Pictorial Review: RotF Mixmaster

So with Dork of the Mork knocking on (down?) our doors and demanding attention, I decided to cast my eye back to a Voyager class toy from the previous film Revenge of Some Guy. Having had my eye on the new Megatron toy, I decided to dredge up this similarly spindly freak: RotF Mixmaster.

This is my serious face

His alternate mode is that of a totally inconspicuous cement mixer and all I can say is that Mixmaster Mike must have transformed into Devastator's balls when you consider how proud he is of being a Decepticon! Having made all the effort to scan a detailed and realistic alt. mode, he then just thought "Ah, sod it!" and slapped not one, but two whacking 'con symbols on the biggest part of himself.

Speaking of detail, the back end of this thing has some rather neat additions including a folding chute for the (non existent, but it'd have been cool) cement and a corresponding hopper and bendy rubber ladder. The fine sculpting persists throughout unfortunately without paint apps to highlight it. All in all, he's absolutely solid, if not particularly subtle or exciting.

Unexpectedly, this chunk o' truck transforms into a lanky, spindly "the scissor man is coming to cut off your thumbs" nightmare with a crabbly face and armour plating. His arms have joints in all sorts of bizarre places which allow him to slash and sweep these flailing scythes of doom into some great dynamic poses. The legs are rather restricted if you want to keep him balanced, but they do have hip, knee and ankle movement,, even the toes bend if you use a bit of imagination and a transformation joint.

His only real flaw is the shameless truck-buttock, but I've grown used to it. The wheels hanging off the arms are ok by me as they were designed into his CGI model, but honestly, that's a serious caboose he's sporting.

Fat Fighters cannot help you, here's your refund.

Believe it or not, Mismaster has a third 'artillery' mode which was used briefly in the movie. The problem with it is that Hasbro's instructions are utterly, utterly wrong. Takara, however, had an excellent animation-and-video guide on their website (since removed) which show the true alt. alt. mode to be as below:

Phallic, like a rare orchid.

I love the Beast Wars Neo flower motif and the protected head peering out from underneath!

It does look very nice from most angles, just not side-on where it looks like a car crash. This view does allow you to see the pegs and holes that fit together to give the mode some solidity, though.

Mixmaster is still shelfwarming the UK like a trooper at £15 and would totally suck as a kid's toy. It's understandable from moulds like this exactly why DotM has a more playful, kid-friendly toy line, but that doesn't stop me loving the utter alien creepiness that Mixmaster exudes. His face is kind of Beast Wars Rampage, he's in no way a true Constructicon, but he's fascinatingly ugly and sinister, like a wingless bat or a vampire beetle.


Mixing it up:
Accurate and detailed alt. mode
Unique bot mode
Massive difference between modes
Loads of character
Triplechanger

Confused:
Quite fiddly to arrange into artillery mode
Lacking paint apps
Transformation is basically an explosion
Difficult to balance

THE BOTTOM LINE:
Price: £14.99 or less.
Location: Shelfwarming most stores including Toys 'R' Us and The Entertainer
Vehicle Mode: 9/10.
Robot Mode: 8/10.
Miscellaneous Mode: 6/10
Overall: 7.7/10