TOY REVIEW
Name: Fire Convoy (merges with trailer to become Super Fire Convoy)
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Flaming Supreme Commander
Vehicular Mode: Hino Brandbilar fire engine
Average Price: 4980 JPY
VEHICLE MODE
I couldn't stop drooling when I first saw this truck through
the clear plastic window in the box. This toy is crafted so well that at
first glance, you'd swear that it was a regular toy truck, and not
a Transformer. The toy measures 29 centimetres in length and stands
at eight centimetres (not including the ladder on both counts). Being a
fire engine, the primarily colour is naturally red. There are numerous
silver-grey accents throughout the toy, mainly due to the grilled platforms
and the entire ladder itself. Just in front of the ladder is a water
gun turret. This is actually Super Fire Convoy's head. It's a little bit
too obvious but it's not terribly annoying. In fact, I think it's rather
clever how they've sculpted all the robot parts that they knew would be
exposed to blend in with the fire engine. Not only does Super Fire Convoy's
head try to look like a water turret, Super Fire Convoy's chest plate also
tried to look like a storage area. Even the fingers are moulded and placed
to look like fire hoses. It works to a limited extent. It's still obvious
that these are Super Fire Convoy's robot parts, but it was a nice idea
to try to make it less obvious! In fact, the main thing that gives away
the fact that this is no ordinary fire engine are the four missile launchers
in the ladder. Notice I said in, not on. This is also a rather
clever way to try to make the launchers effective yet inconspicuous. Again,
this only works to a limited extent, but it's nice to see that they thought
about it. :-)
The amount of detailling on this toy is incredible. The
back of the engine has two steps for firefighters to stand on in emergencies.
They also act as rear end bumpers. They're painted silver. There's also
rear lights and indicators painted red and orange. There's even
doors and handles moulded on as well as sockets that a firefighter can
attach hoses to. There's even a number plate (it's blank)! On the front
cab, there are eight windows, all transparent blue. The front bumper bar
is red and silver. There's another blank number plate and two orange headlights
and indicators. There's even a pair of windshield wipers moulded
beneath each front window!! The only thing this sucker doesn't have are
side wing mirrors! On the left door are three Japanese characters (kanji)
which means "fire department." Underneath that is the word "CYBERTRON"
written in English. On top of the cab are two transparent red siren lights.
Press the button on that siren and you'll see the red lights flashing and
hear the following sounds:
"Cybertron Senshi, TRANSFORM!!" ("Autobot
warriors, Transform!!")
"Kyodai Gattai Super Fire Convoy!!" ("Giant
Merge, Super Fire Convoy!!")
"FIRE!!!" *dadadadada....* ("Fire!!! *ratatatatatata...*)
Siren wail (once)
Siren wail (three times)
The voice sounds reasonably close to the TV show... I guess.
Well, it sure sounds a lot better than those COMMtech chips we had with
the Star Wars
Episode One figures. Oh, it takes two AAA batteries to power this light
and sound gimmick. You'll also need to mini-screwdriver to open the battery
compartment. Fortunately, unlike Optimal
Optimus' battery compartment, it isn't screwed on impossibly tight.
But wait, there's more! Each wheel has a nice chrome hubcap
and rubber tyres!! Each tyre has the word "FIRE CONVOY" written
on it. Hey, whaddaya know, he's a tyre brand too! (cough)
On the left side of the ladder's turret is a white ladder,
allowing firefighters to climb onto the big grey ladder! On the right is
a black seat with the control panel for the ladder! Too bad they didn't
make any little firefighters to sit onto it, but I'm sure those old Diaclone
pilots would fit in easily. The ladder itself can swing all the way back
(and then some!) as well as extending out to a grand length of 52.5 centimetres.
Online gossip stated that the ladder was 60 cm long, however, this is grossly
inaccurate. However, with the ladder fully erect (ie: the ladder is perpendicular
to the fire engine) the height from ground to tip of the ladder is 59 centimetres.
Also, a red tab on top of the front end of the ladder causes two water
cannons to spring out.
Want more gimmicks? Well, remember those missile launchers
I mentioned? Obviously they can fire one missile each, but a tab on the
back of the ladder allows ALL FOUR missiles to fire simultaneously! So
the instructions say. This gimmick actually doesn't work on my toy... but
it may be just an individual manufacture flaw as opposed to an overall
design flaw. If you have the same problem with your toy mention it in that
self-addressed survey card that all Japanese Transformers come with and
send it to Takara (you'll have to pay for the postage yourself though).
Could this toy get any better?
TRANSFORMATION ROBOT MODE
They've stopped using photographs and gone back to using
technical drawings on the instructions again. Fortunately, Takara's instructions
are very well drawn (wish I could say the same for Hasbro, but I
can't - their instruction art sucks). Separate the cab from the trailer.
Swing each side panel to the front (therefore the tyres also move forward)
90 degrees. Fold in the two small skinny parts jutting out, so that they're
covering the windshield wipers ("Me Grimlock know all about wipers, want
to hear good part of story!"). Okay, okay. Well, there was this gigantic
Igyak. Oh wait, no there wasn't. Underneath the front bumper (where the
towing hook would be) is the robot gun. Remove it and place it aside. Fold
the front part of the cab down 90 degrees. Fold the rest of the cab backwards
180 degrees. Separate robot legs and twist them inwards 90 degrees. Open
white calf compartments and flip out robot feet. Close calf compartments.
Swing forward robot arms. Slide grill panels down all the way (because
they also bring out the robot fists) and twist them outwards. Push torso
down so it meets the hip. Robot head will automatically rise (similar to
Big Convoy's torso-head transformation).
Raise each siren light up in a similar fashion to Wheeljack's robot wings.
Place gun in fist. Voilá!
ROBOT MODE
This toy is a masterpiece. Standing at 20.5 centimetres
this toy truly pays homage to its Convoy heritage. "So is Fire Convoy Optimus
Prime?" No. He's worse. He's such an over-compassionate tree hugging hippie
in the cartoon that he makes Optimus Prime look like Oscar the Grouch!
It's really cool for those who like that kind of Christ-like super hero.
Anyway, I always complain when other people talk about the TV show in toy
reviews, so I really shouldn't to it myself. :p
The head is sculpted in a very Convoy-like fashion. The
'helmet' is blue, the eyes are chrome-gold and the face is silver. The
neck is white and the side 'antennae' are silver. Of course, the mid-forehead
grill is also silver. For reasons best known to Takara, the side antennae
are poseable. One interesting feature about the head sculpt is that it
resembles a fire fighter's helmet. The torso is red, but the front of the
torso is chrome ("transmetal") red! There's also two blue panels on each
chest and chrome-silver decos on the abdomen. This enhances Fire Convoy's
visual tribute to the original Convoy (Optimus Prime). The arms are red
except for parts of the lower arems which are white and the wrists are
blue. The fists are silver-grey with white fingers. The waist is light
grey with two yellow decos. The thighs are white and rather roundish. There's
some really nice sculpting on the thighs actually. The lower legs are actually
the front parts of the cab. I think they look keen. Yes, keen. The feet
are dark cobalt grey. Now get ready for it..... this toy features twenty
four points of articulation! Even the ankles can move! Oh yes, the sound
and light gimmick also works in this mode (since the entire gimmick is
housed in the cab anyway).
TRANSFORMATION TO TRANSMAYIN FIRE KNUCKLE MODE
Disassemble the trailer. Put aside the ladder component.
Separate the back section of the fire engine (the one with the wheels).
Flip out Super Fire Convoy's toes 90 degrees and fold wheels in all the
way. Attach each one onto Fire Convoy's shoulders, with missiles facing
forward. Separate each side panel, put aside each section without the hands.
Now for the fun part, flip each side panel inside out, forming Fire
Knuckle gauntlets. Pull out thumbs and attach gauntlets onto Fire Convoy's
forearms.
TRANSMAYIN FIRE KNUCKLE MODE
This is obviously an intermediate mode for Fire Convoy. It's
essentially the Fire Convoy robot with two missile racks on the shoulders
and two large gauntlets (which he launches in the show). This distributes
more weight towards the top of the toy which provides minimal standing
problems since the feet are so small. As demonstrated in the photo above,
this can be compensated by making Fire Convoy stand with legs apart.
TRANSFORMATION TO TRANSREPAIR MODE
Remove trailer parts from Fire Convoy. Place Fire Convoy
toy aside. Fold out gauntlets so that they're flat. With the blue section
facing towards you, arrange hands so that the fingers are also pointing
towards you. Turn the gun turret to face the same way and raise the rear
red platform 90 degrees, forming a right angle behind the hand. Attach
them onto the rear mid-section parts (the trailer parts that were not used
for the Fire Knuckle mode, apart from the ladder, duh). Take missile pods
and flip whels out. Flip toes out all the way. Join both pods together.
Attach side sections onto main base section. Then mount ladder. Erect ladder
(oh, grow up) and flip sides of ladder out 90 degrees. Fold front
section of ladder forward and release cannons.
TRANSREPAIR MODE
Repair bay my arse, this thing's a battle station! There
seems to be no place to put an injured robot nor do there seem to
be anything there for repairs (unlike Hot Spot's repair bay mode, where
there are two mechanical wielder arms to fix robots). This thing is just
bristling with weapons... the two twin barrelled cannons... even the fingers
look like gun barrels. And two cannons on top of a tower. The tower itself
looks like a big radar array too. Sweet. This toy stands at a whopping
37 centimetres and is 29.5 centimetres wide.
TRANSFORMATION TO SUPER FIRE CONVOY
Disassemble the Transrepair bay. Separate the base component
of the bay. Open grills and pull out shin guards. Slip them onto Fire Convoy's
feet. Place pegs into holes on base of Fire Convoy's feet. Lock shinguards
onto Fire Convoy's.. uhh... shins. Yep, they're shoes!!! (grin)
Transform side cannon sections into the Fire Knuckle
gauntlets. Attach gauntlets.
Take ladder section and fold sides of ladder in. Fold
ladder cannon down forward. Swing ladder down 175 degrees. Turn ladder
90 degrees clockwise.
Fold down Fire Convoy's siren lights. Raise torso. Attach
ladder section onto torso. Lock Super Fire Convoy's chest over Fire Convoy's.
Raise robot head and antennae.
Slide torso down. Now for the tricky part, insert shoulder
parts. The trick here is that you need to make sure that you're clipping
the actual joint where the smaller robot's shoulder meets the torso.
SUPER FIRE CONVOY
A respectful silence would be in order now.
This toy is so huge, I'm gonna have to break it down.....
The Head: Beautifully sculpted. It features the traditional
Convoy-style facial features yet remains distinctly original. One departure
is the colour scheme. Rather than following the blue and silver scheme
of other Convoys/Primes, Super Fire Convoy's head is red with silver decos
throughout. The side antennae (four in total) are chrome. The eyes are
chrome-gold and there are actually two forehead grills. The neck
sits on a ball joint, allowing free circular motion. The back of the head
also resembles a firefighter's helmet.
The Arms: Essentially the same as Knuckle mode,
except the shoulder missiles have are now replaced with two shoulder pads.
They look really neat and Fire Convoy's pistol can be mounted on one of
four different positions on these shoulders!
The Torso: The base colour of the torso is red with
lots of silver decos throughout. The waist is mainly silver with
dark gray accents. The abdomen is silver (reminds me of Optimus Prime's
two silver lines on his torso). There's also a yellow and red solar plexus
piece. There's a silver grill pattern which is covered by a big orange
"strap". This looks very mecha-lke and has three dark grey hoses attached.
The strap leads to an orange square with a red and silver circle. Inside
this circle is a silver Autobot insignia. This panel opens up to reveal
the Matrix.
The Matrix: Like Lio
Convoy's Matrix, Super Fire Convoy's Matrix is part of the chest moulding
and is not dettachable like Big Convoy's
Matrix. Very nice.
The Legs: It's Fire Convoy's legs wearing shoes.
No, really. It's a good idea though, because the knuckle mode demonstrated
that Fire Convoy's regular feet are too small to support anything heavier
than itself (not to mention that Super Fire Convoy would just look plain
dorky with such small feet).
This bastard features at least twenty six points of articulation
and the sound and light gimmick still works in this mode too! Eat that,
MacFarlane!! :p
OVERALL
A+++. This is arguably the best Autobot ever crafted.
What's not to like about this toy?! It also stands at a whopping
twenty five centimetres, making it taller than Optimal Optimus
and the same height as Machine Wars Starscream.
Goddammit... the Japanese leaders just keep getting better
and better every year. Super Fire Convoy seems to be at the optimum of
toy craftsmanship, which leads me to wonder what marvels Takara will bring
us with next year's Cybertron leader? I can only wait with much baited
excitement. :-)
This toy can also merge with God Magnus to form God Fire Convoy.
Email
Back
