Legacy Override

Prelude: If you are naming a Transformers subline Velocitron Speedia 500, then you need to have the queen (or possibly king) of racing Transformers in it, of course. Override aka Nitro Convoy, the fastest racer in the galaxy, gets a new figure in this Legacy subline. So start your engines and let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Back in 2005 I described Galaxy Force Nitro Convoy as a good-looking figure with a bad design. The backpack was unstable, the leg joints too weak, and the weapon had weird rubber parts that really dragged it down. I am happy to say that Legacy Override manages to fix all of these problems while maintaining the figure’s good looks. I’d even go so far as to say that the looks were improved, as Legacy Override looks sleeker and better proportioned than the original.

The figure still has a backpack, but it’s nicely folded together, stable, and even clipping the weapon to it doesn’t make the figure back-heavy. Articulation is great and the figure has a solid stance, no chance of toppling over due to weak joints. The gun is a vast improvement over the original, having solid barrels instead of bendy rubber ones. The weapon can even accommodate a cyberkey (sadly not included with the figure), though there is no feature to be activated here.

Sadly, while the figure has fixed all of the problems the old one had, it has incorporated a new one. Override has a waist swivel, but turning her waist more than a few degrees is impossible, the solid plate of her backpack does not allow further movement. Given that, they could just as easily have left the waist swivel out to save money, as it’s basically useless. Then again, the original figure didn’t even have one in the first place, so even those few degrees of waist swiveling is an improvement.

Bottom line: a great robot mode with only one point of contention, the waist swivel thing. It’s not a big thing, really, but its presence on an otherwise pretty perfect robot mode is somewhat grating for me.

Alternate Mode: Override still transforms into a science fiction style racing car, of course. They kept the transparent tires that all the original Speed Planet Transformers had in Cybertron / Galaxy Force, kudos for that. The car is a spitting image of the original figure’s alternate mode. Weirdly enough it’s actually a bit smaller, despite the figure being a Voyager to the original’s Deluxe, but that’s just the way of things. The car does hold together very well and the only visible robot bit is the top of the robot’s head (but that is screen accurate).

Two things I need to mention here, though: one, unlike on the original figure, the gun’s barrels cannot unfold here in car mode. Well, you can unfold them, but only if you unplug the weapon and just leave it hanging by a thread. So no shooting in vehicle mode for this Override, though to be honest I cannot remember her ever using her weapons in vehicle mode in the cartoon, either. The second thing is more of a personal peeve, to be honest, as the original figure had gold paint on its black feet to suggest headlights in vehicle mode. The new one has a sculpted frame for said headlights, but they are the same black as the rest of the feet. A dash of paint here or maybe a sticker would have worked wonders, I think.

Overall, though, a great car mode. Nicely done. Maybe if they’d left out the useless waist swivel in robot mode, they’d have had the money for painting the headlights.

Remarks: The planet Velocitron, called Speedia in Japan, was one of the first worlds visited by Autobots and Decepticons in the Cybertron / Galax Force cartoon. A planet dedicated almost entirely to racing, the queen / king of this world was Override / Nitro Convoy, the fastest racer of them all. It was only when Hot Shot / Exillion managed to beat her/him in the final race for the Planet Cup that she/he learned some humility and consequently joined the Autobots in their quest to restore Primus and save the universe.

Legacy Override is a vast improvement over the original Cybertron / Galaxy Force toy, there is no doubt about that. If not for the waist swivel thing, I’d have given her an A-rating, I think. Still, if you are a fan of Cybertron / Galaxy Force, race car Transformers, female characters, or just good figures in general, this figure is worth getting.

Rating: B+

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