Springer (ROTF)

The name or term "Springer" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Springer (disambiguation).

Springer is an Autobot from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.

I've got better things to do tonight than appear in the actual movie!

In a fight, Springer has formidable brute force he can rely on, which is good, since he is not one of the more skillful bots. Even so, he is smart, but has only risen to be a middle of the Autobot ranks.

Toys

Revenge of the Fallen

Ditched to make room for a redeco.

• Autobot Springer (Legends Class, 2009)

Part of the second wave of Revenge of the Fallen Legends Class figures, Springer is an olive drab and dark gray V-22 Osprey helicopter. He has "5PR1N63R" printed on the tops of his wings. His twin engines do not pivot upward like a real Osprey, but the propellers themselves can be flipped up to approximate VTOL capability. In a surprising bit of attention to detail, the port and starboard rotors have opposite "handedness", just like a real aircraft.

The stock photography for this toy is considerably brighter in color, with a bright base green colors and rich forest green, instead of the final version's far more muted palette.

This mold was also used to make Blades from the Kmart-exclusive "War for the Skies" battlepack.

• More information on Springer at TFU.info

Merchandise

Battle of the bird legs.

Robot Heroes

• Autobot Springer / Starscream (2009)

Springer is part of the first wave of Revenge of the Fallen "Robot Heroes" figures, packaged with a new-mold version of Starscream. He has articulation at both shoulders.

Notes

• According to Hasbro's Saturday panel at BotCon 2009, Springer was to be an on-screen character in Revenge of the Fallen, but was later dropped. Ben Procter designed his robot mode, which also strongly influenced Alex Milne's design for Incinerator (another Osprey Transformer) in IDW Publishing's Alliance comic, as well as toyline Autobot Blazemaster.

• Springer is the third Osprey Transformer in the movieverse, the other two being Incinerator and Ruination. (Only three Osprey helicopters were part of the United States Air Force inventory at the time of the first film's release, two of them appearing in the film itself. As of May 2009, there's four of 'em...but the Marines have, like, 150 of 'em.)

• Given that the real Osprey is 60 feet long, Springer (like most aircraft Transformers) would be rather large if scale was attended to. He's actually in pretty good scale with the Legends version of Devastator. Yet his only toys are in the smallest size classes.