Announced in mid-2024, delayed around the intended release date for early 2025, and now just coming out as 2025 ends and 2026 begins, we finally have the 40rh Selection Lio Convoy. A figure that is meant to be more faithful version of the character using the Legacy Evolution mold, this was one of the few 40th Selection releases I did want. Adamas Rodimus and Predaking were super expensive and the former had QC issues, while MPM Bumblebee never got a direct Hasbro release for some reason. It was also known for being a part of the new T-Spark line, where making collabs included crossovers with Macross, Godzilla, and Evangelion in addition to having Takara's Diaclone and Zoid lines. While we should have gotten this version of Kimbamus Prime back in 2023, is it worth paying nearly what Leaders cost a few years ago just to make him more show-accurate?
Here we have Lio Convoy in his more anime-accurate lion mode. This figure is not only much closer to what the show looked like with its stylized lion face and mane, but the rest of the figure looks mostly the same beast mode if we move past the head. The limbs are the unchanged from what the Legacy Evolution version had, and the same goes for the tail. Even the shade of white is unchanged; the tail, however, matches with the painted mane far less than what the original tooling had. It was supposed to be painted like the rest of the gold, but Takara skipped it outright either for durability reasons or budget reasons. The Lio Typhoon attack is a new feature, and the jaw opens wider than the original version did, so I will give credit where it's due.
The attack mode is mostly done by tabbing the weapons on top, but you are missing two of the guns that came with the original tooling, making this mode incomplete. On the flip side, they are better painted this time.
For a comparison with the Legacy version, we can clearly see how much more dynamic the new head and the mane are compared to the more pinched gerbil face or the original, and it is appreciative seeing the eyes picked out in the anime style even without some line work to separate the whites of the eyes from the rest of his face. The cost is that he will blend in much less with your regular Kingdom figures given the aesthetics between the realistic beast modes and the 2D character models don't have much compatibility, and who knows if the 3D Mainframe designs would have any proper synergy with the more cartoony 2 and Neo designs. Beyond the head and the toy-accurate gold, there isn't much of a difference between them both; the result is that one of them looks more like a head swap courtesy of a third party beast head kit. One thing that sucks after noticing it on both figures is that the thumb talons are not painted...
The transformation remains the same, and so does most of the robot mode. The main difference is that the deco has a few extra areas picked out, such as the smallest pair of abs on barely above the waist, the.hes are more metallic, the chest isn't painted red and is instead molded that color, silver is added in the inner thighs, and the logo on the left pec is silver instead of white. The claws are much longer on the attack mode, but they don't fold away as nicely. The rest of the figure remains mostly the same, including the articulation and the rest of the tooling. Not sure if wrist rotation would have been possible, but maybe finger articulation could have helped if the hand sizes were kept intact?
The typhoon attack is more accessible this way in robot mode, though angling the head and right arm properly is recommended to keep the mane blades from catching on something. If there was something I wish they kept, it would be the gun that game with Black Lio Convoy since the old toy and the character used a gun in the show.
Here he is with his regular counterpart. While the tooling is always appreciative for the figure, the paint apps are fairly small in terms of size and where they're added, while the blues and gold are more distinct from the Hasbro non-metallics compared to the unchanged red and whites.
The Energon Matrixes are even repainted differently, with the chambers painted inside while the chest and panel are molded red compared to the original having them molded gray and painted red.
Of note is that none of the guns are seemingly reused, with the 40th Selection ones being new. Makes me wonder if they traded extra weapons in favor of paint apps, because that is usually a Hasbro budget thing and not something Takara by itself would do.
The worst part has to be the unpainted lion hair on the back that better matched up with the rest of the mane, which is actually painted on the Hasbro version. Now I get that the new lion head mostly covers it up, and not many people are going to look at their action figures from the back, but since when was this a thing Takara did with their figures? Already sucks that the figure is missing some accessories that would make the toy feel more complete than it could be, but to skimp out on what was already there and use the new tooling to cover it up is very poor on Takara's part. And you can also see how much better the claws hide on the original Legacy version than the Takara retool, but as mentioned before, that is the least of the figure's concerns compared to this.
A redeco of this for the New Legends price is set to come out, with a paint job as well as new glow in the dark plastic, which represents a ghostly appearance of his from Neo IIRC. Funny how this was announced just as everyone outside of Japan got their regular Lio Convoy's.
And here we have all 3 Maximal leaders as represented in Japanese continuity. I guess Optimus Primal could go for the more show-accurate repaint from the Beast Wars again line with the metallic paint job, while who knows if Big Convoy would get any fancy treatments since he is a recent release. While Lio Convoy looks nicer with these two and arguably more than both stock Kingdom/AOTP lines, I can't say I fully recommend the 40th Selection retool as much as I hoped. I really wanted to say that it's a 100% slam dunk compared to what we got before, yet rather than be as impactful of Buster Prime for the premium factor or Super Megatron for the retooling vs price, this feels more like a DNA Design upgrade kit with some reprolabels applied (with the back missing paint). Buster Prime at least had a complete makeover with his paint job, adding silver pin stripes and more paint on his limbs than what the regular version had in addition to the chrome and retooled face and gas tanks/Ion Blaster. Super Megatron almost has nothing in common with Titans Return Megatron and feels like an entirely new toy. This feels more like a small few tweaks. Do they go a long way? Maybe ask those who waited much longer for the toy to actually come out. It wasn't specified what part caused the toy to not transform properly while it was misassembled, but I'm guessing Takara didn't want to deal with another Encore Omega Prime reissue dilemma where the flaws were recall-worthy (especially with the brand unification involving Hasbro now compared to back then). If you want this figure, go ahead and get it. But don't be ready for it to be mind-blowing if you already own the original.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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