Name: Mixmaster
Series: Combiner Wars
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Cement Truck
TRUCK MODE
Height: 10cm Length: 18cm Width: 8.5cm
A lime green front-loading cement mixer with a purple mixing drum, Mixmaster has six black plastic wheels - two at the front and four at the rear. He has silver painted exhausts at the back, silver fuel tanks on the sides and some silver paint on the front bumper. The windows at the front and two small ventilation grilles on the power unit at the back are painted purple. While the colours are clearly constructicon colours, the choice of a front discharge cement truck is new for Transformers, and of course new for Mixmaster. Given the relative rarity of this format of truck, it's not something that's anywhere near as familiar, nor familiar as Mixmaster. The choice of the purple drum also makes this a little less Mixmaster. So while the colour scheme works, this doesn't really feel like Mixmaster.
As much as this vehicle doesn't feel like Mixmaster, I'll give credit to Hasbro for trying something different - we've never had this particular format as a Transformer before. The sculpt is low detail in some areas but there's enough detailing on this truck to define it. There's no real play value though - aside from the rolling wheels. While the Devastator giftset comes with the combination accessories, none can be attached to this truck mode.
A pretty decent effort for the first Transformer that turns into a front discharge cement truck - the detailing does what it has to do - and it's clearly a constructicon in these colours. It just doesn't evoke G1 Mixmaster much. I'm aware that the purple drum matches the G1 cartoon but not the toy & can live with this choice - they had to go one way or the other (even if I personally would have chosen toy accuracy).
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Lift up the power unit at the rear, rotate the head out and close the unit up again. Unclip the front of the truck, rotate 90 degrees and split to form his boots. Stand him up, unclip the rear fenders and fuel tanks to form his arms. Give him one of the handhelds weapons, if you choose.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 19cm Width: ~9cm (depending on pose)
Mixmaster has a purple chest and purple thighs while his boots and arms are green. His head and the four rear wheels on his upper arms are black, while his face is painted silver with dark red eyes. There's some painted detailing on his torso, most notably a purple Decepticon logo on his silver painted waist. While the robot mode doesn't really remind us of G1 Mixmaster, this robot mode certain does. The chest detailing and facial sculpt are taken from the G1 cartoon. There's a green twin cannon above his head, like the cartoon. He lacks most of the silver in this mode found on the G1 toy, having chosen the cartoon look (and Mixmaster varied more than most of his teammates).
There are a couple of points here that diverge from G1 - one of which is a negative and one that isn't. The boots aren't the low-detail lines of G1, as they're the front of the truck mode. It's different, but by no means a bad thing. The elbow joints are placed way too low - the G1 toy didn't really have elbows of course, but it makes him look "off".
Poseability is decent here. His head is on a ball joint although given he has a hood, it really only turns and lifts up slightly. The shoulders rotate and swing out to the sides - but only to around 30 degrees. His elbows are hinged with rotators, but the rotators are limited but the hollow insides of his forearms. His waist is fixed while the hips swing and lift out to the sides. The knees are hinged with rotators and he has fairly stiff, limited, tilts (they're actually transformation joints for Devastator). Mixmaster can wield one of the weapons formed from the combiner pieces - most of the promo images show Mixmaster choosing the big flat purple twin cannon formed from the central portion of the chest plate. It works fairly well as a dual-purpose weapon, even if it's different to the black gun of G1.
A good robot mode overall, but Mixmaster does have some problems. Visually, it's very much Mixmaster and there's attention to detail overall. The main problem is the awkward placement of his elbows - my other complaint is the hollow forearms making rotators in those elbows somewhat pointless. It's also worth mentioning he has the purple drum hanging down off his skid plate - but it had to go somewhere and doesn't cause stability issues.
VARIATIONS
There's an "exclusive" version with chromed purple on the drum. The Unite Warriors version has some paint changes and - most notably - an extra set of hinges in his elbows allowing for a more natural look when bending them. It also comes with a black handgun.
OVERALL
Mixmaster has a good vehicle mode, in that it's something new for Transformers, but it doesn't feel like Mixmaster. The robot mode has issues in the arms, but really does feel like Mixmaster. The play value - poseability aside - sucks, but aside from the elbows, he does have good poseability. He's not the best toy in the Devastator set, but it's still a decent update of the character - 7.5/10
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