Generations 30th Voyager Springer

Remember back when I said I'd get to Generations Springer eventually? Well now I'm getting to him. Springer's name has been used more than a few times, but outside of his G1 toy they've all been repaints (and one retool with the GDO toy) of preexisting figures, and none of those are triple changers. So for the 30th anniversary, Hasbro and TakaraTomy finally do an honest-to-goodness triple changing Springer toy! And influenced by his appearance the IDW comics, specifically Last Stand of the Wreckers! What could possibly go right?



The first mode I'm looking at is the armored car mode. The very fact that a modern Springer toy has an armored car mode is worth some points. He's cast in yellow, green, dark grey, translucent blue for the windows and headlights, black for the wheels, and a bit of light grey poking out the back. Most of these colors are used for paint too, but silver is also added in places. This mode is relatively solid...except for the side windows. On mine, the left one doesn't like to play nice and won't stay plugged in...unless it's not attached to the rest of his arm, in which case it stays fine. Weird. This problem seems to persist with Sandstorm as well, but the tail covering the top in dune buggy mode helps hide this. The back flap and the spoiler pieces aren't secured in any way either, though they're far from floppy. On my copy anyway.

For features in this mode...well, he rolls. Quite well. And he does this despite storing the sword underneath this mode. Bravo, Hasbro! His gun can peg into one of two 5mm ports on the roof in the front or back where the sword will go for helicopter mode. The gun itself has a 5mm peg on a hinge so you can angle it up or down in this mode, and fires a pair of missiles...pressure launch style. Push the slide on the top forward to fire them. They actually go pretty far, and their firing is staggered in case you just want to shoot one missile. It also features a 5mm port on the top and bottom for mounting the sword as a gargantuan bayonet...or whatever else will fit there.

Size comparison with Universe Inferno!



Not that much different in length, is it? So how about we go to helicopter mode?



The helicopter mode is genius in just how different it looks compared to the armored car mode. A big part of this is how the roof of the car comes forward to cover much of the center hood section and give a tapered helicopter nose. The front wheels also get covered by panels while the back ones fold together to make the tail. Landing gear can be deployed, though the nose gear is a pain to dig out. Might not be so much for a kid with smaller fingers. The sword unfolds into the rotor, and with the green guard no longer plugged into the side of the peg, the blades can now spin freely while the peg itself remains still. Again, bravo, Hasbro! As for the gun, it can mount on the underside of the nose via angled clips fitting into the groove that the nose gear swings out from. Obviously, that means the nose gear needs to be flipped in all the way to do it...which is where it really becomes a pain to dig out. With the gun attached, the front does sit up a little higher than it would otherwise, but there have been worse.

How about a comparison with Inferno in this mode?



Quite a little bit longer, even without the gun attached and not counting the blades. But neither mode so far has really looked all that much like what they do in the comic or Nick Roche's concept art for Springer, has it? Well, part of it would have to do with needing to work as a physical toy than just a drawing... How about robot mode?



...Holy cow. While still not all that accurate to his robot mode in the IDW Last Stand of the Wreckers comics, this Springer toy comes DAMN close. Colors are slightly off here and there, but the Takara version solves that if you really need the colors to be perfect and don't mind ponying up the extra cash to import it. But this toy has the wheels in the shoulders and in his lower legs, the wing fins on his lower arms, the fins coming off his knees, the general chest design, (albeit the Autobot symbol is a little small and low, but that lets it be seen in all three modes) and a decent attempt at replicating the shoulder fender things. Of course, if you don't like them and need a little more G1 in your Springer, they don't need to be deployed. But that head sculpt is spot on for IDW Springer, and the light piping works wonderfully.

There's some brilliance with how things work between modes. The shoulders tab into the sides of the chest to be still for the vehicle modes, yet the shoulder joints let them move just low enough to not accidentally tab back in while in robot mode. The shoulder fender things can't slide back down their tracks once turned to the side...although it doesn't take very much to push them back up. The legs feature a joint just above the knee to straighten them out for robot mode, so he doesn't look like he has to go to the bathroom. Both weapons can store on his back via the 5 mm ports. You can unfold the back flap to access the 5mm port used in helicopter mode, or you can use the 5mm port that's on the flap proper. It has a tab to stay in place, but the port...is hovering over his butt.



Springer features about 18 points of articulation. A ball joint for his neck and for each shoulder. He does have a waist, but it's somewhat limited by the back panel being almost directly behind his butt. His elbows and knees are deliciously clicky ratchet joints, though the latter aren't so tight as to prevent posing between ratchet points. No ankle joints sadly, but the feet are molded at an angle to allow a more natural stance. ...And the outward hip joints don't make that impossible unlike who I'm size comparing Springer to. Yeah, I'm not letting that go, Beast Hunters Shockwave.

So, is Generations 30th Springer worth getting? Um, yes! This toy is awesome. He's not perfect, but he's awesome. And consider this: the only alternative for a modern, triple changing Springer-like figure available is FansProject's Warbot Defender. That came out in 2010, is almost confusingly complex, has greater trouble standing on its own, hasn't really aged well, and cost roughly $80 or so...when it was first released. Never mind aftermarket mark up and the bump up in price for later runs of Defender. Generations 30th Springer is much easier and more fun to transform between modes, has a far better sword, stands perfectly fine on its own, and most importantly costs just $30 off the shelf of the local retail store. So if you're in the market for a Springer, this is the best option unless you really have it out against anything tying into IDW.

Oh yeah, and with a bit of fine sanding, Springer works surprisingly well with DOTM Human Alliance Whirl.



"Sweet!"

Springer in general is a great toy, to help beef him up a little, there is a addon kit from Dr Wu which gives you a Gatling gun and a blaster, I gave the blaster to Sandstorm, I dislike his gun in general, because that one is rather hollow underneath, where's Srpinger's looks a lot better! Anyway, rumour has it, that the Springer toy is getting repainted/retooled into Rodimus prime, no idea if that going to come to fruition or not!

Awesome review DB! And anyone that doesn't have this figure yet, GO GET HIM! This was the best retail purchase I made out of all of 2013. Hasbro shocked me by how awesome they made this guy. Rarely am I ever that satisfied by retail purchases that I go out and buy another just to give away as a gift, but this guy was so fucking worthy.

how does Springer scale up to the current vehicle MP's such as Sideswipe?

Most likely to be smaller, I bet!

Galvatron wrote:how does Springer scale up to the current vehicle MP's such as Sideswipe?

Not my pic, but you get the idea:

Galvatron wrote:how does Springer scale up to the current vehicle MP's such as Sideswipe?

It matters little as he doesn't really fit in with them, considering the toy is based on IDW Springer and not G1 cartoon Springer. He's similar size to Prowl's mold, but I think he's supposed to be larger than that to be in scale.

But he can ride in MP-10's trailer...I think. Haven't tried it yet to be honest.