I'm not sure how we don't have a non-video review of this guy yet.

So here we go. Alternity Convoy. He's small, he's about the same price as the larger Binaltech Convoy, and he can apparently kill you before you were born. How does he stack up?

Vehicle Mode


Yes virginia, he has rubber tires.





... though a license plate is notably absent. He'll get pulled over REAL quick.







Not a whole lot of undercarriage kibble, which is nice. No "Hi! I'm a robot!" face staring at you. The only real noticeable robot parts are the hands. Thumbs up on this.



The vehicle mode is nice. A little seam-y, but nothing so drastic as Universe Ironhide. Still, he's not quite as seamless as past Alternators or Binaltechs and definitely has a more broken up appearance. It's obvious that this figure isn't just a car.







He opens up just like his larger Alternator and Binaltech bretheren. Even at a smaller size, he manages to have better or equal detail than them, too.

Transformation & Robot Mode

Chances are, the legs WILL give you fits. There's a very limited level of tolerance on the parts fitting together, and on my figure at least, the tolrance is such that you HAVE to forcibly jam parts together in a manner that honestly makes me nervous of breaking to make them lock.







There's a LOT of panel folding to get here. the instructions are a little vague on how to best line this up since the panels wont want to behave on their own.



WALKING CAR HUNGERS!



Popping out the arms and doors moves the head up and swings the fenders forward to compress in a similar manner to Movie Jazz, but is MUCH much cooler. Be careful that the head doesn't catch on a tab on the underside of the hood, though.



Compresing the body is very reminiscent of Alternator/BT Grimlock, but is done with MUCH more finesse. Swinging down the front of the car pops down the abdomen, which then locks into the waist. It's very slick and very satisfying to do. It's one of the most solid parts of the transformation, and very well designed. See below:















The final result. Alternity Convoy has the classic "door wing" appearance with the "hood and window" dangling off his back look that's so prevalent with alternators/BTs.



His hips are ratcheted, which makes him super stable, UNLIKE many Alt/BTs.  . He has cannons on his arms, etc.. etc.. No separate gun. That's fine by me, honestly. A lack of separate accessories is easier to deal with.



Overall

Most of the transformation involves the legs. The arms are basic "swing out from under the body", door-wing affairs. There's a few subtle touches, with sliding door panels and pivoting underbody locks, but it's nothing too complex. The real meat and potatoes of the transformation is in the legs, where the entire rear half of the car compresses and folds up into Convoy's shins and calves.

It's worth noting that if you follow the instructions exactly, you will likely strain certain joints and generally get annoyed. When in doubt, release as many panels as possible to get the legs out and away from the body. Peaugh's video guide is honestly a better resource than the official nstructions in this case.

Is he nice? yeah, he's a nice figure. Is he worth the money? Ehhhh. Sure. As much as any toy is worth forking out almost $60 for. is he as good as Binaltech Convoy? Honestly I'd say no, as BT Convoy is bigger, metallier, and a great figure in his own right. Still, Alternity Convoy is a pretty cool figure and you'd be hard pressed to find any real faults with him other than price. He locks together nicely in both modes, looks great, and is nicely poseable. His diecast content is pretty minimal, which is a real disappointment, but if he was painted more he'd be shedding paint like crazy during the transformation, which involves SERIOUS part rubbing. It's a little worrisome, still.

If you like how he looks and can afford, get him. If not, well, his lovely ratchets and shiny shiny shinyness might change your mind when you get him, but it's hard to get over how small he is. You're paying more than leader class prices for a deluxe size figure, and it's hard to forget that.

 

Also, here's a robot mode comparison between BT Convoy and Alternity Convoy. Both figures will cost you roughly the same. Make of that what you will.



(For the record, I really like the Alt/BT Convoy mold. I even forked out for the BT-17 Black Convoy mold. You can also make of that what you will ;P )

 

Great review and spectacular pics, thanks for that! I have to be honest, this toy has only registered a very small 'meh' from me up until now. After looking at your pics and reading the review (and knowing you enough to value your thumbs-ups and downs) I have changed my mind. This hasn't made it to my OMFGMUSTBUYNOW!!1!!! list but it has entered my BUYSOONERTHANLATORZ list.

I like the smaller size on these. While I was a fan of the Bin/Alt line, it reached a point where all of those bigguns started making me panic a little when I'd try to arrange my collections.

 

Awesome review, can't wait to get mine this weekend!

 

Vibrant Red Godzilla Convoy doesn't seem to photograph well. The color tends to appear slightly orange red when it's actually a very deep glossy blood red in person (think BT-12 Overdrive).

It's a pity the articulated hands which were on the prototype used for stock images and exhibition displays (the proto had hands with a visible hinge and pin) were not retained for the production piece. No biggie though.

1/32 scale is perfectly fine for the bot mode but the alt mode doesn't seem to catch the eye at all at that size. I keep wondering how the figure might look in 1/24 scale.

Having had the figure for over a week now, it's definitely a lovely figure overall despite the relatively big price tag and small size. Then again, maybe I just miss the Binaltech style/concept of TF toys so much since the original BT run ended in 2005/2006 that I'll be happy with anything new in that style that's thrown my way.

I eagerly await Megatron's release in May. I like the look of Meg's samurai influenced bot mode design much more than the rehashed G1 Datsun Bro design of Convoy. Also helps that I prefer the look of the new Fairlady Z over the GT-R.

 

LOVE IT!

I can already see a accessory pack already available for this guy.
I would love a G1 Style gun.

 

Nice review.

Gonna get my silver Alternity Convoy tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

Where are people in the US getting this from? I have one on preorder from Tfsource, but they don't have them in yet.

 

Got mine from BBTS.

 

I ordered the silver model from Epic Heroes (sadly missed the allocation at Kapow Toys) and after 2 days it's still listed as "processing" - dammit! They didn't respond to my email, so I won't order anything from them again. Cretins.

 

At least you got that far- I was pending for 4 days until my card was rejected, after the price went up.

 

Awesome, I love this new mold.

 

Got both the red and silver versions from BBTS a couple of days ago and I ADORE this figure. Can't make up my mind which color I like best. It's a very awesome figure and I think any fan of Alts and BT's should pick one up.

The only thing I'll add to this review is that, in my opinion, the overall feel of the figure and its transformation reminds me a lot more of a deluxe movie or universe figure. Somehow it does just feel less fiddly to me and that is a very good thing.

 

mine has arrived ONE STATE OVER... a 2 hour drive, and I have to wait 3 days for it (unless by some miracle they get it here today)

I want this figure so badly... if only it would have been shipped one day sooner (it was listed as "in warehouse" for 2 days too...   )

 

I'm waiting for the black repaint

 

Thanks for the review. I'm very tempted to order this guy but I don't have the funds  

 

So, is he out now? If so, is he available at BBTS?

*Puts Convoy on birthday list*

 

I like the figure, great reveiw quinjester! I don't have it, and I'm not sure I can afford it, not @ $60... Its sad as I really want him.

 

He's been out since the 26th of last month. It's available at BBTS now I believe.

 

looks like a lil origami figure thing, kinda.....sorta, yknow with all those seams......looks nice, but just simply too small for 45 bucks for me. But that new black one sounds neatoooo. If they make a clear ill gag, throw it in the air and say woot. Im startin to see alot of black scourge ones in my lil corner that i didnt remember buying ha. ->-