TFC Hades

Prelude: Legal stuff first as always. Hades is not a figure (or rather a group of figures combined) released by Hasbro or Takara-Tomy and thus not officially a Transformer. He's from third party company TFC and clearly intended to be G1 Liokaiser, but for legal reasons he can't be called by that name. Instead he is named after the Greek god of the underworld (or the underworld itself, they had the same name), which is fitting since his component pieces all had names related to the Greek myths and specifically the Greek underworld, too.

Components: Hades is composed of six individual robots, whom I’ve already reviewed separately:
- Minos (Hellbat)
- Thanatos (Killbison)
- Cerberus (Jarugar)
- Rhadamanthus (Leozack)
- Hypnos (Drillhorn)
- Aiakos (Gaihawk)

Combined Mode: Hades combines identically to the Liokaiser toy he emulates. The two tanks - Thanatos and Hypnos - become the legs, the two smaller jets - Minos and Aiakos - become the arms, and Cerberus and Rhadamanthus together form the torso with Cerberus being the lower half. The combined form looks very cool, the tanks providing thick lower legs and the jet noses jutting out sideways giving the combiner a tremendous width in the shoulders. Unlike other TFC combiners, Hades also has a very stable hip and can thus pull off quite a few poses without immediately going into a split. He also comes with fully articulate feet, giving him a stable stance in just about any pose (slick floors are his bane, though). The combiner’s articulation is very good, by the way, and the component pieces hold together very well, too. Only the wings on the shoulders tend to fold together every time you touch them, but are easily rightened again.

In terms of weaponry Hades comes with a big three-piece gun he can hold in either hand or “holster” on the side of the leg provided by Hypnos. The gun can also be used by Hypnos in vehicle mode, by the way. His other weapon is a huge spear that can split into three pieces connected by a chain. Now while that chain-spear looked cool in the cartoon what with all the whirling and striking Liokaiser did with it, it’s just very, very awkward in real life. Better keep the spear in once piece, it looks very cool like that.

For some reason Hades actually comes with two sets of hands. One came with Minos and has clawed hands, the other came with Aiakos and has more standard hands. Which one you like better is entirely objective, of course. Both can hold the weapons well, so it’s really just a matter of taste which one you select. Or you can give Hades one of each, too, if you want. One other feature I wanted to mention: Hades’ head is actually a helmet that Rhadamanthus puts over his own head. It’s on a small arm connected to Rhadamanthus back, but you can simply click it off and thus give Hades the ability to turn his head, too. Hades can also take the helmet off, of course, giving him Rhadamanthus very tiny noggin’ instead.

Overall there really is nothing to complain here. Hades is massive, holds together well, poses well, doesn’t fall over or apart easily, everything works as intended. In my opinion he’s TFC’s most solid combiner yet.

Remarks: As befits a Japanese series about robots, Transformers Victory was rife with combiners. And the biggest and baddest of them all was Liokaiser, the combined form of the Destron Breast Force. It took quite a few episodes to gather all six members together (they had to spring Gaihawk from jail, first), but once he was combined Liokaiser easily cleaned house and even put the almighty Star Saber on the ropes. Well, at least until, just a few episodes later, Star Saber combined with Victory Lio into the even more all-powerful Victory Saber and sent Liokaiser packing, but that is just the natural progression of a Japanese anime series. Anyway, at the final battle of Victory, Liokaiser ended up drifting away into space, his grey form indicating he was quite dead (or as dead as Transformers ever get).

As a toy, or rather a collector’s item for the adult Transformers fan, Hades really has just one major flaw and that’s his price point. Gathering all six of his components together costs a pretty penny. Apart from that, though, he’s brilliant. He holds together very well, the joints are strong enough to support him in most poses, he can easily hold all his weapons, and he just looks fantastic. He’s certainly not a toy for children, mind you, but for a collector like me, he’s just superb. Recommended to all fans of Japanese Transformers and combiners who have the required cash to spare.

Rating: A