TFC Toys Hades: Rhadamanthus

 So behind are we here at the Coffin that we still have figures to review that were Christmas gifts. Here we are in August, and finally we’re going to get to a toy that we got in December??? Perhaps more shocking is that parts of my TFCon 2016 haul are still unevaluated. Well, we do have two weeks off between Summer and Fall semesters, so maybe we can close that gap a bit. I also need to hurry up with the Hades figures in general, because thanks to a Big Bad Toy Store sale in June, I’m expecting the last two figures to arrive at my door within the next week or two, so I’ll have the entire set.

Rhadamanthus is the Leozack analog for the TFC Toys Hades team, and oh man is he gorgeous. A really detailed and intricate mold, Rhadamanthus wears the teal and white color scheme of Leozack, and it really does look great. The head sculpt is also terrific, with a lion helmet surrounding a smirking, characterful face. Rhadamanthus is the group leader, as is Leozack, and that comes through in the figure. He looks like the leader of a combiner team, thanks to that face, which oozes confidence and ability.

Alt mode here is a swept wing, F-14 Tomcat style fighter jet. Not certain if that is the official alt mode, or if the alt mode is simply ‘based on’ that specific aircraft, but the wings swing forward and back, so the jet mode is capable of different poses, I guess. Not really, but, you know. Sleek and cool looking, the alt mode does suffer from the ol’ jet-landed-on-top-of-a-robot condition, so the jet is very thick. A pretty standard jet transformation, not too different from teammate Minos, really, Rhadamanthus at least goes a step to try and hide the arms and hands, with panels that fold out from the legs to surround the robot forearms, at least a little bit. This is only as effective as you allow it to be, as sometimes it looks pretty good, and is thus a good idea; and at other times, it seems all sorts of negative, ranging from looking bad to being a cheap way of adding one more step, and thus more complexity, to the transformation scheme, a step that countless other jet alt mode figures have established to be unnecessary over the decades. Basically, the jet is just a backpack on the robot. The nose of the jet shares that same terrifying and infuriating swing around and down maneuver that Minos has, and while it still is crazily unsettling, the twist while turning method does work just fine for positioning the part into either mode. So that’s good. As it is easily the worst step in the transformation, and a pretty scary one too, a lot of time was spent venting about this on Minos, but, it is super reassuring to know that the twist while turn method is a success generally. I wish the instructions were clearer on this point. Another complaint here is the overall tightness of spaces on the figure. Both the hands and the head fold away into corresponding body parts, which is no surprise. The head folds down into the chest, after being situated inside the combined mode head, actually, and the hands flip over into the forearms. But the clearance for the empty spaces is so, so tight, particularly for the hands, that it is often difficult to get the parts back out. This was addressed on the forearms by loosening screws found by the wrists, but it seems like the screws were loosened so much that the forearms might just pop open. It seems that way at least, despite not being visible or anything. As for the head, the tightness of that fit is caused by the alignment necessary with the combiner head, which is a large helmet that splits open. The issue is lining up the parts properly, as minor angling of the smaller robot head causes the larger one to not peg together, causing just enough disfiguring that the chest has difficulty closing around both heads. Folding away the arms is also a challenge, as the shoulder pads need to be at a particular angle so as to sit correctly next to the jet body. The calves split open and the thighs fold into them, same as on Minos, but the claves don’t open wide enough to allow this step to happen without worry, as the mold details and some raised plastic causes the opening part to be halted in its motion. This makes transforming the legs kind of nerve-wracking as well. You know what? There’s very little that is pleasurable about transforming this figure. It seems like it SHOULD be real easy, and it is not difficult; but there are so many moments that feel like they need extra care and gentleness that the activity does feel more like a chore than anything.

Pretty neat underside.

Really neat . . . over side.

The end result is a fantastic looking jet, one that does hide the block of robot underneath reasonably well. Or, at very, very least, does no worse than other jetformers, even official ones. If you think of the Combiner Wars Silverbolt/Cyclonus/Scattershot figures, that’s essentially Rhadamanthus’ jet mode in official product. So, a far cry from being bad or unacceptable. I’ve seen people complaining on various fansites about jet modes like Rhadamanthus’ or Minos’, trying to say that Hasbro products are never so “lazily designed” so as to be an airplane backpack on top of a folded up robot. That is the default, practically required jet alt mode for the majority of Hasbro jet alt mode figures, so.

Robot mode is chunky and sturdy, looking less sleek than fellow flyer Minos. Once again a decent amount of poseability, better than a figure like Hypnos, who is encumbered by plates and such. A good and easily attainable hands on hips pose gives Rhadamanthus the sort of confident, commanding pose that his character deserves. The figure has a waist joint and, although probably far more accidental than intentional, ankles, although the ankles are byproducts of a transformation step, so they don’t really count. They are also hideous, as the ankle can bend on a hinge that pulls the foot away from the lower leg, similar to Titans Return Sixshot. I wouldn’t count the ankle as a joint on this figure. Once again, Rhadamanthus comes with a little Breastmaster partner, a lion this time, who serves as an additional chest plate for the toy. Without this tiny beast, the robot chest is fairly plain, a square chest with a peg hole in the center and little detail to speak of.  It doesn’t look bad, per say, only a bit plain; there is no doubt that with the chest plate partner, the figure looks much better. Save two black paint strips, there isn’t much on the unplated chest to really look at. When in chest plate mode, however, the little lion guy makes for a neat, double crested plate that makes the figures’ overall looks improve quite a bit. As a blaster, the Breastmaster is what it is: nothing too amazing, certainly not any type of detraction, and as capable a weapon as a tiny animal figure can be. Color-wise, this figure is the best of the bunch so far, being the brightest one; but aside from just the color selection, the paint looks really nice.

While there aren’t any drawbacks or negatives to this figure that are of any consequence, it does warrant repeating that the incredibly frustrating nose transformation step is repeated on Rhadamanthus. Just as with Minos, so unpleasant is this maneuver that I will often pass on grabbing Rhadamanthus from my shelf to fiddle with for want of not having to deal with it. And, just as with Minos, that is a real disservice to this figure, which totally deserves more attention than it gets.

Well, maybe there is one drawback of consequence with this figure. While figures like Hypnos and Minos are able to be enjoyed as individual toys, Rhadamanthus is clearly part of a combiner team: in fact, the figure seems generally built around that function. Serving as the upper torso and head for Hades, Rhadamanthus contains a previously mentioned combined mode head AND the connection pegs for the arms, both of which are clearly visible. While the head can be easily ignored due to being stored in the chest, the robot mode is seemingly designed around concealing it: one wonders if, contrary to the animation model in Victory, the upper torso could have been streamlined a bit were it not necessary for it to contain a larger head. The combiner pegs are the real issue though, as there is no disguising them at all.  While Hypnos and Minos are perfectly capable of holding spots in a collection or on a shelf as standalone toys, Rhadamanthus looks like that one figure that has to be a part of a combining team; comparisons to the torso figures for the Energon combiners would not at all be out of line here. Unlike Combiner Wars which did a great job of making the combiner ports on Voyager torsos least intrusive as possible, the Energon combiners Deluxe torso toys just had combiner pegs sticking off of them, with the leg connectors usually being obscured by moving leg parts. Rhadamanthus just has these pegs sticking off the elbows, like large, strange growths. They don’t get in the way of movement or anything, but they are clearly visible. It has been said many, many times in these pages, but the more things you ask a converting robot figure to do, the less things it will do well; and in the case of combining converting robot toys, sacrifices to individual modes or configurations will be made in order to accommodate the combined form. These blatant combiner pegs are testimony to that. It is tempting to say that there really isn’t much that could be done to hide them and leave it at that; but then, the gaze is drawn to Hercules standing next to the computer on this desk, and I feel that, were I ever to finishing writing up those figures, or at very least Dr. Crank, I may stumble upon some way that the combiner pegs could be managed in a less visible fashion.

Let’s just leave that there as a tease or some great foreshadowing for a five year old figure that I’ve owned for seven months and still haven’t gotten around to talking about, though not for lack of interest or enthusiasm.

That’s not to say they compromise Rhadamanthus overall, only in the instance that you want an updated, Voyager seized Leozack in your collection but not the rest of the Liokaiser team. While the other two components of the set that have been featured are fully capable of being standalone toys, this one is maybe in need of some help from his teammates in order to not look somehow odd. Next to the other three Hades members that are currently on my shelf, he looks just fine. The presence of the combiner pegs shouldn’t deter anyone who is interested in owning this toy, even if they are only interested in owning this one part of the group. Rhadamanthus is excellent on his own, and looks terrific all around.