To those unaware, Transformers, as a franchise, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024, and both Hasbro and Takara Tomy are doing multiple campaigns as part of the celebration. Takara Tomy is doing the Transformers 40th Selection line where, as the name implies, selected figures across the brand will be getting the premium treatment.
One of the selected figures to get an upgrade is Legacy: Evolution Leo Prime, which is arguably one of the better releases from the line. That said, the beast mode leaves a lot to be desired, especially how the head looks. I’m know it’s meant to skew away from the anime look and have a more “neutrally G1” aesthetic, but that lion head just looks derpy and unintimidating.
And so, Takara Tomy comes to the rescue to provide a more anime-accurate and better redeco of the figure as Transformers 40th Selection Lio Convoy (Leo Prime).
We’ll get into the comparisons later, but here’s how 40th Selection Lio Convoy looks, and you can immediately notice the more anime-accurate lion mode as evident with that head sculpt and the golden mane/claws which is also accurate to the original toy. The changes are more subtle in robot mode, but you could also notice the new forearm claws as well.
With the lion head featuring a new sculpt, and possibly tooling, Lio Convoy is now able to do the Lio Typhoon attack by flaring out the mane as seen above. You can also see how the claws that extend from the forearms have been updated to be much longer. The cannons/blasters that attach to the lion head also have better paint, compared to the original.
Speaking of comparisons, here’s a couple coming from the promotional video Takara Tomy just released. As mentioned earlier, the changes are more obvious in beast mode as the lion head looks leagues better than the dead-looking one of the original. Again, I’m sort of aware of what the Legacy: Evolution version is trying to do, but they definitely could’ve done better.
In robot mode, the differences outside the lion head can be summed up with the new forearm claws and what appears to be the use of metallic blue paint instead of the normal of the Legacy: Evolution version. There are also minute paint differences, like the silver sides of the hip section for the original are now in white for the 40th Selection version. The same is also true with the inner thigh panel where the 40th Selection has it in silver compared to the white of the original. As mentioned, subtle changes that bring it closer to anime accuracy.
Back in the 2010s, Takara Tomy would often release ‘more premium’ versions of Hasbro mainline releases, mostly with metallic paint jobs. While I’m not the biggest fan of the more metallic appearance, I appreciate the availability of options. Nowadays, both Hasbro and Takara Tomy have agreed to release the same figure across for brand synergy, so these more premium figures become more special. And yes, both figures are different enough for me to dip my toes again on this mold.
Transformers 40th Selection Lio Convoy (Leo Prime)
February 2025 / ¥6,500
Order via HobbyLink Japan
