TFC Toys Hercules: Exgraver

Just couldn't decide, honestly.

I think they both look pretty good.

 

 A few weeks ago, I got an excellent deal on eBay for the full set of six Hercules figures and the Rage of Hercules add on set. So now, I own a full third party combiner. My plan is to look at each figure individually, and then write on the combined form later. I will begin with Exgraver, because he was the first figure from the set to be released.

Hercules is the by now well-known 3P Devastator released in 2012, largely the starting point for the 3P combiner scene. Years before Combiner Wars, the 3Ps were heralded as the only options for attaining updated G1 combiner teams, since Hasbro, at the time, showed no interest in throwing in. There would be many versions of most G1 combiner teams before too long, with the Constructicons perhaps fittingly being the first.

As a general overview, a few things about the TFC Constructicons as a whole. They are all pretty large figures, bigger than Hasbro Deluxes but slightly smaller than the modern Hasbro Voyager, probably closest, again, to the 2007 “Classics” “Voyager” Optimus Prime figure. The figures are all in the same aesthetic mold, as they are all pretty blocky and chunky, have pretty simple transformations, and have very cartoonish faces. Not G1 Transformers cartoon accurate faces, but very cartoon-y faces. That is in no way a complaint. For accessories, they all come with blasters of fairly low quality, but that is due to the individual blasters being parts of the combined mode blaster, all pegging together to form a larger, passable weapon. The coloration of the plastic is very nice, very G1 Constructicon toxic waste green, and the here and there purple is likewise very G1 Constructicon purple. The plastic feels really good, and each figure feels solid and weighty, like a real, sturdy toy. They all come packaged in pretty nice but standard boxes, generally on par with regular, mass retail Transformers large enough to come in boxes.

Ok, so on to Exgraver. Exgraver is the 3P version of beloved sad sack Constructicon Scavenger, the guy who just wants to be noticed and told he’s doing a good job and forms the right arm of Devastator, or in this case, Hercules. His alt mode is a steam shovel, and according to official lore, the bucket in this mode contains all kinds of sensors and detection equipment.

In robot mode, Exgraver struggles a little bit in the leg department. The vehicle treads form the robot legs, and they are jointed in a couple places: ball jointed hips, swivels immediately beneath the hip joints, probably intended to be thigh swivels, and a knee that has its hinge at the back of the leg, so that bending the knee opens a gap in the front of the leg. The knee joint ends up being needed to form the Hercules forearm, but the issue with it in robot mode is basically the way it looks when the figure bends a knee to reveal a large space. The legs by themselves are a little fiddly, but the real issue with them comes from the foot: each foot folds out of the end of the tread, and is a two part gear arrangement. Pulling the foot out in the front of the leg causes an equal part on the back of the leg to fold out, and this offers, generally speaking, plenty of stability for the figure. There is a complication, but we’ll get to it. The problem with this two part foot arrangement is that it is possible for the gears to slip, and thus the two foot parts will not line up evenly. This can be fixed by standing the figure on a flat surface and applying some pressure, as that will get the gear to slip back into alignment. In general, the legs are a little fidgety, but with a bit of attention Exgraver stands just fine, and poses fairly well if not that sturdily.

Aside from the legs, Exgraver is a really solid figure, with big, blocky parts for shoulders and forearms. The transformation is stunningly simple, and pretty fun. The toy is a real no-attention-required kind of thing, the figure you just keep moving your hands over while you’re watching TV. It is pretty cool how the robot unfurls from the vehicle mode, a flip and twist joint serves as the waist and hips without making it so the treads just fold away from the vehicle to form the legs; the arms and shoulders swing down to the sides of the vehicle to form the . . . arms and shoulders. It is a very simple transformation, but one that is effective and very nicely realized. I know that, when these figures were first being released, there was a fair degree of disappointment in the simplicity of transformation, having been in that post-2010 age of overly complicated transformation patterns and the generally busy nature and design of the live action movie toys. But Exgraver, and the entire team honestly, hearkens back to that Energon/Cybertron era of Transformers toys: blocky and fun, sturdy feeling and yes, fairly simple to transform; more fun overall than mind-blowingly complex. Some collectors do prize complexity over other values, and I may not share that value, but I will concede that for the price of 3P figures or Masterpiece figures, a certain level of complication is more or less expected. After all, transforming the figure is part of the fun of a Transformer, and we all scoff at those figures that simply stand up or lay down and are said to have “transformed”. Exgraver is not that simple, but is simple enough to be easy and enjoyable to play with while retaining enough complexity to be impressive. Being challenging or difficult does not equal being impressive: look at the hands on Dinoichi or the chest cockpit step on the Masterpiece Coneheads for terrific and elegant examples of this.

Generally speaking, robot mode looks enough like G1 Scavenger. I don’t own Combiner Wars Devastator, and so I cannot compare those figures to these, but Exgraver’s robot appearance is a lot more cartooninsh, in the sense of almost being a caricature, than pictures of the official Scavenger I’ve seen. There are more than enough visual cues to let you know that this is a Scavenger, all the while being different enough that it’s not a one to one match. It seems that half of the Hercules team is this way: “close” enough, while being pretty different, while the other three members are pretty obviously the Constructicons they are supposed to be. But in general, this is a hallmark of the 3P combiner figures. You know who they are, but they are not like exact matches or realizations of the originals; close enough to be obvious but different enough to make a shrugging “what IP infringement?” feel perfectly legitimate. Exgraver looks alien enough, and is the one member of the team that sort of looks like he doesn’t belong. Although, this can be said to have always been the case for Scavenger, as even the G1 figures gave the impression that he was the oddball member aesthetically. The adjustable shovel arm can hang down or stand up behind him, giving him either a third leg or a scorpion tail, as well as it can be removed and attached to peg holes in the arms, but I don’t like this. It causes the figure to be too heavy to either side, disrupts stability, isn’t very functional and doesn’t look good. The intent is for the arm to act as a weapon, obviously, but the arm doesn’t fold up enough to be useable or feasible. 

 

Truly, the only acceptable and mature thing to do.

One thing that has long plagued combiner team figures is the integration of combiner parts, and Exgraver has a pretty neat solution here. Including one Hercules fist, both robot and vehicle mode are able to have the fist attached for storage, although to varying degrees of success. In robot mode the fist just hangs off the back of the robot, and that’s not really all that great. But in vehicle mode, the fist is worked into the transformation, basically encapsulating the robot head. The fingers clutch Exgraver’s head, hiding it from view, all while enclosing an open section of the rear of the vehicle, so it is a function part as well. It’s really kind of amazing. While the fist is a separate, removable part, not a fully contained one, this is a really, really good development in terms of the engineering.

Despite a simplicity in design and transformation, Exgraver is incredibly well sculpted. There are so many details on the figure. Everywhere you look, there is something to see. There are a ton of details on the vehicle treads, there are silver cables molded and painted running the length of the shovel arm on both sides. Parts display panel lines and windows are molded and then painted, just like a mainstream release. I don’t know that I would have not expected this level of detailing on the mold, but I suppose being a 3P figure, thus coming from what was at the time certainly a fairly small company, I am impressed by the finer details. The vehicles’ shovel arm has three jointed spots: at the base, connecting the two larger pieces, and then the bucket, and pistons on the sides move, extending and contracting with the movement of the arm. This could have been a static piece, one large molded plastic arm, and its movement capabilities are sometimes the sort of thing that gets praised as being terrific on a regular Hasbro release.

I’m finding it kind of difficult to issue a closing statement on Exgraver, for a few reasons. Probably foremost is the fact that I got the entire set at once, and so I experienced Exgraver as a part of the already assembled group, and not as the first figure in a set that would eventually be completed. On his own, Exgraver is good, and I like him. As a part of the assembled Hercules team, being all present, Exgraver is good and fits with the other five dudes pretty seamlessly, although he may be the one that stands out as being the most different. It’s almost the opposite condition that the Fall of Cybertron Combaticons displayed, where everyone looked like they belonged together except Swindle, who looked like he was designed by a different team. Exgraver looks good alone and fits in with the other guys, but looks kind of like he was designed by someone else, like the person working on Exgraver took the plans home with them and worked on them over the period of time where the other designers were all at the office working together, sharing ideas. Exgraver fits in, but looks like everything is just a tiny bit off center from the other figures.

A fully articulated shovel arm. Not a deal breaking feature, but certainly a nice touch.

But I don’t know how I would have reacted to Exgraver had I bought him first and by himself as an entry into the Hercules team. While there is absolutely nothing “wrong” with him, I find Exgraver a little uninspiring, and I don’t know that all the good he achieves would be enough for me to sit back and think, “yes, five more $99 figures to go, over a period of time.” It’s not the blocky design or nature, because I really do love that Armada/Energon/Cybertron era of Transformers design; it’s not the general simplicity or the cartoonish appearance. But experiencing the full set of six at the same time, I was filled with “wow!” reactions and feelings . . . except when it came to Exgraver. With Exgraver, my overall response was “well, gotta have a Scavenger, and this is a good one”; not a bad response or a negative one, but the dullest response garnered by the set. There was only one other figure in the group that approached that kind of tame reaction, and it is one that shares a lot with Exgraver. But, because there’s not enough in the world at present to fill us with questions, worries and uncertainties, I’m going to leave that statement unclarified for the time being.