It's quite rare for a transformer figure to show up at retail before it gets an official reveal Nowadays it's even rarer for them to hit retail without getting leaked And yet, here we are. Wave 1 of the Combiner Force subline imprint of RiD legions has shown up at retail in Australia This wave consists of four figures. Grimlock, Optimus Prime, Starscream and Springload. Grimlock and Optimus are the same figures as their previous releases whilst Starscream and Springload are brand new moulds Here, we'll be looking at Springload. PRIASE DORADUS!! The paranoid Amphiboid, Springload has made a handful of appearances in the cartoon over the first two seasons. and his fate was left unclear at the end of season 2 since he was oddly absent from the season finale. a treasure hunter, obsessed with finding the fabled city of Doradus. Springload has a ... loose grip on reality at the best of times. and will attack anyone who gets in the way of his search for the fabled city. up until now, Springload has only had 1 toy released in the RiD toyline, a One-Step changer from right before the "minicon weaponizer" subline imprint. now it's finally time for a more complex figure. ROBOT MODE Springload's body is rather, untraditional, in that he pretty much looks like a mechanical frog. which the designers managed to replicate here remarkably well. whereas the One-Step figure was much flatter and wider, particularly in the head. Legion Springload looks MUCH more faithful to his show mode. even having tiny fake wheels molded onto his shoulder kibble to replicate the placement of his wheels on the show model. Springload's front legs are long, very long. whilst his back legs are much shorter and are molded in a more frog like posture. like the fake wheels on his shoulders, springload also has fake wheels to act as his back feet to mimic the show model as well. the best part of Springload's Mould is definitely his face, it's shaped very accurately to his show model, with large eyes, angy eyebrows, and lots of pointy teeth in his mouth. The only downside to Springload's robot mode is that he is VERY hollow underneath. but for a Legion class figure, its understandable and not as big an issue. another slight downside is that even by legion standards, Springload is tiny. he is really really tiny. in terms of his Colour scheme, Springload is very eye catching. molded mostly in a bright lime green colour with some black plastic on the wheels at the back of his body. to compliment this very froggy colour, Springload has some cyan paint on his front legs, and the roof of his vehicle mode, which sits just behind his head in robot mod. his front windscreen, side windows and fake wheels, are all painted black, and his eyebrows are painted dark blue which works GREAT for the eyebrows. especially with the red paint of his eyes. Springload's lower back/ vehicle mode hood is painted a darker shade of green, and finally his teeth on both his top and bottom jaw are painted white. all in all this is a great colour scheme. although when just taking a quick look at him, the blues and greens all sort of blend into each other. Springload also of course features a sticker for the RiD app on his back/ car roof (Note: Combiner Force toys aren't unlocked when scanned into the app, instead they give a ticket to use with Cryostase to unlock a random character in the game - I got Anvil) POSEABILITY For Poseablility Springload is pretty impressive for a legion. having hinges at his back hips to rotate his back legs forward and backward for jumping poses. Springload's front legs are even more Poseable, being able to rotate at the sides of his torso/vehicle mode and having hinges at the elbows. you can also rotate the side panels of his robot mode with the arms attacked to them out as well. but this is more for transformation. and finally, Springloads lower jaw can open and close for Doradus shouting action!! (sadly no tongue in his mouth, although there is a slight notch moulded into his lower jaw, so perhaps a shapeways tongue may come someday. TRANSFORMATION Springload's transformation is simple, but effective. 1: fold his lower jaw back and into the hollow cavity under his body 2: fold the side panels the arms are attacked to around and cover (most of) Springload's face and form the back of his vehicle mode 3: fold the front robot legs up into the underside of the vehicle mode 4: Bring the back legs down slightly 5: grabbing the hips, rotate them out and around so the legs are now on the inside and the real wheels are now revealed and on the outside. 6: fold the back legs up and into the underside of the body. VEHICLE MODE Springload's vehicle mode is a triumph, unlike his previous One-Step release, which changed his vehicle mode into some sort of muscle car. this new Legion class Springload manages to give him a Pickup Truck alt-mode closer to his show model. there are however a few issues with the vehicle mode. first and formost. Springload's robot mode face is visible in the back up his vehicle mode, in the truck bed. although really, springload being paranoid enough that he needs to be constantly looking behind him while driving sounds like something he would do. another slight issue is the black hingest under his side windows look a little out of place, similar to the Hasbro version of Warrior Thunderhoof. and another issue is that the front grill of the vehicle mode is only painted on the very top of it. the rest being unpainted black plastic. Despite these issues its a charming little vehicle mode that still looks more accurate than the one-step. He also rolls quite well SIZE COMPARISON SPRINGLOAD COMPARISON Hasbro Legion vs Takara One-Step FINAL THOUGHTS Legion Springload is easily the better of the two new moulds released in this wave. and only some of that is my personal bias (Springload is one of my favourite decepticons in RiD2015) he may be really really small. but hes a great little legion figure. Overal I'd rate him an A- so close to being the perfect legion Springload and dethroning Fixit as the best legion in this toyline, if it weren't for a few minor issues with his vehicle mode. Despite that I'd say he is Definitely worth picking up once he hits mass retail. as long as you think you are worthy~ Good froggy
He looks adorable. Definitely gonna grab him if I can find him online or in shops. How does he look when placed next to some of the Warrior class Decepticons?
He looks... Like their pet He's really small. So he doesn't exactly scale the best with warriors But he doesn't necessarily look bad with them
I feel like I should wait for a sale just on principle, because this whole tiny size thing has gotten ridiculous. But I *know* I can't resist...
Wow. I was happy with the One-Step Changer, as I never imagined he'd get a second toy. But this will definitely be going in the collection when it comes out stateside.
This toy is an adorable little triumph. In the legion size class I'd say he's rivaled only by Fixit and perhaps Clampdown in "expressive abilty". I was surprised to hear of his existence, and even more surprised to find him at work (ToysRUs in Colonie, NY). He's not without compromises. But he's an RID Legion and I never expect anything more than "unique" from this line, and Springload delivers. Here's hoping that Springload returns for the Combiner Force season and has a WORTHY!! Warrior Class toy in the pipeline.
Colonie TRU had him?!? AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!! edit: Wait, you work there? It sucks I can't get out of the house right now to hunt, but I can't go anywhere on my own so this will just be another thing I can't get right now.
I'm still holding out hope that a Deluxe version is made. Until then, this guy will be a good stand in.
