Convoy

I can only imagine the marketing meeting that went on for these.

“Ok men, the transformers brand is fading out, what can we do to make them hip? What else is hip these days?”

“Lindsey Lohan?”

“So, uh, you want to make a Lindsey Lohan Transformer? What does it do, transform from a child star to a pathetic addict?”

“Uh…”

“I got it, Sneakers! Sneakers are cool”

“Yes Jenkins, sneakers are cool! What a great idea! Lets make Sneakers that Transform into Robots!”

It reminds me of that scene in BIG where tom hanks is being asked about his opinion about a building that transforms into a robot.

But regardless, it is here. Convoy feat. Nike FREE 7.0 is collaboration between Takaratomy and Nike. In some way, I guess it makes sense. Some of the original Transformers were from the Microman Microchange series, which consisted of everyday objects (Cassette players) that turned into robots. The big difference is that Microchange were supposed to be actual size, where this shoe is only about ½ the size of a regular shoe. The Nike Free shoe is a type of sneaker designed to feel like you are running in bare feet. The toys are meant to look just like the shoe.

As Transformers go, this is a pretty poor example. The parts all seem like they were rushed and not a lot of thought went into the design. The shoe shell feels hand carved, almost like folk art, and there is no interior detail. It’s like they stuck the design interns on this one. Articulation is minor, and hampered by the large shoulder panels.

The head of this toy is poorly done and lacks detail. The weapons store neatly in the shoulder panels, but look kind of lame when combined. Oh yeah, and Convoy (aka Optimus Prime) is wearing sneakers.

The packaging is neat, made to resemble an actual Nike shoebox, even down to the shoe size label. Inside is a catalog, info card, and instructions. It almost seems as if more work went into the box than did the toy.

I just don’t get it. Maybe I am old. Maybe I don’t get the designer sneaker lifestyle. But you would think at least they could have made a quality toy out of this, and that just did not happen.

FYI – the Nike Free Megatron is the same toy, just painted different with a different head.