Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 14, 2007 11:16:27 GMT
I've been meaning to review Overload for some while now. He's on of the Armada toys I missed out first time - which is odd cos I could swear I did write a review for both him and Skywarp which I got on the same day.
Overload has an odd relationship with the UK - he's one of the few toys that was definitely released over here that almost no-one has seen. The only place that ever seemed to have them was Woolworths for a few brief weeks in 2003 when they had an offer on. I'm not sure I know anyone who saw more than one. The UK release differs from the US version in that it's packaged in the earlier Armada box rather than the Powerlinx battles packaging seen in the US. I *believe* he shipped in a case with Skywarp, but I'm not 100% sure as Hasbro UK was doing a lot of one character Voyager cases at the time (a sure fire line killer) and Skywarp - who I think sold with him, I know I bought them on the same day from the Abingdon Woolworths - was seen solid cased being clearanced at the Entertainer.
Any references to Optimus Prime and Jetfire refer to the Armada versions.
Overload www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Overload/overload.htm
Overload is an odd toy in an odd toy range. During Beast Wars there was a very back to basics approach with carded toys that just transformed - and maybe fired a missile. As the line wore on, and into Beast Machines, gimmicks were introduced. Armada gets to a point where play value and gimmicks are placed over articulation so there's a lot of quite static toys that do something, which came at a time when TF fans had come to expect enhanced articulation. Overload is very static in robot mode which is a black mark against it. Overload also has odd alternate modes - like Godbomber before him it only seems to exist to be used with another TF, in the case Optimus Prime and Jetfire.
Overload's Primary Alt Mode is a Transporter vehicle heavily coloured red with some grey and black visible. His Minicon, Rollout, forms a Truck Cab dwarfed by the massive trailer which slopes down on top towards the back, which terminates in a pair of massive blast shields. This is meant as a carrier and launch assembly for Jetfire's shuttle mode. The body has lots of cannons molded into the bodywork as detailing but nothing that actually can be moved up and down or fired. There's a pair of cannons you may not have noticed under the bodywork at the front of the trailer - these need to be folded out to the sides. The Trailer can be towed by Rollout, or by Op's Tractor mode, or - via a fold down connector - Op's Trailer.
I think my main problem with this mode is that it just sits there. There's nothing to do with or fiddle with. Jetfire can be sat on top, but he just sits there too on an angle of about 20 degrees which isn't an ideal one to launch a shuttle from - all launches I've seen have been vertical. Some sort of mechanism to raise the shuttle platform to vertical would have been a nice inclusion. You've also got the big solid lumps of plastic forming the base of the truck which hide the wheels. Surely these are large enough to house the much underused Minicon Gear mechanism which would have allowed Overload to power 2 minicons as he moved. There's 2 minicon ports here which end up on the robot's forearms - I'd have sited the gimmick here.
A little fiddling means you can raise the bed of the shuttle launcher up to horizontal, and fold down the blast shields to form something more like a traditional car carrier. Which may have been what they were originally thinking of....
To TF to robot mode start by uncoupling the truck bed and setting Rollout aside. Fold the guns back under the front of the truck body. Pull the bed of the shuttle launcher up to vertical. Separate the blast shields and the structure they're connected to along the axis of symmetry through the truck's body, then fold each half out to the side and forward locking onto the front of the truck. Uncouple the halves of the launcher bed, and fold each from the middle at the top 90 degrees out to the sides. Raise both at the black hinges so the point into the air. Fold both round a further 90 degrees - they'll only turn one way - and fold the tops down to form the feet which you can now stand the robot on. The basic shape is there but needs some finishing off - Fold down the blast shields - revealing the hands - and lock onto what we shall now call the arms. Rotate both arms forward, and then rotate both forearms round at where the elbows would be. Recess the arms into the shoulders shortening the arms but pushing a small pillar out the top of the shoulders - very G1 Ultra Magnus. Take Rollout now, fold down the front of the truck, flip out the entire head mechanism, fold up the front and slot the minicon into Overload's chest cavity - triggering the G1 cartoon transforming sound - to form Overload's head and chest. No other Minicon is so integral to the robot form of their partner.
The overall look of Overload is very G1 Ultra Magnus - especially the arms as we've already mentioned. To cap the look off we have Autobot symbols mounted on each shoulder. These are on a panel which flips up to reveal a molded array of 10 missiles underneath. The red is carried over into this mode - you can't really go too wrong with a big red robot. As intimated above the articulation is limited - Not quite the brick of some older toys but his only meaningful articulation is fore and aft at the shoulders - and at the hips but this is mainly a by-product of the TF as is the swing to the sides at the hips and where the elbows would be. As well as the minicon ports on his forearms he has a paid on the outside of his lower legs, one on each of his shoulder pillars, and one that it is Rollout's trailer hitch behind the large Overload head. The forearms have the trailer wheels pointing forward which would have made it possible to power the gear gimmick in this mode by turning the wheel with your finger. A standard peg hole adorns each fist, though due to the size of Overload's forearms he's limited by what he can hold in them - although he can hold the Skyboom shield and Starsabre he can't hold the Requiem Blaster. Which makes what happens later a bit odd.
We aren't done yet though. Remove Rollout and return to cab mode. Fold the underside of the rear down to form legs, pull the trailer hitch up slightly and fold the halves of the top of the rear out to the sides and forward to form arms. Fold the trailer hitch down to become the back. Fold up the smaller head from the back of the larger head. The resulting robot - a very large minicon, probably bigger than most Spychangers - has shoulders that move fore and aft, and some turn outwards at the hips. He's also got a base to command !
From the remainder of the robot mode fold up the blast shields to cover the robot's fists. Swing the arms do they point straight down alongside his legs - there's a small tab on each blast shield which should slot into where the knees would be. You are then able to slide the lower legs and feet sideways onto the ends of the arms. Raise the shoulders up so the arms point forward. Open the panels up on the front of the lower legs, and fold the feet up into them revealing the missile launchers at the rear of the lower legs. By folding the upper legs forward slightly it's possible to get this mode to sit by itself but it belongs combined with Op's base mode: Fold the soundbox down from behind the legs so it points straight down. Lock the toy onto Ops' base mode by positioning the clips inside the bottom of the upper leg over the studs sticking up from the base that are used to lock Supermode Op's upper body on with. The cannons will then be positioned either side of the platform on the base. Said cannons each fire one missile via a trigger in the side.
Nearly there ! One more mode. Fold the soundbox down 90 degrees more, and then fold out the clip that's hidden underneath it. Swing each upper leg out to the sides and fold up 90 degrees. Fold the arms/guns down 90 degrees. Slide Overload onto Superbase Op's Combined robot mode with the clip locking onto both pylons that form the sides of the cavity for the head in all other modes. Optimus' small robot arms are pointing up alongside this cavity, they will then peg into Overload's body. This gives Prime a pair of HUGE forward mounted shoulder cannons. If this isn't enough of an odd on for Prime take Rollout, convert to truck mode, turn over, and flip a pair of Gun Barrels out from the rear of the truck to convert Rollout into a double cannon which can be held by the trailer hitch.
So we have a truck minicon who's also a head and a target master which combines with a trailer with 3 other modes, 2 of which combine with larger toys. This toy does a lot, but it suffers somewhat from having 4 modes weakening the 2 main ones - the transporter and robot. It is a very good toy, but it's more a toy to be played with and enjoyed than to be action posed on your shelf.
Ultra Magnus www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/UltraMagnus/ultramagnus.htm
The obvious repaint of this toy would be Ultra Magnus. And that's exactly what they did at the start of Energon. I've an existing review of E Magnus at uk.geocities.com/philip_ayres@btopenworld.com/EnergonUltraMagnus.html so I'll be brief here. What's basically happened is they've gone for a look apeing the RID Magnus rather than directly to the G1 version. Lots of dark blue, with some white and grey. It looks quite Magnusy but also feel a bit lacking in the Red department which is dominant on G1 Magnus' front.
However due to the modular nature of the Overload mold you can swap the Minicon and lower legs round - some interesting combinations can be achieved.
Ultra Magnus was sold as an Ultra sized Energon toy upping him one size class but throwing in a Minicon team. Unfortunately it was the Space team. As we intimated above the combined form can't be held by Magnus !
Released in the US this was an insanely hard to find limited run toy. So it came as quite a surprise when it was widely released in the UK. So widely that it got clearanced big time !
Costco Overload www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/CostcoOverload/overload.htm
This version takes Overload and repaints it yellow package with a repainted Optimus Prime - see uk.geocities.com/philip_ayres@btopenworld.com/ArmadaRepaints.html The yellow is a nice construction machinery colour and works well on this toy. Given that the Op it's packaged with resembles Clench, and that the 3rd part of this team - Jetfire - is recoloured as Astrotrain - it might of been nice if this set had been made Decepticon.
Crystal Magnus ooebihara.sakura.ne.jp/ganngu/00/ganngu114.htm
A Japanese exclusive packaged with Final Battle Optimus Prime. The majority of the red and grey parts in this toy are molded in clear coloured plastic. I find it odd that certain bits - the blast shields, waist and side guns - aren't. It looks nice but it's a very expensive set.
Sentinel Maximus www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/SentinelMaximus/sentinelmaximus.htm
A convention exclusive with remolded giant robot head - looks like Optimus Prime - which is supposedly a combination of Apelinq and Primal Prime. That colour influence comes over well in the toy even though it looks a lad gaudy in robot mode
Overload has an odd relationship with the UK - he's one of the few toys that was definitely released over here that almost no-one has seen. The only place that ever seemed to have them was Woolworths for a few brief weeks in 2003 when they had an offer on. I'm not sure I know anyone who saw more than one. The UK release differs from the US version in that it's packaged in the earlier Armada box rather than the Powerlinx battles packaging seen in the US. I *believe* he shipped in a case with Skywarp, but I'm not 100% sure as Hasbro UK was doing a lot of one character Voyager cases at the time (a sure fire line killer) and Skywarp - who I think sold with him, I know I bought them on the same day from the Abingdon Woolworths - was seen solid cased being clearanced at the Entertainer.
Any references to Optimus Prime and Jetfire refer to the Armada versions.
Overload www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Overload/overload.htm
Overload is an odd toy in an odd toy range. During Beast Wars there was a very back to basics approach with carded toys that just transformed - and maybe fired a missile. As the line wore on, and into Beast Machines, gimmicks were introduced. Armada gets to a point where play value and gimmicks are placed over articulation so there's a lot of quite static toys that do something, which came at a time when TF fans had come to expect enhanced articulation. Overload is very static in robot mode which is a black mark against it. Overload also has odd alternate modes - like Godbomber before him it only seems to exist to be used with another TF, in the case Optimus Prime and Jetfire.
Overload's Primary Alt Mode is a Transporter vehicle heavily coloured red with some grey and black visible. His Minicon, Rollout, forms a Truck Cab dwarfed by the massive trailer which slopes down on top towards the back, which terminates in a pair of massive blast shields. This is meant as a carrier and launch assembly for Jetfire's shuttle mode. The body has lots of cannons molded into the bodywork as detailing but nothing that actually can be moved up and down or fired. There's a pair of cannons you may not have noticed under the bodywork at the front of the trailer - these need to be folded out to the sides. The Trailer can be towed by Rollout, or by Op's Tractor mode, or - via a fold down connector - Op's Trailer.
I think my main problem with this mode is that it just sits there. There's nothing to do with or fiddle with. Jetfire can be sat on top, but he just sits there too on an angle of about 20 degrees which isn't an ideal one to launch a shuttle from - all launches I've seen have been vertical. Some sort of mechanism to raise the shuttle platform to vertical would have been a nice inclusion. You've also got the big solid lumps of plastic forming the base of the truck which hide the wheels. Surely these are large enough to house the much underused Minicon Gear mechanism which would have allowed Overload to power 2 minicons as he moved. There's 2 minicon ports here which end up on the robot's forearms - I'd have sited the gimmick here.
A little fiddling means you can raise the bed of the shuttle launcher up to horizontal, and fold down the blast shields to form something more like a traditional car carrier. Which may have been what they were originally thinking of....
To TF to robot mode start by uncoupling the truck bed and setting Rollout aside. Fold the guns back under the front of the truck body. Pull the bed of the shuttle launcher up to vertical. Separate the blast shields and the structure they're connected to along the axis of symmetry through the truck's body, then fold each half out to the side and forward locking onto the front of the truck. Uncouple the halves of the launcher bed, and fold each from the middle at the top 90 degrees out to the sides. Raise both at the black hinges so the point into the air. Fold both round a further 90 degrees - they'll only turn one way - and fold the tops down to form the feet which you can now stand the robot on. The basic shape is there but needs some finishing off - Fold down the blast shields - revealing the hands - and lock onto what we shall now call the arms. Rotate both arms forward, and then rotate both forearms round at where the elbows would be. Recess the arms into the shoulders shortening the arms but pushing a small pillar out the top of the shoulders - very G1 Ultra Magnus. Take Rollout now, fold down the front of the truck, flip out the entire head mechanism, fold up the front and slot the minicon into Overload's chest cavity - triggering the G1 cartoon transforming sound - to form Overload's head and chest. No other Minicon is so integral to the robot form of their partner.
The overall look of Overload is very G1 Ultra Magnus - especially the arms as we've already mentioned. To cap the look off we have Autobot symbols mounted on each shoulder. These are on a panel which flips up to reveal a molded array of 10 missiles underneath. The red is carried over into this mode - you can't really go too wrong with a big red robot. As intimated above the articulation is limited - Not quite the brick of some older toys but his only meaningful articulation is fore and aft at the shoulders - and at the hips but this is mainly a by-product of the TF as is the swing to the sides at the hips and where the elbows would be. As well as the minicon ports on his forearms he has a paid on the outside of his lower legs, one on each of his shoulder pillars, and one that it is Rollout's trailer hitch behind the large Overload head. The forearms have the trailer wheels pointing forward which would have made it possible to power the gear gimmick in this mode by turning the wheel with your finger. A standard peg hole adorns each fist, though due to the size of Overload's forearms he's limited by what he can hold in them - although he can hold the Skyboom shield and Starsabre he can't hold the Requiem Blaster. Which makes what happens later a bit odd.
We aren't done yet though. Remove Rollout and return to cab mode. Fold the underside of the rear down to form legs, pull the trailer hitch up slightly and fold the halves of the top of the rear out to the sides and forward to form arms. Fold the trailer hitch down to become the back. Fold up the smaller head from the back of the larger head. The resulting robot - a very large minicon, probably bigger than most Spychangers - has shoulders that move fore and aft, and some turn outwards at the hips. He's also got a base to command !
From the remainder of the robot mode fold up the blast shields to cover the robot's fists. Swing the arms do they point straight down alongside his legs - there's a small tab on each blast shield which should slot into where the knees would be. You are then able to slide the lower legs and feet sideways onto the ends of the arms. Raise the shoulders up so the arms point forward. Open the panels up on the front of the lower legs, and fold the feet up into them revealing the missile launchers at the rear of the lower legs. By folding the upper legs forward slightly it's possible to get this mode to sit by itself but it belongs combined with Op's base mode: Fold the soundbox down from behind the legs so it points straight down. Lock the toy onto Ops' base mode by positioning the clips inside the bottom of the upper leg over the studs sticking up from the base that are used to lock Supermode Op's upper body on with. The cannons will then be positioned either side of the platform on the base. Said cannons each fire one missile via a trigger in the side.
Nearly there ! One more mode. Fold the soundbox down 90 degrees more, and then fold out the clip that's hidden underneath it. Swing each upper leg out to the sides and fold up 90 degrees. Fold the arms/guns down 90 degrees. Slide Overload onto Superbase Op's Combined robot mode with the clip locking onto both pylons that form the sides of the cavity for the head in all other modes. Optimus' small robot arms are pointing up alongside this cavity, they will then peg into Overload's body. This gives Prime a pair of HUGE forward mounted shoulder cannons. If this isn't enough of an odd on for Prime take Rollout, convert to truck mode, turn over, and flip a pair of Gun Barrels out from the rear of the truck to convert Rollout into a double cannon which can be held by the trailer hitch.
So we have a truck minicon who's also a head and a target master which combines with a trailer with 3 other modes, 2 of which combine with larger toys. This toy does a lot, but it suffers somewhat from having 4 modes weakening the 2 main ones - the transporter and robot. It is a very good toy, but it's more a toy to be played with and enjoyed than to be action posed on your shelf.
Ultra Magnus www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/UltraMagnus/ultramagnus.htm
The obvious repaint of this toy would be Ultra Magnus. And that's exactly what they did at the start of Energon. I've an existing review of E Magnus at uk.geocities.com/philip_ayres@btopenworld.com/EnergonUltraMagnus.html so I'll be brief here. What's basically happened is they've gone for a look apeing the RID Magnus rather than directly to the G1 version. Lots of dark blue, with some white and grey. It looks quite Magnusy but also feel a bit lacking in the Red department which is dominant on G1 Magnus' front.
However due to the modular nature of the Overload mold you can swap the Minicon and lower legs round - some interesting combinations can be achieved.
Ultra Magnus was sold as an Ultra sized Energon toy upping him one size class but throwing in a Minicon team. Unfortunately it was the Space team. As we intimated above the combined form can't be held by Magnus !
Released in the US this was an insanely hard to find limited run toy. So it came as quite a surprise when it was widely released in the UK. So widely that it got clearanced big time !
Costco Overload www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/CostcoOverload/overload.htm
This version takes Overload and repaints it yellow package with a repainted Optimus Prime - see uk.geocities.com/philip_ayres@btopenworld.com/ArmadaRepaints.html The yellow is a nice construction machinery colour and works well on this toy. Given that the Op it's packaged with resembles Clench, and that the 3rd part of this team - Jetfire - is recoloured as Astrotrain - it might of been nice if this set had been made Decepticon.
Crystal Magnus ooebihara.sakura.ne.jp/ganngu/00/ganngu114.htm
A Japanese exclusive packaged with Final Battle Optimus Prime. The majority of the red and grey parts in this toy are molded in clear coloured plastic. I find it odd that certain bits - the blast shields, waist and side guns - aren't. It looks nice but it's a very expensive set.
Sentinel Maximus www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/SentinelMaximus/sentinelmaximus.htm
A convention exclusive with remolded giant robot head - looks like Optimus Prime - which is supposedly a combination of Apelinq and Primal Prime. That colour influence comes over well in the toy even though it looks a lad gaudy in robot mode
