Transformers Review – Victory Leo (Kabaya)

Intro:

 

            During the events of Transformers: Victory, the Autobot leader from the preceding series, Transformers: Headmaster – Ginrai – made many appearances, depicted as a character that had good relationship with Star Saber, the then Supreme Autobot Commander. However, during an episode, after Ginrai was fatally wounded by Deathsaurus, Star Saber conceived a plan to reconfigure Ginrai’s physical form in order to save the former, but at the same time, enabling Ginrai’s new body to be used as his own power-up form. It was obviously a disgrace for a robot to be specifically designed for that purpose, and that was exactly what Star Saber thought before he relented, after a strong persuasion from Ginrai himself, and thanks to the engineering prowess of Wheeljack and Perceptor, the procedure was a success and thus, Victory Leo was born.

            So far, the character Victory Leo has only been twice in the past – the original Victory Leo figure and the Robot Master line. So when Star Saber was released in the Wave 1 Kabaya Transformers, fans all over have been anticipating the release of the Victory Leo figure, due to the theoretical opinion that both figures could combine with one another as depicted throughout the character’s history.

            It took them quite awhile, and the character would eventually get the nod and was released in Wave 4.

Alternate Mode:

           Unlike the previous releases of Victory Leo, this version can only transform into one mode, i.e. the lion mode. There is no jet mode available.

            Articulation-wise: the head lifts up and back down; the arms rotate at the shoulders; the front paws can tilt upward and down (mostly due to transformation joints); the wings can tilt upward and down; and finally the back feet rotates.

            There’s nothing much to say about this mode except for the fact that he’s heavily armed.

            It’s not really the best of alternate modes, but generally, he stayed true to its predecessors.

Robot Mode:

            What I like about these Kabaya Transformers is how much they stayed accurate to its original or animated versions – being a part-former obviously help.

            Victory Leo’s robot mode is no exception – he’s almost a spitting image of its Robot Master’s release. Again, armed with his pistol and two armed-mounted guns, he looks deadly.

 

            Articulation-wise, its upper body movements are similar to its alternate mode’s, while the legs can now split apart. 

 

            I don’t normally like the color orange on my robots, but the orange here looks kinda vibrant, which is good cuz it makes the set looks slightly more expensive than it really is.  

Summary:

            Victory Leo is a worthy figure to look into in this line. The fact that it is able to combine with the larger Star Saber is just icing to the cake (yes, you heard correctly, they do combine... surprise, surprise) makes him even more fun. Stay tune to the next article for the combined mode review.

            Recommended.

Verdict: 8/10