Mixmaster's vehicle mode is what it's always been-- a cement truck. This mode is exceptional in pretty much every sense of the word. THe proportions are excellent, there's no robot mode extras whatsoever, and the amount of detailing that's gone into this mode is crazy. Moveable smokestacks, a seperate front grill piece, a slight "worn dirt" fade paint near the front, a moveable miniature ladder and cement chute near the rear of the truck, very nicely detailed mecahnical "bolts" and such on the relevant parts of hte toy such as the wheels and the parts near the back, seperate side mirror pieces... it's extremely well-done. It's mildly disappointing that he doesn't have the "dog with a Decepticon-symbol head" he has in the movie, but it would be hard to replicate at this scale anyways. The only real problem I have with this mode is that, with all these details, the cement drum can't turn! That seems like a big oversight, even if with Mixmaster's transformation it makes it an impossiblity. The gray-silver-and-brown color scheme is also a tad dull, but it's certainly very realistic, and fits well with the movie feel.
    Before I start on Mixmaster's robot mode, one thing needs to be said-- he's a little tough to get into robot mode, but it is VERY difficult to get him back into vehicle mode, making him one of the most difficult Transformers in the line, and certainly the most difficult Voyager class toy. Just a fair warning. He also has a third "battle" mode (not pictured) which involves little more than having him kneel down in robot mode and put his face to the ground so that his back-cannon is facing forward while his cement-arm "shields" form a protective barrier. A weak mode at best, and nothing really locks into place, making it look even more like an afterthought.
    As for the robot mode proper, I quite like the look. It's amazing how incredibly lanky they got Mixmaster to look considering the vehicle mode-- it really gives him some character and sets him apart a bit more from the other movie Decepticons, and makes him look a lot bigger in this mode. His articulation is also great-- he can move at the neck (at two places), shoulders (at five places!), elbows (which he technically has two of on each arm, with a total of four points of articulation in that general area on each arm), at the base of his upper two fingers (as one piece) and at the base of the lower finger on each arm, and at the hips (at three places), knees (at two places), and ankles (at two places). And given how lanky he is and that he's gotten fairly large feet, you can get him into a incredible number of great poses. He's also got some nice design cues, such as his very unique head design that really doesn't resemble anything on Earth, some very odd three-fingers hands, and point kneecaps. The big cannon on his back (which can fire a spring-loaded projectile) is kinda cool, too, even when you consider its odd placement. Mixmaster does have a kibble problem though, no doubt about it. The front shell of the truck mode hangs off his butt, the wheels AND the cement drum "shells" hang off his arms (the biggest offense, in my opinion, even if the drum shells can look like some sort of armor), and the exhaust pipe assembly that is on the sides of his chest may look alright, but they don't fit into any sort of peg or hole at all to make them stable, you just have to sort of set them in a certain position and leave them there. His arms are also rather flat and almost 2-D as well, which compounds the problem of having all that kibble on them. On the color scheme side, though, the addition of a rusty red and orange in this mode on some of the robot mode parts really adds some nice contrast and gives a bit of pep to his look.
    RotF Mixmaster has a great vehicle mode and a decent, highly original robot mode, but he suffers from some major kibble problems in the latter mode, sadly, and a joke of a third mode. I still think he's a good toy and worth the purchase, but only for patient Transfans who are used to advanced transformations. Otherwise, he'll be a source of frustration, sadly.

Review by Beastbot

Back to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Index