Transformers Alternity Convoy Super Black Ver. Part 3

Metal auto morph!
This is what makes Transformers, er, Transformers ^^; The transformation gimmick, and it's always the most exciting part of an action figure for me. ^^

The overall transformation is similar to that of Binal-Tech Convoy featuring Dodge Ram. The front part of the car forms the upper body, while the rear forms the legs. Alternity Convoy however, is much harder to transform than Binal-Tech Convoy. I think it took me an hour to transform him from vehicle to robot mode the first time, and then another half an hour transforming him back to vehicle mode.

Actually, half of the time was spent on trying to understand the instruction from the manual. ^^; So, it might not be a good idea to pick this as the first in your Transformers collection. You might end up very confused through the transformation process.

The entire process is as below:


STEP 1: Snapping the car (literally) into front and rear parts at the roof ^^;
Release the two tabs beneath the doors.


STEP 2: From the top, split and fold the trunk in opposite direction away from each segment, which will form the legs.


STEP 3: From the bottom, lift and invert the two tabs near the wheels, which will form part of Convoy's feet in the end. That's totally unforeseeable at this moment. ^^


STEP 4: From the top, fold the two components of the car's trunk outwards again so that their position is about 90 degrees from the original position at the beginning of the transformation. Flip the rear window outward.


STEP 5: From the bottom, fold the rear window, which has double hinge joint to cover the rear wheels.
Flip the spoiler upwards


STEP 6: From the top, flip and rotate the various joints of the leg's components until they form a frame as shown on the right image.
A killer step, took me almost 20 minutes to figure out the whole step. X_X


STEP 7: Rotate the entire cluster of the car's rear wheel, spoiler, rear window downwards. This part will form the back of the leg.
Rotate at thigh level for 90 degrees so that the feet will face the front.


STEP 8: Last step to complete the leg's transformation: lock the peg between the two transformed components situated at the ankle. The peg/slot is different between legs.


A completed vs an untransformed leg.


As you can see, a tab near the wheel and a non-transformable protruding part from the car roof helps to support the leg.


Side view of the leg, which is basically the interior of the wheel.


The legs are basically transformed from fractures of parts from the car's rear body snapping onto fold out frames. They look big because of the shape of the parts, but they are just folded plates. XD
Moving on to the upper body, which is significantly easy as compared to the legs thanks to a series of linked transformation gimmick. ^^


STEP 9: Open both doors and the bonnet.


STEP 10: A very drastic step: flip the entire middle part of the car downwards, and watch the linked movement of the metal frame in the middle. ^^


You'll get this at the end of the step above.
A metal plate close to the bottom of the bumper will spring out a bit as well, which will be used in later step.


STEP 11: Flip both arms outwards, which will trigger a series of linked transformation again: the headlight will pop forward and combine with each others, and the head will flip up.


STEP 12: Adjust the head so that it's completely out from its compartment.


STEP 13: From the bottom, take the metal plate sprang down from the linked transformation in STEP 10, ...


... and bend it completely downwards (90 degrees).


STEP 14: Rotate the entire upper body downwards until the plate tabs into a slot on the waist.


The metal plate turns out to the the abdomen. ^^


STEP 15: Rotate the legs downwards at the pelvis joint.


STEP 16: Working on the arms now, first flip down the tab near the elbow, and then push the tab in the middle of the forearm upwards, which will adjust the position of the seat.


STEP 17: Bend the entire arm downwards.


STEP 18: Flip the cushion upwards to form Convoy's forearm cannon.


STEP 19: Flip the door inwards at its joint level and bend it outwards after that.


The doors, or the wings will now be tilted in a somewhat more dynamic pose.


STEP 20: Last step: rotate the head to face the front.
While the transformation is harder, all components are very solid. The legs being the compact bundle of rear window, spoiler, rear wheel and inner frame as mentioned above, and the upper body has a metal frame inside. The proportion is just as sleek as the vehicle mode. ^^

More images of the robot mode in the next review.