The third member of the TFC Toys Predacons is Conabus, named
after one of the four fire-breathing horses that draw Ares’ war chariot in
Greek mythology. His name is the Greek word for tumult, and it is thus fitting
that Conabus is the analog to Headstrong in the official mythos.
Ultimately, the Ares team is composed of two general molds,
and Conabus is the first exposure of the second mold. Nemean, Phlogeus, and
Phobos all share basically the same body, while Conabus and Aethon share the
other. Conabus converts between robot and rhinoceros modes, and is probably the
better of the two molds that comprise the team.
The robot mode is a nice red, black, and yellow affair that
excellently portrays a large, rough and tumble character. It again incorporates
the smaller pegs to attach those TFC Toys Powercore Combiner-style limbs to,
and again they are easily hidden and do not effect the figure on its own. In
the instance of Conabus though, these pegs are a real disappointment, as all the
signs are present that these pegs can be used to mount the large halves of the
combiner foot, which splits in half to provide two large bazooka-style weapons
with ports on their insides that certainly look like they are meant to accept
the smaller, figure mounted pegs. This would have allowed for Conabus to carry
one on each of his shoulders, and would have truly armed him to the teeth. But
no, the foot halves do not mount on these pegs, and so it is a waste of an
opportunity. The launcher halves can be mounted on small pegs on the figures’
back, but then they just point straight upwards. It’s cool, but it could have
been cooler. 
Conabus is able to hold the blaster parts over the shoulder,
again, like a bazooka or rocket launcher, but he doesn’t do so terribly well.
In order to hold them, the arm must be fully extended, or the hand needs to be
angled downwards a little, which causes the forearm to open, as moving the hand
downward is actually a transformation step, and not an actual joint. The blaster parts are
simply too large to be held convincingly and in any way that looks good. The
smaller blasters that comes with Phlogeus and Phobos work better as handheld
weapons for Conabus, so there are options for weaponry. Conabus is also
equipped with the best individual sword design, the one that curves towards the
top, giving something of a scimitar-type look to it. It is the best of the
three different swords the team members come with, but in hand, it just looks
like a length of orange plastic. The intention again is to combine all of the
individual swords into a gigantic one for Ares, just as the blasters that come
with the Hercules team are generally crappy, but their intention is to be
combined into a large blaster for Hercules. The swords just don’t add much for
the Ares figures outside of Nemean, who is blandly unarmed without his.
The rhino head in robot mode stores inside the robot chest,
somewhat covered by a pair of chest panels. They do not close over the animal
head, but rather let the horns stick out a bit, and it is kind of a cool look:
it adds some extra color to the torso, and makes Conabus a little more barrel
chested, which fits with the characters a little better. However, there is
another display option that not only Conabus, but also Aethon and Phobos will
offer as well, and that is more in line with the official G1 Predacon look of
having the animal head behind the robot head. All that needs to be done to
accomplish this look is to not fold the animal head into place. It is pretty
successful, and it works very well for Conabus since his headsculpt is not all
that terrific, so the rhino helmet makes for a better, or at least more
impressive, look. The rhino head can also be positioned so that Conabus has a
straight up rhino head, a cybernetic Rocksteady. This is a configuration that
is more cute than anything else, but it is neat that there are options here,
whether they are intentional or not. 
Rhino mode is pretty neat, honestly, as far as robot rhinoceros' go. The legs are short and stumpy, and the mouth opens, which
actually allows for some pretty endearing looks, like Conabus is the large sentient
robot rhino from your favorite kid’s show, as opposed to one fifth of a team of
rampaging alien warlords that merge into a super-ferocious mega robot. He even
has a cute little tail that flips out from a panel on the back! Aw! The giant
blaster combo/Ares foot pegs onto the back, giving beast mode quite a bit of
firepower, just like the original. Animal mode is generally hard to pose, as
doing so causes the weight to be unsupported in at least one of the four
corners, so the figure tips over to whichever side is not supported. The body
is also pretty blocky, not as relatively lithe as Phlogeus, so dynamic poses aren’t
really in the cards for this guy anyway. But, some ball jointed animal ankles
and decent joints in all four legs make for the possibility, at least. The animal
mode looks good with or without the blaster backpack, which does not sit very
well on the back. It connects via a pair of 5mm pegs on the rhino and
corresponding holes on the blasters, located on the back of flaps that
basically mask the figure to foot connection in combiner mode. But those flaps
are jointed and there is nothing towards the rear of the blaster pack to
connect it to the animal, and the piece is heavy. It generally leans towards
the rear of the animal, pointing the blaster barrels upwards just a bit.
Overall, Conabus is sort of lacking in poseability due to
the blocky nature of his limbs. The robot calves and biceps are big plastic
blocks, with the shoulders impeding movement or at least natural looking
movement more. It is keeping with the general oeuvre of both character and
figure though, as Conabus is not the kind of guy who, by looking at him, inspires
thoughts of rapid or acrobatic attack, something that seemingly gets lost in
the discussion on poseability and its worth. Some figures represent characters
that are supposed to be fast or agile, and those figures should be more
poseable. But this guy is neither, and is not intended to be, as so, a lack of
dynamic posing makes some degree of realistic sense. He is a rhino, an animal
known for not being speedy or lithe. One interesting pose-related point is the
robot feet, which are attached to the lower leg on only one side, thus
providing something of an ankle tilt, and allowing the figure to stand in a
more spread legged, A stance. It’s pretty neat, as this must be one of the only
times this arrangement has been encountered, and it does make up somewhat for
the solid chunk of plastic that is the lower leg, as well as the standing
issues brought about by the animal foot simply folding up underneath the lower
leg. Despite what can really only be described as a bad robot foot, Conabus has
little troubles standing up or remaining standing.
Overall, Conabus is a good if workmanlike figure. Much like the
original G1 Headstrong, Conabus does everything he needs to do both
individually and as a part of the team and combined mode, and pretty admirably,
yet without much dazzle. He will ultimately be overshadowed by the rest of the
team, or at least everyone else except Nemean. But Conabus is not bad, or even
weak the way Nemean is; he’s just not super exciting despite doing everything
right.
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