Five down and one to go. The fifth TFC Toys Hercules figure, Neckbreaker, has been released and 2005 Board member Patto Prime has stopped by to share his thoughts and some photos of the figure. This updated version of Generation 1 Bonecrusher is looking sharp with no major flaws to report as of yet. In the picture provided you can see group shots with the other Not-Constructicons as well as Hercules in combined mode (Minus his left leg). There is also a picture with the optional visor accessory.
Take a look at the images and click the title bar to discuss
Sammael
Actually, he was quite a bit better – he had virtually no kibble and fantastic arm articulation unmatched by the majority of G1 figures.
I'm not sure why the various 3rd parties don't just adopt his G1 look, the transformation made sense and could be easily improved without sacrificing either of his modes.
Philister
For more pics, click on the image above
Prelude: Legal stuff first, as always. Neckbreaker is not an official Transformers product from Hasbro or Takara-Tomy, he hails from third party provider TFC Toys. He’s clearly meant to be an updated version of G1 Bonecrusher, but for legal reasons he can’t be called by that name.
Robot Mode: As always, let’s start with the resemblance to the original. Bonecrusher and Neckbreaker really don’t look that much alike. Yes, they both got the crawler tracks of their alternate modes as legs, but that’s pretty much it. Okay, technically they both have the big bulldozer blade on their chests (or part of it in Neckbreaker’s case), but while the design is similar, the look is vastly different. So while the two robots share some similarities, they don’t really look alike.
Articulation and detail work adhere to the same standard as the other TFC Not-Constructicons, meaning they’re pretty good. The only slight hindrance are the parts of the bulldozer blade that adorn the top of Neckbreaker’s legs, but he can still pull off plenty of poses without problem, it just needs a little fiddling now and then. There are multiple ways to position the pistons on Neckbreaker’s shoulders, either flat or at various angles, so you can be a bit creative here. Just like all the TFC members he carries two guns, one purple and one translucent red.
Neckbreaker has the same problem in robot mode that Exgraver has. He has that big hand belonging to the Hercules combiner with him and no good place to put it. It just hangs off his back in robot mode, clearly visible, and you can’t even hide it with a shovel or anything. So the best way is to simply leave it off somewhere to the side and pretend it vanishes into subspace.
So all in all Neckbreaker has a good robot mode, but just like Exgraver he has that big hand issue. If you leave the hand aside, though, he’s fully okay and has a decent, if somewhat unspectacular robot mode.
Alternate Mode: Neckbreaker transforms into a bulldozer, or rather, into a more or less bulldozer-shaped collection of parts. The blade up front and the crawler threads look good, but the rest of the vehicle looks pretty pieced-together. You don’t necessarily recognize it as a folded-together robot, but the body of the vehicle is quite obviously not a single piece. Also, while Neckbreaker shares Exgraver’s inability to hide the big Hercules hand in robot mode, unlike Exgraver he can’t properly hide it in vehicle mode, either. It hangs off the back of the vehicle. A little less obvious than in robot mode, but still: it’s a pieced-together bulldozer with a big purple hand hanging off its back.
Play value is also strictly limited here. The bulldozer blade can move up and down, but doing so without it coming apart in your hands requires quite a bit of finesse and it doesn’t move that far up and down to begin with. So the bottom line for the vehicle mode is simply this: leave him in robot mode or better yet, leave him as the Hercules arm.
Combiner Mode: Neckbreaker becomes the left arm of the Hercules combiner, for whom I’ll do a separate review.
Remarks: Bonecrusher was far from the most prolific of the Constructicons and his characterization was mostly about how he liked to demolish stuff. Like most of the team (except Long Haul) he did get to be team leader once, as he lead the Constructicons in the Marvel comic story “Totalled!” when they recovered Decepticon prisoners from the Ark. Apart from that, though, he’s mostly been a follower.
Transformers with bulldozers for an alternate mode seem to be a bit cursed. Sure, G1 Bonecrusher wasn’t any better or worse than the other Constructicons and RID Wedge was a cool little guy, but starting with Armada Scavenger and continuing right to ROTF Rampage, we haven’t really seen that many good Bulldozer-Transformers. Neckbreaker doesn’t break that trend, unfortunately. He’s not bad as such, but neither is he particularly good and at the price point he comes at, I’d have expected a bit more. So the bottom line here is quite simple: you’re going to have to get this guy to complete your Hercules, but that’s pretty much the only reason to get him. Otherwise I’d think twice about getting him even at a normal Voyager price and wouldn’t even consider him at the price he comes at.
Rating: C-
Acid Wing
Overall, glad I got all 6. Definitely a collector's item to remember. Do agree that Neckbreaker's behind needs to be sanded/shaved down to help the blades from popping out.
Though, I did notice that switching Heavy Labor to the corrected pelvis, kinda makes the hips loose in combined form.
Bumblebee765
The more I see of these Hercules figures, the more difficult it becomes the resist! I need more money!
mx-01 archon
Re: Neckbreaker hand storage in vehicle mode:
Pretty self explanatory here. Just jam the fingers between the treads (with the thumb resting parallel to the grill), and there's just enough friction there to hold the hand in nice and secure, and far less visible than just hanging out back. As an added bonus, the wrist connector pressed right up against the centre panel of the dozer blade, preventing it from being pushed back, so the assembly holds together pretty firmly.
Cheebs
So, I solved this dude's blade popping problem (and general alignment problem). He simply has too much junk in the trunk!
You know how Exgraver can bend totally in half for alt mode? You know how Neckbreaker comes one click short of bending in half for alt mode? Yeah, Neckbreaker also has to bend completely in half to align correctly. And it's such an easy fix. A ridge on his 'bot mode butt is ever so slightly too big. You can see it collide with his torso when you try to transform him. It literally took 20 seconds with sand paper to fix it. Just file his butt down the tiniest amount.
It aligns SO MUCH BETTER once you can bend him in half all the way. The blade goes together no problem and never pops apart.
Patto Prime
Fixed! Money makes the world go round!
Cheebs
Can somebody re post the pics?
Patto Prime
Thanks once again for the word of encouragent with the review. Glad so many of you liked it. Can't wait to get Mad Blender Should hopefully have him tomorrow according to my tracking, but I'm going on a road trip Friday night and won't be able to post another review till next week
Líder Optimus
I was afraid Neck Breaker would get a small bot mode due to his compact dozer mode. Those pics proved me wrong! Now only Mad Blender remains so I can ship my loot! I can't wait! Nice review BTW!
Sentinel
How did you spend so much? Did you go the BBTS route? I went with RK for all of them and just added the actual price up and it came to $562. This doesn't included reprolabels and chain bases for display purposes.
Anyway, excellent review. Great pics and insightful observations. Nicely done.
G1Jetfire
Great review! It's surprising to see a review for Neck Breaker already!
So I guess that this means Neck Breaker and Mad Blender are coming out soon (according to TFSource). I'm going on vacation next week and I haven't done my taxes yet! *searching for lending source*
TFC definitely finished these ahead of schedule. Kudos to them. If Mad Blender has issues however, then they may have been better off taking thei time with these. I love each one of their figures and their attention to solve each issue. Looking forward to completing Herc and ordering their next combiner project: WW II planes and tanks w/PCC compatibility…
oxidative
Loaders and excavators have shovels, dozers and graders have blades. I love construction equipment
Caterpillar D10 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great review, I can't wait to finish off the set!
omegafix
bulldozers got blades not shovels.
mx-01 archon
Red hues in general (red, orange, purple) rarely photograph properly, and generally need to be colour-corrected.
Isa0
I hope Toyarena gets both in by this Saturday! Can't wait!!! My wallet on the other hand…
Ezilla82
Great review, Patto Prime.
Houndvoice
Looking good, he'll be one of my favourite not-Constructicons.
And so funny how that purple always turns out blue in pics!!!
conleyh2006
cant wait untill i get the last two and dev er hercules will be mine and mp grimmy will have his hands full untill someone does the rest of the dinos in mp style lol
CyclonuS_ZerO
I require!!!