Toy Review - Studio Series 86 Autobot Springer
Studio Series 86 Autobot Springer
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - Remould of Voyager class War for Cybertron Siege Springer
Released here - August 2024
Approximate Retail Price - $100
Approximate Size - 16cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Cybertronian helicopter and car
Main Features/Gimmicks - Triple changer, pistols can be joined to form a larger gun, rotor blades fold into a sword, wrist rocket launcher
Main Colours - Light green, army green, blue grey, light yellow, light duck egg, transparent blue cockpit
Main Accessories - Same two pistols as Siege Springer, main rotor blade, sword, hammer, artillery shell, rifle
This release is a substantial remould of Siege Springer. The lower legs (except the wheels), the helicopter weapons pylons that wrap around his forearms, the folding panels attached to the back of the shoulder pads, the cockpit section and the crotch are the same.
Most noticeable, the shoulders have been redesigned so they now can be tilted outwards independent of the arm as opposed to Siege, which can only be tilted forward up or down. Conversely, the arm can be raised to the side while keeping the shoulder vertical. 86's shoulders are on notched mushroom pegs and are held in vertical, outward or inward tilts. The inward tilt is not animation accurate though and serves no transformation purpose. The right shoulder on my copy doesn't "click" into the vertical position and met resistance, but became easier with rotations - be careful not to twist the mushroom peg off. It's probably a bit of plastic flashing or malformation of the mushroom end. I've read other copies having this defect. It can't tilt inwards like the left shoulder. This matters not for transformation as the shoulders never need to point inwards in car or helicopter modes. And it matters not for animation accuracy.
Other new mould features:
The thighs and upper arms are now rounded, instead of blocky and this is animation correct.
The right forearm accommodates the wrist rocket featured in the 1986 movie.
The hands open and close. The fingers have a small tab on the ends to allow holding of the artillery shell.
The chest is less blocky and more animation accurate.
The backpack is more animation accurate with the addition of the air intakes.
The helicopter blades fold into one large sword, instead of the two separate swords of Siege that insert into the central rotor piece. The peg for the rotors are different sizes and are not interchangeable between the helicopters.
The rifle has the shape of the original G1 toy rifle.
In terms of animation colour, 86 is less saturated and has none of the battle damage markings of Siege. The 1986 movie colours varied a bit, so both figures can be considered colour accurate. The green helicopter blades, though, do feature in the 1986 movie. The helicopter weapons pylons couldn't be made yellow or else the robot's forearms would be yellow - it's one or the other.
Paint application quality is the usual fare. I took a look at several in-store and it was just the usual range of random, tiny blemishes. My figure had a small spot of paint loss on his yellow waist rectangle and my blue grey rifle has a few tiny scuffs.
Transformation is almost identical to Siege. The head is now attached to the chest instead of the cockpit piece but folds into the chest cavity in a similar fashion. As a new added step, the air intakes of the backpack need angling. When trying to separate the joined lower legs in car mode, there are a couple of tabs that lock next to each other. This can be hard to undo, and I've seen one example of those tabs breaking. Both of my figures have some small stress marks there. I might suggest angling the legs (the wheels) away from each other, so the tabs point towards you, to undo this part.
Overall the transformation is straightforward. I found the hardest part was clicking the arms into the side of the car or helicopter modes. The tabs need to be in their correct positions or they won't enter the slots properly. You might have to give the front a squeeze to click in those light green hook tabs in car mode. I also found lining up the legs/feet under the backpack hinge and then tabbing in the backpack a bit fiddly.
Articulation is good with sturdy joints. 86 has an added slot in the front of the knees that locks tightly so when you bend the knees, the lower leg does not rotate at the wheel like with Siege.
So is it worth buying, especially when Siege was Voyager price? I couldn't find Siege at general retail in Australia and imported mine from Hong Kong. The 86 version is a good looking Sunbow Springer. So, if you missed out on Siege, this one is for you, but $100 is a bit much, even with the extra accessories. The artillery shell has very limited playability - it makes me wonder if an 86 ballista will be made, just like there is a standalone 86 throne. Also the shell's tab is not 5mm port compatible, and I was hoping there would be a way to attach it under the helicopter like a bomb, but alas. The movie accurate metal sword is a nice touch. The clean appearance of 86 and less colour saturation gives it a more cartoon style than the battle damaged Siege, but Siege is still pretty animation correct. If you are happy with Siege, 86 might not offer much more. I bought 86 because I prefer the cleaner look and I'm collecting all SS86 figures.
Robot mode:
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Car mode:
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Helicopter mode:
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Transformation tip - to join the arm to the side easier in car mode, start by pushing in the green tab into the side cavity:
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