Transformers Beast Wars was by far one of the best television series and toylines of the 1990’s, with strong story telling, great voice actors and a great toyline during it’s run in 1996-1999. Beast Wars also had two shows that were only available in Japan, including Beast Wars Neo and Beast Wars II, with their own characters and shows that was part of the overall universe. Burning Convoy was part of the Japanese line in 1998. Burning Convoy is meant as a companion figure to Lio Convoy and is a repaint of the first Optimus Primal figure offered in the Masterpiece line. Burning Convoy is based on his appearance from “Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!” He also has a reduced inventory, with only two of the gorilla and robot faces each, as he was originally shown with three face plates in both modes.
Availability: April 2020
Burning Convoy is packaged in the standard packaging for Masterpiece figures, with artwork and images of the figure on the front, sides, and a detailed look of the figure on the back, with a gallery showcasing this features and accessories.
Burning Convoy is essentially a repaint of the first Optimus Primal figure released in the Beast Wars Masterpiece line, and like the vintage toy release, comes in red translucent plastic. Burning Convoy had one of the most distinguished designs in the vintage line, and carries over well in the Masterpiece line.
In beast mode, he is essentially a red gorilla with translucent red plastic, gold fingers and toes. The figure can stand on his two feet, or all fours as seen in the animated series. Just like the first release, the gorilla form looks beautiful and looks like how he did in the series, and the figure comes with the same great details. The face, elbows and chest has a metallic pink tone.
The figure has two interchangeable face plates in this mode, with a closed and open mouth. Originally, three were solicited in this mode and his robot mode, but these were cut from the final production. His eyes keep the blue eye balls, and his teeth stay white, which is a nice touch.
The transformation from beast mode to robot mode isn’t as difficult compared to some of the other Masterpiece figures out there, and even a few of the these steps match his transformation as seen in the animated series. The articulation is also pretty much the same in both modes, with full movement of the arms and a large ball joint at the base of his head allowing him to look side to side, as well as straight forward when he is on all fours. The legs are also fully moveable and you can create some dynamic poses for photography. The hinged fingers is also a nice touch, including the trigger finger.
In robot mode, Burning Convoy is a great repaint to the first Optimus Primal figure, and the translucent red plastic looks just as nice in this mode as it does in Beast Mode. His chest has the same panel details only repainted in the pink tone, and where his spark would be is a white circle on the chest. Additional parts including the biceps, knees and toes also have the pink tone, while most of the sculpt has the translucent red plastic, metallic gold fingers, but interestingly enough the head sculpt is similar in deco to the first release. This includes the blue, grey and metallic gold. His head sculpt also has LED light-up eyes with cell batteries required for this feature.
Burning Convoy keeps many the previously offered accessories and features, including the shoulder cannons, wrist cannons, the “Prime Jets” from his lower back to depict Optimus Primal in flight mode, and 2 Spinal Swords that can connect to the sides of his back, and be held in his hands. The wrist cannons are hidden inside the forearm and when you lift the panel up, the cannon rises at the same time.
The blasters and swords are painted in the same metallic gold as other parts as mentioned above, which keeps it consistent. This is in additional to the 2 face plates that are interchangeable. The inclusion of the shoulder blasters, wrist blasters, “Prime Jets” and Spinal Swords is a nice touch that the first release also had, and gives it all that great detail that’s need for this figure.
Overall, Transformers Beast Wars was the show that brought me back into Transformers in the 1990’s, and is my personal favorite show and toyline. The Beast Wars Masterpiece line has been extremely impressive and so far I have purchased all the figures. Burning Convoy is one that I didn’t think would be released before some of the other season 1 characters, but then we got Lio Convoy, which had opened the door to other Japanese characters and potential repaints such as Burning Convoy. The figure itself is extremely well done and a dream come true for some. The figure is a great update to the 1998 version and an excellent repaint. This is definitely one you need to own, and he goes great with your growing collection.
Hasbro’s and Takara-Tomy’s Transformers teams continue to do such incredible work and Burning Convoy is a perfect example of that. Looking forward to more great releases like this, especially characters like Scorponok, Tarantulus, Rattrap and Airazor.
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