Springload's vehicle mode is a picku-- waaaaitaminute. This isn't Springload's vehicle mode in the show! In the show, Springload's vehicle mode is an old rickety pickup truck. This version has his alt mode as a monster truck! Well, that kinda stinks. I mean, I like monster trucks, but that's kind of a big difference from the show. Regardless, the monster truck mode is pretty well-done overall, with pretty decent proportions. The only real proportional issue I see is that the top of the truck doesn't come up above the body quite enough, so the windows aren't as tall as they should be. From a straight-on side view, you can also see just a bit of Springload's legs, but this isn't visible from the vast majority of normal angles, so I find this a minor downside. The mold detailing on most of the vehicle mode is fairly minimal, as is typical of RID2015 toys, but there's a couple of relatively intricate details. The grill on the front has some nifty angular details on it; there's little vents on the sides behind the doors; and the wheels have some interesting curved treads that look pretty cool. I LOVE how Springload's red eyes peak up just a titch from the front hood, with the grill looking like a clenched mouth. Normally I wouldn't like those obvious eyes in vehicle mode, but here it's all done fairly well, like he's "peeking out". As for the color scheme as a whole, the vast majority of this mode is a quite nice shade of light milky forest green, which of course fits a frog-former pretty well. There's a little bit of pale light green seen near the back end, but it's not very prominent in this mode. As for a monster truck, they're all kinds of crazy colors so it fits one as much as any another, I suppose. Beyond the black tires and metallic black paint on the windows (but not the rear window, alas), there's also some light blue paint on the rims above the wheels, silver on the grill, and some light metallic blue on the headlights. My favorite color is the metallic leafy green stripe down the center of the front hood; I really wish it was used more often on the toy, it really attracts the eye. A couple of details-- like the rear "bars" behind the windows and the taillights-- are begging for some paint, particularly on the back half. There's a bit too much unbroken light milky green plastic back there as is.
    To transform Springload to beast mode, you pull apart his vehicle mode at the back legs, and the rest auto-transforms by itself. The end result is.... okay, I suppose, but compared to the show model it's a bit inaccurate and the proportions are definitely off. For one thing, the entire front section of the vehicle mode-- including the front two wheels-- just hangs unceremoniously above and behind his head and on top of his body. It's a pretty substantial eyesore, though then again this is fairly accurate to the show model (though it's larger on the toy than on the model). The main body of the toy is unchanged, but the frog face is now revealed totally (not just the eyes), with a large maw with some oddly angular silver teeth, which I... would definitely not expect on a frog. I really wish the large mouth was painted red or something to emphasize it more, and the eyebrows also need to be painted as they're pretty loudly emphasized on the show model (and larger than they are on this toy, as well). The back end is a bit messy, given that the sides of the vehicle mode are very obviously just... well.. chunks of the vehicle mode. They're situated like slightly splayed back legs, of course, but they mostly don't look like legs. The actual legs that flip out from under the toy for this mode are definitely too small proportionally, especially for a frog, and just look off. It's especially kind of weird given that the rear legs have wheels for feet (as is accurate to the show model), but they're way too small and not detailed in terms of paint, and are right next to the REAL wheels on the sides of the back legs. I'm not too fond of the shade of green used for the legs, either; it's a bit too pale and ugly, like it's faded in the sun. Without any paint, they look even worse. And to add even MORE insult on top of injury, the front two legs don't lock into place-- if you pick Springload up, the legs just kinda dangle there, moving slightly back-and-forth below his body without ever sticking into one spot. It's honestly a bit annoying, especially since this mode has no real articulation. No leg articulation, and even though it LOOKS like Springload can chomp down on his jaw, if you do so it starts to auto-transform him back to vehicle mode, which is a shame.
    Springload is one of my favorite RID2015 designs-- on the show. THIS toy falls woefully short in both modes. In vehicle mode, Springload's pretty decent, but is completely inaccurate to the show; in robot mode, Springload's just mostly an inaccurate mess with large obvious truck parts, an inaccurately-sculpted head, and laughably tiny legs. Get the Legion class version instead.
 

Review by Beastbot

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