Hardcore fans of Transformers know that the Beast Wars raged beyond the West, with Japan having its own anime iteration of the concept. This introduced a generation to Lio Convoy, with the mighty Maximal now receiving a new toy based on an obscure form.
Takara Tomy New Legends NL-01 Lio Convoy Legendary Green Lion Ver. is a redeco of a previous toy for the character. Eschewing his usual appearance, this toy instead uses a color scheme based on an obscure power-up. Now, fans can take a look at the action figure and its packaging, the latter of which is something of an aesthetic throwback.
Lio Convoy's Glow-in-the-Dark Figure Features New Art by Beast Wars II's Character Designer
The new Takara Tomy New Legends NL-01 Lio Convoy Legendary Green Lion Ver. is a redeco of the 40th Selection Lio Convoy toy, which was itself a retool of the Transformers: Legacy: Evolution toy for the character. As a result, the Maximal transforms from a robot into an organic lion, with the facial features of the beast mode heavily matching the art style seen in the anime Beast Wars II: Super-Lifeform Transformers.
The Inspiration Behind the New Arc
Also known as Beast Wars Second, this was a Japan-exclusive anime that was created concurrently with the Mainframe Beast Wars: Transformers cartoon from the West. The action figure boasts the same weapons and features as the previous incarnation, including two blasters and "lion claws" in robot mode, along with the ability to recreate the Lion Typhoon spinning attack with the beast mode head when transformed.
The difference this time is that, instead of white and red, Lio Convoy is cast in glow-in-the-dark white and aquamarine plastic. This recreates his brief powered-up form seen in the anime, where he took on these colors after being bombarded with Angolmois energy. The recently revealed packaging for the figure via the official Transformers Japan X (formerly Twitter) account has both the Beast Wars II logo and a cel-shaded image of Lio Convoy in robot mode.
Releasing on July 25 in Japan, it's unlikely that the figure will see an official release in Western storefronts, though it will likely become available through various third-party websites. Lio Convoy has remained a somewhat obscure character in the West, although he has had some toy releases that wax and wane between using his Japanese name (with "Convoy" being the Japanese name for the original Optimus Prime) or a Westernized name, Leo Prime.
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