TFC Toys Hades: Hypnos

 The TFC Toys Hades is an absolutely awesome modern version of Liokaiser from the Japanese series Victory. I saw the complete combined mode at TFCon 2016, and it was absolutely stunning. While I’ve collected four of the six components, it may be a while before Hades has a home with me, but rest assured that he most certainly will.

But first, let’s look at Hypnos, one of the two Hades team members my wife bought me for Christmas.

Hypnos is apparently the sixth and final figure released from the Hades team according to the release order, but here, he will be first. Hypnos is the 3P name for Breastforce member Drillhorn, who serves as the primary strategist for the Liokasier squad. I have, at the time of this writing, seen the first four episodes of Victory, so while I have very little knowledge of the character now, I will undoubtedly become more knowledgeable as time rolls on.

Some general information on the Hades figures: each toy is Voyager sized, which means that Hades himself is going to be gigantic. Each figure also comes with a hysterically named Breastmaster partner, nominally the logical evolution on the *-master concept, and possibly some kind of spiritual successor to the Powermaster, at least in terms of placement and interaction with the larger toy. Each Breatmaster is a triple changing mini robot, for the Hades team all possessing animal robot modes, a weapon mode of varying quality, and a chest plate (‘breast’) mode. The original Liokaiser toys were noteworthy in that they realized the dream of integrated combiner hands and feet, a feat that Hades will be partially able to replicate, as the hands are separate parts, but the feet are built in to Hypnos and Thanatos, the two leg figures. They come in pretty great looking boxes, and are protected by Styrofoam inserts, something I don’t remember when I saw last. The plastic quality is extraordinary, rivaling that of official figures pretty closely. The figures are big and weighty, and feel solid in hand, even in the thinner parts of the design. The plastic flexes when it needs to without showing stress marks, and is shiny and vibrant. As a general statement, the Hades team is composed of some very nice figures.

So, Hypnos. Hypnos is a big, sturdy toy, a chunky robot without being blocky and rigid. His transformation makes sense and is logical, to the extent that instructions aren’t necessary, even the first time through the process. I used them regardless, because this is a $100 figure, so I’m not trying to move something the wrong way and have it snap on me. Hypnos has the more or less standard tank-to-robot transformation of extending the back half into legs and swinging the front half out into arms and shoulders.

Robot mode is decently poseable, having a pretty standard compliment of joints and moving parts. There are some real highlights in the design, and a good idea or two that don’t quite go far enough. One of these ideas comes in the form of the shoulder armor, made from the front treads of the tank mode. The pieces are at the ends of panels that let them move not only in a circular motion, but also move away from and closer to the central body. They end up being pauldrons in robot mode, which is great; but, they don’t fasten on to anything, so they end up being loose and prone to movement when posing the arms or even moving the figure around. Not to say they are loose or floppy, or anything that would belie maybe an issue in production or QC, but rather they are just missing a peg or tab or anything that would make them stay in place atop the shoulder and give them added stability. It is a very nice design idea, but one that stops just short of being a total win. And wrists also don’t lock into place when they are deployed in robot mode, and so the hands tend to droop down due to a gap in the forearm. This is truly of no concern, but if this were an official product, I’d probably mention it, so in fairness.

But successful elements include the robot chest, which extends outwards just a slight bit to produce wider shoulders and a bulkier central torso. This is achieved through a pretty inventive placement of the combiner port. Like many or most combiner limbs, Hypnos has his combiner port located in the center of his chest, and in tank mode it points straight forward, with the open port hidden by the front armor plate of the vehicle. For robot mode, in order to present a different profile for the figure, the combiner port folds over at a 90 degree angle, which makes the chest just a touch wider, but making a world of improvement in the overall look of the robot. For the life of me, I don’t know why this is the first time I have ever seen this on a combiner limb figure, as it seems like such an obvious idea and truly does improve the look.

The other really cool design thing is found in the robot legs. Hades will have incorporated feet, meaning the combined mode feet are built in to the leg figures. The Hades feet fill in the lower half of Hypnos’ legs in robot mode, basically forming the calves. This is not visible, as the legs split open and allow the thigh to be pulled out, then reconnecting around the larger foot parts. This serves a number of good design purposes, least of which is the eventually self-contained combiner part. But as a standalone toy, this idea fills in the lower legs, providing stability and weight, so that the figure does not tip over or have problems balancing because of weight distribution. It also allows the combiner foot to be totally hidden from view, so if your interest is not in Hades but in an updated, high quality Drillhorn, you can have that without any glaring identifications of his role in a larger pattern. It frees the figure from being encumbered by being a combiner team member, without that freedom coming in the form of a removable part. The foot parts are also involved in the transformation to drill tank mode, as they have to be pulled out and repositioned just a slight bit, to similarly provide weight and mass to the back end of the tank body.

As a robot, Hypnos is a good but fairly predictable humanoid that unfolds from a tank. He has sturdy, thick legs and is adorned with treads. The sculpting and detailing is crisp and clean all over, and the head is a strong depiction of the character from Victory. The horn on the robot head is a little short, more of a ridge than a horn, really, but nonetheless evokes the original character. The entire robot looks just like Drillhorn, and is a far, far cry from the Platinum Liokaiser sets’ “Drillhorn” figure. Ok, I do love the Platinum set, and I was never expecting a totally new set of figures for that release, but that’s another story. You can read about it here.

Hypnos comes packaged with two accessories: a huge, literally huge, three section spear/nun-chuck weapon for the combined Hades, which is basically useless for Hypnos; and his Breastmaster piece, a small rhino that converts into both hand held blaster and chest plate. The tiny figure is a nicely realized robot, albeit a bit nondescript overall. Cool as an individual robot partner, but not really great as a weapon, its best function is really as the chest piece. The transformation is predictably simple, following the Ravage pattern of lower legs swinging out of upper leg pieces, but the blaster barrel is too short to make the weapons mode look like much of a weapon. A good try, but these mini figures are not intended to be the main attraction, and for what they are, they do just fine. I rarely take them out of armor mode anyway, and as a chest plate, this little rhino guy looks pretty good. It really adds a layer to Hypnos’ robot appearance, which looks just fine without the extra armor as well. If there was a drawback to the chest plate, it would be that it attaches by 5mm peg and nothing else. So, it has a tendency to swivel of move around, which is not a problem, but it does just plug on to the front of the robot. Maybe if there were another connection or something to increase stability it would work better.

Tank mode is a pretty standard tank: a long, rectangular vehicle with treads running the length of the body. Hypnos is a drill tank, and the drill bit is big and chunky and detailed. To my absolute surprise, it does in fact spin, and I was shocked by this because it looks like it would be a single piece of plastic. The cockpit of the vehicle is a big piece of translucent red plastic that provides a real blast of color to an otherwise solidly purple vehicle, one which has only the white drillcone and some here and there black panels to provide variety. I fear that will make it sound like the tank mode is boring to look at, as that would be untrue: the main color of purple is a strong, deep purple that is rather gorgeous, and the tank design is cool overall. Hypnos uses the same general form that Thanatos, the Killbison analog, uses; but where Thanatos is a more regular tank design, Hypnos is a very frontloaded one, meaning that the distinct features of the vehicle are all in the front half. It’s a drill tank, so the large drill cone is mounted on the front of the tank, and the cockpit is seated directly behind it. There isn’t much else, so the rear half of the tank is just a tank body, and is slightly plain. I don’t know what, but the addition of some part or even a removable piece like a blaster on the back end would have done one of two things: it would have either filled in the empty space of the backside, or it would have made the vehicle mode look needlessly busy, and thus compromised the entire thing. Which option I agree with seems to depend on what day it is. Every day I think there’s a real elegance to the unburdened vehicle mode, but sometimes I look at all the open space in the rear and think that it may have been used to some purpose.

The cockpit of the tank mode is hinged in two places to hide the drill cone in robot mode. Rather than just have the large part hanging off the back of the robot, it can be reasonably hidden inside, and that is an awesome idea. Viewed straight on from the rear, the drill is not visible; but, it is clearly seen from a side view. There is not much movement possible for the drill/cockpit assembly in tank mode, as it just sticks off the front. It’s not turret mounted or anything like that, and while the drill itself can pivot up and down a little bit, this is achieved through an incomplete transformation step rather than any trick of the design. The tank is very sci-fi drilltank-ish, like something from a Toho movie. The tank treads are fully realized treads, but there are no wheels, so the tank does not roll. As was the case with Exgraver, I am again impressed with the amount of detail that is sculpted into the vehicle.

I’m fighting the urge to say that Hypnos is in any way bland or plain, but I think he is. Robot mode is nicely done, but the tank mode is pretty straightforward and no-frills. What is one supposed to do to spice up a fictional tank, one wonders. I’m not sure. First impulse says that a moveable drill would have been an improvement, like a turret mounted one, but I’m not certain that would really be an improvement. Again, that back half of the tank is an empty space, so maybe something mounted there, but that may do more harm than good. I’m not sure what’s missing, but there is a feeling of something missing. Hypnos is an excellent robot, and does some real neat things in terms of transformation and everything, and I am again amazed at the quality and execution of a third party figure. That should be a reaction that fades as I keep working my way through the various figures I own, but for now it is still a pretty real response that I experience. Hypnos may not be a flashy jet, or have a real stunning color scheme, and he’s kind of an average looking robot, not having any real amazing or memorable physical characteristics. I think that’s what’s motivating my “plain” assessment: there isn’t anything that leaps off of the figure at me, but that’s the character and animation model and all that in general.

These figures sell for a pretty universal $99 each, but they can be found for a bit cheaper if you look around, but regardless, $99 is an expensive action figure. From the first time I saw images of these guys I knew I was impressed and interested, and I knew when I saw Hades on display that I wanted it. I haven’t felt bad about the money I’ve spent on two other team members because the toys themselves are of such quality, and Hypnos feels in hand like a mass produced toy I just bought from a store. That is a real serious remark, and I think a pretty serious compliment. Hypnos makes me excited for not only mold mate Thanatos, but also for the complete Hades set.