Lio Convoy


 * Lio Convoy is a Maximal in the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. He is sometimes known as Leo Prime.



A high-ranking member of the Maximals, Lio Convoy is honest to his core and possesses the strong sense of right and wrong that one expects from a robot with "Convoy" in his name. In part he's a tough, hard, career-military robot, but he doesn't let that side of his nature totally dominate who he is. There is a very humane, even gentle side to him as well, and there are times when one can't help but suspect his seriousness has a hidden smile behind it. Though Lio Convoy dislikes fighting for its own sake, for a just cause he is more than willing to throw himself into the fray. He believes that through combat one can gain insight and understanding of an opponent's true character and thought processes.

Beast Wars II cartoon

 * Voice actor: Hozumi Gōda (Japanese)



Recieving a mysterious SOS signal from within an asteroid field, Maximal Supreme Commander Convoy investigated alongside his deputy, Apache. Entering the field in small one-man reconaissance crafts, the pair discovered that the signal was coming from a small planetoid that sudden began bearing down on them in a collision course. Realising that the whole affair had been a trap laid by the Predacon Emperor Galvatron, Convoy sprang into action and opened fire on the planetoid, which exploded dramatically. While the blast hurled Apache to safety, however, Convoy took the brunt of the explosion and was cast into the deoths of the cosmos, eventually crash landing on the planet Gaea. When he regained consciousness, his body had already been weakened and corroded by the hazardous atmosphere of the planet, and he would surely have died had not a white lion come upon his prone form. The lion carried Convoy to a cave brimming with the power of Angolmois energy, which restored and revitalized Convoy. Convoy then scanned the lion's form for use as a beast mode to protect him from Gaea's atmosphere, and redubbed himself "Lio Convoy".

As coincidence would have it, Galvatron and his Predacons had also come to Gaea to harness its Angolmois energy, and Lio Convoy's unit had followed them, but wound up on the losing end of the battle that resulted. Staying in lion mode the whole time, Lio Convoy bounded onto the scene and freed his troops from the energy web that was paralyzing them, then led them back to the crashed wreck of their ship, the Yukikaze, where he revealed his identity to them (although Apache had already figured it out). Stranded on Gaea, the team dedicated themselves to stopping Galvatron's evil plans for the Angolmois energy.

Lio Convoy was later reunited with his "son", Lio Junior. While Lio Convoy was first recovering from Predacon attack, the Spirit of Gaea copied his Leadership Matrix and infused it within Lio Junior, resulting in Lio Junior's belief that he was Lio Convoy's offspring. Lio Convoy wasn't very eager to be weighed down by a son, and Lio Junior spent the bulk of the series trying desperately to earn his acceptance.



At one point, an alien machine that could warp time and space crashed onto Gaea. The Predacons used it to summon the unstoppable mobile fortress, Majin Zarak, and quickly trashed most of the Maximals. Magnaboss (the combined form of Lio Junior, Santon and Skywarp) managed to summon Optimus Primal to their aid with the machine.

Primal and Lio Convoy teamed up to battle Majin Zarak, who turned out to be a sentient robot and not just a battle station. Together, they combined the power of their Energon Matrices to upgrade themselves into Burning Convoy and Flash Lio Convoy.



With Primal's enhanced strength and Lio Convoy's super speed, they weakened Majin Zarak. They then unleashed the power within their Matrices into a "Double Matrix Blast" which finished off the monster.

Lio Convoy had many more wacky adventures on Gaea, including but not limited to: Evil Clones, Space Pirates, and Feisty Mexican Robot Insects. Eventually, Galvatron summoned Nemesis, an artificial planet, to suck all the Angolmois energy out of Gaea. The Maximals followed the Predacons to the Nemesis and Lio Convoy managed to infiltrate Nemesis with the help of Scuba and the Tako Tank. Inside, Lio Convoy faced Galvatron but could not defeat the Predacon Emperor of Destruction, who was now powered by Angolmois energy. Lio Junior soon arrived to rescue his daddy and the pair, with the help of "good" Angolmois energy, merged into the Great Green Warrior. They did battle with Galvatron and eventually defeated him, sealing the Angolmois energy into capsules and firing them off into space. Galvatron then revealed his big surprise and used his Galva-Matrix to cause Nemesis to explode. Lio Convoy and the rest of the Maximals then fell into a wormhole.

Beast Wars II comic
He gets drunk for no apparent reason and ends up trashing Apache's room.

Beast Wars Neo cartoon
After having their Angolmois capsules stolen by the Blendtrons, Big Convoy and his Maximal new recruits are sucked into a wormhole while chasing their enemies. They came across Lio Convoy (whom they all had presumed dead) who explained to them that the Angolmois energy is really the lifeforce of Unicron. Lio Convoy used all his power to free the Maximals from the wormhole, though he remained trapped inside.

Lio Convoy eventually escaped from the wormhole and aided Big Convoy, the Maximals and Magmatron in the final battle against Unicron. After Big Convoy blew Unicron away with his Matrix Buster, the Maximals and Predacons formed an alliance of true unity and worked together to restore Cybertron. All of Lio Convoy's Maximal troops who were trapped inside the wormhole with him were eventually released and joined in the restoration of their homeworld.

Robot Masters cartoon

 * Voice actor: Masayuki Katō (Japanese)
 * Lio Convoy appeared,allied with the Autobots and engaged Megatron (BW).Later he,Optimus Prime (G1) and [[Optimus Primal defeated both Megatrons,forcing the Decepticons to retreat.

IDW Beast Wars comics


Prior to the end of the Great War and the signing of the Pax Cybertronia, Lio Convoy commanded a crew of Maximals who traveled to the planet Gaea and battled Galvatron and his forces.

Years later, during peace-time, the ever-vigilant Lio Convoy sat on the Bi-Partate Committee for State Affairs, but was also a member of a secret black-ops intelligence unit known as the Pack. During a conversation with Razorbeast that was officially off-the-record, he reminded his fellow Maximal that their unit didn't exist and that the Maximal Imperium didn't sanction their operations. He warned Razorbeast that if he was caught while undercover in Magmatron's command, he would be disavowed.

Unfortunately, Lio Convoy believed that Magmatron was the true enemy, while Megatron was just a loose cannon. (Real good job of threat assessment there.) After Razorbeast's transwarp booster-sent distress message was strengthened by Magmatron, it reached Lio Convoy, who, despite his earlier warning, mobilized the Pack at once to race to Razorbeast's rescue.

While Razorbeast's Maximals were fighting the Predacons to a standstill (in no small part thanks to the powerhouses Torca and Grimlock), the Pack arrived and looked to turn the tide of battle quickly in the favor of all that is clean and fresh. Lio Convoy himself transformed and confronted Drill Bit and some other Pred thugs, who were unimpressed by his unnervingly LARGE beast mode. Lio Convoy accepted this and whipped out his cannons. THEN they were impressed. When Ravage revealed himself to the Maximals, Lio Convoy and Razorbeast were quick to turn their guns on him, right up until Rartorata showed his ugly mug. The Blendtron injected Razorbeast with a load of Angolmois, turning the Maximal into a raging berserker locked in beast mode. r

Reminding the Pack that they take care of their own and clean up their own messes, Lio Convoy engaged the enemy. Once they had subdued Razorbeast's mutated form with crude vines and stakes, Convoy discovered that his comrade was still within the monstrous beast and fighting a losing battle against the Angolmois that was corrupting his mind. Ravage informed the Maximal commander of the urgency of what Magmatron had showed him, and the Maximals prepared to board Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser. The cruiser's takeoff was then threatened by the arrival of the other two Blendtrons. Razorbeast broke from his restraints and charged into battle against the servants of Unicron, telling Convoy to escape while he held the line. Setting the transwarp coordinates to the time and place Ravage had received from Magmatron, the cruiser emerged in the midst of Big Convoy's battle with Shokaract. However it was shot down upon the arrival of Antagony and Shokaract's heralds.

Luckily Lio and the rest of The Pack survived the crash and were able to join up with Big Convoy. After briefly explaining the seriousness of the situation to Big Convoy, Lio provided Bump with a sample of Angolmois so he could synthesize an antidote. After a brief spat of posturing by Grimlock and Ravage, Lio took part in a frontal assault on Shokaract to serve as a distraction while Snarl and Prowl enacted the real plan. Once Shokaract decided to call it a day after his heart to heart talk with Magmatron and in the wake of the devastating battle Lio Convoy received the antidote from Bump and started on rebuilding a devastated Cybertron.

Beast Wars II

 * Lio Convoy (Ultra, 1998)
 * Japanese ID number: C-16
 * Accessories: Six missiles, two launchers


 * Lio Convoy transforms into an organic white lion articulated at the legs and head. In this mode, one can activate flip-out blades in each foreleg and spring-loaded missile launchers hidden in his mane. The head/mane can also open up and spin around via push-lever gear mechanism as part of a spinning attack gimmick thing. A button on top of his head opens his beast-mode jaw. It must be noted that he can only store two of his six missiles in beast mode...and they stick out of his mane, looking a little goofy.




 * In robot mode, Lio Convoy's chest design and colours closely resemble Generation 1 Optimus Prime, even sporting a non-removable Energon Matrix sculpted into his chest, underneath his left chest panel (which also has a heat-sensitive Maximal rubsign). All of his flip-out beast mode weapons can be used in robot mode, and his missile launchers can be removed and held in either of his hands.


 * Hasbro offered Lio Convoy as an exclusive on its now-defunct Hasbro Collectors website in 2000.


 * This mold was used to make Black Lio Convoy.


 * Flash Lio Convoy (Ultra, 1998)
 * Japanese ID number: C-16
 * Accessories: Six missiles, two launchers
 * The first redeco of Lio Convoy in his 'Flash' colour scheme, which replaces most of his secondary colours with metal-flake gold and silver.

Robot Masters

 * Lio Convoy (Deluxe, 2005)
 * Japanese ID number: RM-22


 * Robot Masters Lio Convoy is a scaled-down, simplified, all-new, Deluxe-sized Lio Convoy. Though he retains most of the original Lio Convoy's articulation, he lacks the spring-loaded gimmicks such as his spinning mane and missile launchers, and is of lower sculpted detail.


 * Instead of spring-loaded weapons, Lio Convoy comes with a whopping five non-firing blasters. His beast-mode mane has peg-holes to attach four of the weapons, simulating his bigger toy's attack-beast mode. The smaller handgun has several mounting points on it for adding the other guns, resulting in a superweapon.


 * This mold was also used to make the Robot Masters version of Black Lio Convoy.




 * Lio Convoy (DVD version) (Deluxe, 2005)
 * Japanese ID number: RM-23
 * Accessories: 2 large cannons, 2 small cannons, handgun


 * This more limited-edition (yet still normal retail) redeco of Lio Convoy features a shiny metallic paint deco for his red parts. He also comes with a DVD with the third part of the short Robot Masters CGI-animated storyline.

Classics

 * Leo Prime (Legends, 2007)


 * An unusual addition to the Classics line, Leo Prime is a redeco of the Cybertron-series Legends of Cybertron Leobreaker toy, transforming into a robotic lion (well, liger, really). He was originally part of the first wave of Classics Legends, then later re-released in a wave witheven more unusuallythe Cybertron-series characters Hot Shot, Optimus Prime and Soundwave. (It should be noted those three were specially marked as "Cybertron Collection" items.)


 * This mold was also used to make 2008's Universe Razorclaw.

Universe (2008)
Pictures of the toy were revealed at bigbadtoystore.com. It appears to be a redeco of the Voyager-class Leobreaker.
 * Leo Prime(Voyager)

Trivia

 * Before scanning, Lio Convoy's name was simply "Convoy".


 * In The Ascending, Lio Convoy's beast mode, like Grimlock's, is huge compared to the real thing.


 * Lio's beast mode is probably based on the main character of the classic manga, Jungle Emperor Leo, better known to the English speaking world as Kimba the White Lion.