Set Price: $35 U.S.
 

Hoist

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Dark forest green, light milky gray, light milky orange, and some transparent blue, transparent yellow, black, silver, yellow, moderately light speckled forest green, and metallic orangish copper
Rating: 9.4

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the Movie Longarm toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the Movie Longarm toy here.)

    Hoist here has a deco job based on his G1 namesake, which certainly fits the general alt mode of a tow truck as well. Nearly down to tee, the colors are the same-- the same moderately dark shade of green, the same silver, tne same shade of orange. There's more colors thrown into the mix to help keep things interesting, though, like a very nice-looking speckly light green on part of the back end of the vehicle, and some particularly attractive metallic copper knees in robot mode. The transparent yellow sirens/lights and transparent blue windows are also equally good shades. The one plastic color I do NOT like is the gray-- it's a very, very chalky, light gray that just looks very unattractive and dull, even moreso than the more common of the milky light gray shades on most other TF toys. As far as paint apps, they're more concentrated in robot mode this time around, so a few parts, such as part of the sides and the front of the vehicle mode, do look rather plain compared to TF1 Longarm. I do like the yellow/black "caution" stripe used on the side doors, though, as another G1 throwback. It should've gone across the entire side as opposed to just the door and a small portion in front of it, however-- having it stop abruptly halfway down the figure for no reason looks a little odd. The robot mode head, even though it's the same mold as on Longarm, still managed to bear a close resemblance to G1 Hoist's, which is likely not by accident-- this repaint was probably planned eventually from the moment Longarm's head sculpt was finallized.
    No mold changes have been made to RotF Hoist.

Mixmaster

Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Hard
Color Scheme: Light lime green, black, pale purplish gray, and some silver, transparent light orange, yellow, light metallic bronze, and dark purple
Rating: 7.7

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original voyager RotF Mixmaster toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original voyager RotF Mixmaster toy here.)

    As you'd expect from a Constructicon repaint, Mixmaster here is now in roughly G1 colors. The lime green is certainly as prevalent here as on his G1 namesake, but the dark purple is less obvious, being only really visible in robot mode, and even then only on a few fairly small places. There is a nice shade of purplish gray used for the cement drum, though, which goes quite well with the light green and black. I also love the trnasparent orange-- it really stands out against the other colors and emphasizes the not-quite-realistic paint job the toy has. He's also got quite a lot of great paint apps, such as the same yellow/black stripe on the rear side of the vehicle, helping him fit in as a "set" with Hoist. He's also got some nice red stripes around his cement truck, and all his grills and "metal" parts are painted the appropriate silver. Plus, in a rather hilarious homage to (again) his G1 namesake, he's got two "Ol' Lefty" markings above his front tires-- referring to the fact that in G1, he was the left leg of Devastator! All in all, it's a very good color scheme-- a definite homage to the G1 toy, but adding a bit more to the mix, which is almost always how I like my homage repaints.
    Surprisingly for a store exclusive, Mixmaster does have a mold change-- namely, a head remold. It's based off of an early head design for the character, when he was apparently meant to be an Autobot. Unfortunately, it's a bit goofy and uneven looking, and hardly suiting for a Decepticon. It's hard to take him seriously with a really weird look on his face like the one he's got sculpted on.

    The "Back Road Brawl" set is one of the better store exclusive sets from the RotF line, even considering the slightly inflated price of $35 U.S. Both are great repaints, with all of the colors mixing together nicely and each having a nice and varied number of paint apps. Plus, G1 homages to boot, but without being slavishly so. Hoist's ugly light milky gray and Mixmaster's odd-looking new head are the only real downsides of these toys, at least compared to the originals. Recommended.

Reviews by Beastbot

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