Star Convoy Comparison Original and reissue

[Bogatan]

I guess this is the best place to do this not really a proper review just a comparison of the 2 versions. For purposes or identification the original I'll be calling Convoy, the reissue Prime.

Both of these are straight out of the box with no added stickers.


The Convoy I own was a store display sample type thing so no outer box but the arrangement was the same as the other MM bases more or less in robot mode. For the reissue Takara opted for an earlier box design. Screams Optimus Prime to me which I guess was the point and the reason I renamed it.



Right-o! Robot mode. I assume everyone knows that Convoy here was basically the definition of a brick. 6 points of articualtion. 8 if you include the toes. if you don't, which I think is sensible, then there is no articulation below the waist. You could argue PMOP has fewer points of articulation, but if it does PMOP did a lot more with what it had. Anyway the main difference between the releases is the the white plastic on Convoy becomes Silver on Prime which further reinforces the Prime appearance. The odd thing is that in the leaflet that came with Convoy, Convoy is shown with the silver parts, so Takara must have made the change quite late on to go with an Anime accurate colour scheme.

Prime comes with a lot of paint apps that are included on Convoys sticker sheet. Because of this the sheets are very different.


The best example of this is on the awesome Micromaster Hot Rodimus.


Convoys HR is totally plain all its detail comes from the sticker sheet apart from the silver face. Having to put 5 or more stickers on a micromaster seems a little crazy to me. Primes HR comes fully painted.

I can sort of understand the choice to go for white in robot mode, but in space lorry mode I think the white looks, well silly. Even the front grill is white.


I'm skipping base mode. It's not that I don't like it, I just don't get it and theres no additional big changes between the releases.

I really don't know which I prefer. Probably the reissue, mostly for the paint apps, but I like the white of the original just because it makes the toy feel less like just another Prime toy. Even though its anime Prime colours, you don't get that applied to the actual toys. Just this and G2 Hero Prime oh and WST andG1 prime repaints.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Nice one andy !

[Benn]

Wow, I want that Hot Rod micromaster!

[blueshift]

This just sates my desire for a Star Convoy dammit D:

[Bogatan]

The good news about Star Convoy is the price, mine cost £31 plus shipping from Yahoo Japan last September. That took a lot of patience but it doesnt cost a huge amount more usually. I paid 2500 Yen it usually goes for between 3000-4000. Even on ebay it can be found cheap.

One thing that occurs to me looking at Hot Rodimus is that while they were painting the face it would have been good if they had done the pipes on the arm and the engine block. My silver sharpie might be called into service.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

While we're on the subject I reviewed Reissue Star Convoy


6 points of articulation ? Elbows x 2, Shoulders x 2, waist and ......

I'd rather have all my articulation in the upper bdoy tho ! Yes he might be a brick (waist down) in robot mode but he's a brick that stands up ok and the walking gimmick is fun - Jonathan loves it !

[Bogatan]

Oh yeah I was thinking head because I'd been repairing a few Overlords earlier. A turning head is another thing that would have been so easy to add.

As to articulation, up top is much better, but it's amazing that the largest G1 Optimus Prime toy has the least articulation. It does a lot of other stuff though and at least I don't have to worry about it falling over.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

beats PM Prime's super robot mode hands down on the articulation stakes

[Bogatan]

PM Prime, 2 joints per arm and one per leg. 6 total. I suppose it depends if you count the second joint on the arms. It allowed me to point a gun out to the side so I do. The legs dont benefit the toy much in this mode but work a treat for God Ginari mode. Is that the right name?

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

PM Prime has one joint per arm - at the shoulder. There's no elbow.

[blueshift]

Yes, but the arm can swing outwards too, that counts!

[Bogatan]

It's actually an interesting point (or isn't). What constitues articulation?

I was going to say that the the swing out joint could be viewed as a transformation joint, while the forward backward swing is an articulated joint. but actually that movement is required for the Transformation too. As are the legs. So yeah it can be used as arm articulation therefore it is. Even if it's not a very good one. At least thats my take on counting articulated points.

I think you either count any joint that can be used to pose the figure or you only count joints that aren't required for transformation. And in G1, there ain't a lot of the latter.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

That's a transformation joint - part of the body swings up with the arm.

[Bogatan]

But so is the other shoulder joint, both joints are needed to get from trailer to robot.

All that swings up with the arm is a thin panel thats not much wider than the arm its not a great articulated joint, but it's better than no movement in that direction.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I had the Star Convoy re-issue. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't work for me. I kept MM Hot Rodimus though: he's amazing!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Reissue Star Convoy

Star Convoy is a toy that's assumed a semi legendary status over the years - It's a late G1 Japanese toy, it brings Optimus Prime back, it has a Micromaster of Hot Rod with it...... and it's very hard to get. Now it's been reissued.

Where to start ? Oh the box. This reissue doesn't come in it's original box, instead we have something resembling the original G1 packaging - very nice. The box does still feature the "Return of Convoy" emblem for the year Star convoy came out - 1991. An odd thing about the plastic packaging - there's a sticker on the side of it which is an exact copy of one of the ones for the side of the toy - it's in the right place on the package - why didn't they just apply it to the toy ? The box contains the truck, MM Hot Rodimus, a Micromaster transporter truck, a big gun, a smaller double barrelled cannon with it's mount and base, 2 ramps, a connector, instructions and stickers.

The truck is about 30cm long. It starts looking like a long nosed truck - although Action Master Prime drove a long nosed truck this is the first Prime to turn into one. Incidentally have you noticed how prophetic Action Masters were - not only do we have Prime and the long nosed Truck but Megs drives a Tank - his G2 form. Anyway. The truck gets wider and taller the further back you go and ends in a tracked section. The tracked section can be powered by 4 AA batteries - I don't have any to hand to try it :-( This also turn the small cannon when mounted on top. There's a hole for the large gun further forward, and 2 dual cannons on the cab roof which can be turned from side to side. The cab does not separate from the trailer - is this the only integrated Optimus Cab and Trailer ? From the sides the cab looks a little odd as there's a gap immediately behind the cab before the trailer starts where the cab is only connected above. The rear flap of the trailer folds down to form a short broad ramp, but I can go no further without talking about the Micromaster accessories.

Star Convoy comes with Micromaster HodRodimus - see bellow - and a Micromaster Transport.

The Micromaster Transporter is a black truck shaped box - the rear is disproportionate to the front. The back opens and a Micromaster can be placed in it pushing a panel back inside the truck. Push a button at the front of the truck and the Micromaster launches out the back. Cool. But there's more. A pair of pegs at the back of the toy mean you can connect 2 back to back. From the pictures in Generations it appears as if these pegs match those on the Micromaster combiners. Additional pegs and sockets on the side of the transporter allow you to connect transporters side to side. The plugs may even match minicon pegs, but I have no minicons to hand to check. In addition there's 2 indentations at the front that look like they might connect to a micromaster base ramp. We never saw these in the west and yet one came with all 3 of the larger 1991 Japanese toys and the 12 team packs.

The Micromaster Transporter can fit inside the rear of Star Convoy - fold the roof to the outside of the toy and slot the trailer in from the top. Close the top of the trailer up again. Now if you open the rear of the trailer you can use the yellow buttons on top of the trailer to fire the Transport's launcher mechanism - like Roller and the original Optimus Prime.

To Transform - on the top of the truck there's a silver/grey section before the blue section at the rear - this will fold up and lock into place. Stand on the end of the truck, and rotate the front half of the truck above the black bit that's just become visible. Fold the wheels at the side of the now visible robot body back. Split the cab in 2 down the middle and fold to the sides. Straighten the cab to form the arms, pull the fists out and fold the arms down. Rotate the cannons to the front. Fold the chest down, flip the head up and lock the chest back in place. Pose with large gun ;-)

You end up with a robot about a foot high that looks like an upgraded Optimus Prime - so in that respect the toy has done it's job - red body and arms, blue head and lower legs. A comparison with Generations shows there's some changes to the colour scheme: all of the white parts- including the crest on his head, hands and upper legs - are now silver. in that respect he looks quite like the (proposed European ?) repaint of Star convoy on page 46 of Generations. The other difference is that the robot's crest between and above the robot mode chest windows is now gold instead of yellow.

A common complaint about Star Convoy is that it's a brick. I can confirm that there's no articulation in the legs. Elsewhere however is a different story - there's a waist, shoulder and elbow joints, and the cannons on top of the shoulders rotate. If my Powermaster Optimus Prime/Ginrai had this he'd be an excellent toy. The lack of articulation in the legs is compensated for by Optimus being able to move while stood up - but again I'll need batteries to test this and I can't find any and am too knackered to go to the shops. The chest can be opened up and Hot Rodimus can stand inside the chest - which can be closed for him to see out of - and act as a commander. Given the Optimus/Hot Rod/Matrix relationship in the cartoon this is a neat touch.

We're not done yet. There's a base mode to come. Rotate the upper body 90° anticlockwise. Split the legs now front and back - fold the track section out to the right (his left) and the front section the other way. Open the ramp and tops of the front section to form a Micromaster Transporter garage. Remove the tracked section from it's hold - it now forms a quite large independent tracked vehicle which I am forced to call Roller. However you can flip it onto it's back and attach it to the side of the base mode, then attach 2 ramps - with what look like standard Micromaster base connector clips on one of them - I've checked and it attached to the Transporter too - to form this platform that moves figures and vehicles around on conveyor belts. The Gun emplacement attaches to this and turns when the motor is activated. Open the front of the chest to show the base command centre. The finished base isn't too bad - nice features using both legs - but unfortunately the centre of the base is obviously the robot mode chest opened up - complete with head.

Overall - well there's a lot to it. A new to the west toy that's an original character redone, with a miniaturized version of a 2nd characters, an action feature that can be used in all 3 modes, a decent vehicle, nice large robot and an interesting base. Yup I liked it. Now where can I get some more Micromaster bases and Transporters from ?

Reissue Hot Rodimus

Micromaster Hot Rodimus is essentially the original Hot Rod toy shrunk in size. His rear half folds forwards to form the robot legs, and the front to form the robot chest resulting in a robot looking very similar to the original robot *except* that the yellow fin ends up on the front of his legs. The detail on the front of the arms is superb. It would be interesting to see a comparison shot of this and WST Hot Rod

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I remember when Skyquake came out and people were trying to work out who was pictured in his Megavisor, and there was speculation that it might be Star Convoy, and that the UK might be getting him.

But it wasn't, it was some other guy.

Martin

[Bogatan]

I was just thinking I wanted to take some nice shots of my store display Star Convoy. Such a lovely random piece of Transformers history.

I still sometimes wonder what happened to it in the 20 something years between Takara sending it out and me getting my hands on it.

[Fortmax2020]

Was the original Star Convoy mainly white as well or is it just your display edition?

Also has SC been reissued again or is this a new review of the old reissue from Phil?

[Philip Ayres]

That is my review of the reissue that I did at the time and subsequently found was awol.

Original SC was white.

tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(G1)/toys#Return_of_Convoy

[Toph]

The original has a white trailer, the reissue has a silver trailer.

[blueshift]

And gold instead of yellow! The reissue is so nice!!

[The Doctor]

I should have kept mine.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

I can't get the new one because of wanker hands.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Nov 5, 2019 13:17:27 GMT The Doctor said:

I can't get the new one because of wanker hands.

-Ralph

W-why do you have wanker hands? That is TMI!!

[The Doctor]

No, the new Selects Star Convoy inner robot has wanker hands. I pointed this out in his thread not long ago. Then Andu tried to make me buy one and I said no: it has self-love hands!!!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Nov 5, 2019 7:45:27 GMT Fortmax2020 said:

Was the original Star Convoy mainly white as well or is it just your display edition?

Also has SC been reissued again or is this a new review of the old reissue from Phil?

The topic came up again because I bought the reissue and got very excited, so Phil united the older hub reviews I hadn't read. Such a fun toy. One of those that makes you wonder why you bother with the new stuff when the old is so much better.