my bday is coming up in about 2 1/2 weeks, and I was thinking of asking my mom to get me a 3rd party devastator. Its between Hercules and Giant. I am leaning towards giant though.

my criteria are...

1) same if not close to a CW Combiner
2) Individual transformation isn't TOO hard, but isn't too simple. I'll get something with a simple transformation than a super hard one though
3) preferably the individual bots have 5mm hand holes (this isn't a deal breaker at all if they come with individual weapons)
4 Good construction, wont fall apart if a strong breeze hits it

I know someone is going to say look at the reviews, but I know a lot of people don't make reviews, and that's who I want to hear from

 

Giant is great, and fits well with Combiner Wars, it also meets all your requirements.

 

Agreed, Giant is Combiner wars scaled and looks very nice. Individual bots look really cool too.

 

They are both holding well with time.
I gotta admit though, I love my herc with rage kit. He still looks like a badass

 

I'll make you one hell of a deal on Hercules with the rage kit.....

 

Giant's sizes almost perfectly with CW combiners. He feels a little dated and some of the individual Constructicons don't have the best designs, but he looks great combined and he meets your criteria for transformations that aren't too hard or too easy.



ToyWorld has better engineering and the most G1-accurate Constructicons, but is taller than CW Devastator and goes for a more Studio OX look in combined mode. Gravity Builder actually reminds me of Giant in a lot of ways, and he might end up being my favorite Devy, but he's quite a bit taller than a CW Combiner.

Don't have Hercules, so I can't compare.

 

Yep, Green Giant for CW combiner sizes or GT Gravity Builder or TW Constructor if you want it bigger than the rest of the CW combiners and closer to the size of CW Devastator.

 

Save your mum a few hundred bucks and just get the CW or UW instead. He may not "scale" with other CW combiners - but it is always futile to discuss scale with TF.

 

The only real option for a CW-scaled Devastator is Hercules. But it's not perfect.

Herclues is nearly 5 years old by this point. TFC's combiners have come a long, long, long way from him. But at the scale we're talking, he's still unmatched. The alternatives to Herclues, such as Giant, have good and bad things about them, but I feel that only Herclues gets it right (in conjunction with Rage of Herclues). But it's not perfect. Scale notwidthstanding, no 3P devastator has as perfect a G1 "look" of Devastator as the official Combiner Wars one. Sure they all impliment a similar transformation scheme, but upper and lower body details and prorotions differ.

Still, Herclues does it best. Another nice thing is that while he is certainly larger and bulkier than the CW combiners, once you add Perfect Effect / Simple Version hands and feed to the CW combiners, they're all roughly the same height (and with the chest pieces, nearly the same bulk). Giant, for example, is too small compared to CW Combiners with 3P feet.

Herclues is extremely expensive though. $400 at least. Maybe you can find him for $300. I'm not sure if it's really worth it. I kind of regret buying it. WHen I did, CW wasn't even rumored yet and he was the "must have" 3P. I think only City Commander before him had the same level of intensity. It was certainly a breakthrough TF. While it's certainly a nice piece to have and an ideal compliment to combiner wars, I can't help but think that is $500 I could have put to better use a few years later on other TF 3Ps. For the record, he's pretty much the only 3P I feel about like that.

If you absolutely must have a CW-scale devastator, Herclues is your choice. But maybe I'd wait, or check out the ~$60 KO version and look at the guides to mod him into a nearly as good analog. Herclues was TFC's big start with combiners and if they did it again, I think they'd do it differently. But that said, of the CW-scale devastators, it's the best, hands down.

 

To the above poster, well said and written.

However Hercules isn't expensive anymore. A lot of people practically giving him away.

 

I had the same decision years ago about Giant or Herc. I went with Herc because I hate mitten hands on figures. I never did get the rage kit, I like the tread forearms, but the weapons are stupid because of the plastic colors TFC chose.

 

Giant does scale great, but I'm not sure if he still does if your CW combiners have those PE feet... He would probably be too small then by a little bit.

 

Rage Kit also comes with a proper gun for Herc as well.

 

I think Giant is a better choice of the two but If you're looking for a G1 look the UW or CW set pretty much nails it (admittedly the add on kits bring a lot to the table for them). The only problem is if you're a scale person then he's HUGE.

 

I bought Giant because i initially felt he was a better fit for CW combiners sizewise, and he is if they wear the hfg feet but with the PE feet they are a head taller wich you may find fitting with him being the first combiner and having no voyager sized boss or not.
I still think combined mode is a very goodlikeness of Devastator, but the appearence of the individual bots may bother you since they are not always acceptable represantations of the constructicons. Dont know if that last part is better with Hercules. I do think Herc might fit better sizewise if your combiners have PE feet, but then Giant has the better shade of green.
All in all i advise to wait and see: maybe someone will still get us a downscaled ko UW Devy, because apart from size it is the best Devastator on the market imo, maybe we might still get an official one that better fits the other CW guys. Who knows.

 

So here is Hercules with Bruticus and Menasor with the PE feet upgrades. He's a little too big, but I am okay with that since I like the overall look of Hercules better than Giant. I wish Herc had the detailing and color of Giant, but I don't like the scrawny forearms with the big shoulders that Giant has. If scale is a big issue, I guess Giant makes more sense since Devastator loses to Bruticus in the cartoon, and then Menasor beats Bruticus with a sucker punch. Anyway, that's how the three look together.

 

That's a very good point I had forgotten. Giant is a very stylized looking Devastator...very "techy" looking...it's cool. The bots don't pull off the characters well however. UW/cw does a much better job (which is why I actually got that set). I got Giant for combiner mode only. It's something to consider before buying.

 

I have both yellow giant and herc, and hands down its giant, none of the other devy's even matter to me bcuz theyre all huge and it's not what I want size wise, I also like the combiner wars size figures, though some aren't as good as others, the cw bruticus is def the best bruticus after some 3rd party upgrades are added in

 

Giant. But my serious answer is none of them and just get UW. It blows away all the 3P ones. Not being in scale with CW is a sacrifice I'll take.

 

I am in a similar situation right now, I do not feel pretty good with the plastic quality of CW/UW Devastator, so looking for other options.