Purple Wicked Convoy

Purple Wicked Convoy is a Warrior of the Seven Lights from the Precursor World portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Bump into him in the street and he'll drop a Monstructor on your ass.

That someone like Purple Wicked Convoy (パープル邪悪なる司令官 (コンボイ) Pāpuru Jaakunaru Konboi, lit. "Wicked Commander Purple")^[1] could be a commander in the supposedly righteous Primus Vanguard may come as a surprise to some. Exceedingly cunning, he'll seemingly leap on any chance to obtain even greater power, but usually leaves the heavy lifting to another party, like his collection of monsters. He'd rather stand on the sidelines or sit in his base on the Purple Planet as he watches the action, enjoying his trademark grape popsicle. The fact that his Purple Order is composed entirely of Shockwaves probably raises some eyebrows too, not to mention his self-proclaimed title of "Defender of Chaos".^[2] But Primus chose him to guard the Purple Matrix for a reason, and are you gonna question his judgement?

Of course, this is all what he'd like you to think. Among his fellow Vanguard commanders, he's absolutely the most easy-going, leaning into the malevolent trappings of his station only when he thinks it'll help keep the universe safe. Mind you, he should probably work on actually telling his allies about these ruses in the first place...

The popsicle is also his signature weapon. Yes, really.

Fiction

Precursor World

Chosen to bear the Purple Matrix and lead the Purple Order in their defense of the universe of Purple Star Power, Purple Wicked Convoy wielded his mighty popsicle in the Primus Vanguard's final battle against their ancient enemy the Specters for the fate of their multiverse. He joined with the other commanders of the Vanguard to eradicate the Specters by unleashing all seven Star Powers at once, which had the side effect of knitting their multiverse into a single, multicolored world.

Wicked attended a subsequent conference of Primus Vanguard command to discuss the new threat of the Vok, displaying his characteristic panache while listening to Primus's presentation. After Primus resolved to scry into the future to gather intelligence on their foes, Wicked loitered in the hallways of Vanguard headquarters with White Gallant Convoy and Yellow Splendid Convoy, remarking that he had not seen Primus around for some time as they gossiped about what he could have seen. Shortly thereafter, Primus burst into the hallway to their collective shock, exclaiming that his pet Primacron had escaped and rambling about how he needed all of their Matrices immediately so that he could end the universe. An alarmed Wicked left with his comrades as the Vanguard commanders left Primus to ravings and returned to their respective planets, save an impassive Blue Big Convoy. Finale Prelude

Wicked was conferring with a number of Purple Warriors when Primus sent word to the Primus Vanguard to be on their guard following the destruction of the Blue Order at the hands of the Straxuses and Ultra Megatron Omega. While the rest of the Vanguard was attacked by the Seacons, Megatron and the Straxuses attacked the Purple Planet directly. Shockwave then reported to Wicked that they had lost contact with the other Vanguard members. Sensing an opportunity, Wicked contacted Megatron with an offer to join forces and conquer the universe. God Neptune comic 1

Is "talk to the hand" played out for these?

The Purple-Megatron-Straxus alliance made their way into outer space to meet God Neptune, who had already stolen the other Matrices and had his sights set on the Purple Matrix and the Blue Matrix held by Megatron. Wicked hung back as various challengers attacked the combiner, including Megatron and the remaining Primus Vanguard commanders, before allowing Megatron to combine with his trailer into a new "SF Gun mode", whose power was enough to force God Neptune apart. He then enjoyed an ice lolly and looked on as the Straxuses fretted over Ultra Megatron following his bisection at the hands of Halfshell. God Neptune comic 2

After Megatron Omega pulled himself together, Wicked called on him for another combination attack on the similarly reconstituted God Neptune with the mighty "Omega Hand Mode", only to be thwarted by—Lawbhammer? Interrupting the fight, the forgotten Seacon arrived with the Golden Age, Primus's secret eight army, and forcibly seized control of the combiner. The hits kept coming as Primus himself entered the fray, ramming Wicked and Megatron's combination apart with his vehicle mode. As Wicked and Megatron struggled to reform their SF Gun mode, Primus overwhelmed them with his Big Bang Cannon and absorbed Megatron's Blue Star Power into his Silver Matrix. Calling on the Lawbhammer-controlled God Neptune, Primus commanded the combiner to transfer the five Star Powers the Seacons had gathered into the Neptune Sword and toss him the blade. Now juiced to the gills with six of the seven Star Powers, Primus ran Wicked and his Matrix both through with a single thrust of the Neptune Sword. Wicked was shattered instantly, leaving behind only a lone popsicle glowing with a mysterious light... Finale Prelude

...which shortly after transformed into Wicked himself, his spark having been transferred into it to serve as his back-up body (at the cost of some downsizing)! Wicked gave some encouragement to the despondent Primus, who had been reduced to his core self, the Oracle. He explained that he'd tricked everyone into thinking he'd gone rogue, and had seemingly teamed up with Megatron Omega to try and build a rapport with him, hoping to convince Megatron to get over himself and fight for good. This very much did not work, and after Megatron upgraded himself into Gold Megatron using the Golden Power, he found himself dueling with Purple Megatron of the New Primus Vanguard for the Purple name.

It all worked out in the end, as Wicked was later seen as a leader of the next-generation Primus Vanguard alongside fellow veteran Burning Red Sentinel Prime. Finale

Toys

Masterpiece

A reflection of a reflection of a reflection... Is Purple Wicked Convoy the Waluigi of Transformers?

• Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (November 2016)
  • Accessories: Ion blaster, Matrix of Leadership, energon-axe, trailer/Combat Deck

After several knockoffs and unofficial releases, "Shattered Glass Optimus Prime" was finally released as an official Hasbro Asia exclusive under the Generations Masterpiece line. As a redeco of Masterpiece MP-10 Convoy, he transforms into a Freightliner FL86, though the back half is much larger and robot-leggier in proportion (so much that a ladder is on each side). Although not easily breakable, care must be taken for posing the index fingers; extending the finger even far would cause it to pop off.

Optimus Prime also comes with a hand-held ion blaster which can collapse and store inside a compartment on his back in either mode, as well as an energon-axe that slips over Optimus Prime's right hand. He also lacks the Spike Witwicky and Roller figures. Shattered Glass Optimus Prime also comes with his own Combat Deck and die-cast Matrix of Leadership, the latter of which remains the same colors as the original MP-10 Convoy.

The packaging design very closely resembles then-concurrent Generations-branded Platinum Edition, featuring numerous elements otherwise unique to Platinum Edition packaging, except the title "Platinum Edition" is replaced by "Shattered Glass". Hasbro ID number MP-09 within its Generations Masterpiece range of MP-01 to MP-10, and Shattered Glass Optimus Prime was released between MP-08 and MP-10, lending to the possibility that MP-09 was intended to be his.

War for Cybertron Trilogy

That thing you all did anyway, now in canon flavor.

• Shattered Glass Optimus Prime & Shattered Glass Ratchet (2-pack, 2020)
  • ID number: WFC-GS17
  • Accessories: Ion blaster, Matrix of Leadership

A Generations Selects add-on to Earthrise, Shattered Glass Optimus Prime is a redeco of Earthrise Optimus Prime without his trailer. He features a color scheme inspired by his Masterpiece toy, complete with a cracked window. Optimus Prime is Voyager Class-sized mold with the front of the head and legs, knee flaps, and various inner parts reused from Siege Voyager Class Optimus Prime. This also means that, like the Siege toy, the truck mode is unusually small for a Voyager figure.

The figure features an opening chest compartment containing a removable evil Matrix of Leadership.^[3] His transformation scheme reuses some engineering and concepts from the Siege Voyager Class Optimus Prime figures and Studio Series 38 Optimus Prime, with a new torso transformation. Interestingly, his rear wheels are borrowed from Studio Series 32 and 44 Optimus Prime. Optimus Prime features a hinge joint in each of his knuckles but without the flip-out post hole mechanism, instead of having it facilitated by the shape of his palm and thumb. Interestingly, the placement of his front wheels in robot mode evokes the Studio OX version of his character model (though significantly larger compared to the artwork). Optimus also has molded drilled-rotor brake discs, a surprising detail for a mainline Transformers figure.

As the front grill/wheel piece is connected with a c-clip, removing it allows the waist to turn without being hindered. Whether by coincidence or not, the Energon Strikeshield from the Siege Voyager Class Optimus Prime figure can attach onto the forearm (if the hands are tucked away) with the tabs on the axe's hinged handle, though it looks better on the left side.

The product description for the set made mention of Shattered Glass comics by IDW Publishing,^[4] either being a miscredit of Fun Publications convention comic, or a far too-early mention of IDW's 2021 Shattered Glass comic.

He is bundled with Shattered Glass Ratchet, and was revealed on the September 8 TransformersTuesday. Much like most 2020 Selects product, the toy is only branded as part of the War for Cybertron Trilogy and not Earthrise.

Notes

• In an ouroboros of Japanese Transformers fandom nerdery, Purple's character contains several references to the character of Akane Shinjo from Studio Trigger's 2018 anime, SSSS.Gridman, which heavily pulled from Shattered Glass itself; Akane's main outfit and various accessories are patterned after Shattered Glass Optimus (including glasses cracked on the right side). Her kaijū figure collection is represented by the aforementioned Pretender Monsters as well as statues of the Fusion creatures, while Purple's Shockwave cohorts contacting him via holographic screen is reminiscent of her alien benefactor Alexis Kerib. It's probably not a coincidence that Cyberverse Shockwave shares his Japanese voice actor, Tetsu Inada, with Kerib.
• Despite existing before the concepts of Autobot and Decepticon, Purple Wicked Convoy is drawn with his toy's Autobot insignias. This is presumably due to the fact that the Autobot symbol itself was repurposed into the Vanguard's sigil in the original Precursor World e-HOBBY comics.
• Purple's transformation from being a popsicle stick is accompanied by the traditional "gi-go-ga-go-go" onomatopoeia for transforming in Japanese fiction, hilariously implying that he can mechanically turn into a tiny wooden stick.

References