Micron Legend Crystal Convoy

with Crystal Surge

Series: Micron Legend
Year: 2002
Allegiance: Cybertron
Class: Supercon

Prelude: Repaints and retools are a staple of Transformers toy lines, especially when we’re talking Optimus Prime figures. And when we’re talking Japanese Optimus Prime / Convoy figures, there is always a black repaint, occasionally a purple repaint, and sometimes a “Crystal” repaint, too, meaning a toy made from transparent plastic. Case in point, Micron Legend Crystal Convoy, whom we shall look at today. Ready to see right through him? Let’s say go!

Many thanks to my buddy Fuchs Geronimo for loaning me this figure for pictures and review.

Crystal Convoy: I have already reviewed this mold twice, once as Armada Optimus Prime and once more as Cybertron Optimus Prime, plus we have pictures of Micron Legend Scourge here, too. So here we shall just look at the differences. Crystal Convoy is the exact same figure as Armada Optimus, but made almost entirely from transparent plastic. The colors have remained mostly the same, only those parts that were dark grey on Armada Optimus are colorless here, appearing almost white. The only non-transparent parts of this figure are the feet and the golden parts of the fists and forearms, everything else is see-through.

No other changes to the figure. Still one of the best-articulated figures from that time, still possessing that punch-throwing gimmick, and still capable of pulling the trailer of Super Optimus Prime, too. But he is very shiny when you put him in front of a light.

Crystal Surge: A retool of Mini-Con Over-Run, the Mini-Con partner of Armada Optimus, Crystal Surge is made almost entirely of colorless translucent plastic (making him a bit hard to photograph, too). He has some blue in his wings and the shoulder joints, plus a yellow visor on his face, but otherwise he is entirely see-through. One of the better Mini-Con molds from Armada, but I am not sure I’d have needed him in crystal form.

Remarks: As mentioned above, Takara likes the occasional “Crystal” retool. Not nearly as much as the Black Repaint, but still. This time you could even say there is an in-universe explanation for this figure, as Optimus Prime died in the Armada episode “Crisis”, only to be resurrected a few episodes later in “Miracle”, so he did spend some time as a ghost, you could say. Surge / Over-Run never appeared in the TV series, of course, but he was killed (off-screen) in the Armada/Energon comic run from Dreamwave, returning as a ghost-in-the-machine, so here, too, we have some in-universe reasoning.

While I like the Deluxe Class (or Supercon, as it was called back then) incarnation of Armada Optimus Prime a lot, I was never a big fan of crystal / ghost / transparent retools. Not only because they are usually far more expensive than the regular releases, but only because transparent plastic tends to break a lot quicker. And while I have heard no complaints about easy breakage regarding Crystal Convoy here, I still would not have bought him for myself. But many thanks to my buddy Geronimo for the loan. So bottom line: a great figure in general, but unless you are an Armada/Micron Legend completist or a die-hard Optimus Prime / Convoy fan, there are far less expensive versions of this toy you can look at.

Rating: B-