From Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers

Dave's Transformers Studio Series Rant: Voyager Wave 29

Constructicon Mixmaster (Cement Mixer)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Studio/VMixmaster

Wavemate is War for Cybertron (Game) Thundercracker, a redeco of a mold
I don't want to acquire again.
This was the last one for me to get, so now I'll prioritize reviewing
the rest of the components (I'd been putting off Scavenger since I wanted to
do the entire wave at once and TFOne Elita-1 was last to ship despite being
up for order more than a year ago). Given the bulk of all the combiner
kibble, I didn't want to review the Hook/Wide Load set until I could finish
it off by assembling Devastator. As a secondary consideration, I'm finding
it interesting to figure out the combiner modes without seeing the
instructions yet or looking carefully at assembled Devastators that do exist out there already.


CAPSULE

$35 price point (Voyager is going up to $42 next year)

Constructicon Mixmaster: I have a few issues with elements of the transformation (mostly because I don't have claws), but otherwise it's good
in both modes and has a decent combiner mode (if I guessed right). Kinda
small for a Voyager, but it'd be big for a Deluxe, and they seem to be making all four limb Constructicons at an effective "halfway between Deluxe and Voyager" size. If you're not planning to get all of the Constructicons, this is a bit pricey, but it's not something to regret getting before having all
the rest either. Recommended.


RANT

Packging: Standard 2025-style Studio Series window box, with the mixing drum separate and hiding in the bottom right corner out of the window view.
As with the other 1986 Constructicons, the left panel has art of Devastator. The cel bit (well, Youtube screencap) on the back is of Devastator about to body slam Sludge...the individual Constructicons didn't get a lot of
memorable scenes in the movie, although the background of the back of box render is the Autobot shuttle interior with a hole blown in it...because they already had that art, I guess.


DECEPTICON: CONSTRUCTICON MIXMASTER
Assortment: G0563
Devastator Component: 5 of 5
Altmode: Cement Mixer
Transformation Difficulty: 15 steps
Previous Name Use: G1, G2, RotF (CW version wasn't sold separately)
Previous Mold Use: None
Movie: TFtM
Scene: Attack on Autobot City

MIXMASTER combiners with other CONSTRUCTICONS to form DEVASTATOR.

Yeah, that's about all he did, other than play a trumpet.

Packaging: The inner tray has a pair of fold-out corners to which the forearms are secured, to make way for the big booty. If you pull the sides
of the tray apart, the arms lift up, making it a bit of a puppet play pattern
I guess? Four regular plastic ties and a double tie around the boots hold
the robot to the inner tray. Two ties hold the mixer drum in the lower right corner, it can be removed without cutting the ties. The pistol is held in
the lower left by one tie, and it can also be removed without cutting.
The instructions have a five step process to assemble the robot mode out of what's in the package. Mostly attaching the mixer drum, but the toes also need to be folded out. Oddly, the instructions show the heels being folded
out but not the toes, suggesting the packaging was going to be different at
the time the instructions were written. As usual, the altmode instructions
are not present, being shunted to the giant sheet of instructions that comes with the Hook and Long Haul set.

Robot Mode: As with the other Constructicons (and Studio '86 toys) the mold is based on the animation model but with extra panel detailing, so the head is under a sort of bus stop shelter hood that has short nozzles molded into the front (as opposed to the much longer chromed nozzles on the G1
toy). He has a big backpack made up of the cement mixing drum apparatus, and the truck's cab is split in half to make the feet. The packaging and instructions show long heel spurs in back, but have the toes remaining folded under (which does seem to be the intent, as they have 5mm sockets on the underside when folded in like this). The only reason the toe pieces fold out is to make room for the heels to fold in for vehicle mode (the toes end up under the cab and reasonably out of sight in vehicle mode). The helmet is patterned after the Decepticon symbol's upper half, making Mixmaster the most obvious faction fanboy until Tarn comes along. (Megatronus/the Fallen
doesn't count as a fanboy, since the symbol is supposed to be his face in the first place.) Mine has a slight gouge on the abdomen, the piece must've been mishandled before assembly but made it past QC. If yours does too, let me know, it'd be a sign that there might be a problem with the manufacturing process in general rather than one careless person.
5.5" (14cm) tall at the head, 6.5" (16.5cm) to the top of the cement
spout on the backpack, continuing the pattern of the Deluxes and Voyagers all being the same height at the top of the head and fueling my suspicion that
the Voyagers are a little overpriced so that the Deluxes can be sold at a comparative loss. The usual Constructicon colors of yellowish green ("Constructicon Green") and dark pruple with some black and silver. There's actually two kinds of green plastic and two kinds of purple plastic. One
type of each is more rigid and looks a little brighter, especially under UV light. The duller variety tends to be used on joints or places that are more likely to flex. There also seems to be some batch variation, where some of
the more rigid green looks more brownish under UV while the rest is just brighter green. The softer green is used on the top of the "hood" piece
(where Devastator's knee piece connects), the shoulders and upper arms, the inner faces of the forearms, the outer parts of the knee joints, the toes,
the heels, and the bit in the small of the back where the cement drum is
meant to look like it connects. The rigid green is used on the rest of the hood/backplate, the cement spout, the outer faces of the forearms, a
square-ish peg on the butt, and the rest of the boots. The duller purple is used on the pelvis and inner parts of the knee joints, and maybe elsewhere
but it's harder to tell than with the green. Other purple plastic is used
for the shoulder struts, the torso front, the hips, and the cement drum.
Black plastic is used for the head, pistol, and the wheels (one on each of
the shoulders, one on each of the biceps, one on the outer face of each
boot).
Not much paint needed, since they could split sprues up around all six members and avoid "well, it's cheaper to paint this part green than make the green sprue bigger" issues. There's silver on the face and wheel hubs, red eyes, and some red and black cartoon-accurate details on the chest (as with most Studio Series 86 toys, there's a LOT more molded detail now, but they
tend to limit painted detail to the little bits in the animation model). The cab halves that make up the feet have more paint, but I'll cover that under vehicle mode. There's a light purple on silver Decepticon symbol printed on the abdomen.
The neck is a ball joint with the socket in the head, but the hood makes it hard to get at it for movement. Like Scrapper, the waist bends sideways
on a ratchet since it's Devastator's ankle joint. And as with Scrapper, it only bends one direction, so even if the connectors were identical, you couldn't put them on the wrong sides. Pinned hinge and swivel shoulders,
bicep swivels, hinge elbows that bend to 90 degrees and have a sort of soft single ratchet to be more stable either straight or almost completely bend,
no wrist articulation. Pinned hinge and swivel hips, mid-thigh swivels,
hinge knees with a sort of internal tab and slot to keep them more stable
when not bent, instep hinge ankles, heels that can fold down. The cement
drum does not rotate, it's pegged solidly in place.
The fists hold short 5mm pegs (they aren't all the way through) and there's 5mm sockets on the outer faces of the forearms. There's 5mm sockets (fairly shallow) under the toes, and the rest of the connectors are
rectangular tabs and slots of various sizes. The screw hole in the back of
the butt peg is about 4mm, and other screw holes are also about that size. There's 5mm sockets on the backs of the boot "cuffs," but the paint in them makes it hard to get 5mm pegs to go in. The shallow nozzles atop the hood
are not 3mm (they're a little bigger, just over 1/8" so Lego pieces don't fit either) so even if they were longer they wouldn't hold a Fire Blast unless it was really flexible. They can be lengthened with a Technic peg, but it has
to stress badly and is prone to launching itself off.
The pistol is based more on the general look of the animation model (and to a lesser extent the comics version and the package art of the original
toy) than on the longer weapon carried by the G1 toy. It's a basic zapgun pistol with no stock and a wider part of the barrel near the front end.
Not the truncated cone that the cartoon version's pistol ended in, though, because they gave it a 3mm stud at the end, so the result is more like G1 Megatron's flash suppressor bit. It has a couple of "make it more hollow" holes on either side, the front one of each set being 3mm so you can, I
dunno, plug an old 3mm peg gun into the side for more gun. 1.5" (4cm) long,
a single piece of black plastic with no paint, the grip is a 5mm peg near the back end. It doesn't have an official storage location in robot mode, but it can go into one of the back of boot 5mm sockets with some excessive force.
The green butt peg mentioned earlier doesn't seem to serve a purpose beyond gapfilling in the roof of the cab, and it doesn't need slots in it for that, so I suspect it's also for connecting one of the pieces of combiner kibble when they all go to vehicle mode and share the load. In G1 he carried the rifle, which I suppose might have some tabs in addition to its peg for forearm stabilization. (I am deliberately reviewing Hook and Long Haul last because I enjoy trying to guess what some of the parts of these toys are
for.)

Transformation: Lift up the chest halfway, then the shoulder struts
shrug upwards so that the arms can tab into the sides and the shoulderpads close off the sides of the hood. Finish folding the chest up so that slots
in it go into tabs on the shoulder fronts, closing the rest of the box and hiding the robot head. Keep the elbows bent so the fists are out of the way. Open up the shins and fold the toes out so that the heels can fold under the feet. Then struggle to get the legs bent the right way to let the legs collapse into the boots. The problem, at least in my case, is that the transformation joint below the knee can be tighter than the knee itself, so
the knee unbends during transformation and there's not enough leverage to easily get it rebent without backing up and starting over. Once that's done and everything is pushed together, unbend the elbows and lock slots inside
the forearms over tabs on the cab.
Going back to robot mode requires either very strong nails or a prying tool for the heels and pulling the chestplate back down (the chestplate can
be wiggled loose with patience if you don't want to go get a tool or risk
your nails).
Note, at no time in either transformation do you need to remove the
cement mixer drum, nor does it come off in combiner mode. It was just a way
to avoid having a figure too deep to fit in the box. Mine doesn't want to
come off anyway, but if yours is loose you can always glue the purple pegs on the drum into their sockets.

Vehicle Mode: Combiner Wars went with the more modern style of front-dispensing cement mixer, but Studio Series is all about matching the animation models as closely as possible, so we're back to the classic rear dispensing style. So, basically it looks like a semitractor to which a
cement mixer drum has been added.
5.25" (13cm) long with the green a bit more dominant than in robot mode, but technically no newly visible plastic, just a lot of stuff hidden now.
The difference in green shades is a little more obvious on the cab roof now, since the knee pieces actually extended down a centimeter or so below what's visible in robot mode. The batch variations in the brighter green are really blatant in the cab of mine, clearly some of the differences were accidental rather than a result of the structural needs met by the duller green and
purple plastics.
The windshield and side windows are painted a dark purple that's a
little darker than the plastic, the grill andmost of the front face of the bumper are painted silver (too thickly in the case of the 5mm sockets in the bumper). A small purple Decepticon symbol is split between the halves just above the bumper. The headlights are not painted separately and are just
solid silver. In keeping with the animation model minimalism, other than the silver wheel hubs there's no other paint in this mode.
There's a newly-revealed 5mm socket on the right side of the roof meant
to hold the pistol, the forearm sockets are accessible on the sides, and the fists are on the underside. There's a bunch of small rectangular tabs and slots on the rear centimeter of the roof, which includes that butt peg, and I suspect it's for attachment of combiner kibble. The shape feels wrong for
the rifle, though, it's the full roof width but only a centimeter front to back. It might end up being for the attachment of an entire forearm or something along those lines.
It rolls decently on its six pinned wheels, but with almost no ground clearance thanks to the heels tucked under the front axle. If you fold a
heel out a bit, it can be used to prop up a "starting to launch into the air for Devastator combination" pose.
Amusingly, if you put it in the box in vehicle mode, it barely peeks up into the window part. You could stack three or four of them inside a Voyager box.

Combiner Mode: Okay, clever bit with the front of the cab, the front panels are on hinges to fold up onto the roof, so there's no need to make the entire cab rotate. The mixing drum opens up so you can fold the spout out of the way, which isn't used elsewhere so this hinge must be there to make it easier to connect the bottom of the knee joint to the slot at the top of the hoodie (back of the vehicle). Freeing up the ankle joint requires unpegging the forearms from the sides of the cab, but I don't see anything you can do
to get them more out of the way...the elbows only bend 90 degrees the
"correct" way and not at all backwards, and the upper arm swivels are blocked from moving by the fact the upper arms are tabbed into place as well.
Untabbing them and rotating them doesn't really help, since they can't reconnect to the sides. I guess we're stuck with the forearms just dangling there unless there's something I'm missing.
A nice touch is that the back side of the chestplate and the torso underneath it have molded mechanical details rather than just being Hasbro Hollows, which helps the back of the boot look more like a proper robot
part.

Overall: A few bits are irritating to transform for various reasons, but it's not the "this doesn't work" sort of irritation, just the "this is hard
to do with short nails and adult-sized hands" stuff. Otherwise, solid in
both modes, but I hope the instructions do give better guidance regarding the robot forearms in Devastator mode.


Dave Van Domelen, might go ahead and review just Scavenger, then finish the wave's review after doing Hook and Long Haul, even though Elita-1 should
be arriving this week so I could do the entire wave.



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