General Information: Images:
Robotmasters is a line that takes an old Takara formula and resuses it, with varying degrees of success. The formula is simple. Take a couple brand new molds, toss in a pile of redecos and call it a line. One of the new molds for this line is the Cybertron commander himself, Convoy. Dubbed "G1 Convoy"
Tech Specs (Translated by Doug Dlin): Profile: A heroic warrior who protects innocent life. His teammates trust himdeeply. Aside from weapon attacks with his favorite Convoy Gun, his specialty is punching. His foremost hope is for peaceful use of solitarium ore. Weapon(s): Convoy Gun, Energy Axe, Missile Launcher
Robot Mode: In many ways, this toy emulates details of the Masterpiece Convoy toy. Here's a list of details inspired by Masterpiece Convoy:
Some apsects of this design are rather unique however. Instead of a traditional waist connected to legs section, the top portions of his upper legs are actually the left and right sides of the waist. This is a simpler way of giving his upper legs posability where the upper body meets the legs, and I get the feeling it was simpler to do this than the "waist panels" system used on Masterpiece Convoy. Depending on the pose, this can look a bit odd or very cool. The deco of the toy is definitely more "anime" than "G1 toy". His primary colors are flat red and blue. Silver also makes up a good portion of the upper legs and other details (such as his smokestacks and face). Details include dark gray on the leg vents, yellow on the waist lines and the two lines and arrow on his wrists and silver lining around each window on his chest. Interestingly enough, Takara chose to color the gun silver and blue as they did with Masterpiece Convoy instead of the more cartoon accurate color of black. Even his feet have more than your typical Convoy deco with an orange rectangle with a smaller yellow one on top. Convoy has been given an additional weapon along with his traditional rifle. This weapon is a translucent blue and silver missile launcher, with a radically different design than his regular rifle. It's larger with small fins on the sides and top and the silver barrel piece has several protrusions reminiscent of the Beast Machines Tank Drone's cannon. The missile is long enough to meet US standards, so one would hope little would have to be changed should this toy ever be issued in the US. The missile launcher's handle is rounded while the rifle's is rectangular. Thus, Convoy actually comes with two sets of hands, one with rectangular holes and the other with circular holes. Aside from the holes, the hands are identical, so you can have one of each type of hand on him at a time. Speaking of hands, having his hands be removable serves another purpose. Convoy comes with his Energon Axe as well! The piece is cast in translucent orange plastic and snaps into the wrist just like the fists do. What I like is how simple the sculpt on the axe is. It has the little energy "burst" pattern at the base and then a simple axe shape. They didn't try to "fancy it up" or anything, which in this case works well. Convoy has sixteen points of articulation, which is a good number for a Transformer this size. And what's great is that these points are all useful including ball jointed shoulders, elbow articulation and foot articulation. I do wish they had added one more point on the legs to allow them to turn outward, but lacking that doesn't affect the functionality of the toy at all. Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
Vehicle Mode: The thing is, I really don't know how they could have done this better without either thinning the piece in the middle (which would then probably cause it to break easily) or redesigning the arms so they're thicker (but then they'd look out of proportion). Still, the truck mode does the job of giving Convoy an alternate mode, and his classic one at that. The detailing is still nice, with the dual headlights (another nod to Masterpiece Convoy), tech details on the top of the cab (another nod) and if you look carefully, you'll see a hole for a hitch in the back! Can a trailer be in the works? Time will tell. Not surprisingly, the wheels are plastic, but they're sculpted with deep ridges, giving the illusion of tires with lots of traction. One detail I do really like are the sides near the front tires where it looks like metal plates are bolted on. Color-wise the toy is what you'd expect. The grill, headlights and fender are silver. The front portion is mostly red with the back being blue. The tires are black with silver for the hubcaps. The "tanks" on either side of the vehicle are silver as well.
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