Car mode is rather uninspiring. It seems a bit too long, as if someone stretched him out in Photoshop. The front reminds of most Lexus models - how generally nice looking cars are marred by bulbous front ends. The cockpit does open, but simply shows an exposed screw. The front wheels are rubber and the rear wheels are plastic. It rolls fine nonetheless. The undercarriage could have been cleaner. His head is clearly visible. His rifle can peg onto the tail section. His sword can store in the undercarriage.
Transformation to chopper mode is surprisingly involved. I'm not a fan of how the thighs slide inwards. They are rather tight and difficult to move. Unless you get them positioned just right, the tail section of the chopper will not stay together. I didn't run into other problems until I got to the wing tips. The yellow swiveling pieces did not want to move initially. While attempting to turn them around, all my previously tabbed together pieces came apart. I got everything cleaned up in the end. Just don't use the flapping bits as leverage.
I like chopper mode a bit more than car mode, but the proportions seem really wonky. Rather than a sleek attack chopper, he looks rather bulbous. The tiny cockpit probably contributes a lot to this effect. The rotor blade doesn't spin very freely. It comes to a stop in less than two rotations. While the rear wheels continue to function, the front wheels no longer touch the ground. His rifle can peg underneath the nose of the chopper.
Going to robot mode is rather straight forward. Transformation of the chest and hood involves a sliding rail that is obscenely tight on my copy. Everything else moved along and tabbed in just fine.
Fans Toys has definitely gotten much better at their face sculpts. They absolutely nailed Springer's likeness. The paint application is done very cleanly on his eyes and torso, but his legs could have used some paint. The line work on his body is almost nonexistent. Die-cast throughout the figure gives it a very hefty weight. I wish that more care had been taken to hide the tires on his forearms and shins.
His head is on a hinge and swivel. He can look up and down a decent amount. His shoulders are on swivels and ratcheted hinges. He can raise his arms up and out to his sides 90 degrees. However, his shoulder articulation is somewhat limited. In order to put his arms out to the side, his shoulders have to be up at his ears. He swivels at his biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs. His elbows are single-jointed and can curl just past 90 degrees. His thumbs are on ball joints. The rest of his fingers are single-pinned and have two knuckles each. I wish Fans Toys would bring back the finger articulation found in Phoenix. His waist swivel is ratcheted, but is limited by his backpack. His knees are double-jointed and ratcheted. They can only curl about 90 degrees because the tail fins on his calves get in the way. His ankles are on rockers, but not tilts. Fans Toys should really consider ratcheted ankles. Quite a few of their figures have wonky ankles that would be fixed by ratchets. His toes are on hinges and swivels.
His accessories include a rifle and two swords. The rifle is covered entirely in a metallic silver and has decent line work. It uses a Masterpiece-styled tab that does not work at all. The layer of paint has made the tab too large for the slots in his hands. It's difficult to force into place and will pop out on its own, but there is enough tension in his fingers to keep him from dropping the rifle entirely. Despite the obvious seam for transformation into his chopper blade, the sword is done very nicely. The blade is metallic silver and the handle and guard seem to be metallic green. It fits just fine in his hands.
Apache will stand on my Fans Toys shelf and also serve as my Masterpiece stand-in. I like his robot mode aesthetics the most out of all the Springer options available. I don't think any of the Springers in my collection have captured his car mode to my liking.
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