Toy Review: Revoltech Convoy & Megatron

Revoltech Convoy & Megatron

Right now, I think the best line from Japan is Kaiyodo’s Revoltech line. Kaiyodo is a company that begain back in 1964 as a tiny hobby shop in Osaka making and selling models kits. Since then, they’ve become one of the biggest names in toy making in Japan, with a their very own museum in Nagahama,, Shiga prefecture. In 2006, Kaiyodo introduced the Revoltech line which featured a newly designed, replaceable, ratcheted joint that allowed figures an unprecedented range of movement.

Since then, the Revoltech line has evolved, coming out with sculpts that got the most out of the “Revolver” joints that were the basis for the line, and splitting into 4 distict sub-lines; Super Robot, Creature, Humanoid (which eventually included the Fraulein Revoltech line with Pocco, and both the Movie and TV versions of Yoko) and the Real Robot line.

“Real Robot” is a genre of Japanese animation (anime) that encompasses Mobile Suit Gundam, Macross, and other similar cartoons. They are typically characterized by a reliance on ranged weapons and other scaled up versions of human weapons as opposed to the crazy insane Breast Missiles or the Blazing Sword.

Part of the “Real Robot” sub-line is the Transformers collection. This includes #019 Convoy (or Optimus Prime as he’s known in the rest of the world) which was released on April 15, 2007. It was followed by #25 a few months later; Megatron (who is, uncannily, also known as Megatron in Japan). Later on Kaiyodo made a Starscream (#46 - Starscream) and a Hot Rod (#47 - Rodimus Convoy) but I’ll cover them in a later review.

Like most of the early Revoltechs, these came in fairly plain, traditional boxes that housed a plastic tray with a fairly secure cover. The tray displays the figure fairly well, and holds some of the accessories. The rest of the accessories (extra hands, the stand, etc.) are usually included in a small baggie that is taped to the backside of the black plastic container.

The box itself is pretty nice, since it sports some nicely done product photography and shows off the range of the toy. These things are designed for joint junkies like me, so the photos give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll get. If I didn’t need the space, these are probably among the packages I’d keep in order to store the toys (which are fairly delicate).

They’re easy to pop out of the plastic prisons. The covers to the black trays have round buttons at each corner that hold them to the bottom part. You just cut the cellophane tape on the sides and pull the two apart. Be careful not to lose anything, since toys aren’t that big, and the parts can easily jump out of the tray and disappear under a bed or a sofa forever.

As you can see, they are only about four and a half inches tall, perfect for a desktop decoration. They are sculpted in a style that resembles the art of Pat Lee or Don Figueroa; manga-like with a lot of forced perspective these bigger than life robots look bigger than life.

Because of that, the toys look slightly funny if you shoot them from straight on, with a tiny head, and oversized feet and long legs. If you bring your lens (or eyes) down, then they look a little more natural. Perfect if you mean to put them on a shelf above your computer or something.

Both toys are sculpted by Katsuhisa Yamaguchi who did a whole bunch of the other Humanoid Revoltech series like Vash the Stampede, Dante from Devil May Cry and all 3 of the Detroit Metal City toys. Not to mention my Dead or Alive figures.

The toys are built on the Revoltech Revolver joint, which is basically a double swivel/hinge; a ratcheted hinge shaped like a ball with a post at each end that plugs into a limb. The limbs swivel around the post. This allows a crazy amount of articulation, but also means that the toy tends to fall apart at times. It’s still better than joints breaking.

Both are made of both ABS and PVC plastic (not sure what parts are what, but I suspect the joints are the ABS… or PVC?). They’re very sturdy and seem to be holding up quite well. I bought mine second hand and they’re still as playable as the day the guy I got it from brought them home.

There is one thing that may bug you on Prime’s body, and that’s his elbow. The Revolver joint there goes into his upper arm, but the other end, instead of going into his forearm, goes straight down through his “skin” and pokes out. Though it doesn’t affect his articulation, it’s highly visible since all his Revolvers are black. Thankfully, they fixed the issue before Megatron came out. They still stick out, but at least they’re colored gray.

Both figures come with a few choice accessories. Prime/Convoy has his classic rifle, 3 extra hands, and a tiny Matrix of Leadership (so small that he can only fit one finger into the handle). There are a ton of other things that could have been included here, like his jet pack, his energon axe, Roller maybe? There isn’t even a stand like the later figures. Megatron gets a similar set; three extra hands and an extra sneering head instead of the Matrix. His gun is glued to his arm.

Overall, both of these are good figures. I’ve seen Optimus (Convoy if you insist) for lower than Php 1,000.00, but Megatron seems to be less available nowadays. If you can get them at around Php 800.00, they’re a good value for your money. A nice sculpt, spectacular articulation, and a high fun factor outweigh the issues of small design flaws and a lack of accessories. I can also forgive the small size since they are a match for each other, so scale isn’t such an issue.

If you’re a Transformers fan and can find them (they are only produced in Japan after all), then I’d suggest picking them up.