Legacy Override text review

The Cybertron/ Galaxy Force line of Transformers really resonated with me.  I loved the design of most of the toys and the cartoon I enjoyed mightily as well.  In case you're wondering, I watched most of this as Galaxy Force at the time it was out, so often the Cybertron character names are hazy to me.  Also as a result of this, I see this toy as Nitro Convoy.  Galaxy Convoy (Optimus Prime[I got two]), Vector Prime, Starscream and Master Megatron(and Galvatron) were all clear winners in my book.  I'd even say that Galaxy Convoy would be my favourite Convoy/Optimus toy.

So I was obviously excited to see some Galaxy Force representation in the Legacy line. Oh, but it isn't, it's quite plainly marked as Cybertron, even here in Japan.  Oh well.

So er, then let's take a gander at Override.

The box is nice enough, Override is part of the "Velocitron 500" sub-line which was celebrated with a small online comic release for story!  (in Japan) But translated by me.  What a champ! 

Part 1
Part 2

There is no window, so anyone can give Override a good fingering if they so desire.  Japan now uses the same toys and packaging as the US, they just slap a big sticker over the nice artwork,  Which is a shame.

I do like that they angle the car in the box with a bit of backing card board, it looks pretty cool that way, like it's running over a banked curve on a racetrack.

The Good

Override is a very nice looking robot.  Despite the name and the fact that the character was female in the Cybertron cartoon, I don't really get a feminine feeling from this toy.  It could well be Nitro Convoy and I wouldn't doubt it.

Proportions are very nice, the original had a massively wide chest, while this one doesn't.  That does manage to be a bit of a negative point later on however.  The overall look is very good, from the sides it also looks very slim too.  The big engine/gun thing plugs nicely into the back.  The back of the legs while being hollow (I guess) don't really feel that bad, so no big dramas there.  This also aids the articulation.

Colour wise it's also very nice.  Red, back, white and blue highlights manage to make a nice looking bot.  The paint is crisp and what you see will (mostly) translate to vehicle mode details.  I particularly like the gold on the shoulders and forearms.

The crotch and proportions don't give me much of a feminine vibe, but hey, I don't care, I like to think of this as Nitro Convoy.  I mean, this toy still has the triangular `muscular` dimensions (if that's a thing) that is often used to represent male bodies.

The wheels on the shin are characteristic and needed, although I think they were more in line to the sides of the legs on the original.  They look like they stick out a bit too much, but that's not too bad.  The translucent red is nice in that it adds definition without standing out too much.

The gun stems from the backpack, which is a throwback to the gimmick of the original toy.  This time though, it has been slimmed a bit and doesn't look so ridiculously large, but it still doesn't look cool.  Effect parts can be added if you so wish.

What is nice though is that there is a nice bit of sculpting underneath the area of the gun storage.  What is not nice is while there is a plug for a flight stand, the backpack gets in the way somewhat, so no extender, no poses. Well, with a Bandai stand anyway.

Articulation is fantastic.  Lots of joints in the places where they're needed.  I should hope so too, this thing is a Voyager, despite standing and Transforming into a deluxe sized vehicle.

One thing I should bring up is the head articulation, well, the neck mainly.  It might be on a ball joint  but due to the sculpt of the head, you can only get a left/right turn out of it.  The chin has a chin strap type bit to it, so there is no looking down and the back is rather chunky, inhibiting any looking up.  For some reason, this bothers me more than it should.

Overall the colour combination, general look of the character and the amount of articulation it has does lead into it being a bit of a nice figure.  I think it's a shame it's not called Nitro Convoy here in Japan.  Also, while it does lots of stuff right, it doesn't feel all that premium over other deluxes.

So let's have a look with it standing with some other figures.  I get the feeling that scale wise he/she/it is about the height I would expect.

Transformation seems, eh, a little bit more complex than it really needs to be.   Following the instructions also has you flipping the toy 180 degrees  for 4 steps in a row...  It's a pretty simple transformation in the end, and once you get used to it (probably on the second time) you will be flipping her back and forth with ease.

When un/plugging the shoulders in it gets a bit awkward.  You have to secure both the top and the back with the same style tab, at the same time, but to connect securely, you can't do them one at a time.  It involves a little bit of shoving and force to get things where they should go.  I'm not sure if this is meant to be like this or not to be honest.

The end result though...

The Bad

Vehicle mode

My main complaint with Override extends from the vehicle mode.  I will come out and say that I very much the Mach 5 look of the car at the front, but it just doesn't blend well.  The back and the front appear to be two different cars.  When transforming, you can really see this point.

There is a huge gap just after the cockpit, where the knees of the robot form the fender and sides of the car, before it gets back to the white of the back wheels.

Added to that is while the front of the vehicle is sleek and low, the back with the engine section just juts up too high.  

When you compare it to many other car Transformers, it's plain to see that Override just isn't as smooth and sleek as it should be.

The head is also blindingly obvious. 

Putting on my obviously well-skilled-and-able-designer's-hat, I think it would've been better the have the rear wheels move outward from the body a bit more, then the engine section could slide in between and be a bit lower lying.

While the smaller cockpit and shoulders make for a much better robot, it manages to make for a worse vehicle mode, which is a bit of a mistake I think for Override.  If you have a look and compare the original to this one, you can also see that the cockpit on the original is the same width as the back engine section, making the transition look smoother.

On the Legacy one, there are just these big black blocks slap bang there creating a very un-aerodynamic look. Blast effects can be attached to the back part which will become the gun, and a Force Chip (I forget what they were called in Cybertron) can be inserted for a nice throwback effect. I don't have any force chips with at the moment, so no piccies.  Sadly though the barrels can't be made to flip forward for vehicle mode (alas, no Roadblasters here ladies and gentlethings).

Kup, is that you?

While I was impressed with the golden paint applications and sculpting that simulate exhaust, you can really see how patched together the vehicle mode looks when looking at it from below and the sides, which just exacerbates my wonder at how the vehicle mode came to be like this.

Oddly Override looks less sleek than my other recent future car addition, Targetmaster Pointblank, and therein perhaps lies part of what bothers me about this toy.  Pointblank was cut down to fit in to a deluxe size class, whereas Override was boosted up to the Voyager.  I don't think Overrride quite fits in with the quality I expected, and I might be a little bit salty that Pointblank didn't get the voyager upgrade option instead.  I much prefer the better flow look of Pointblank (despite me saying in Pointblank's review that he doesn't flow too well either) over Override.

Now the whingeing is out of the way, Let's talk about what I like for the vehicle mode.  As I said before, I like the painted exhaust pipes and on the side of the arms you can see some painted sections that are a little reminiscent to Hot Rod and his side exhausts.

The front of the car is cool with it's Speed Racer Mach 5 look.  I really dig the sculpting in the black and red bits on the bonnet.

If you look from a low angle, it even looks like there are some saw blades or something hidden away.  I will say though that I would have liked the headlights to have some paint on them, they just disappear into the front here.  To add to the speedracer-ness, the flight port can be used!!

Just behind the rear wheels are a couple of nubs.  The placement of these guys baffle me a little, as they are too low for vehicle mode, have nothing that looks like a booster and in robot mode mode are just nubs on the top of the shoulders.

Once you fiddle with it a bit, it rolls pretty well.  The wheels are made of translucent red plastic (woo future laser wheels!) but only the outer half is.  The inner half is part of the car body.  Interesting approach.

On the top of the rear engine, there is a port for a weapon if you have a spare.  On the side of the front fenders there are hexagonal ports, which are a tad too small for me to comfortably jam anything in there.  Although with the right accessory, you could have some cool wheel shredders, or blades there which would be cool.

Paintwork is crisp and well done for this mode, so no complaints there. 

& the Summary.

It's odd, the robot mode is great, but the vehicle mode REALLY bothers me.  A lot like Jhiaxus (another Voyager class figure no less) and yet while I have come to rather enjoy Jhiaxus, Override here really doesn't grab me the same way.  Comparing this with Hot Rod for example (another deluxe sized voyager engineered figure) you can feel the quality with him.  Override here just doesn't manage to carry that same feeling across. 

I kind of get a feeling that this is a pre-mould of another, better figure that will come in the future. Maybe.   guess part of my disappointment has been because Hot Rod came first, then I heard that Override was also and "upgraded" deluxe, I was expecting Hot Rod levels of goodness...  Yet what I feel from Override is purely Deluxe levels of deluxeness.  

Had the vehicle mode been more coherent, sleeker, flatter and less gappy, this would be good, but having a racing character, known for racing and known for being a racing car, in, you know, RACES,I would've expected the car mode to be perfect.  Yet what I see is not, it doesn't match the CGI model well, and doesn't match the toy well.  Sure the robot mode is fantastic, but I feel the sacrifices to the all important vehicle mode for this character that were  made to get to this point were far too great.

Final superfluous rating:

I really want to like it, but I don't.

These glow slime guys are cool though