TFC Toys Ares

 

 The 2018 Toy Fair was a few weekends ago, and Hasbro revealed its Titan Class Power of the Primes Predaking. (It’s awful. It really is. – mr) To celebrate that, let’s talk about a much better Predaking, TFC Toy’s Ares. Ares is, of course, the combined form of Nemean, Phlogeus, Conabus, Aethon, and Phobos.

 Ares is a pretty big guy, standing at just over twelve inches tall, and looking as imposing as can be. Just like Hercules, Ares is obviously Predaking, although in the cartoonier, Armada/Energon/Cybertron aesthetic. Unlike the original G1 Predaking, Ares can scramble the four limb figures around, where the original had different pegs for the two arm and two leg figures, and in theory, the four limbs could be transformed in a way that they could serve as the opposite body parts. Conabus and Aethon don’t have waist joints that could serve as elbows. The limbs can also be scrambled so as to accommodate figures from other TFC Toys combiner teams with the same peg system, so Hercules and Hades team members could fill in with Ares. Phobos’ wings become the signature wings on the back of the combined form, and the huge blaster that Phobos comes with but can’t really wield on his own serves as the huge forearm mounted blaster that Predaking carries, while Nemean’s lion head and shoulder mounted blasters form the characteristic chest plate and long barrels that stick up over Predaking’s shoulders. In terms of profile, it is basically a perfect match.

The combiner fists have two thumbs. At first this seems to be an inclusion to allow either fist to be a right or left fist, but this is pretty quickly dispelled. The fists have a very spikey knuckle piece that adds some menace to the look of the hands, which also have pointed, talon-like fingers. The dual thumbs are necessary to stabilize the enormous sword that Ares carries, which itself is made up of all of the individual melee weapons the team members carry. It is huge, measuring 11 inches and being quite heavy. There is a peg that plugs in to a hole in the palm, but without the double thumb, it is not certain that Ares would be able to hold such a mammoth weapon. The huge blaster has a flip out handle, allowing it to be a handheld weapon as well as its more standard arm mounted arrangement.

A moment on the weapons. Often decried were the individual swords each figure came equipped with, but their combined form is rather good. It is a long, fat, imposing looking weapon, reminiscent without context of a Dark Souls or RPG type of sword. It is created by assembling all four of the smaller weapons around the large Namean sword, and while there have been some people who have complained about the gap in the blade, all in all the weapon works just fine. The handle is very small, but does fit well in the hand, and the double thumbs secure it very well. Not sure why, but it does seem like it should be mentioned that Ares cannot two-hand the sword, as not only is the handle too short, but the arms can’t fold in front of the chest in the way that would be necessary to facilitate that anyway. The blaster is very cool, being a pretty detailed piece, which again does have a fold out handle if you’d prefer to have Ares hold it rather than have it mounted on the arm. A lot of translucent red plastic on the blaster, and there is a button that makes an LED light up, which is a really neat, really cool, really fun touch. It’s a gimmick that is not very common with third party figures, and is the sole example of it in my third party collection. It does add something fun, something toy-like, to the set, a nice reminder in a scene that really is collector focused and driven, that even these expensive pieces are intended to be fun.

 

Ares’ head sculpt is super nice, even if it is a bit simple. Predaking sports the classic visor and mouth plate combo, so Ares does as well, and has a pair of extendable antenna. The head is orange, while the mouth plate is red, and the visor yellow. But a small grey chin and black antenna offer darker colors that let the head pop, as even though the other three colors are different enough that the do not blend together, they need something dark to really show it all off.

There is a problem with Ares that isn’t a deal breaker, but is a minor annoyance. The feet attach to the leg figures via a peg and port system, the port unit attaching to the figures be plugging in  to holes in between the legs and then squeezing together around it. All of the TFC Toys combiners seem to do this for the hands as well as the feet. The connection between the peg and the port is often loose however, so the foot will fall off if the figure is lifted straight up off of a surface. The leg figures also do not sit flat on the feet, instead resting ever so slightly off of the foot, which allows a rocker joint to be utilized, giving Ares the ability to strike a wider stance. It seems the combined mode was intended to take a wide-legged stance as opposed to a more regular, “standing” one. Time after time, trying to pose Ares proved to be a frustrating experience, because the feet would fall off or the legs would start slipping outward, like Ares was trying to do the splits. After several times getting pretty miffed by this, I decided to just let the figure go, and let it settle into whatever position it was trying so hard to get itself in to. When taking a wider, more A-stance, Ares does rather well. When not in this wider stance, it looks a little slack, like trying to stand straight-legged throws the figure out of whack, and everything sort of leans to one side or the other. A straight stance makes Ares look a bit unflattering, is what I'm trying to say, but in the apparently intended stance, this issue is resolved. As a combiner, Ares is not the most poseable figure to begin with, but it does seem that it was designed to take a wider stance so as to look even larger and more imposing than it does normally. Because the crotch plate is made up of a bunch of panels, posing the legs generally upsets the look of it, and the readiness with which the feet detach from the legs makes posing almost more frustrating than it’s worth. But, it’s a combiner, so it’s not really supposed to be the most lithe and poseable of toys anyway.

Ares is also very pointy. While this does not really present a problem, it is something that feels like it should be mentioned. The fists are spikey, the individual figures have a number of pointy or sharp edges. The wing backpack have five feathers on each wing that end in points. Not a lot of rounded edges on Ares. And, while this may be fitting for a combiner that is billed as the ultimate hunter, it makes for some surprises when closing your hand around it, and transforming the individual figures is often a prickly experience. While it probably doesn’t need to be said that these are not toys for children, these are not the figures that would be good for kids. Some of the plastic is also real sharp, not to the point where it breaks skin, but sharp enough that it does leave an indentation or feels like it could break skin.

Ares is a few years old at this point, and was part of the whole not-Predaking cycle of third party figures. There’s a lot of negative response to this set online, and frankly, I’m not sure why. the issue with Ares seems to be that it is not what people consider to be the best of the 3P Predakings, Feral Rex, or that the Ares squad is not a G1 enough looking crew. The second point is fair enough, but as has been made real clear on the Coffin over the last year, the A/E/C vibe of these early TFC Toys figures has been greatly appreciated, so it comes down to an aesthetic choice, and if Ares isn’t for you based on that, that’s cool. There certainly are other 3P Predacons to choose from, and there will be the official Hasbro version coming soon, although, that looks like junk. But speaking of the official version, it’s estimated to have a price point of around $160, and at present Ares is in stock at a few etailers for $200. And you know that for that extra $40, you’re going to get figures that are heavier and more sturdy, and based on pictures of the official figures, about as G1 accurate, or at very least, taking the same degree of aesthetic licenses.

 

Ares is a good set of figures, with good and fun and satisfying individual components, and a solid if fiddly combined mode that looks good with other converting robot toys.

Hail to the king, baby.