Transformers Armada Max-Con Class Overload (with Rollout): Welcome to the bad disguise club

From personal experience, there seem to be two types of combining toys when it comes to Transformers. The "Combiners", like Abominus, Bruticus, Rail Racer, Superion, and others like it, and then there are those that come off as more like an upgrade kit for another bot. These normally seem to be the two bot combiners, and while that might not accurately describe versions of the function like the Energon Autobots or the Mini-Cons, it does describe today's gimmick victim perfectly. Armada Overload, not to be confused with his more badass Decepticon relative, Overlord.

I'll start with the Mini-Con first because as you'll quickly find out, this toy does not work without either Rollout or Optimus Prime. To my knowledge, Rollout is the biggest Mini-Con made in Armada, if not the biggest Mini-Con ever made. Most of that comes from the fact that Rollout doesn't interact with Overload the same way as other Mini-Cons do with their partners. Most Mini-Cons either activate electronics, deploy and/or fire a spring-loaded weapon, friction fire some ammo for a weapon, and other functions like that. There are a few that do more with their larger partners though, like Sideway's dual Mini-cons being a rider for him in bike mode, and are two different heads for him in robot mode. In the case of Overload and Rollout though, Rollout is the core part of Overload's alternate mode (turning into the truck needed to make Overload into something functional other then being a red brick), a Headmaster for Overload (with electronics that activate when connecting), a Targetmaster for other robots, as well as needing to be a stand-alone robot. As a result, Rollout's not a very good Mini-Con, just due to all the extra things it needs to do, but there is still a certain charm to it. It uses the same transformation ideas that characters like Inferno (not the bug one) still use to this day, just tuck everything behind the stomach, but does not have any articulation in robot mode other then a pair of awkwardly placed, somewhat pointless thigh swivels and some elbow swivels meant more for transformation. It's hard for me to hate this guy though just because of everything he needs to do. His partner on the other hand...

I feel sorry for almost every bot that exists to connect to an Optimus Prime. I do, I genuinely do. Why? Because more often then not, they're going to get the short end of the stick and be made worse for the sake of making that Prime better. Case in point with Overload, because I don't even know what this is supposed to be. A launch ramp for Armada Jetfire? A red brick to help justify Prime's name in Japan, Convoy? While the sculpt work on it is great, and the paint is solid, but underdone at points, the "trailer" is just a bunch of robot parts stuck together, the only thing it hides are the hands. There are no gimmicks in this mode, the only thing it can do is attach itself to Rollout, Optimus directly, or Prime's trailer. The brick motif continues onto the robot mode to, because Overload is even more static then several G1 figures.No necks, no elbows, no knees, and the legs can only bend one way, and can only go two clicks of the ratchet. For a toy to play with, he's fun, and the blocky look to him gives him a real presence, but there isn't a lot here from an adult's perspective. Even figures like Tidal Wave pull off the blocky, powerful robot look while still being able to pull a pose. Everything about this though screams "let me leach on Optimus Prime". So how well do those work?

Starting with the lesser known function, it can connect to Prime's trailer in base mode. Turning the base into an awkward looking turret, letting you put two more spring-loaded launchers on it, and have Prime operate it. It doesn't do much, it's a pretty fixed turret, but it's a simple enough alternate configuration for the guns. The mode it's most well known for though is the ability to connect to Prime's super bot mode. While it's a slight pain to connect it, once it's on, it's secure. It's tight, it's not going anywhere. Does it look ridiculous when attached to Prime? Yes, but it's a good kind of ridiculous. It's at a level of it being so obscured that it comes back to being badass. The same thing can be said for the quality of it. It's not objectively good, but it's still fun for being so bad that it's kind of good.

That's really the best thing I can say about Overload as a whole. Is it good? Objectively no, but it's fun enough to the point where I don't really care. It's fun for kids, it's certainly more durable then toys are nowadays, and for as bad as the execution of the gimmicks are, the result is so stupid that it's badass. Don't get this toy if you don't have Optimus though, because while it doesn't fix Optimus at all, Overload sacrifices everything in order to connect to Optimus, and suffers as a result. Up next, the reason why we did these three, for a reason you'll soon find out, Armada Jetfire. And up next on the main site, with the holidays coming, how about we check out a game for the family, Super Mario Party.