Toy Review - Studio Series Mixmaster

[Jellico]

With the exception of Scavenger you should still be able to find them all on shelves.
I wasn't going to get a SS Devastator but then in the deathly quiet first half of last year I bought a Rampage and was impressed with how he pulled off his alien nature. I got a Scrapmetal and he was okaaay but Hightower was gleefully weird. At that point I needed tubby old Long Haul and I was committed. I have Scavenger waiting to be opened and looking cool while I have been messing with Mixmaster all week. It is a commitment but the set will be a really unusual Transformer figure and stand out as vehicles, separate, and combined.

[doublespy]

I actually like Mixmaster as a stand-alone figure more than I thought I would.

Aside from the hands and feet hanging out at the back, the cement mixer mode is actually pretty great. Love the little bulldog ornament.

'Bot mode is surprisingly good as well. The head sculpt is again fantastic as per TakTom's high standards. I wish a wrist swivel and a deeper elbow bend could've been worked in there to help his hands emote, but considering Devastator's head took up a fair share of parts count (which is absolutely gorgeous imo) it's completely understandable.

[Magnus]

Four years after this figure was released, while combining my Constructicons I've found a feature that not many people seem to have noticed.

If you look at the 'undriven' wheels in vehicle mode, you'll see that they were made with a small tab sticking out of them.



Upon inspecting the hips, I found that they were made with a corresponding slot.



Sure enough, the tab and slot are meant to go together.





This feature isn't in the instructions published by either Hasbro or TakaraTOMY, and using the tab makes the legs more rigid when in their folded Devastator configuration, which would help support Mixmaster's weight since those folded legs rest on the little 'platform' formed by Overload's cab.

To make sure this wasn't something that a lot of people already knew about, I looked at several videos made when Mixmaster was released. Only one specifically mentioned the tab, while a second video with no narration showed a different order of transforming the legs, which is probably the 'correct' sequence.

At the same time, I found that when securing the feet into the slots between the two driven rear axles, it was easier to swing the foot in from outside than it was to push the foot up from below as most people do, especially since I don't seem to get the foot to 'click' in the way some videos show. Of course, I could be applying insufficient force when pushing the foot up, but swinging the foot in negates this problem.