Back in the waning days of Generation One, you had the Micromasters. These little transforming fellers could be regarded as the forerunners to Armada’s Minicons. But besides just having a bunch of little Transformers running around, the Micromasters also introduced bases and mini-playsets that some of the Micromasters could tow around like trailers. It’s that concept that was put to good use once again for Overload and Rollout. The only difference is that Rollout’s trailer doesn’t convert into a base, it converts into a giant body that makes him into Overload. A very cool idea, let’s see how it played out.
While technically regarded as a Minicon, Rollout is a heck of a lot bigger and chunkier than any of the other Minicons in Armada. He’s actually closer to the size of a Basic or Scout toy. On his own, he’s a little red truck that transforms into a pretty simple robot.
He also looks kind of awesome and/or ridiculous hooking up to the huge Overload trailer and dragging it along. On it’s own, it’s kind of hard to figure out what the hell the trailer is supposed to be, but Hasbro sure went apeshit with the detail. Every tiny part of this toy is sculpted with something. As for function, well if you happen to have Armada Jetfire, it sure makes a handy little carrier for Jetfire in his shuttle mode.
The tailer transforms into Overload’s body and you basically just plug Rollout into it and he becomes the head. Plugging him in also activates a cool little G1-inspired transformation sound. The sound has been added to a number of Transformers since (Silverbolt and Powerglide to name a couple), but I’m pretty sure Overload here was the first figure to use it. I love just about everything about this sculpt. it’s big and powerful, the colors are perfect, and I particularly love the flip up hatches that reveal banks of missiles. Alas, the only downside to Overload is that he is what we used to call in the days of Generation One… a brick. You can move his arms up and down at the shoulder, but that’s pretty much it. But hey, you don’t need good articulation when you look this cool just standing there.
Like Tidal Wave, Overload was an Armada figure that got repainted for the Energon line. In this case, however, he wasn’t just called EnergonOverload. Instead he was repainted into Ultra Magnus with a G1-style paint scheme. The homage works pretty well with the mold in both vehicle and robot mode. Not to mention the fact that G1 Ultra Magnus was just a white Prime cab that plugged into armor made out of the trailer. Kind of makes me think Hasbro had this planned out all along. Oh yeah, Energon Ultra Magnus tends to sell for an assload of money these days.
Something else you should know about Overload is that like Armada Jetfire, he can combine with Optimus Prime (or Prime and Jetfire) and he can also combine with Prime’s trailer to form a beefier base. You could also daisy chain Prime’s cab with his trailer and the Overload trailer, and heck why not throw Jetfire on top to boot. By the time you’re done you can get one pretty big ass toy going. Unfortunately, I will be showing you none of these combinations in today’s entry or any entry in the near future because I fear the amount of liquor it would take to motivate me to attempt these combinations would also rob me of the motor functions I would need to actually execute them.
FigureFan Zero 