Last week, I looked at the closest thing that Star Saber, the Autobot commander from Takara’s late-80s Transformers: Victory franchise, had to a modern mainline figure, in the form of his Robot Masters release from the mid-2000s. Later on in Victory, Star Saber acquired a partner, in the form of Victory Leo.
Seen here in his most expensive form.
Leo was a rebuilt version of God Ginrai, an Optimus look-alike from the previous series, Masterforce. More importantly, though, he and Star Saber could combine into Victory Saber.
If you had this, you’re either rich, or a kid in Japan in 1989.
While Star Saber got a Masterpiece a few years ago, Victory Leo hasn’t received any updates at all, save for this Robot Masters figure, making him even more unique than Star Saber was. So let’s have a look at both him, and the combination that he’s mostly here for.
Robot Mode
I compared Star Saber’s aesthetics to a mixture of Gundam, Super Sentai, and general Japanese Super Robot, but Victory Leo is definitely a Megazord, between his horns, big wings, big skyward-pointing guns, the face sculpt that has the vibe of an immobile visage, and just, the general vibe of his aesthetics.
That face feels like it never moves, because it’s part of a costume, stomping around model buildings.
It looks like Bandai should have made this, and he’d be really big, made out of a lot of hollow plastic, and really cheap. This one’s still a smaller sub-Deluxe scale, though.
Now Cheetor is the big cat.
He hangs around this lot to feel tall.
Probably my favorite aspect of Leo’s design is the little gold details on his chest, since he shares them with Star Saber, providing design continuity.
For colors, he’s a similarly bright, kid-pleasing blend of cheery orange-yellow, with black and white plastic. This is another release where they clearly didn’t skimp on the paint, and he’s got a ton of red, gold, silver and grey bits, as well.
Right, so, his big problem is that he’s incredibly unstable. See, he breaks apart for his super mode, and that’s given his robot mode a rickety, shaky feeling to it. In most of these photos, you can see his torso subdividing a bit in the middle, despite my careful squeezing. The big issue’s in his legs, though, which don’t really lock in, and are wobbly and shaky, always seeking to do the splits in an unnatural-looking way.
He’s always trying really hard to look like this.
On top of that, picking him up and handling him can lead to his torso sliding downwards a bit, exposing the fact that his head’s disconnected from it, and just hanging there. It just doesn’t feel great, and he really needed way more tabs, or something.
He’s pretending he can run. (Same).
For articulation, he’s the same kind of brick that Star Saber was, but with oddly advanced arm articulation. He’s got full two-way shoulder joints, and elbows. See, this is what I wished Star Saber had, so he could swing his sword around better.
Now he’s just flexing on Star Saber.
That’s basically it for articulation, though. He’s got no waist, or head. Hypothetically, his hips have forward and backward motion, but his unstable legs mean he can’t stay standing unless they’re kept straight. You can use those hips to give him a little bit of a spread-legged stance, though. See, if he’s going to be a brick, he can at least be really solidly built. This is the appeal of G1 figures like Hot Rod, to me. But this guy’s a brick without the inherent solidity of the concept.
He’s had enough of me ragging on him.
On the upside: He’s got a lot of weapons and accessories.
I’m imagining the recoil from this causing him to spin in a circle.
Firstly, Leo comes with a big, oversized grey gun. For nostalgia, it shoots a springloaded missile, a feature I sorely miss these days. He can hold it in his hands, but it’s really supposed to be slung at his hip, like the original G1 Megatron toy.
Aside from that, his two large guns at his back can come off, and mount on his forearms.
I really like how they look, a cross between lasers and swords.
Finally, he’s got a bog-standard yellow plastic laser rifle for his free hand. It all comes together to make him feel really impressively armed, I just wish he was more poseable, so he could play better with it.
About as dangerous as he gets.
Lion Mode Transformation
This is a really simple conversion, fitting for his overall design. Just compress his legs down, flip out his lion mode back legs, swap his fists for paws to make forelegs, tack his grey gun onto his back, flop him over, and you’re done!
Lion Mode
Gun kitty.
Again, I love the aesthetic of this brick on legs, looking for all the world like a latter-day Power Rangers Zord. He’s awkward and chunky, especially with his massive wings and guns, but it’s all very charming. The only aesthetic issue I have is how visible his robot head is, on the bottom of his lion head.
Cat Convoy!
Unfortunately, the instability in his legs rears its head again in this form. In this case, his hindquarters don’t lock together in any way, and split apart even after a bit of handling.
Seen here, failing to hold together.
I’ve tried everything, and if there’s a trick to it, it eludes me.
Ooooh, he walkin’.
For features, his forelegs are still as jointed as they were in robot mode, and his back legs can swivel forwards and backwards at the hips, so he can kind of assume a running pose, or sit on his hind legs.
I bet those guns get really heavy.
For a lion at this scale, that’s good enough, in my books. Aside from that, he’s got his back-mounted guns, including the spring-loaded one, and that’s about it.
This sort of works.
Spaceship Transformation
There’s not much to this transformation, again. You’re basically just reversing his lion mode, and adjusting his limbs and kibble.
Spaceship Mode
In space, you don’t need aerodynamics.
It’s no exaggeration when I say that this mode is, in fact, a flying brick. And by that, I mean it’s a big rectangle with wings, guns, and other assorted stuff hanging off of it.
You’re either into this, or not, and I personally find it charming, in its own way. I just wish that it held together better, as now the front of it wants to split apart.
Catch a ride!
Also, don’t look at it from the back, it’s basically just a lion mid-jump from that angle.
Wheee!
Victory Saber Combination
You know how the last few transformations were incredibly simple? Well, this is even simpler. Literally all you do is jam the spaceship mode into the back of Star Saber’s combined jet mode, pegging the nose into some holes in the big gap along Saber’s fuselage.
Pre-Cramming.
I do recommend undoing Saber’s transformation a bit, spreading the back out to give you more room to slide Leo’s nose in, and then doing it all back up, but even that’s nice and simple.
Victory Saber Jet Mode
The Four-Winged Flying Fury.
It’s just the two jets mashed together, and it’s a huge pile of stuff, but weirdly, it sort of gels. Like, it’s a whole aesthetic, and that aesthetic is “a big four-winged flying fortress.”
This feels like it should be gigantic.
It looks massive and dangerous, and part of that comes from the fact that it’s surprisingly big, after so many forms of these two felt undersized. This one actually covers more surface area than the Earthrise Voyager Seekers!
As seen here.
It’s also surprisingly solid and stable, which is refreshing after every other form of Victory Leo wanted to come apart, and also refreshing in light of how many modern takara takes on big late-G1 combiners (God Ginrai, Big Powered) are apparently unstable messes (I was warned of of both because of it).
Victory Saber Robot Combination
Ok, this is the part of this setup I like best.
Too bad they can’t do the Predator Handshake.
I don’t know if this unique transformation justifies almost every other mode being unstable, but it’s certainly fascinating to do. From Victory Leo’s robot mode, you slide his torso down and out, and split it in half.
The reason he doesn’t hold together, right here. That tiny grey peg on the middle piece is the only thing securing it.
Then, you fold each half like paper, and turn it into two big piles.
It’s strange, different, and neat to do. Just peg these piles beneath the robot form Star Saber’s folded-in feet, and peg the rest of him on as a backpack.
Victory Saber Robot Mode
His platform boots are made of person.
Okay, this is dumb, but a fun dumb. It’s just Star Saber wearing platform boots so big that they look like stilts, and a backpack that adds wings and guns.
It takes confidence to wear most of an upper torso as a backpack.
I have no idea what the thought process here was when they did the G1 figure, but this is what it is. It’s weird, but I love it.
He may act taller, but the height has only made him average-sized.
He’s a bit smaller than Voyager now, still making him feel a bit undersized, unless he’s paired with minifigures, or facing off against giant enemies.
It’s another lost time-jumping Generations Selects manga adventure.
More importantly, though, unlike modern Takara retools, it’s a rock-solid combination that holds together. It even manages to avoid impeding Star Saber’s articulation in any way, and suddenly, even his limited suite (sideways legs, forwards and backwards arms and elbows, a waist swivel) is impressive.
Imagine getting a kick from these suckers.
For accessories, Victory Saber’s meant to hold Star Saber’s sword in one hand, and Victory Leo’s big, spring-loaded gun in the other, beefing up his armament.
Ranged and melee supremacy.
For a little bit of modification, though, I’ve found that I’ve found that it’s easy to fold Leo’s arms above the wings, put the Saber and Lio’s spare guns in his fists for extra shoulder-mounted lasers, making him use all his weapons at once.
“Too Many Guns” mode.
Overall
This is pretty much the reason you’d get Leo.
Let’s get one thing straight: If you get Victory Leo, it’s because you’ve already got Star Saber, and want to do the Victory Leo combination. While he has his bright spots, his unstable, shaky design when he’s not combined makes him a hard pass on his own. But as a partner and power-up for Star Saber, I think he justifies his existence just well enough, albeit barely. He tends to go for less than Saber online, but again, it’s a case of only recommending him if you’re getting him cheaply, and even then, only if you’ve already got a Star Saber for him to combine with.
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