Transformers Generations Springer Review

                                                  "Strength is more than physical."

Out in the same wave as Blitzwing is Generations Springer, and he is a wonderful toy.

Hit the button below to continue on with the review

Robot Mode

The first thing you will notice about Springer is that he is a large Voyager class figure. After the shrinking of figures that has plagued the main lines in recent years its nice to get a figure that is large and feels right for the size. 

He is around the same height as Masterpiece Sideswipe, if not ever so slightly bigger.

His look is based on the IDW comics version, from the brilliant Last Stand Of The Wreckers mini series. The designers even included a wonderful nod to it, in the way the yellow parts on the back of his shoulders can slide up and be posed to give him even more of the comic look.

Personally, I have mine slid back down but it is nice to have the option. 

The details on the sculpt, as well as the paint job are all very good. He looks spot on to the comic version, but also like a very faithful update to the G1 version of the character

The colours really work well with nice shades of green, yellow and grey. They look a lot nicer than the upcoming Takara release in my opinion, which features a much darker palette of colours.

Poseability is excellent, with every type of joint you would expect. You can get him into any sort of pose with no real problem, with the only issue maybe being the feet. They are slant so as to always give him a wide stance, but theres no articulation there beyond the up and down of the transformation, so you can really only have his legs wide to a certain degree.

But its not a big complaint, he is a relatively stable figure so it doesn't become a deal breaker. There are flip out heel spurs, so he does stand perfectly well in a variety of poses.

One issue I do have with mine, and this may be exclusive to my figure, is that the shoulders are not very tight. He cannot hold his gun up, as the shoulder joints are way too loose. It will just flop down under the weight of the gun, and often the sword too.

The head sculpt is really nice, and helps to really evoke the look of the original character. Its on a ball joint so can move up and down and side to side. It also has really nice light piping for the eyes, which if you get near a good light source - light up brilliantly.

Accessory wise, he comes with his trademark sword and a massive double barrelled Wrecker cannon/missile launcher thing.

The sword is nice and chunky, and has a very neat transformation which we will get to later. The gun I am not a big fan of. Its nice looking, but I would have preferred his classic rifle. It does have a firing missile gimmick, but instead of being spring loaded its powered by your own force. What that means is you push the button forward and that pressure forces the missiles to shoot out. It works surprisingly well, and should save a Generation of children losing projectiles as they are catapulted across rooms and behind sofa cushions - never to see the light of day again

My other problem with the gun, is that it is too big and heavy for my figure to hold up, with the should being too loose.
It does peg into a hole on his back though, so its a neat way to store it and give him a jet pack.

Armoured Car Mode

G1 Springer was one of the new, 86 Movie characters. As such he had more space age alt modes, with the car being very sci fi.

In this iteration, it is way more Mad Max - turning into a hulking Armoured Car. I love it! The transformation is not difficult, with the only part to watch out for really is getting Springer's head into place without the Helicopter modes landing gear getting in the way.

There way the sides of the car mode form, with swivelling, fold out panels to hide robot and  Chopper parts is nicely done.

 However, some of the parts don't quite peg in as well as I think they are designed to. The legs fold to form the rear of the car for example, and it can be quite finicky getting them to tab into the arm panels. Also the way the drivers windows form - they don't quite snap in as intended. This makes for a gappy front end, and you may end up putting way more force than is healthy into it.
It doesn't really ruin it though, and it looks like these issues have been fixed for the Sandstorm repaint.

The sword can be stored away underneath the vehicle, and the gun and peg into the roof. In a nice, possibly unintended piece of compatibility - the back of the car can flip up to form a seat for smaller figures. I have to think this was intentionally, as the recent Soundwave Voyager also came with a small seat as part of the firing mechanism in alt mode.

Personally I prefer it without the cannon though, as it just looks nicer. But the cannon really suits the Wrecker aspect of the character. 

Its a very good alt mode, and there is loads of play value here.


Helicopter Mode

By far my favourite alt mode of Springer's is his Helicopter mode. It has a real big, chunky, heavy duty military look to it. The G1 version was again, a very science fictiony type of chopper, and this kind of fits that whilst also looking a bit more realistic. Even though its a completely fictional mode.

A nice touch is when transforming the figure into this mode, his sword splits like almost all sword wielding helicopter Transformers - however the hilt locks it into place. This is great as it means the blades always stay in position and never end up over lapping.

The transformation is very close to the car modes, so it only takes a matter of seconds to switch between modes. That is something that both Voyager Triple-Changers have really nailed. Intuitive transformations really help sell the toys, rather than overly complex, long, laborious transformations for the sake of it.

The missile launcher can mount under the front end, but not in the way you would probably expect. Most weapons peg in to peg holes, but with this one it has a separate point to slide in and slot into place. Its a little more awkward, and the peg is jointed as you need to move it out of the way to give it clearance, but it holds in tightly. It gives it a really cool gunship look.

This mode really works, and looks different enough so it doesn't just feel like a flying car with a helicopter blade pegged to the top.

The designers on this thing have really done some inspired work. In all modes it looks great, but very different and there is a lovely intuitive transformation scheme which wont put anyone off from playing with the figure.
I cant wait to see what they come up with next.