Never mind that Star Convoy a.k.a. Star Optimus Prime has no evil Star Convoy character in the major canonical Japanese fiction because, as far as toys go, black repaints existed. And naturally, Takara Tomy will not let up on the opportunity to do the same for the latest iteration of Star Optimus Prime.
Folks, meet the Takara Tomy NL-03 Nemesis Star Convoy [JP].
Usually, I am not in favor of repaints/redecos, but man, this unit looks absolutely phenomenal. The black colorway, with dashes of blue and purple accents, plus the red windshield on the chest in bot mode, makes it look decidedly evil and totally cool. It is the same Star Optimus Prime you already know, except that it now looks even sleeker.
This also means the Takara Tomy NL-03 Nemesis Star Convoy has three forms: a robot, a Cybertronian truck with an integrated trailer, and a base.
While the evil Convoy of this world has no Hot Rod, it still has the microtrailer, which can be loaded onto the rear of the trailer mode. In place of Hot Rod, it has Core Class Shockwave as a companion. Shockwave here is a warrior who can transform into a spaceship.
Wait, wait. Before you throw up your hands in disappointment that Shockwave is not a Cybertronic laser gun, well, it can be. 😉 Clever Takara Tomy designed it in such a way that, with some additional transformation, it can be held in Nemesis Star Convoy’s hand as a weapon. On behalf of OG fans, we thank you, Takara Tomy, for this.
Shockwave, in bot mode, can man the turret when Nemesis Star Convoy is in base mode.
The Takara Tomy NL-03 Nemesis Star Convoy is part of the Transformers New Legends series, which also includes the NL-02 Menasor G2 Color Ver. and the NL-01 Lio Convoy Legendary Green Lion Ver.
In Japan, it is set to go on sale in October for 38,500 yen (tax included) [JP] (about US$244). The books are open for NL-03 in Japan if anyone’s interested.
Images: Takara Tomy [JP].