Toy Review: Fans Toys FT-40A Hannibal

The Headmaster that becomes a headmaster gets its MP Nod.

Producer: Fans Toys

Price: Approx. $230 USD

Release Date: May 2022

Item Height: Approx. 9.25 in.

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: 1x CR1220 Cell Battery

WHERE TO BUY: TFSource

Fans Toys shows that they’re really to take on some very ambitious projects with the release of FT-40A Hannibal. This homage to the Transformers “Headmasters” character Cereberos Is the start of something much larger seeing as that robot is a Headmaster (has a smaller robot that becomes the head and controls the body) that BECOMES a headmaster for the gigantic Fort Max (which in itself transformers into a fortress.) For me this figure fell short a product on its own in numerous ways. Thanks in advance for checking out my views and gallery on it here and hopefully you leave yours as well in the comments.

Presentation: The packaging is standard per the company with a strong cardboard box that has art of the product on front and images of it on the back with information. The figure comes in a Styrofoam clamshell and it and the accessories are safely packed inside (see the accessories portion for a bit more insight here.)

Build: Hannibal is a diecast figure in both frame and parts of the outer shell. For a figure its size it has a decent amount of health. It is almost fully painted vs. colored plastic which looks nice but isn’t done in a way that’s preventative of chips and scrapes on it (which is odd for a company that’s been doing fully-painted figures for years.) There are metal tabs the align the robot mode’s legs that don’t have the friction to keep them locked in making the legs flail off to the side at the knee while maneuvering it. The insertion point for the headmaster also has issues with the spring which makes the head literally fly off at a glance. All-in-all it’s a poorly manufactured figure.

Accessories: Fans Toys Hannibal comes with a sword, a base, and an alternate right hand to hold the sword at a more straightforward angle. It should be noted that in some cases (namely the U.S. releases,) the additional hand was not packed in the box so make sure to check for it before throwing all of the packaging materials away.

Articulation: The articulation on Hannibal is fairly mediocre. It’s got some nice things like ab crunch but then other things like waist swivel being significantly hindered by by the crotch plate, ankles that hardly tilt, and the headmaster port having 0 built in up or downwards tilt. Frankly, it seems like the company just didn’t care.

Overall Score: 5.5/10 – Fans Toys as a company has a lot of support from the community and for good reason. However Hannibal is one of those products who I feel’s support will be bolstered by previous rapport rather than building new. The aesthetic is very good but its build and engineering are frankly dated. The upside in my opinion (and the reason that I personally haven’t returned it) is that it has the option of being used as an investment towards their larger Fort Max body which we hopefully see more information on soon. This product itself however comes off extremely half-assed.