Alternity Convoy (silver ver)
A convoy preview with opinionated blah by DigDug:
(PS. Camera trouble today, real pics to come.)
A small package arrived on my doorstep this afternoon, and to my surprise, the long awaited Alternity Convoy had appeared earlier than expected! For this, a big thanks goes to Gamblor for teeing the group order up and getting it here so quickly. As it is such a new toy worldwide, I felt it my duty to report some general aspects of the toy for potential buyers (MISBers can close this page now :P).
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The retail packaging immediately struck me as quite beautiful - it is 100% plastic and has a nice sheen when untouched. This cannot possibly survive much shelf wear and quickly shows prints from handling so extra care may need to be taken if you plan to keep it. The front resembles the Binaltech look and one side has a kitsch-cool window shaped in the silhouette of an Autobot logo. The overall quality of the print is OK considering it is plastic, but is considerably darker and less defined than if it were card. Upon opening the side flap (that’s what you bought it for, right?) you find the toy is sealed within a new type of plastic shell which securely holds Convoy without any other ties/tape.
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Alt Mode: The HR35 GTR mould is well finished and, while sparsely detailed, contains some delicate art, such as the GTR badging on the front and rear, chromed wing mirrors, painted mags, brake callipers and discs and sorta-light piping on the tail lights. Rubber tyres also feature at each corner. The duco is glossy and flawless and while the entire exterior shell is plastic, only one very minor moulding deformation is visible on the rear roof. Seam gaps are also small with the bonnet the one exception.
Play value seems reasonable, but is necessarily sacrificed for model accuracy/presentability in some areas. For example, the bonnet can be lifted to reveal the engine, but with some difficulty as there is no notch to help pry it up. Similarly, the doors must be opened by pulling on the wing mirrors. VERY carefully. The solid plastic steering wheel didn’t turn on this example, either. There is a distinct appearance of fragility to the moving parts, fortunately the car itself feels quite rigid, and doesn’t fall apart with light handling like a few of the alternators do.
SPOILER ALERT: if you like to figure out the transformation for yourself, please skip this paragraph!
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Transformation takes place in 2 main stages; the legs then the upper body. Convoy was quite difficult to break apart the first time but the roof separates from the screen and the rear of the car can be folded open to reveal the feet. A few artful swivels and they… must be legs but don’t look quite right first time. The top half largely auto-transforms when you 1) Raise the arms (morphs the bonnet and exposes the head 2) fold the bonnet down this causes the “chest” to pop out (yes, it is prosthetic, much like MP01 :s ). After positioning the arms and doors he looks ready for some action! The process isn’t particularly easy to deduce, so there is some fun to be had in the puzzle, but you won’t be pulling your hair out, in spite of all the passing similarities to Alt. Grimlock’s design.
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Robot mode: The result is a rather high-tech looking robot with very little resemblance to the Optimus archetype as we know it in the west, but it does look impressive. The body is proportionally similar to Alternator Grimlock, with fairly solid lower legs, narrow upper legs and arms with broad upper torso/shoulders and dwings. The similarities mostly end there as Convoy’s die-cast lower torso and legs are quite intricately detailed and rounded in a way that mimics a body shape, with the exception of the flat grille of his chest. Articulation is adequate; legs and arms rotate and bend to some degree in the appropriate places, although the former are hampered by the exaggerated bulges and kibble as the dwings do not move independently of the shoulders. The head is ball jointed, as are the feet. Neither offers much articulation, but this isn’t necessary as the real stand-up work is performed by some large heel spurs which provide good stability on flat, hard surfaces. Unlike the alternators, Convoy’s hands only feature wrist articulation and the fingers are fused in a sort of gun-wielding pose; his arm-cannons are the only armament included though.
Play value is quite good, as the ratchet hip joints generally hold the weight of the toy well. A limited range of heroic postures are available that are sure to please. Combat stylings may be a bit tricky with the limited range of arm movement but one or two of the common acrobatic positions are achievable. To my irritation, the dwings weighed the arms down, preventing some potentially good poses from working out but one of the joints is loose and it is too early to tell if this is a common issue or not.
Size-wise Convoy does not match the Alternator/Binaltech range, which is a terrible shame considering the incredible overall quality and coolness of the figure. He would replace the Dodge Ram in an instant if he were large enough. The size does sit well with the Classics deluxe toys though, and he makes an unusual alternative to the Classics Optimus, although the styling and finish is slightly different to the Hasbro group so personal taste will dictate whether they mix.
Overall, I’m very happy with this figure as it has strong robot and alt modes. A separate gun would have been a slight improvement, IMO but is not really a complaint – more of an opportunity for the custom crowd to work some magic ;)
Disclaimer: This is a rough-and-ready summary of my opinion of this product and, as such is welcome to debate. Disagreements/hate mail/abuse can be directed to: doyoureallythinkicare@all.com
Enjoy, DigDug
Phew... That was hard work ;)http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4651/5finalphew.jpg
