Dave's Transformers Age of the Primes Rant: Leader wave 3

Maximal Big Convoy (Mammoth)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/AoP/LBigConvoy

Wavemate is Razorclaw, a purple and black redeco of Tigerhawk, inspired
by the Transformers Universe Razorclaw (a purple and black redeco of the original Tigerhawk). Not getting that one.


CAPSULE

$55-60 price point (high end at HasbroPulse, low end at Target).

Maximal Big Convoy: If you ignore the fact it's a generally worse remake of a toy that was $20 in 2004, it's decent. Way too much kibble in robot
mode, but most of it manages to become some sort of attack feature.
Recommended if you never got the original mold, mildly recommended if you own either the original or the 2004 Nemesis Prime redeco.


RANT

Packaging: Same type and size as previous AotP Leaders.

Now, technically Big Convoy wasn't a Maximal originally, he was a Cybertron because the distinction still existed between Japanese and
U.S. factions. Unlike most Beast Wars type characters, though, he was not a Cybertronian who adopted an organic altmode...he was a literal mammoth on a planet populated by a mix of animals like those from different eras of prehistoric Earth. His main rivals were a gang of dinosaurs who were hanging around in the same arctic tundra for some reason (a real issue for the Elasmosaur). Angolmois Energy mutated the three dinosaurs into Magmatron, while plot device energy from Lioconvoy turned the mammoth named Big into Big Convoy as a counterforce. Beast Wars Neo had some weird worldbuilding. Big Convoy's mammoth head occasionally chimed in while he was in robot mode and seemed to have a mind of its own separate from the robot.
Oddly, the original Big Convoy mold did come to the U.S. eventually, but only in redecos (Nemesis Prime in the same Universe line that gave us the Razorclaw character who's in this AotP wave, and an Ultra Magnus deco called Ultra Mammoth from FunPub's convention exclusives). At least original Magmatron got a U.S. release as himself, albeit as a store exclusive. Here's my reviews of Nemesis Prime and the original Big Convoy, although my reviews back then weren't as detailed.
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Universe/NemPrime
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Japan/NeoLeaders
Ah, back when a Prime/Convoy coming with the Matrix of Leadership was a fresh, new idea. Lioconvoy caused a stir by having it molded onto the chest behind fold-out panels, but Big Convoy had it as a removable piece. Now
you're more likely to get the Matrix than the rifle or axe with an Optimus.


MAXIMAL: MAXIMAL BIG CONVOY
Assortment: G1906
Altmode: Mammoth
Transformation Difficulty: 29 steps
Previous Name Use: BWNeo (but without "Maximal" attached)
Previous Mold Use: None
Origin Universe: Beast Wars II/Neo

Packaging: Almost the entire back and head of the mammoth mode is
strapped to the right side of the inner tray by two plastic ties, while the tusks, pistol, and mini-not-missiles are in a plastic bag (not tissue) taped
to the lower right of the main card. The whole front of the instructions
sheet is concerned with attaching various kibble bits, including the missile launcher made from the mammoth pelt (well, also with alternate ways of attaching them as weapons, it's not JUST "getting it assembled out of box," although that's still a lot of it). Nine ties hold the rest of the robot to the tray, although you can work the arms and legs free without cutting six of the ties. The Matrix is stored inside the chest, and the tonfas are attached inside the forearms. (It is possible to attach everything in robot mode,
just bulky as heck.)
There's an inset on back showing the missile launcher deployed,
surrounded by so many beast shell panels.

Robot Mode: Even if you set the spinal cannon aside, this is a figure that's very hobbled by all the altmode kibble. The forelegs just sort of
hang off the hips and get in the way a lot, the boots are oversized due to
hide wrapped around. And then trying to store the cannon makes even the otherwise not-problematic shoulderpads into an issue. That aside, while made specifically for the Japanese market, the design shares a number of themes
from the Transmetal II toys that were developed around the same time, such as
a slight asymmetry (right arm is more rounded and organic, left arm more squared off and robotic, making it look like he has a replacement left arm), and the center of the chest has a spark crystal sort of design, although it's just molded and not a separate clear plastic piece. As part of
distinguishing this from previous Convoys/Primes, the otherwise standard head has horns on the sides that feel almost more like bad guy design...Big Convoy was intended as a somewhat more morally ambiguous leader, within the limits
of kidvid.
6.5" (16.5cm) tall at the head, total height depends on how you have the shoulderpads and tusks aligned. In a fairly standard arrangement, the span
of the tusks is about 8" (20cm) and figure height is 7.5" (19cm). While all
of the beast mode shell pieces are chocolate brown, the robot is largely red and white with light gray, dark blue, and black, plus some silver and gold. Pretty busy, in other words. White plastic is used for the tusks, helmet horns, left arm, right forearm and fist, the tonfas and pistol, muzzle of the spinal cannon, pelvis, and shins. Black plastic is used for the head,
thighs, toes, heels, core of the spinal cannon, the Matrix, and a peg on
back. The back of the torso and many of the hinges on it are made of red plastic, which is also used for the shoulder joints, lower biceps, and
"anchor" missiles. The front and middle layers of the chest, the right shoulder, and the undersides of the shoulderpads (the missile pods described below in Undocumented Features) are light gray plastic. Everything else, almost entirely beast parts, is chocolate brown plastic.
There is no actual blue plastic, all the (fairly limited) blue is a slightly metalflake dark blue paint. It covers the helmet, the centerline of the chest other than the spark holder bit (which is left unpainted), and the spats on the toes. Red paint is used on the not-windows of the chest, much
of the right shoulder, some bits of the left shoulder, the missile tips on
the underside of the shoulderpads, cable details on the forearms (different molding on the two arms), a belly button vent, and the gem of the Matrix. A red Maximal symbol is printed on the center of the false spark crystal on the center of the chest. The faceplate is painted white, as are the abs. Silver paint is used for the forehead tablet, plus much of the left shoulder and
right forearm (reinforcing the "replacement arm" effect). A somewhat dull
gold paint is used on the shoulder roots, shoulder fronts, belt buckle, shin pistons, eyes (echoing how the original toy had chrome gold eyes), and most
of the Matrix.
Take as a given that a lot of the articulation is going to be limited by the extensive kibble, especially if the spinal cannon is stored on the back. The neck is a limited ball joint, the horns on the head do not snap into
place so they tend to fold inwards when you try to move the head. The waist
is a smooth swivel, the hip flaps are hinged plus the beast forelegs on them are on additional hinges and swivels although the range of the swivels does
not let you get them all the way out of the way...they do sort of snap into place pointed straight back, though. The shoulderpads are on multiple hinges and swivels which nonetheless don't seem to give them enough range of motion
to get out of the way of the spinal cannon as I kvetch about below. Pinned hinge and swivel universal shoulders on transformation hinges that let them swing way forwards or backwards for more extreme poses. Bicep swivels, hinge elbows, swivel wrists. Pinned hinge and swivel hips, mid-thigh swivels,
hinge knees, and more swivels below the knees for transformation purposes
(the knees end up bending sideways for transformation, the section between
the two swivels rotates 90 degrees). There's instep hinges, but the transformation joints on the toes and heels aren't useful for articulation
(the toes are blocked from moving by the shins). The front panel of the
chest folds down to reveal the Matrix behind it.
The fists hold 5mm pegs, there's also 5mm sockets on the outer faces of the forearms and upper shoulders, under each toe, one on the sole of each
beast forefoot, and one on the strut that holds the spinal cannon chunk (it's meant for storing the pistol). That strut ends in a 5mm peg. There's also
5mm pegs on the fur chunks of the forearms so the tusks can be mounted as arm weapons (they attach to the shoulderpads via 5mm pegs) as long as the tonfa
on the relevant arm is not deployed. The Matrix mount inside the chest is a 5mm peg as usual. There's a pair of 5mm pegs on the back of the belt area
that the forearm sockets attach to during transformation, but I suppose you could put the tusks on them too. If you pull the outer fur panels out on the boots, it reveals a 5mm socket meant for the anchor missiles, and a 3mm
socket which may just be decorative or something because it's kinda loose
(it's actually closer to 1/8", so it's Lego compatible).
The original Big Convoy toy didn't have a pistol, but in the anime he sometimes used one called a Matrix Cannon (no known connection to the Matrix itself), and others on his crew sometimes used smaller versions of it. This
is because the Matrix Cannon was a roleplay toy, and it got used in the
cartoon to help sell the toy, as one does. (I never had a copy, and had to refer to TFWiki for this bit.) This version of the Matrix Cannon is a single piece of unpainted white plastic 35mm long with a 5mm peg grip at the back
and a 3mm stud muzzle. There's also plastic-saver round sockets on each
side, but they're slightly over 1/8" so the don't really connect to
anything.
If you open up the fur chunks on the undersides of the forearms, you can fold out little tonfa-ish clubs that almost look more like chunky white Pocky sticks than actual weapons. Only 17mm long, they barely stick out past the fists, and the blunt spikes are too small to hold 3mm socket effects.
For a much more impressive melee weapon, you can remove the tusks from their positions on the shoulderpads and put them onto the 5mm pegs on the forearms. They're curved, about 3" (7-8cm) long if they were straightened
out and a total distance of 2.25" (6cm) from the peg to the blunted tip. Unpainted white plastic with some ivory-ish texturing (shallow scrapes more
or less parallel to the core axis, of various lengths).
The things I call anchor missiles do have an official name, but I've copied enough info out of TFWiki for one review. :) On the original toy,
they launched from the boots in the same way the original Beast Wars Megatron T.rex's similarly-shaped missiles fired from his hips. The shape is a short central rod with two limbs that curve back to make about 3/4 of a circle, shaped kind of like grappling hooks crossed with crossbows. Each is a single piece of unpainted red plastic a little under an inch (23mm) long, with the back end of the rod being a 5mm peg and a short 5mm peg also sticking out perpendicular to the main rod. They mount on the sides of the boot in robot mode, or can be used as short little melee weapons. I suppose if you want to be weird, you can put them backwards on the boots with the 5mm pegs pointing forwards, then mount the tusks on them for funky bootspikes.
The big spinal cannon made from most of the top of the beast mode is a reasonably clever design, but I can't figure out how they got the beast head shoulderpad pieces out of the way enough to let the gun mount the way the instructions show. I got it to almost point forwards, but I had to do some pretty weird deformation to the shoulderpads in the process. An extra joint
on the mammoth head would have helped a LOT (and I wouldn't be surprised if
it was part of the original design but got budgeted out). Anyway, it takes
the core spinal mount non-launching missile launcher and turns several of the fur panels into blast shields, with the part along the spine unfolding a
strut to support the weight of it. This strut, the main spine, amd the
struts that hold the blast shield panels are black plastic, while the muzzle end of the weapon is white plastic. Fully extended the length is 6.75"
(17cm). The center of the beast head, including the trunk, are pulled back
to get over the shoulder. The main grip piece (also black plastic) folds
down on a VERY stiff joint (I needed a knife), and there's a sort of
triangular prism chunk on the bottom of the extended strut that goes into a notch on the shoulder. The remainder of the panels and pieces are chocolate brown plastic. There's a 5mm socket on the top center of the spine, which is where it attaches to a strut in the small of the back when not in use (and
also how it attaches in beast mode). You can mount the pistol on top as a
sort of laser sight, I guess. The muzzle is two 5mm sockets one a bit ahead
of the other, it'd be difficult to mount Fire Blasts in both at once, and the shell around them means only the narrower Fire Blasts will work at all. It strikes me that someone has probably already made little warhead studs to put into 5mm sockets to look like the tips of missiles, for toys based on older ones that had firing projectiles. When mounting the folded up gun on the
back, the shoulderpads have to be pushed a far forwards as they'll go, and I can't shake the feeling that the design originally gave them even more range
of motion because things get pretty tight.
Finally, in keeping with my original Big Convoy review, I saved the Energon Matrix for last. It's not shaped like the G1 Autobot Matrix, and
that seems to be intentional, to establish it has a completely different plot device. It has the same sort of central golden housing with hexagonal
symmetry around a "jewel" piece, but then just a simple bar across the top attached to two 5mm peg handles, with no bar along the bottom. A little
under 1.5" (36mm) across and made of a single piece of black plastic,
although only the tips of the handle pegs and the inside of the 5mm socket on back are left unpainted. The gem is painted gloss red, while the rest of the framework is painted dull gold. The storage area inside the chest is shaped
to hold just this Matrix, most other Matrix accessories would not fit. The figure can easily hold the Energon Matrix by both handles at once, and can almost hold it against the inner chest. I might repaint the gem in a color- shifting metallic red paint I have. (Don't expect pictures, it won't look significantly different on camera.)

Undocumented Features: Despite a whole page of the instructions being dedicated to use of the accessories, it missed a few things. A simple one is that the spine cannon piece can be collapsed into beast shape and attached to either forearm as a shielf, which is frankly less awkward than the storage
mode shown in the instructions.
The shoulderpads can be rotated upwards to show missile launcher faces molded on the faces that are pointed inwards in beast mode. Each has six shallowly molded warheads on a hexagonal cell background. The beast forelegs are also clearly meant to be rotated to point the soles forwards, with a 5mm port (for Fire Blasts) and four shallower and narrower apertures clearly intended as cannon barrels. Basically, do both of these things and you get a Massive Firepower Mode even without the spinal cannon. The anchor missiles
on the boots go along with this configuration (on the original toy, the
panels could pop open to allow firing, but the missiles are purely decorative now, or used as melee weapons). Mounting the spinal cannon as a shield but with the barrels pointed forwards completes the "unleash hell" effect.

Transformation: Reasonably easy to figure out, in that I didn't need to refer to the instructions, but much like the original it's a real shellmaster and requires significant massaging to get all the panels to snap into the
right places. The loose weapons (anchor missiles and pistol) store inside
the flank pieces, but there's plenty of clearance once transformed to place them in their storage spots after you're finished, you don't need to get them in place earlier and then hope they stay put. The pistol does need to be removed from its storage location in the small of the back early in the transformation, though, as that strut slams flat along the way.
Going back to robot mode, I suppose it's theoretically possible to leave the spine section attached, but good luck with that. Might as well remove it as soon as it's possible and set it aside. Getting all the shell pieces back in the right places takes a little work, and I did pop a panel off entirely along the way the first time, but it wasn't too bad. I needed a knife to get the heels back out. You can leave the anchor missiles in their beast most storage spots, but they're supposed to be removed and placed on the sides of the boots instead. The pistol cannot be left in place, though.

Altmode: Well, it's a woolly mammoth. But due to the significant dearth of paint and shading, the combination of dark brown glossy plastic on most of the beast's surface and pure white tusks make it look like some sort of weird chocolate Easter treat. I keep having to resist the temptation to pull a
Sally Forth and eat the ears.
4.25" (10.5cm) tall, 5.25" (13cm) long from the butt to the front of the head or 7.5" (19cm) from the back end to the tips of the tusks. The trunk
can be lifted up enough to add about an inch (about 2cm) to the total length, and I suppose you could lift the tail for a bit more, but that's rude. It's smaller than the original, but not by a whole lot, about 15% smaller than the BWNeo toy (by contrast, the Commander class Magmatron is a lot taller than
the original). Anyway, it's almost all chocolate brown with white chocolate tusks, and some robot bits visible from behind and mostly underneath. I suppose a few bits of very dark blue plastic are visible as hinges on the
butt and the sides of the rear feet. The toes are painted light gray and the eyes are printed black and white. That's it for the paint.
The ears are on hinges, the forelegs have swivel shoulders (lifting them too much makes the ear on that side flip forwards, a poor substitute for the ears-wiggle-the-tusks gimmick of the original), and there's three hinges on
the trunk. The tail has a single hinge at its root, and I guess since the tusks are attached via pegs you can rotate them. Okay, I don't think a
mammoth altmode comes with a lot of articulation expectations, and at least
now the trunk can stay where you put it...I don't particularly miss that gimmick from BWNeo. The tip of the trunk has shallow molded nostrils rather than a 3mm stud or socket, so no mounting a water blast effect on it. In
fact, aside from removing the tusks to reveal the 5mm pegs underneath, the
only connectors in this mode are the 5mm sockets on the soles of the front feet.

Overall: I suppose one problem with making updates of specific old toys
to sell to people who might own those toys is that the remake tends to come
off poorly by comparison. More expensive, smaller, fewer features, more drab appearance. I suppose the kibble issues are about the same in this case.
And yes, that's a bit unfair, because costs for toys have gone up
significantly faster than overall inflation, and the toy that cost $20 at Target in 2004 (as Nemesis Prime did) would probably cost nearly $100 to sell these days with no changes (even though $20 in 2004 money would be more like $35 today).
Purely on its own merits and compared to other Leader class toys from 2025, though, it's okay. Major kibble issues in robot mode, but I appreciate the effort to bring back a fairly obscure character rather than just give us another tweaked variant of a US-release Optimus Prime.


Dave Van Domelen, now to find someplace to display Big Convoy without having to put anything away.


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