(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the "Thrilling 30th" Generations Orion Pax toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the "Thrilling 30th" Generations Orion Pax toy here.)
Lio Convoy is, via Club
fiction, part of the "Beast Wars Uprising" universe, but there's nothing
keeping you from making him a "normal" pre-BW toy in the vein of the BotCon
2006 exclusives if you so desire-- it's the same concept, with the character
given a vehicle alt mode with animal-like paint apps. As with the original
Lio Convoy, Lio's basic colors are white, a fairly dark brownish gray,
and some black and dull metallic gold. The first three aren't particularly
exciting colors, but it's the paint apps that really make this color scheme--
and like most Transformers Club exclusives, Lio Convoy has a ton of 'em.
The broken up dull metallic gold details on the mold's rear section of
the cab mode and the shoulders really look remarkably like a lion mane,
and quite frankly is the most ingenious paint app that Lio Convoy has.
There's also some of that nice metallic gold along the wheel hubs and the
sides of the vehicle mode-- it's a pretty nice color and complements the
white quite well. The front grill is also detailed like a lion's nose and
mouth, with black near the center, a red "mouth" near the bottom, and even
white-and-blue-striped headlights that actually look a little like the
pores whiskers come out of on the nose. The white painting along the sides
of the long nose vehicle mode help emphasize this "lion nose" look even
more. The transparent plastic used for the cockpit, painted cherry red
(along with his axe weapon), makes for nice "eyes" for this big "lion head"
of a mode, and overall the vehicle mode just looks fantastic. In robot
mode, Lio Convoy's robot mode colors are replicated fairly well too, with
some red and silver details on the abs, red painted on the lower arms,
a silver circle-around-a-Maximal-symbol decoration on the left side of
the chest, and even some white and gold detailing on the front of his feet
to make them look like the "lion paws" the original Lio Convoy had as feet.
There's also a black pelvis, with some nice blue and dull yellow details
on them. All of these colors really go together quite well, and keep Lio
Convoy from looking remotely boring in either mode, with no one large area
being one unbroken color.
Lio Convoy does have
a new headsculpt, which generally looks solid, although the side antennae
are a bit smaller than they should be due to size constraints in alt mode.
The actual details are nicely done, though, with some nice silver eyes
on the faceplate and forehead vent, yellow eyes, and a really nice, eye-popping
shade of blue used on the rest of his head. Other than the new head, no
mold changes have been made to Lio Convoy.
TFCC Lio Convoy is one
of the best redecoes the Collectors' Club has done, with a lot of creative
details used to bring out the "lion" in a toy that really didn't call out
those details without just the right mix of color shades and paint. The
headsculpt is a LITTLE clipped, but not much, and the colors on him really
pop while still being faithful to the original. It's also just a great
mold-- highly recommended, especially since as a "freebie" exclusive that
came with Club membership, he's cheaper to get than most other BotCon/Club
exclusives.
Review by Beastbot