Galaxy Force Backgild

There were very few Galaxy Force toys that I didn't bother buying - even fewer that I didn't eventually buy the Cybertron version of - but the underachieving Scout class half-track vehicle, Backpack (aka Scattorshot) was one of them. This original form was a nice idea, and even followed the G1/Diaclone pattern of being a robot with his vehicle mode's front end as his chest, but the toy was too small and its robot mode wasn't very well articulated.

But when the TV show called for three of the Autobots to get upgraded forms, he was one of the lucky few, becoming Backgild (or Cybertron Defence Scattorshot), a Voyager class toy which, while broadly in the same Military vein, was a huge improvement in just about every way.

Vehicle Mode:
What's really strange about Backgild - aside from the obvious yet unfeasibly massive upgrade from the original half-track vehicle mode of Scattorshot/Backpack - is that this kind of vehicle is so rarely used in TransFormers. The only other one I can think of, offhand, is Hunt for the Decepticons Hailstorm. And, if you think about it, a mobile Surface-to-Air missile launcher is both ideal fodder for a Decepticon's vehicle mode, and highly unusual for an Autobot.

So, what we have here is a fairly standard-looking, tank-adjacent, vehicle base - caterpillar tracks running along the bottom of a fairly flat body, and with the same kind of landmine scoops as movieverse Brawl attached to the front. The sculpted detail looks pretty authentic, with asymmetrical features on the top and armour panelling running down each side. As is often the case with TransFormers toys, some views are less than convincing: the back end features only random-looking details that don't seem to suit the vehicle, while raising the missile launcher reveals a gaping hole just below them, through which the robot mode is plainly visible, from the backs of the knees, all the way up to his head, folded into a cutout in his back.

And that last point would pretty much ruin the toy's vehicle mode were it not for one significant point: the missile launcher can rotate thanks to a barrel mounted in the robot's back. I mean, it's still not ideal to have such a large gap in the vehicle shell - particularly when Backgild is essentially one of the simplest shellformers out there - but if the budget choice was between making the launcher more mobile or concealing the robot mode more thoroughly, I think they made the right choice.

Paintwork, meanwhile, is a bit bland. The blue plastic of the armour panelling along each side is painted silver, the cockpit hatch on the right side is painted black, with gold paint added to the handle, and there's some weathering on the teeth of the scoop. The turret is mostly bare grey plastic, with blocks of black paint applied to some of the armour panelling and gold paint on the key slots at the back of each half. He has an Autobot insignia on the left side of the launcher, embellished as the logo of the Vanguard Team - what was given the unsophisticated moniker of "the Cybertron Defence Team" in the US dub. One dubious aspect of the toy is that his treads are fully painted parts of the blue plastic side panels. Granted, he rolls on tiny wheels embedded in the treads, so they're not constantly scraping along below him, but the glossiness of the paint really doesn't suit its use in this context.

Backgild's key-activated feature are - it should come as no surprise - additional or alternate weapons which spring from his missile launchers in either mode. Plugging the key into the lefthand side of the launcher reveals a single large cannon, while the righthand side reveals... a spring-loaded missile launcher that fires just two missiles. Given that the main launcher carries a total of 22 (sculpted, non-firing) missiles, this seems like something of a downgrade... but presumably these are much more powerful that Backgild's stock missiles. There is another oddity about the spring-loaded missile launcher, but it'll be more appropriate to get onto that in robot mode. In addition to these, Backgild's rifle can be pegged into the Mini-Con ports, toward the back of the vehicle on either side. This seems a bit odd, but apparently that's how it was presented in the TV show. It can tilt up or down, thanks to the circular port, but it's not nearly as adaptable as the main launcher.


Robot Mode:
One of my most common complaints about the current era of TransFormers - everything from the War For Cybertron Trilogy through Legacy - is how boxy everything is... but Backgild's robot mode surely proves that's nothing new. For the most part, I found the designs in Galaxy Force to be interesting and novel, with only a few suffering from the sort of 80s/90s-style boxiness that has now become common once again. Backgild, though, would fit right in with Legacy, since his silhouette is pretty much made of right angles, with very few exceptions.

The arms and legs are the blockiest elements - the former being support for the missile launchers in vehicle mode, and so deliberately nondescript, their minimal detailing suited to either mode. The only paintwork applied to the arms is the gold applied to the raised circular hinge-like detail on the shoulder, and the forearms are left with gaping holes on the insides, where the hands fold in for vehicle mode. His legs are made all the chunkier by the vehicle panels plugged into the sides, which gives him half a set of treads on the front and half a set of treads on the back. Detailing on the front face is bold and simple - basically just raised blocks running down the shin from the kneecaps - while the inside faces feature the suggestion of internal robot detailing poking out between front and rear armour panels. The only paintwork unique to the legs is the silver on the kneecaps, which wraps around the unpainted upper shin detail.

The torso, thankfully, is far more interesting... but, equally, it looks as though it's derived more from his original half-track vehicle mode than the mobile missile platform he's become. The designers have done a great job of making his body look less flat and boxy than everything else, with a great sense of depth achieved by eschewing right-angles, extending the pelvis and the chest, while drawing in the waist, and yet the level of detail is still better than anywhere else on the toy. Front and centre on the chest is a raised block with an X cut into it, calling back to the (unpainted) armour panels toward the back of his vehicle mode. This is flanked by a couple of blocks that look like they might have been headlights, but are now covered by metal plates, riveted in place. Above these are angled vents, which are painted black within the surrounding silver panelling. The waist area features unpainted pipes and silver pistons (these latter looking as though they would permit ab crunch, were they more than just sculpted detail) on either side of a gold-painted, angled grille assembly that leads down to the upper pelvis, while the base of the pelvis is painted silver, and features two raised strips that lead into larger protrusions before settling back down between his legs. The armour sculpting is very effective, but it does feel as though the torso is the only area that got any effort spent on it, both in terms of sculpting and paintwork.

Naturally, his weapons function exactly as they do in vehicle mode, but now they're split between his arms. The left arm carries the spring-loaded missile launcher. It's only in robot mode that a glaring error in the execution of this launcher becomes apparent, because it has a separate, hinged-and-sprung targeting sight/scanner... but it's mounted on the outside, so Backgild is about the only 'bot that can't make use of it. The left arm, meanwhile, gets the large cannon, and is able to slide forward on his forearm so that the built-in grip lines up with the 5mm port in his hand. Along with these, he has the blue rifle, which is rather more effective in robot mode than it was in vehicle mode. Since some of his screw holes are - coincidentally - 5mm, it's possible to store the rifle on his back or, alternatively, it can be plugged into the Mini-Con ports, now relocated to his lower legs. The rifle itself is rather a jumble, looking like it's been assembled haphazardly, using spare parts, and without any clear purpose in mind. It has a telescopic sight, but the cylindrical detail on the stock makes it all but inaccessible. Then there's a double-barrel assembly underslung on the main barrel, which ends in a larger cylinder which cuts through the main body of the gun, such that it's not clear what these barrels would fire, or where its ammunition would be stored. Finally, there's the trigger guard... which looks as though it would be too small for Backgild's fingers. It's the epitome of a ridiculous sci-fi gun, as created by a child who wanted a "cool gun", but had no concept of how guns work. Perhaps worst of all, while I sometimes complain about 'waffling' of plastic on the gun accessories we get these days, this one is mostly quite solid, with quite subtle hollows... but while the two cylinders are solid on one side, both are hollow on the other. This makes sense for the smaller of the two, since it's used for attaching to the Mini-Con ports. The larger hole is both horrific and laughable, reminding me of nothing more than G1 Blaster's rifle, but without the design intent, since it's not there to accommodate another feature of the toy.

The head sculpt seems to be largely an upscaling of Backpack/Scattorshot's head, albeit one which makes his visor rather more apparent, and tones down the impact of the goggles on his forehead. What's curious about this version is the colour change: Backpack's head was molded in blue plastic, but Backgild's is in the same greenish-yellow as his shoulders and forearms. Supposedly, this is because they had no more space on the blue plastic sprue... but then, it's also reported that the only reason he got the rifle - molded in blue plastic - is that they had some room in the budget for another accessory. Did no-one think to mold the gun in the greenish-yellow, so the head could be blue? It's a pretty decent head, nonetheless. The larger size allows for greater detail, and the visor/goggles are molded in translucent yellow plastic, with the frames painted black. I have to admit that I cannot tell whether he has eyes sculpted into his head, behind the visor, and the goggles remind me of the image intensifiers from Ghostbusters, but they suit him quite well, and are a great callback to the earlier, smaller toy. It is perhaps disappointing that they can't drop down over his visor but then, this is a robot, so perhaps they function as additional eyes on their own. His face, such as it is, is nondescript, his expression inscrutable, but the main issue is that it can't move a great deal due to the way it's attached - a curious arrangement that harks back to Energon Rodimus.


There are many TransFormers toys that have simplistic transformations, there are many TransFormers toys that are considered 'shellformers'. Few, if any, would be able to top Backgild in terms of being pathetically simplistic, while also being a shellformer. The side panel of his vehicle mode unpeg at the back, then fold back on themselves via a hinged ball joint at the midpoint, this allows the arms to fold out to the sides once the launcher is split down the middle... then the head folds round on its hinged arm, and you stand him on feet made by splitting the two halves of the the mine rake into 'heel' and 'toe' sections. This is a Voyager class toy with - I'm reasonably sure - a simpler transformation than the character's original Scout class toy, and even some G1 Mini Autobots. All the impressive engineering has gone into his key-activated gimmicks and allowing the launcher to rotate in vehicle mode. On the one hand, I applaud - and perhaps even admire - the designers' audacity... but, on the other hand, it's audacity bordering on impertinence, and the gimmicks - fun though they are - just aren't enough to make up for one of the most unsatisfying transformations in the long history of the TransFormers brand. It's one of the worst examples of "vehicle mode is just robot mode lying down" in my collection.

On the upside, his articulation is great, though obviously not on a par with what we get these days. The arms can rotate a full 360° on soft ratchets, but only manage about 70° out to the sides, in three clicks of a very solid-sounding ratchet. Bicep rotation is restricted by the mounted weapons, but the launcher/cannon on the right arm can slide forward to free up the rotation joint. The elbows bend only the regulation 90°, and he has no wrist articulation, as was common at the time. Hips can swing 90° forward, backward and out to the sides, knees bend the regulation 90° and the swivel joint is below the knee rather than in the thigh (which are, admittedly, rather too short to accommodate another joint, considering how large the knee and hip joints are). Toes and heels are independently articulated due to transformation, but the shape of the base of the leg means that, in the absence of the now-standard ankle tilt, he's often balanced on one toe and one heel spur on each foot. Even so, it's not too difficult to get him standing in some pretty dynamic poses, considering the short thighs and long shins. Probably the most favourable thing I can say about his articulation is that he has an unrestricted rotation joint in the mid-pelvis, even though it's not used for transformation. On the flipside, the biggest disappointment is the 90° range of head rotation, thanks to the weird way it's attached.

When writing about toys as old as this, I find myself wishing either that I'd started this blog a couple of years earlier, or simply that I'd got to the figure sooner. I can't remember with any certainty if I found Backgild as underwhelming back in 2006 as I find him now. I've been complaining about the dumbing-down of TransFormers toys since the Prime Wars series, but the seeds of exactly that decay were sowed almost 20 years ago, with a toy that took all the wrong lessons from Armada, and put its gimmicks above the core concept of the toyline. What's frustrating is that Backgild is a striking-looking Autobot with an uncommon vehicle mode that's nicely detailed in its way... but none of those details make up part of the robot mode in any meaningful way. All the detailing of his torso and shins bears no relation to any part of his vehicle mode, because it's simply sculpted into the opposing side of that block.

I didn't bother buying Backpack, or even the Hasbro version, Scattorshot, because it was poorly-proportioned and lacked knee joints, but I know I liked the look of this one - otherwise I wouldn't have bought him either. It's never going to appear on any list of the greatest TransFormers toys but, if robot mode articulation is your preference, Backgild is substantially better than Backpack/Scattorshot. Add to that, the fun key-activated weapon 'upgrades', and he's certainly a fun toy, in both modes... even if he's not a particularly interesting TransFormer.