Robotmasters Lio Convoy

Robot Mode: In my mind Lio Convoy might just be the best-looking Prime/Convoy from the Made-in-Japan series. He combines the classic Optimus Prime head with a lean, very posable, and great-looking body. It's easily apparent what Lio transforms into (if you couldn't guess it from the name), as his lion head forms his right shoulder. It's a pretty innovative design, a far cry from the usual beast-stands-up-and-head-becomes-chest design many beast-mode Transformers share, so bonus points for that.

Lio Convoy carries a pretty big arsenal. He carries a standard gun, plus four smaller guns that he can either hold individually, combined in pairs, or in the form of a huge double-barelled rifle when all five weapons combine. Additionally he can flip-out claws from his forearms. And finally, he can make the lion head on his shoulder spin like a buzz-saw for close-quarter attacks. So offensively Lio's got nothing to worry about at all.

According to the Beast Wars II series Lio Convoy carries a Matrix inside of him and that is hinted at with the panel on his chest. You can flip it open and see... something. I guess it's supposed to be the Matrix. Kind of resembles the 'Matrix' we see in RID Optimus Prime's chest (who's also a Made-in-Japan design). Also, Lio Convoy has a hidden Autobot crest on his right shoulder under the lion's mane. Not sure what the significance is here, but it's kinda cool.

So all in all I must say that I really like Lio Convoy's robot mode a whole lot. It's good-looking, posable, heavily armed, and has no obvious flaws. What more can you want?

Alternate Mode: After the brilliant robot mode, the beast mode of Lio Convoy is a pretty heavy let-down. It's a white lion and the best I can say about it is that it looks pretty cool from certain angles. That's where it stops, though. The front legs of the lion are completely immobile, while the rear legs are both too large in comparison and jointed the wrong way. The lion does have a fun gimmick in that you can fasten all of Lio Convoy's individual guns in the mane, giving him a pretty heavily armed attack mode, but that's it. You can't really do anything more with this mode.

Remarks: Lio Convoy was the leader of the Cybertron/Maximal group that fought in the Beast Wars II cartoon series, which aired exclusively in Japan to fill the gap between the first and second season of Beast Wars. So far I've only seen a few episodes of that series and came out with mixed feeligns towards it, but that doesn't change the fact that Lio Convoy looks mighty fine.

The original Lio Convoy toy was available in Japan only and is almost impossible to get today, at least for a decent prize. So I immediately grabbed the Robot Masters version of him when I got the chance and overall I'm glad that I did. Lio Convoy makes for a great robot that, unfortunately, can't hold up that high quality in beast mode. Still, a pretty good figure overall. If you get the chance to grab it, then do so.

Rating: B