recreated with Megatron and a good visualisation ability. I'd recommend him over Megatron, but not as well as Megatron unless you really can't decide whose paint job is better.