If you follow me over the various social media outlets (thanks by the way), you may have seen my video review of this new iteration of Galvatron from Fans Toys. And if you have seen said video review, you will recall that I was less than enthused by it. Well, some time has passed now since doing that and so I sat down to write my written review, have things changed?
Packaging
FT-59 Sovereign 2.0 is housed in the usual Fans Toys packaging. The box is sturdy, well-finished, and premium feeling, with clean artwork and foam inserts that do a solid job of protecting the contents. It is exactly what long-time Fans Toys collectors have come to expect, nothing revolutionary, but reliable and high quality.
Accessories
There is no shortage of accessories included with Sovereign 2.0. Fans Toys have once again erred on the side of abundance, but this raises the question: are all of them really necessary? Multiple face sculpts are included, arguably too many, several of which feel redundant. Likewise, the included blast effect is largely useless and adds little to the display value. While it is nice to have options, the accessory count feels more like padding than meaningful enhancement.
Robot Mode
Visually, this is where Sovereign 2.0 shines. The robot mode is exceptionally cartoon accurate, capturing Galvatron’s animation model almost perfectly. The sculpt is sharp, proportions are clean, and the vibrant metallic paint application looks fantastic straight out of the box. Die-cast content adds welcome heft and reinforces that premium Fans Toys feel.
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Transformation is, quite frankly, not fun. It is overly complex, unintuitive, and at times outright frustrating. While the engineering itself can be respected on a technical level, the process feels joyless. Compounding matters is a factory assembly issue where part of the foot assembly is installed incorrectly, meaning it must be fixed before a successful transformation is even possible. At several points, a second pair of hands would be a godsend. This is a transformation most collectors will attempt once and never again.
Canon Mode
Canon mode is underwhelming. The proportions look odd, the silhouette lacks presence, and it is abundantly clear that robot mode was the primary design focus. This mode feels like an afterthought, offering little incentive to revisit it. Adding insult to injury, paint chipping has been observed during transformation, with flakes appearing in several areas, an unacceptable issue at this level.
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I have to admit, I am slightly underwhelmed by FT-59 Sovereign 2.0. Yes, the robot mode looks excellent and is a visual upgrade over the 1.0 release. But in the pursuit of cartoon accuracy, Fans Toys have sacrificed articulation, character, and fun. Transformation is borderline awful, almost X-Transbots level, and the canon mode does nothing to redeem it.
So, you have three options realistically:
1) This 2.0 version of Sovereign, that very much looks the part but lacks substance under that cartoon looking veneer.
2) If you already have him, keep your FT-16 Sovereign 1.0, dated looking but out performs 2.0 in articulation and ease of transformation.
3) Or you could opt for X-Transbots Abaddon, because he is finally on the way. But understand that it is X-Transbots after all and can come with all the quirks they are known for.
Although, saying all that.... he is one hell of a fucking good looking robot! And the transformation after doing it a few times was not as bad as I initially thought. The canon mode does have odd proportions, but does that really matter if he's not going to spend any great deal of time sitting there in that mode. But I cannot help but come back to the restricted articulation and the poor choice for the location of the particle canon. God dammit, this written review has left me conflicted.
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