Mystery of Convoy
| The name or term "Mystery of Convoy" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Mystery of Convoy (disambiguation). |
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| "Mystery of Convoy" (Convoy no Nazo) | ||||||
| Airdate | March 17, 2015 | |||||
| Writer | Kotaro Ishidate | |||||
| Director | Kotaro Ishidate | |||||
| Animation studio | DLE | |||||
Jazz sparks a discussion on how characters have changed over the years.
Synopsis
[edit]Jazz rendezvous with Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Lockdown, bearing a gift. He notes Optimus looks different, and the Autobot leader says he's scanned a sports car for a change. Bumblebee also has a new alternate mode and a new head based on the one from the original show. He suggests now Optimus's face looks more like the original, maybe they should call him "Convoy" rather than Optimus Prime. Lockdown interrupts the conversation to air his confusion over why their faces change when they scan a new alternate mode. Optimus believes it's so the face matches the aesthetic with the body with Jazz backing him up that Bumblebee's friendly face matches his new cute car mode. Lockdown further brings up the fact that the Transformers have different personalities depending on the show or movie they're appearing in. The others haven't considered this before. The Con also brings up that their voices change. Jazz believes it's like the long running show Mito Kōmon that had to change its cast a number of times. Optimus asks what Lockdown is getting at, to which Lockdown points out that their names also sometimes change, like Optimus being known as Convoy, and wants to know exactly what makes them the same character.
The group decides to ponder the question. Lockdown wonders if it's just a case of a player 1/player 2 color scheme change. This is popular, with "Optimus Prime" and "Convoy" being considered a way to distinguish player 1 and player 2. Jazz suggests it's a generational thing, with the younger preferring "Optimus Prime" while the older generation favoring "Convoy" and only using "Prime" for steak terminology. He says he's tired of explaining it every time someone thinks "Optimus Prime" is beef related, leading to them trying to decide whether to stick with calling him "Convoy" going forward or continuing the association with meat.
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
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Notes
[edit]Animation and technical errors
[edit]Continuity notes
[edit]Transformers references
[edit]- As noted in the summary, Bumblebee and Optimus adopt Generation 1 themed forms, though oddly with details that differ from the actual released Q-Transformers toys of those incarnations.
- Much of the conversation refers to the fact that the Generation 1 versions of the characters generally had different names in Japan but in more recent times, TakaraTomy has switched to using the Western names.
- Lockdown's illustration of the previous Optimus Primes features Optimus Primal using his season 1 Beast Wars look and Aligned Optimus Prime using his appearance from Robots in Disguise.
Real-world references
[edit]- Like episode 7, this episode takes place at the Hanyu parking area in Hanyu City, Saitama, though on the southbound traffic side rather than the northbound side.
- Mito Kōmon is a Japanese period drama that ran from 1969 to 2011 and had to change its cast multiple times.
- The player 1/2 color schemes Lockdown imagines match Mario and his brother Luigi, though the character models themselves don't resemble the pair beyond looking like workmen.
Trivia
[edit]- The gift Jazz arrives with remains a mystery, as it's never opened or discussed beyond the start of the episode.
