Cliffbee.com Black Rodimus Convoy Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Rodimus Convoy
Series: Superlink (Energon)
Allegiance: Cybertron
Alternate Mode: Racing Truck



TRUCK MODE
Height: 6cm Length: 14cm Width: 7cm

   An insanely souped up racing longnose truck, Rodimus Convoy is a black repaint of Rodimus with gold windows, metallic bronze painted flames on his hood and spoiler. The grille is also bronze while the headlights are yellow and the smokestacks are silver. The overall look is Rodimus Prime on steroids, with a new colour scheme. Despite being dominated by black, this truck doesn't really give off an evil vibe, thanks to the bronze and yellow.

   The cab is a lot bigger than the trailing section, both in height and width, and the front wheels are bigger than the two sets of rear wheels. The spoiler sits at the back, underneath this are two black jets and in front are black moulded intake turbines. There's a powerlinx port on top of the spoiler, not for a Minicon but for his weapon, which is a giant transparent red missile launcher, which fits the colour scheme here much better than the blue one of the regular toy. It shoots a solitary red missile a foot or so.

   He sports a silver spark crystal on the left side spoiler strut, as well as a small painted Autobot symbol inside a cog on the left door. The hubcaps are painted bronze, which looks great against black tyres.

   Overall, this is a great looking truck mode. The colours work very well visually - they're striking and attractive without being garish. The weapon is much better than on the original while the coloured gap behind the cabin is now black so we don't really see it. While this is not a totally realistic truck, it looks like it could be, and there’s enough detail to sell it - including side mirrors, front headlights, doorhandles, a hitch on the back and ridged tyres that allow him to roll fairly well. The repaint really works, and deals with the colour flaws of the original.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Fairly clever and satisfyingly complex for a deluxe, although not difficult. Flip up the front of the truck to form the robot legs, lift up the roof to form the feet. Straighten the legs out and flip up the kneecaps, fold in the panels behind the smokestacks to form the soles of his feet, and swing out the charcoal heelspurs. Fold out the waistplate, swing the rear wheels out to either side to form the arms. The head swings up and clicks into position. The forearms have several folding parts, including the fists swapping out for the rockets, which is nifty.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 14cm Width: 13.5cm

   Again largely black, Rodimus now has bronze flames on his shins and chest with sole yellow here and there. His face is silver with blue eyes and a gold crest while his fists are charcoal - which is close to the black. The chestplate has a red stamped Cybertron symbol with a white outline, and the spark crystal is concealed on the inside of his right forearm.

   Like the vehicle mode, there are obvious and deliberate Rodimus Prime elements here - including the crest on his forehead and the flames on his chest. The chest and waist are hidden in vehicle mode, but the chest mimics the hood, although unlike on the original, the waist no longer reminds of a front headlight rack. The rear wheels are mounted on the large shoulderpads, and the front half of the truck is now the robot boots, with the grille being the kneecaps. While the colours don't really carry the Rodimus Prime tribute, the mould and flames do, and this is an attractive repaint anyway.

   The boots are big, and his feet are huge, being the roof and windshield of the truck. The kneecaps are also big, and hide about 2/3 of the thighs. He also has longish forearms, smallish head looks quite small, but the big arms and legs do work well together. Incidentally, the thighs are composed of the same charcoal plastic as his hands, but you don't really notice this from the front, only the back.

   The head is on a limited ball joint, the shoulders swing and the elbows are ball joints. His hips have double ratcheting joints, the knees bend on single ratcheting joints. Posing the knee joints will leave a gap between the thighs and kneecaps, but you just push the kneecaps it. The giant charcoal heelspurs mean most poses are stable, and can easily be stowed if you prefer, although this limits his stability in certain poses. Overall he has pretty decent articulation, coupled with the ability hold his missile launcher in either hand this makes for decent play value. And then of course, he can combine with Fire Grand Convoy to form a larger robot.

   The odd proportions and poseability limitations mean this mode's not quite as cool as the truck mode, but again the colours work well, and I really like the unified look of lots of truck and fake truck parts being visible. The colours are again striking, if slightly less so than in truck mode - but the repaint works well again.

VARIATIONS

   None as such, although Black Rodimus Convoy is a repaint of Rodimus, as mentioned. He was sold exclusively through a Japanese magazine, and is intended to powerlink with Fire Grand Convoy, also sold through the same magazine.

OVERALL

   The truck mode is a good one, the robot mode has some flaws, but has enough going for it to make him a worthwhile purchase. The missile launcher colours have been fixed and this is a striking and attractive repaint. You'll want Fire Grand Convoy if you get this - but both are good repaints. Whether or not this one is worth the secondary market prices is up to you, but for what he is, Black Rodimus Convoy is well executed - 8/10

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