TFC Ares [Project Ares] - Pictorial Review

And finally, another project completed, the inevitable review after TFC Phobus, Ares himself. But first, let's recap

Project Ares : Team Members

Project Ares : Alt Mode

Project Ares : Robot Mode

With Mastermind Creations Feralcons

Not-Rampage

Not-Divebomb

Not-Headstrong

Not-Tantrum

Not-Razorclaw

Quite surprising to see that both versions of Not-Predacons has almost the exact same shades of orange, red and yellow.




Accessories

With Feral Rex's arm mounted cannon

Unlike Feral Rex's arm-mounted cannon, Ares's comes in one piece instead of a combined form of individual members' weapons.

Ares's arm-mounted cannon has a built-in LED but the light covers only the back portion of the cannon. Would've been better if the LED was put near the barrel.

The individual robot's melee weapons (swords, etc) combined into one giant sword used by Ares and the weapons peg together tightly

I think many would agree that Feral Rex's sword looks better and more intimidating than Ares's which color fits well on both Not-Predacons. Personally, at most the design of Ares's sword can be consider average compared to Feral Rex's sword.

Fully Combined

There were complaints that TFC version of Not-Predaking will not have the color uniformity of G1 Predaking and Feral Rex. However, upon completion, I feel that the color scheme is well done aside from just 1 minor issue, Nemean's yellow forearms that are visible. TFC could've designed them to fold backwards or tucked inside Nemean body so that the color difference wouldn't be soo obvious

Generally, Ares can withstand the weight of his sword and arm-mounted cannon without any problem. However, the elbow swivel on the right hand (Phlogues) and the fist is a just bit loose and needed to be fix to hold the sword better.

Back View

Ares is kibble free unlike TFC previous combiner, Uranos. The 2 blasters that comes with Phlogeus and Phobus peg to the back of the feet forming heels, increasing Ares's stability. Phobus's wings peg tightly to Ares's back and I haven't had any problem of them falling off.

The head sculpt is very well done, an improvement to TFC Hercules and Uranos's head sculpt. However, it doesn't come with built-in LED (which is a better gimmick), just light piping.

Side View

In combined mode, Ares has a tall built and lighter compared to Feral Rex's bulk and weight. However, due to the issue on Conabus legs, posing Ares is quite a challenge. Conabus's legs tend to split apart when given more pressure, due to the long pegs between Conabus's legs. This can be fix by shaving off the extra plastics so that the legs can peg together tighter (peg the legs together to see how much needed to be shaved off).

Another issue would be the design of the feet. For the record, I'm not really a fan of Feral Rex's feet as I feel that the ball joint will loosen up after some time. TFC improved the design on Ares's feet (compared to Uranos's) by decreasing the gap between each gears allowing a more natural stand. However, unlike Feral Rex's feet that comes in one piece, Ares's can be split apart for individual robot's weapons. This causing them to also split in combined mode under Ares's weight when pressure is applied, especially on Conabus's side.

He's a fierce beast nonetheless. The slim and tall built gives a more Neo-G1 aesthetic rather than 'updated G1 version' of Predaking. Ares comes with a ball-jointed head, ratcheting universal joints on the shoulders, ratchet joint on the elbows and swivel joint on the wrist. The waist is on a swivel (but without ratchet which bothers me a lot), the hips are on universal joint, ratchet joint on the knees and also ratchet joint on the feet. The toes can be be upwards and downwards but only in small degree.

Generally, I'm glad to see that TFC improved the quality of their newer releases which in Ares case, starting from Aethon and then Phobus. However, this leaves more than half of Ares having inferior quality compared to the last 2 releases. It would've been better if the improvement was done before any of them were released as I don't mind them taking their time as long as the result is perfection.

Finally, a minor nitpick, having 6 fingers on each hand might work well in theory as it gives Ares a more beast-like look and design. However, holding a sword with 6 fingers doesn't really look that great in reality.

Comparison Shots

Ares is roughly half-a-head taller than Hercules, making him about the same size as TFC Uranos.

Side-by-side with Feral Rex, the 2 Not-Predaking is on the same level as each other.

Even when both uses extended configuration, they are still of the same height with each other.

Ares slightly taller than Uranos in extended configuration

Few years back, Hercules was the biggest combiner to be released and his size was among the deciding factors between him and MT Giant. But now, Hercules does seems to be overshadowed by Uranos and Ares.

I've been why I prefered TFC combiners over others. For starter, I actually prefer the larger size TFC offered (at that time) as opposed to releases by other companies. The design might be hit-and-miss sometimes but in general, I prefer them for on my Neo-G1 shelves. And lastly, the uniformity, having [hopefully] all of combiners from the same company. 

On choosing which Predaking for you, to me it's easy. If you prefer quality over other factors, Feral Rex is the way to go, no doubt. I don't think any TFC fans would say that TFC quality is the best. However, the design of TFC is kind of fresh to me, giving an original take of G1 characters, modernizing them without relying on neither original G1 nor IDW updates. 

However, it takes some patient handling them as I feel that unlike most 3rd Party companies that did a full combiner prototype first, TFC opted doing one figure at a time. This tend to result in the combined mode having few design issues. Ares's feet is a good example. If I'm right about this, I sincerely hope TFC would change the way of doing it.

Prometheus, you're next!