Refute

Allegiance: Minicon
Size: Mini-Con
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Bright orange, blue-gray, and some light brown, dull orange, and metallic blue-silver
Rating: 4.4

    Vehicle mode is some kind of futuristic mining vehicle. To be honest, though, it only really manages to look like... something... with a cockpit, wheels, and two prongs at the front. Not toe most impressive vehicle mode, to be sure. Although Refute has pretty good mold detailing, he has practically no paint detailing at all- only his cockpit window and his robot eyes are painted. The orange could also stand to be a shade or two darker, although it's not that bad. Also, his robot arms are very clearly visible on the sides in this mode- they didn't even TRY to hide them. On the upside, though, Refute has a pretty cool gimmick- he's another one of those geared Minicons. Roll him along on a flat surface (or attach him to the bottom of Cyclonus), and his prongs move in and out. And they move a sizable distance, too, so it's not super-lame or anything like that. His Minicon symbol is on the center of the top of this mode, and the Minicon port is on the bottom, slightly to the rear of center.
    Refute's robot mode also leaves something to be desired. It's very odd in its stature, and the arms are really puny- those claws look like something out of Roley Poley Olie. The head is also very odd-looking, as it's almost square, and the mouth looks like some odd kind of owl beak or something. The forehead is also a bit too large. The legs themselves are a bit wonky, since the feet are too bit, but it's nothing I can't get past. The prongs on Refute's shoulders also accent the mode a little, too, giving it at least SOME personality. Refute has about average articulation for a Minicon- he can move at the shoulders, waist, and hips.
    Refute is really a pretty boring Minicon in every respect except his gear gimmick. An uninventive transformation, an odd stature in his robot mode, and practically no paint detailing. Certainly a below-average Minicon.

Hoist

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Super-Con
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Off-white, light brown, dull orange, blue-gray, and some pale light blue, silver, black, bright red, metallic blue-silver, and light green
Powerlinx ports: 4 (1 gimmicked)
Rating: 9.4

    Vehicle mode is some kind of futuristic shoveler construction vehicle. Anyways, it looks pretty nice, all around. Excellent mold and paint detailing, with a great variety of colors. The Autobot symbol is painted on nice and cleanly- no big red blob of paint here. There's also "S.D. 74" printed on the top of the vehicle to give it a bit of a realistic touch. The top half of the vehicle mode can also swivel independently from the bottom half, allowing Hoist to turn as he scoops. As for the Minicon gimmick, it obviously involves his shovel- unfortunately, you actually have to do more work to get the gimmick ready for a Minicon to unlock it than to just do it manually! See, what's supposed to happen is that you attach a Minicon to the port at the rear of the crane arm, then push in to have the crane scoop up stuff. However, you can actually accomplish the same thing just by pushing in on the rear of the arm with your finger. To actually get it where the Minicon is required to activate the gimmick, you have to first pull up on a spring-loaded blue lever, lock it in place, and THEN use the Minicon to unlock the lever! Completely redundant and ridiculous, even if the gimmick itself is pretty cool. Also, Hoist has a couple of somewhat obvious robot extras in this mode- his fingers on the back of the left side of the crane; the robot head from a rear view; and the thumb on the underside of the crane arm. Still, all-in-all, it's a pretty nice mode.
    Hoist's robot mode, however, is so awesome you'll swear the being who designed this was Primus himself. I mean, it's PERFECT. Nothing wrong with it at all. First off, he's got the most articulation out of ANY Armada toy, with the sole exception of Unicron- any point of his body within reason can move. He's also very stable. His face also looks very gruff and mean-looking, and has good paint detailing on it. The comparison between his huge crane arm and his rather normal-looking left arm is great, and really adds character. And the fact that there's a Powerlinx port in the palm of his hand- effectively allowing him to hold Minicons- is INGENIOUS. Some may complain about the small gap of space in between his feet and the rest of the legs, but I personally don't mind him, as it's not noticeable from most angles, and it allows him to take more dynamic stances anyways.
    Hoist has a pretty good vehicle mode, although it does have a few robot extras. But his robot mode will blow you away, guaranteed. The best Armada Super-Con of them all, and that's not an easy task. Highly recommended.

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Review by Beastbot

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