TFC Heavy Labor

Prelude: Legal stuff first, as always. Heavy Labor 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 Long Haul, but for legal reasons he can’t be called by that name.

Robot Mode: Heavy Labor is a very broad, powerful-looking robot. The resemblance to G1 Long Haul is present, though not quite as evident as with other TFC Hercules figures. The two both have the vehicle mode’s front as their chest, but in Heavy Labor’s case the arms form the loading bed, while Long Haul uses his legs for that. Also, G1 Long Haul seems taller (relatively speaking) and has far less powerful-looking arms. Heavy Labor’s head sculpt is styled more after Long Haul’s TV appearance rather than his toy’s noggin’.

Resemblances aside, Heavy Labor is a very good figure. Highly articulated, he can move just about every way you want a modern day Transformers figure to move. He even has a twisting hip (though you have to flip up his purple waist plate), just about the only things missing are twisting wrists. He also comes with two guns, one in purple and one in translucent red. He can hold them in hand or mount them on the back of his shoulders, too.

Detailing is also very good, especially the chest (the front of the truck mode) looks amazing. So really, I can’t think of anything bad to write here. A very good robot mode, thumbs up.

Alternate Mode: Heavy Labor transforms into a mining dump truck, a massive vehicle in real life that would probably dwarf the rest of the Hercules team vehicles if they were scaled realistically. It’s almost identical-looking to the vehicle modes of both G1 Long Haul and of ROTF Long Haul (big surprise here). In terms of detailing it’s between these two, much better than the (admittedly much smaller) G1 vehicle, not quite as good as the ROTF Voyager-class one. My only complaint in terms of look is that you can see the robot’s fists on the back of the vehicle. They are partially incorporated into the chassis of the loading bed, but the colour difference makes them stick out pretty severely. Not a big thing overall, but rather noticeable.

Not a whole lot more I can write here. Like several of the TFC members, Heavy Labor can also use his two weapons in vehicle mode, either as weapons or as smoke stacks. That’s about it as far as gimmicks go in vehicle mode, though. So to sum it up: a pretty nice vehicle mode, just those visible robot fists dim the picture a bit.

Combiner Mode: Heavy Labor becomes the lower torso and hip of the Hercules combiner. Hercules will be subject of a separate review.

Remarks: Long Haul was the grumpy water boy of the Constructicons, always responsible for hauling stuff around. He would much rather have been a front line warrior. Anyway, Long Haul is the sole Constructicon who has absolutely no claim to being the leader in any series or continuity. And he had to serve as Devastator’s crotch, too. Poor guy.

I don’t know whether Heavy Labor is also supposed to be a grumpy water boy, but he does serve as the crotch of Hercules, too. Also, he’s a really great toy. He comes a bit short of my favorite TFC member Structor, but he’s pretty cool, too. Powerful look, great articulation, no flaws worth mentioning except the visible fists in vehicle mode. Very nicely done. You need him anyway as part of the big guy, but still: highly recommended.

Rating: B+