Big Convoy (BW)
- Big Convoy is a Maximal leader from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Big Convoy (ビッグコンボイ Biggu Konboi) is a high-ranking yet severely asocial general in the Maximal army. He is often called by his nickname, "the One-Man Army", due to his isolationist behavior and immense skill in battle. He can transform into a woolly mammoth, and his weapon of choice is the descriptively named Big Cannon. At one point, he was a freelancer, working with Rockbuster, until he joined the Maximal army officially. He has a heated but respectful rivalry with the Predacon Emperor of Destruction, Magmatron. The Convoy Council recognize Big Convoy's skill and dedication, yet do not approve of his introverted attitude. He carries an Energon Matrix connected to the Vector Sigma supercomputer.
Fiction
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
- Voice actor: Junichi Inoue (Japanese)
Hoping to curb Big Convoy's psychotically antisocial behavior, the Convoy Council ordered him to train a crew of unruly new recruits. Big Convoy loathed the assignment at first, but being a loyal soldier, accepted the task. His first mission was to explore Gaea and investigate the disappearance of Lio Convoy. Little did he know, Magmatron and his Predacons were following close behind him. After finding a black box message from Lio Convoy, Big Convoy learned of the Angolmois capsules ejected after the destruction of Nemesis. Big Convoy then headed off with his group of trainees to collect the capsules, battling Magmatron every step of the way.
Big Convoy is not one for compassion or sentimental gobbledygook. Because of this bitter attitude, Vector Sigma took it upon itself to dispense words of wisdom and encouragement to the recruits directly through Big Convoy, via his Energon Matrix. Big Convoy hated it at first, but over the course of the adventure, the sense of compassion began to rub off on him, and he started giving words of advice all on his own.
Eventually, after the Maximals and Predacons collected all the capsules, they were attacked by the Blendtrons, a fearsome trio of nearly invincible Transformers. The Blendtrons beat the mortal hell out of him, the Maximals and the Predacons, and took the Angolmois capsules. As it turned out, the Angolmois energy was really the essence of Unicron, and the Blendtrons were his creations.
The Blendtrons released the Angolomois energy into the corpse of Galvatron, resurrecting Unicron. Big Convoy and the Maximals raced him back to Cybertron but were sidetracked by being sucked into a wormhole. It turned out to be the same wormhole that had sucked in Lio Convoy and his crew after their battle against Nemesis. Lio Convoy told Big Convoy the history of Unicron and helped him escape the wormhole.
The Maximals arrived too late; Unicron had already destroyed the Maximal armada (and Great Convoy with it) and possessed Vector Sigma, turning Cybertron into his new body. Big Convoy, the Maximal recruits and Magmatron stood side-by-side to fight the menace. Unicron briefly exited Vector Sigma to swat his opponents. Using their newfound teamwork, the Maximals managed to hold off Unicron while Big Convoy powered up his trademarked "Big Cannon" with his own Energon Matrix. This upgraded his Big Cannon into the "Matrix Buster". Big Convoy unleashed a blast from his Matrix Buster directly into Unicron, seemingly destroying him.
With Unicron evicted from Vector Sigma, Big Convoy and Magmatron chose to put aside their differences. Together, all missing Maximals and Predacons set adrift (especially those from Lio Convoy's time) returned to Cybertron to help rebuild the planet. In the end, Big Convoy, Magmatron and Lio Convoy were seen standing side-by-side beneath Vector Sigma.
Beast Wars manga continuity
Beast Wars II comic
Long before Lio Convoy and Galvatron's conflict took place, Big Convoy was originally a mammoth named Big on a cold, primitive world on a distant planet located in the 7th Cosmos. He and Magmatron's minions were evolved by the power of Angolmois energy from the mysterious "Divine Stone", which was in fact an Angolmois capsule that fell on his home planet. Some of his friends were killed by Magmatron's gang during his absence.
Later, Big saved Lio Convoy, who had been sent back in time and to Big's planet, from the dinosaur gang's attack. Big then took Lio Convoy to a hot spring to heal his wounds. After a conversation, Big took Lio Convoy to the place where the capsule had fallen. When Lio Convoy was investigating the capsule, Big was attacked by the Giganotosaurus from behind. Despite badly wounded, Big told Lio Convoy to leave and managed to push the dinosaur gang into the valley where the capsule was. The capsule exploded on impact, and the Angolmois energy evolved those dinosaurs into Transformers. Their leader, now proclaiming himself Magmatron, thanked Big's effort for having they gain more power. Lio Convoy transformed into robot mode to fight and defeated most of them, except for Magmatron, who defeated Lio Convoy with ease.
Some time later, Lio Convoy crawls out of the thick snow where he was hiding. Regretting the mammoth's involvement, Lio Convoy used his Energon Matrix to cure Big. The power of Energon Matrix not only healed the mammoth, but it also turned him into a Convoy-class Transformer. However, he lost all of his memories before awakening in a snowstorm. The Beast Wars "Neo" Begin!!!
Beast Wars Neo comic
Big Convoy later became the notorious One-Man's-Army in the Maximals. During a conflict, he disregarded Crow Convoy's orders, rushed into a Predacon space fortress, and blew it up. The shock wave of the blast caused damage to the Maximal Army 7th Fleet. For disregarding orders, Big Convoy was sent by the Convoy Council to the planet Gaea as an instructor for five rookie Maximals.
After the Black Ball was retrived from the Galvaburg II on Gaea, the mysterious object was brought aboard the Gung Ho, where it activated the warp engine. The 5 Rookies During the warp, the Black Ball told the story of Lio Convoy and Galvatron to the crew. Big Convoy felt the name "Lio Convoy" sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall where he would have heard the name. After arriving the planet Luxor, the Gung Ho was attacked by the Predacon flagship Dinosaur. Big's ship crash landed on an asteroid before the rookies managed to enter the atmosphere of Luxor. When fixing the ship, Big asked NAVI for information on Lio Convoy, only to learn Lio Convoy was a rookie and they never met each other according to the official record. There Are 7 Capsules
Big Convoy confronted Magmatron in a battle, but had no memory of his old rival. Big Convoy defeated Magmatron by blasting him several times with the Big Cannon, the only thing he trusted. Mortal Combat! Twenty Thousand Meters in the Sky
In order to save Break from being sucked out into outer space, he lost the Big Cannon in a battle with the Predacons on the planet Jörmungandr. A Battle Fought Alone
On an amphitheatre near the planet Cybertron, it was revealed that both he and Magmatron were the last Angolmois energy capsule, and thus the Black Ball, revealed to be Unicron, wanted to consume them to recover his energies. When Unicron spoke with him, Big Convoy regained all his lost memories, feeling sorrow and despairing.
He teamed up with Magmatron and rode on him, fighting against Unicron and the Blendtrons, but to no avail. Big Convoy was saved by Heinrad, the agent of the Ruler of Time and Space. Heinrad told Big Convoy about the truth of Unicron, the Ruler, and the Universe, asking him to save the Universe. Big Convoy initially refused, stating he didn't care what would the world become because he was always alone. Heirad told Big that he wasn't alone anymore. After Heinrad was forced to leave, Big Convoy found Magmatron was chewed up by Unicron. A dying Magmatron, now reduced to only a head, left his Magma Blade to Big Convoy as a "parting gift" and asked Big Convoy to give him an honorable "warrior's death" with his own sword. Big Convoy killed him with the Magma Blade. Double Cross
Now with the Magma Blade in his possession, Big Convoy headed to the planet Cybertron with his crew to battle Unicron, who had latched onto the planet like a parasite and turned it into his new body. Big Convoy tricked Unicron to the clustered planetary system "Georgian", which is like a minefield to Unicron. After Unicron lost all of his limbs, Big Convoy successfully destroyed Unicron's physical form by stabbing his right eye with Magma Blade. However, Unicron's tarry essence emerged from its eye and plastered itself on Big Convoy's body, trying to possess him. Big Convoy took the Matrix out from his chest and unleashed its power, sacrificing himself and successfully destroying Unicron once and for all. In his last moments before dying, Big Convoy saw Lio Convoy come to take him to a place where his soul could rest in peace.
Big Convoy's spark was later recycled by Heinrad's crew, and he was ultimately resurrected as a normal mammoth on a distant snowy planet similar to his birthplace, with no memory of his time as a Transformer. He returned to how he was before being affected by Angolmois energy. Return to Zero
Dreamwave Armada comics
At one point, Blurr, Side Swipe, and Jetfire discovered a node with several space bridges displaying images from several other Transformer universes. One of those showed Big Convoy, who seemed to be looking right back at Jetfire. Jetfire, thinking he'd seen the Optimus Prime he knew, tried to say so, but only stuttered, possibly in shock. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4
IDW Beast Wars comics
Before the Pax Cybertronia, Big Convoy was known as the "one robot army" and was assigned by the Maximal Elders to the Gung Ho and its crew of Maximal rookies. Together, they defeated Magmatron. Beast Wars Sourcebook 1
Big Convoy was part of Cybertron's Bi-Partate Committee for State Affairs alongside Heinrad and Magmatron. The Gathering #1 Because of his distinguished service, he was a high-ranking member of the joint committee. Beast Wars Sourcebook 1
On Cybertron, Big Convoy, along with Tasmania Kid, had been investigating recent disturbances and riots occurring with increasing frequency. He found that the riots had been set off by the use of Angolmois delivery capsules—something which he thought he had seen the last of. Though the Maximal Imperium sent their aide, Ikard, to bring Big Convoy to them, he refused to come, citing the importance of getting some control in the field. The Ascending #2
Following the trail of the Angolmois incidents, he and his unit were able to locate a monolithic structure jutting from the Cybertronian skyline. Cohrada speculated that the new building was in fact quite ancient, a part of an older era of Cybertron that was thrust up through the substructure. Shokaract emerged from the structure, eager to demonstrate his newfound power. Big Convoy retaliated, transforming into a heavily-armed spider-tank alt mode. Magmatron witnessed that unless the timestream was altered, the Maximal leader would also be killed by Shokaract. Thus, the chronally displaced Predacon chose that moment in time for the transwarp coordinates to give to Ravage. Therefore, the battle was interrupted by the appearance of Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser, sparing Big Convoy. However, this hope was in vain, as it was soon shot down by Shokaract. The Ascending #3
Big Convoy later met Bump, a "specialist" sent by Lio Convoy. Soon afterwards, Big Convoy and his soldiers encountered the Pack, along with immigrants from Earth, including Ravage. He participated in the plan and battled with Shokaract's forces. After their enemies were defeated, Lio Convoy and Big Convoy hoped that no threat came up while they were focused on rebuilding Cybertron, which had fallen into a sorry state after Shokaract's distribution of Angolmois. Unfortunately, Megatron popped up just in time to dash that hope. The Ascending #4
Toys
Beast Wars Neo
- Big Convoy (Ultra, 1999)
- Japanese ID number: C-35
- Accessories: Big Cannon, Mammoth Haken *2, Energon Matrix
- Big Convoy transforms into a mammoth and is somewhat infamous for being an extremely difficult-to-transform shellformer, as practically all of his beast mode components are shells that fit around the compressed robot to form this mode. As such, he has no leg articulation in this mode, though he has a rubber trunk which can be controlled by pushing a lever on the top of his head. In addition, the movement of his tusks can be controlled by pulling either of his ears. Big Convoy technically has a beast "attack mode", in which his Big Cannon is folded out.
- In robot mode, Big Convoy stands slightly shorter than the original Beast Wars Ultra class Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy toys, but makes up for it by being absolutely chock-full of weapons and gimmicks. First and foremost, the spring-loaded Big Cannon, formed out the beast head, can fire two missiles from two barrels in succession with a rotating dial. It is held in his hands and can be stored on his back, though doing this may cause some stability problems owing to its weight. Secondly, he has flip-out tonfa melee weapons in his forearms. Thirdly, the two beast panels on the sides of his legs feature two spring-loaded missile launchers that fire anchor-shaped projectiles (similar to the original Beast Wars Ultra class Megatron toy). Last, but certainly not least, his chest panel flips down, revealing the first-ever removable Matrix toy accessory, vacuum-metalized gold with a transparent red center. This accessory can be held by any figure with standard 5mm fist holes.
- This mold was also used to make Black Big Convoy, Universe Nemesis Prime and Timelines Ultra Mammoth.
- Duel of the Universe: Big Convoy VS Magmatron (Vs pack, 1999)
- Japanese ID number: VS-35
- As with most Japanese Transformers of the time, Big Convoy was also available in a Versus pack with his chief adversary, Magmatron. Both toys were unchanged from the regular releases.
Notes
- Big Convoy's toy is a shellformer to such a significant degree that the shell parts can be detached from the main figure to form the majority of his beast mode on its own.
- Takara's 2007 Japanese Generation 1 cartoon timeline says that Beast Wars Neo took place thousands of years after Beast Wars. In IDW's continuity, events similar to Beast Wars Neo happened in the past, and Big Convoy is still alive at the same time as Optimus Primal.
- According to a conversation between Big Convoy and NAVI in the "There Are 7 Capsules", Big Convoy is actually older than Lio Convoy due to Lio Convoy's time travelling to the past in the Beast Wars II and Neo comic continuity. Big Convoy refers Lio Convoy as "a rookie Convoy" after reading his profile, but without any belittling.
- Big Convoy can directly enter the atmosphere without getting burnt out. Big Convoy claims it is because his thick fur can protect him.There Are 7 Capsules
