Release Dates Revealed for TFC Toy's Project Hercules

I have this horrible sensation that I'm going to end up with one third of a Hercules than....something will go wrong....

not getting them. Price and lack of interest in the individual robots. does look quite a decent figure though, and I like the colours.

bit I'm going to miss out on most, aside from not owning a complete, honking big Devy, is going to be missing out on the opportunity to get all excited and post "I have my Mad Blender!" or "I have Dr Crank in my hands!". Those are two classic names, shame about the rest.

edit: good luck to everyone that's getting these.

Y'know, with that release schedule, I may go ahead and get them. Depends on if Exgraver is still around somewhere on the 15th.

i reaaaaaaaaaaaallllllly want to get these but they are waaaaaaay too damn expensive. i will try my best to get them

I wish that people would stop saying warbot isn't a good example of proper pricing.

Warbot has things going for him that this simply does not. Diecast, heavy detail, complex design, good plastic quality, it can transform into two different vehicles, and when you buy Protector you aren't making a commitment where you want to buy the other combiner parts. On top of all that, Fansproject has an overall better track record than TFC.

I think the biggest thing is actually the commitment though. Thinking about how much these will all cost in the long run, just so you can have a devastator. You never know when Hasbro will decide to do their own. It's not like I think that Hasbro will never make a Classics Springer figure.

That release schedule definately makes it more financially viable, and will mean we won't have to commit to the later figures until we've got a good idea of how they're going to turn out. Hopefully the fact that they are not coming out altogether will mean good quality products. While I do share other folks' concerns of TFClub losing interest/encountering difficulties, 9 or 10 months isn't all that long.

Staying positive.

I'm leery of the prospects of a proper Classics Springer and even moreso of classics constructicons.

Not only have they done the Constructicons, but look at the other classics combiner teams: not combiners anymore when they are new figures. Even the RotF Devestator didn't seperate into individual robots for the properly sized version.

They could make a new Springer, I guess. It's not as far off as the Constructicons. But it just seems like they did it and got it off their checklist, and it was done at a proper size to boot.

JRFitzpatrick7 wrote:Does it look like RiD Grimlock at all to anyone else? Am I the only one at this party who is hanging out in the room with the elephant?


I have Exgraver preordered at BBTS, actually, 5 of them. From what we've seen of this team, I think it looks really good. Though his likeness to gridlock is jarring. As far as things going wrong are concerned, the only thing I am worried about is that the color palette is the same for all 6. And by that I mean, the same purple, bright green, black, and silver for highlighting purposes. The samples of other testshots from the team that we have seen are radically different in appearance. I'm not down with that.

Agreed on all fronts. I am going to pissed if they drop the ball on uniformed greens and purple. I give some wiggle room for detail colors, but everyone who gets this, will want him combined. And combined (exclusively for the Constructicons) should be one color palette. IMO.

He does look lik RID Grimlock, but RID Grimlock looks like G1 Scavenger, so it all evens out.

I was concerned about different shades as well, but the test shot colors don't look much like the final either. So I won't worry about it.

Sure, we may see another Devastator by Hasbro/TakaraTomy some day but how long will that be? Will it be the ideal incarnation that hardcore fans like us wish for? How many compromises will be made in its design? I like the Energon combiners and I like the PCC figures(well, some of them) but they aren't platforms for providing fan-centric versions of characters we desire. We basically need add-on sets or completely new figures to provide that.

If the Exgraver figure delivers what TFClub promises then I think the price tag is par for the course. In the current 3rd party product market where relatively basic add-ons like a replacement head sculpt or weapons are $15 or more, a price tag of $90-$100 for a Deluxe/Voyager sized figure of good quality materials and functional design makes sense to me.

$100 plus import/shipping fees makes this figure a prohibitively expensive purchase, especially because its quality and design are unknown at this time. It also will be a purchase that leads to further investment since it's a combiner figure and it's unlikely that anyone would want a single figure or just a partial set of figures rather than a complete combiner set. By the time Hercules is completed, one would have to spend over $600.

To me, the choice of whether or not one should purchase this figure and the rest of its combiner family is fairly easy. If you are a fan of Devastator, if you have the financial means to purchase the figures with funds you can set aside that aren't meant to be spent on your regular expenses, and if you are prepared for issues that can arise in non-mass produced figures, then you are probably the type of person that is ideal for buying the Hercules combiner figures.

It just comes down to this: You've got to pay to play. If you want to get in on products that are unlikely to be made by Hasbro or TakaraTomy, then expect to pay higher prices for these products. Products designed for niche markets, which are made by small organizations that have limited funding, will not be cheap. If you really want to look at some high pricing for non-official products, take a gander at garage model kits. Even licensed garage kits such as those by B-Club can be quite expensive.