Before there was Transformers, Japanese toy company Takara created a line of toys called DIACLONE, with the toy molds that Hasbro would eventually license and turn into Transformers in the United States (and beyond). Many of the Transformers toys had different color schemes than their Diaclone counterparts, including Powered Convoy.
Prepare for an info dump that I don’t expect you to remember after you finish reading this paragraph: The original Convoy toy was modified slightly and turned into the Optimus Prime that is now known and recognized worldwide, with the red semi-truck cab. But in the Diaclone line, there was also a blue version of that cab attached to a car carrier trailer known as Powered Convoy. The combined form of Powered Convoy would be recolored by Hasbro in 1986 and turned into the character Ultra Magnus, and the original color scheme has since been imported into Transformers in the 21st Century as Delta Magnus (links to TFWiki.net).
And that’s all cool and all, but I really like the look of the blue Optimus cab. So I painted up my 2-inch Robot Heroes line (more on this series of figures later) Optimus to resemble the original Powered Convoy cab.
TL;DR: I repainted a thing to make a blue Optimus Prime toy, based on an old Japanese toy. And I think it’s pretty.
I ended up selling this and many of my Robot Heroes repaints on eBay when I wasn’t working and needed some money, so I unfortunately no longer have this guy. But there’s more Powered Convoy love coming.
Roll out!