TFC Toys Hercules: Structor

 

It’s been a little while since a Hercules team member got the spotlight here, and in light of recent figure acquisition events, there is a growing fear that, if not completed soon, the rest of the Hercules dudes could be lost to enthusiasm over other, newer acquisitions. So, let’s take a gander at Structor, the Scrapper on the team.

If following official Transformers lore, Scrapper was the leader of the Constructicons, which was strange, because he formed a leg. The left one, specifically. This is pretty unusual, as the individual robot that forms the combined mode torso and head is almost always the team leader. I think the only other exception to this rule is Gairyu from Victory combiner team Dinoforce, who also forms a leg.

(Editor’s Note: I realize –now- that the vehicle cockpit is connected upside down in the alt mode pictures. I am sorry. –mr)

So it falls to Structor here to be Scrapper, and he performs this job really well. Alt mode is an earth mover, and a pretty nice one at that. Again presented in that general Cybertron toy line aesthetic, Structor is a nice balance of cartoonishness and adult collector-ness, looking like a toy while not being overly childish. The shovel is mounted on a fully poseable arm, which itself can raise and lower, and then the shovel can also raise and lower, allowing for some vehicle poses. How much this really adds is up for debate: the shovel does need to pivot a certain amount for transformation into both individual robot and Hercules leg mode, so some motion is required. But, much like the shovel arm on Exgraver, this poseability is nice, something that is often expected to be present and go unused, but is almost universally lamented if it is not present. The vehicle has a bendable joint about halfway through its length, but it is mostly unusable. The joint is Hercules’ ankle, built into the waist of Structor, and it would allow for the vehicle to be further posed or manipulated by angling the front portion so that the vehicle is not just a rectangle with a shovel on one end. The issue is that the robot arms, as can be pretty easily picked out in the alt mode photos, peg on to the back half of the vehicle, which then keeps the vehicle from being able to bend itself at that joint. The wheels all roll freely, and there’s no problem with ground clearance. The alt mode fits in the same style as those of Exgraver and Heavy Labor, being real worldy yet Tonka truck-esque at the same time, and I think that’s a really good look for not only these three figures, but the entire team in vehicle mode. They look good together, and they look like they belong together.

Aside from one issue, robot mode is great. By far the most cartoon accurate of the three team members examined so far, Structor is good and G1-y. decently poseable thanks to swivel joints in both arms and legs, Structor maintains that balance of looks and fun, but draws closer to the original G1 animation model than Exgraver and Heavy Labor do, while still maintaining that Cybertron-style aesthetic. That’s been mentioned a few times now, in this article and the previous ones. Accessory wise, Structor comes with a blaster, which again is sort of an afterthought, a round plastic barrel with a hand peg on it, and a pair of fins or wings or, as they are intended to be thought of, blades, which can be held in hand or pegged into the sides of the vehicle mode. What they are are the wing tips for that large purple chest piece that Devastator has, but the center connecting piece comes with a different figure. While they do offer Structor additional weapon options, they don’t really work that well as handheld weapons for this figure, and they look kind of goofy sticking off the sides of the earth mover. No big deal though, as they are easily set aside for the combined mode.

The waist pivot joint allows for some extra movement, but not much and then only from side to side. There is no traditional waist joint, like a swivel, so Structor can basically just lean slightly to the left or the right. However, this extra bit of motion does not negatively effect standing or posing, and the figure doesn’t suffer in the balance department or anything. The tolerance is tight enough that the figure doesn’t flop around.

The one major drawback to this figure is the huge backpack piece it has. The rear section of the alt mode contains the connection port for attaching leg mode Structor to crotch mode Heavy Labor, and it is mounted on a flat arm piece. In conversion, a pretty simple and intuitive process by the way, the entire end portion of the alt mode simply lifts up on this armature and folds against the back of the robot mode, and not even flush; it also does not peg into the back of anything. The shovel is supposed to flip downwards and accept this large section of vehicle into the bucket, and once more the tolerances are tight enough that the end part doesn’t flop around or anything. In order to offset the weight of this piece, long purple planks are built into the robot feet to help distribute the weight more, so standing and posing aren’t impacted by this either. The piece is also not visible from the front.

So, this part doesn’t compromise the figure much, if at all, and seemingly all potential related issues have been accounted for by the designers. The problem with this part is that it seems an incredibly lazy way to incorporate a combiner port. Everything about this piece seems like a compromise. It finishes the back of the alt mode, but also gives leg mode Structor the extra inch of height he needs to match fellow leg Mad Blender. It also houses the combiner port, which Exgraver, Neckbreaker and Mad Blender all do fantastically better. Ultimately it doesn’t impact anything for the worse, other than it does look poor in robot mode, and it can be/is something that people will use to badmouth this set of figures. But it is kind of a piece of necessity, and if it’s the most glaring issue with the TFC Toys Hercules team, that really speaks to the quality and craft of the total package. At least, if it plugged in to Structors’ back, it may not even be worth mentioning, as it would at least be stable and fill the robot mode out some more. As it is, it’s really only an issue if one makes it an issue, and there’s not much point in doing so.

 

If anything truly bad comes from the large combination port piece, it may be that Structor’s ability to be treated as a standalone figure is jeopardized by it. Unlike Exgraver and Heavy Labor, both of whom are perfectly fine all by themselves and have easily ignorable combiner parts, Structor’s big back piece is a negative for the overall figure if not taken as a part of a combining team. If a Classics-style Scrapper is on your shopping list, this is a good one, but be aware that it is most definitely better if considered as part of its team.

To end on a positive, the head sculpt is really great, and is probably the best of the entire bunch. It’s better than that of Exgraver, and in terms of original toy/animation model, that one was pretty good while taking a few artistic liberties. Structors’ head is right on the mark.

Structor is another win for the Hercules group. The backpack part is a bit of a drawback, but nothing severe enough that the figure truly suffers for it, unless you let it be that much of a thing.

And with that, we are halfway to Hercules.