Black Lio Convoy

Black Lio Convoy is an evil clone from the Beast Wars II portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

"I found you, faker!"
"Faker? I think you're the fake Convoy around here."

Black Lio Convoy (ブラックライオコンボイ Burakku Raio Konboi) is a duplicate of Lio Convoy born of ancient technology from a forgotten civilization on Gaia. Black Lio Convoy equally matches the original in everything, from attacks to knowledge to strength, except in one thing: humility. Instead of Lio Convoy's respect and honor, Black Lio Convoy simply has arrogance to the point where he insists he is the original and everybody else is just a faker. Paradoxically, Black Lio Convoy desires to replace the true Lio Convoy, and even the rest of the Maximals with copies under his control.

His incarnations go by various names, including Copy Convoy (コピーコンボイ Kopī Konboi), Lio Convoy Black Version (ライオコンボイブラックバージョン Raio Konboi Burakku Bāshon), and Nemesis Leo Prime.

Fiction

Beast Wars II cartoon

Voice actor: Hozumi Gōda (Japanese)

OMG he's so adorably evil!

Discovering that a mysterious device uncovered by the Autorollers could be used to create twisted copies of objects or Transformers, the Predacons planted the device to be discovered by Tasmania Kid. Hoping to boost the Maximal forces with copies, Kid thoughtlessly used it on Lio Convoy, creating a black duplicate of the Maximal leader.

Black repaints have feelings, too.

Dubbed "Copy Convoy" by the original, the copy revealed himself to be an aggressive warrior who insisted he was the original and attacked the Maximals. Copy Convoy sent the Maximals packing with his intimate knowledge of the their abilities and then fled into the jungle. To keep track of his movements, NAVI sent a tracking robot. In the meantime, the Predacons Starscream and BB spotted the copy and tried to convince him to join the Predacons. Spotting the tracking robot, Copy Convoy put on a show of rejecting the Predacons, to fool the Maximals into trusting him. Continuing the charade, the copy apologized to the Maximals for his earlier behavior, drawing the Maximals out of the Yukikaze. Once they met, the Copy Convoy stepped aside to reveal the Copy Machine, which scanned the Maximals and created copies of Bighorn, Tasmania Kid, Apache, and Scuba, all with the express intention of fully replacing the Maximals.

With the clones and the originals equally matched, the Maximals seemed to be stuck in a stalemate. Fortunately, though Copy Convoy possessed all of Lio Convoy's knowledge, he failed to consider what Lio Convoy didn't know. And that was Diver's actions, for the waterfall Copy Convoy had chosen as his site of ambush was, in fact, the Niagara Base, Diver's concealed outpost. Triggering snares to hold the copies in place, Diver bombarded the other Maximal copies, causing them to fade out of existence. Copy Convoy tried to make one final run for the Copy Machine, but Tasmania Kid reached the machine first and threw it into the air, allowing Lio Convoy to destroy it. The machine's destruction caused the Copy Convoy to likewise fade away into nothingness. The Black Lio Convoy

Robotmasters

To trap the Autobots with evil copies of themselves, Starscream left a Copy Machine in some ancient ruins, where it was discovered by Bound Rogue. Fooled by the incredible power of its duplication, he brought it before Lio Convoy, who agreed to try duplicating himself. However, the resulting "Lio Convoy Black Version" was anything but friendly... The Secret of Lio Convoy Black Version's Birth!?

Legacy VS500 Collection Special Comic

Nemesis Leo Prime was a spectator of the second week of the Speedia 500 on Velocitron. He was feeding his lion head a rock, which may mean he's somebody else... Velocitron Speedia 500 Part 3

Toys

Beast Wars

I was the first.
(Toys"R"Us "blue claw" version pictured)

• Black Lio Convoy (Ultra, 1998)

• ID number: C-16
• Accessories: 6 "Lio Missiles", 2 launchers

Black Lio Convoy is a redeco of Beast Wars II Lio Convoy, transforming into an organic lion. He sports the now-familiar black, silver and teal color scheme which was later used for Robots in Disguise Scourge, Alternators Nemesis Prime, and many, many other 'evil' Optimus Prime repaints. There is also a variant of this toy that comes with gold claws, which provenance is unknown and is harder to find than the normal version.

In beast mode, his forelegs have flip-out double-bladed "Lion Claws", which spring out when pinched together. He also features spring-loaded missile launchers that are hidden inside his mane. The bottom two are flipped out by lifting the bottom flap of his mane and pushing a gray trigger on either side. The top two launchers are flipped out by pushing down on the top panel of his mane. He can only store four of the six "Lio Missiles" in beast mode, but they end up sticking straight out of his mane and look very awkward. An additional gimmick requires you to unfold his four mane panels and to push on the big red peg protruding from the top to create his "Lion Typhoon" attack. The last gimmick in this mode is a button atop his head that can be pressed to open his mouth, revealing his teeth.

In robot mode, all of Lio Convoy's aforementioned gimmicks can still be utilized. His flip-out Lion Claws now act as under-slung forearm blades; his Lion Typhoon ends up on his right shoulder; his two bottom Lio Missile launchers flip-out on his forearms; his top two Lio Missile launchers flip out on his right shoulder and can also be removed to be used as hand-held weapons. He also features a pair of molded-in thrusters on his back, and the left side of his chest contains his non-removable "Energon Matrix". The inside of the door to the Matrix chamber also features his Maximal rubsign, though this proves rather pointless as the outside of the door features a sliver-chromed Maximal insignia anyway.

Black Lio Convoy was initially offered as a sweepstake item from Comic Bom Bom, officially limited to 10 figures, each marked with a serial number ("B_LXX") on their robot mode, uh, butts. A wider release later in the year, lacking the serial number, was a Toys"R"Us exclusive and came in a regular Lio Convoy box with a sticker indicating that it was "Toys"R"Us Limited Edition Comic Bom Bom Original Black Lio Convoy" (トイザらス 限定版 コミックボンボン オリジナル ブラックライオコンボイ).

• More information on Black Lio Convoy at TFU.info

Robotmasters

I could duplicate that. I just don't feel like it.

• Lio Convoy Limited Black Version (Mail-away item, 2006)

• ID number: RM-22
• Release date: February ?? 2006
• Accessories: 2 large cannons, 2 small cannons, handgun

A redeco of the Robotmasters Lio Convoy mold, a scaled-down and marginally-simplified version of the original toy, "Lio Convoy Limited Black Version" retains the general black deco of the first . A Decepticon logo can be found under one of his mane flaps, though he still has the Maximal symbol on his chest plate.

He lacks any spring-loaded gimmickry; his foreleg claws and lion jaw are now manually-operated, he lacks the mane-spinning gimmick altogether, and he no longer features any missile-launching weaponry. He now 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.

A Dengeki Hobby Magazine mail-in exclusive, he was packed in special black and white, windowless box emblazoned with a giant Decepticon sigil. The toy didn't come with a story pamphlet like its fellow Robotmasters black redecoes did, instead having its story told in the November issue of Dengeki Hobby Magazine.

Legacy

I only work in black. And sometimes, very, very dark gray.

• Nemesis Leo Prime (Voyager Class, 2023)

• TakaraTomy ID number: TL-46
• TakaraTomy release date: October 28, 2023
• Accessories: 4 missile blasters, 2 handheld blaster parts
• Known designers: Mark Maher (Hasbro), Shuhei Umezu (TakaraTomy)^[1]

Released in the sixth wave of Legacy Voyager-class toys, Legacy: Evolution "Nemesis Leo Prime" is a redeco of the previously-released Maximal Leo Prime, done in a gray and black color scheme with the color placement being more accurate to the Beast Wars II cartoon (the first black Lio Convoy-based redeco to do this!). Due to his nature as a villain but not a Predacon in the cartoon, his box denotes his allegiance with a Maximal insignia with a slash through it. Additionally, his QR code bio establishes him as a "Renegade Maximal".

As a redeco of Leo Prime, Nemesis Leo Prime contains the same "Evo-Fusion" gimmicks: he includes four missile blasters that can be pegged into sections of the mane, replicating the "Lio Missile" attack, and the front paws can reveal flip-out claws based on his "Lion Claws". Additionally, he includes a two-piece handheld blaster, based on the Maximal Buster. All six weapons are Fire Blast effect-compatible.

Designer commentary from Mark Maher on Instagram

Notes

• Copy Convoy/Black Lio Convoy is the second "evil black lookalike of a heroic leader" character in all of Transformers (the first being Onyx Primal). Yet, he is notably the first to specifically be a clone of his heroic counterpart, and the first to use a black/gray/light blue color scheme that would see a LOT of use over the next forever. That said, however, he has kind of become a footnote in the character type, with the later Car Robots/Robots in Disguise Black Convoy/Scourge becoming the standout/template. Of course, it helped that Black Convoy/Scourge was a major long-running antagonist in the associated cartoon whose toy was a normal retail release, giving him far more presence than a single-episode threat with a limited-release toy, as well as the resurgence of "real world" vehicles as the main design theme of Transformers. (Also, let's be real, the addition of clear-red is mmmmm.)
• The idiosyncratic inverted color scheme of Black Lio Convoy's first toy was spun out into the new character Dark Amber Leo Prime by the Masterpiece toyline shortly before the release of Black Lio Convoy's own Legacy toy in 2023.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Nemesis Leo Prime (ネメシスレオプライム Nemeshisu Reo Puraimu)

References

See also

• Dark Amber Leo Prime
• Galva Convoy