I just got him recently. A very, very good figure. I am glad I did not purchase Warbot or any of the older official Springers

Haven't transformed him into any of his alt modes yet. I am too scared to get his headfin (or whatever else it is called) scraped during transformation. There seems to be a possible collission if I attempt to put his head down and raise his chestpiece up. Anyone experiencing a similar problem?

 

They can (and probably will) collide as it's tough to manage his head in that part of the transformation, but no noticeable scraping yet.

 

Yep, it really pays off sometimes, to just wait for the correct figure and not just buy whatever they release.

 

Bend his head forward, like he's looking down at his feet for starters. Then It's just a matter of swiveling the chest piece at the right point, and they'll BARELY miss each other. It takes some fiddling.

 

@DrTraveler and jametron: Thanks for the response, guys! will get back to Springer and attempt to transform him later.

@Mursame: Yup, that's right. Springer was really worth waiting for. Will be getting Sandstorm next time.

In a related matter, I do hope that Takara/Hasbro would release an upscaled/Deluxe version of that Legends Class Starscream. I originally wanted to purchase the Classics Seekers but I felt that they are rather dated mold-wise despite liking the G1 accurate designs/Earth-based alt-modes. About the FOC Seekers, though cool looking, I really do want updated versions of the Classics Seeker molds. Though I'm not to fond of Cybertronian alt-modes, I do have exceptions though. like WFC/FOC Soundwave for an example, at least his vehicle alt-mode would give him nicer proportions than being a casette.

One of the releases I am really wishing for would be an updated and possibly Voyager-sized Apeface.

 

Just opened mine - had since October. I'm big on MISB but I am so happy I opened him, great figure. Will need a little future but so impressed by him. Good job hasbro.

 

Generations Springer

Springer's original toy, used in the 1986 Movie, the cartoon and the UK comics was a triple changer. But all his subsequent versions have tended to concentrate on one mode. His Energon (Bulkhead is meant to be Springer, it's obvious!), Universe, Movie and Generations GDO are all helicopters while his Botcon 2007 is a ground vehicle. Until the 30th Anniversary Generations line a triple changer hadn't been attempted....

Springer comes in robot mode: we'll start by transforming him to helicopter mode:

Fold the head down. Fold the chest plate up to form the nose of the helicopter, pushing the head through it and down into the chest cavity. Lower the front landing gear. Bring the legs together. pegging the upper parts of the lower legs into each other. Push the ankle joint back, raise the feet and push the heel spurs into the feet. Lower the rear landing gear. Pull the shoulders down locking them into the sides of the lower chest. Lift the clear plastic panel side of the lower arm, fold the fist into it, and close the panel over it.

Unfold the lower arm, the wing panel should fold out. Fold the clear plastic & fist section out round the underside of the elbow. Fold the wing panel in so it locks onto the outside of the upper arm - the joint connecting the two upper arm panels should be bent where it meets the clear plastic/fist panel, not where it meets the wing panel. Bend the legs forward slightly at the knee and peg the upper legs into the panel hanging down behind them. Split the sword in two and fold the halves out to the side. Peg the handle into the silver surrounded 5mm hole on the top of the helicopter. Fold the fins on the rear of the helicopter out to the sides.

So he's green, yellow and grey which works to start with. The rotor blade spins freely which is good and it looks like a helicopter. The back and the sides of the sides of the fuselage don't look right, the portions made from the folded out arm panels. I can see what they're trying to do with them but it doesn't really work. One of the problems with being a triple changer I guess, as are the wheels visible through the panels at the front.

Springer comes with a double barreled missile launcher. In helicopter mode this clips on under his nose: fold the landing gear back and up into the nose cavity and slot it into the space vacated by the landing gear. The hold is so so when you've got it slotted in but the slotting in is a bit tricky. Why they didn't just put a 5mm peg under the nose for the gun's handle I don't know. It also has the effect of loosing the wheel for the front landing gear which isn't great. There's a spare 5mm port on the roof of the toy but you can't really mount the gun there without affetng the rotor's ability to spin because the clearance is too low.

Broadly aspeaking I think we'll call his helicopter mode a success but some of the details are frustrating.

Transform to vehicle mode: remove the missile launcher/fold the landing gear up. Fold the cockpit and roof section back revealing a longer nose. Fold out the lower arms sections of the sides, with the wing pointing in, and raise the clear window sections. Swing the side sections forward and lock onto the sides of the nose, folding back the panels covering the front wheels. Fold the rear of the tail forward to form the rear sides of the vehicle and the rear wheels and then fold the tail fins out to the sides. Mount the cannon on thevehicle using the 5mm peg. Fold the swords together then slide into the underside of the car, between the outer halves of the shoulder blades, locking the landing gear into place on top of it.

While I can't quite get the panels on the front of the car mode to lock together as I'd like, this is a surprisingly solid car which I'm really quite impressed with. I've seen far worse car modes on toys that doidn't have a third mode and you couldn't tell there's a helicopter in there.

To transform back to robot fold the rear sides back to form the lower legs, tucking the folded up tail fins behind them. Fold the feet forward and heel spurs back. Pull the sides of the car away from the body and pull the car side panels out swinging forwards to cover the front wheel. Fold the wing panel outand onto the side of the car. Fold the fist out and then fold the side window panel down to cover it (one of mine doesn't qute fold into place properly). Pull the shoulders out to the sides. Pull the helicopter landing gear out. Fold the head up. Fold the front of the vehicle modes down over the head, forming the robot chest, folding the landing gear in under the head. Peg the sides of the chest in place and unpeg the arms from them. Fold the top of the vehicle up onto his back. Slide the back of Springer's shoulders up and out to the side form wings. Place weapons in hand.

Springer is heavily based on Nick Roche's design (he was rather pleased when he found out) for Last Stand of The Wreckers (read it if you haven't already). This design gets the crucial details right: yellow chest, green head anmd lots of green & gry on the limbs. He's shoved full of articulation featuring some ankle movement thanks to transformation, bending knees, thigh swivels, universal joint at each hip, a waist swivel, ball jointed head, shoulders that raise and are ball jointed, bicep swivels, bending elbowa and wrist swivels. The head is lightpiped in clear blue. Each hand is a 5mm peg hole but he also has storage space for both weapons on his back thanks to two 5mm peg holes there.

This toy is a really good Springer. Yes you have to make some allowances for the toy being a triple changer in the vehicle modes but that's to be expected. It's captured the character well, including all his essential features. But the real genius of this toy mould design is yet to come....

Springer was released in the USA in the first Generations 30th anniversary Voyager wave alongside Blitzwing. He has appeared in at least one revision of most of the Voyager waves since. You can see pictures of the US version in TFW 2005's Springer gallery

Springer was released in Japan as Generations toy TG-21 Autobot Springer, which had some paint differences to the US version. You can see pictures of the Japanese version at Alfe's Toy Blog entries 2039 and 2040

See Sandstorm Thread post 284 for the Sandstorm potion of this review.

Future Repaints

I've seen it suggested elsewhere that the first wave Generations Voyagers should be repainted as the Decepticon Duocons, Springer becoming Battletrap while Blitzwing becomes Flywheels (still think the names are the wrong way round on the Duocons) - see here on the IDW boards for a custom version.

Another reasonably obvious candidate for a Red Springer would be Quickstrike, the red repaint of his Energon form Bulkhead.

Customiser Cheetimus loves the Springer mould having used it as Drft and two versions of Age of Extinction Drift: see here and here.

 

If anyone wants a more G1 looking gun for Springer, I found this at shapeways:

https://www.shapeways.com/model/119164/springer-gun.html?materialId=6

It is HUGE, really detailed, and it looks really great in Generations Springer's hand, even when it is unpainted.

 

So glad you freed your toy from it's prison lol. j/k

 

Im sure this has been posted many times before ( I missed the memo) but you can make a gun arm like the movie bots. Same for Sandstorm.

 

News to me. That's Pretty cool!

 

Cool

 

I just did that with Sandstorm and it fits his gun very nicely. I think that's how Ill display so that he is different than springer

cool find

 

Aww man! This makes his gun look so awesome! Great find!

 

can anyone help me? my springer's eyes wont light up no matter how much light there is or how close the light is. if anyone can help that would be great

 

I had this same problem only because the light piping wasn't in the eye sockets! Took the head apart and found they were pushed downwards behind the face so I reinserted them, but because the plastic had been stressed they're not as clear/bright as let's say Sandstorm's.

 

ok thanks, its been bugging me not knowing why springers eyes were'nt lighting up

 

Not sure where to post this, but was messing with the Autobot Heroes boxset version of this guy recently.
And for the first time in my life, I managed to get both sides of his windshield to stay pegged in:



I feel like I've attained the fourth plane of enlightenment in Buddhism, and I'm also afraid to look at him the wrong way.

 

Still loving this guy...

 

Burn the witch!