Convoy (rank)
Convoy is an Autobot and Maximal rank of Leadership through-out many Japanese series. It is similar in many ways to the American rank of "Prime". The rank was named in honor of Convoy (the Japanese name for Optimus Prime).
In the Generation 1 continuity, an Autobot did not have to achieve a Convoy rank to be the Supreme Commander. The structured ranking of Convoys was not established until the era of the Beast Wars.
Unlike those in the American fiction with a rank of "Prime", a Convoy isn't the Supreme Commander of the Maximals as a whole (that job belongs to the Convoy Council. Virtually any high ranking Maximal General is a Convoy, and they are instead the Supreme Commander of a crew of Maximals. Once a Convoy attains the rank of Hyper Convoy, he is granted a Leadership Matrix.
Whether it's a requirement of the rank or just bizarre coincidence, every Convoy looks extremely similar.
