Toy Review - TFC Hercules Exgraver
I recently got in the TFC Hercules Exgraver and I thought I would share my opinion on him.
Firstly the price - This was the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. I originally had him preordered on BBTS (with the toatal price of $114 inc. postage) then cancelled my preorder. I then saw more pics and preordered again on BBTS, then cancelled my preorder.
Eventually, I just settled with Robot Kingdom who had the much fairer price of around $97 including postage.
The figure quality - I am sure most people are more interested about this than anything else. The quality of the plastic is very good. The figure is very sturdy and the joints are tight. I have to say I think the plastic quality is very good and it does not feel cheap.
I don't feel ripped off with the quality of plastic if that is more precise to ease people's concerns.
There is some scraping on the shoulder which connects to the backpack piece. This has caused some black paint to rub off onto the green shoulder piece.
The figure transformation - This is very, very basic. In fact, I would say it is scout basic. I am by no means good at transforming figures (yes, I do need the instructions) but even for me I thought it was very easy. I only needed the instructions once to transform him.
Alt mode - Considering the figure comes packaged in robot mode, this will be the first transformation every one makes.
Every accessory with this figure has a place in alt mode but I did have a bit of troube initially with getting the Hercules hand to locate properly on the figure when trying to make the transformation to the alt mode. I could be doing it wrong but I think this is an engineering mistake. The Hercules hand can not sit flush on the backpack piece to still be able to connect the shoulders into the tabs. This will make more sense once you have the figure in hand.
The alt mode is quite large and is also very sturdy. The shovel is very tight and it does feel like you might break it when you try to move it up and down but don't worry.
Robot mode - The robot mode is nicely articulated. It has a ball jointed head, ball jointed hips and swivel joints for the rest. There is articulation in the head, 3 swivel joints in the shoulders, bicep swivel, wrist swivel, waist swivel, ball jointed hips, thigh swivel and knee swivel.
There is enough articulation to get a wide range of poses.
The Hercules arm - This is huge. It is the size of a large deluxe. If this is any indication on how big Hercules is going to be then he will be towering over a lot of your figures. In this mode it looks like Hercules will have a wrist swivel, elbow swivel and bicep swivel. I don't know if it will have a functioning shoulder swivel in combined mode because I just can't seem to see it. There maybe something on Heavy Labor to make this happen.
Final thoughts - I like this figure. It is very big and bulky in all three modes. It is not perfect by any means but I dare you to show me a Hasbro Transformer that is. I do think the final combined form will be much bigger than the Maketoys Giant and all though it is pretty pricey if you were to comapre this figure to say, Explorer or Munitioner then the price works out about the same and a bit easier to swallow. I don't have Defender yet but I think the size and price is pretty close.
Overall, this is worth it if you can justify paying nearly $600 for the finished Hercules. But until the last 2 a shown and are up for preorder then there will still be that doubt that it will be finished.
Please keep in mind that this is my opinion and results for others may vary. If anyone has some picture requests let me know and I will see what I can do.
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