Originally written February 2020, this was my first exposure to Earthrise.

Well, Transformers: Siege has come and gone, and the first wave of its sequel line, Transformers: Earthrise has arrived (realistically, though, I probably still have some Siege reviews in me). While Siege was based around giving everyone Cybertronian modes, Earthrise, as the name implies, switches it up to Earth vehicles, but keeping the poseability, build quality, weapon ports, and battle damage. In other words, we’re back into the territory of straight-up, no-frills G1 updates, with the twist that this particular round of them seems to be going hard on “extreme G1 cartoon accuracy,” something that this long-running nostalgia line actually usually shies away from. There’s a lot I want from the first wave, but I’m going to keep my purchases modest, and start with this guy, an update of a somewhat-generic character I personally like a lot.

So, let’s talk about Hoist. He was introduced in the second year of the original Transformers cartoon, comic, and toyline (where he was a retooling of Trailbreaker). This green pickup truck was a jovial Autobot mechanic, doing small repairs and towing things when needed. He had a British accent, a cheerful attitude, and really, not much else, being sort of semi-obscure. Notably, on the cartoon, he was often paired with the similarly British crane, Grapple, and Hoist’s more humble, down-to-earth attitude contrasted Grapple’s artistic haughtiness.

Since then, he’s not really appeared in much media, though in the 21st century, he was a member of the starship Lost Light’s crew in IDW’s More than Meets the Eye comics. He did receive a special Spotlight issue, though, which underlined his personality in those comics: He’s the Normal One, in a world of big personalities, he’s the mid-level, agreeable mechanic, just trying to get by. And for whatever reason, that sort of nondescript, working-man charm really vibes for me. He’s not really a warrior, he’s just this guy. And that’s part of his appeal.

 

His figures, going right back to the first one (above)  have always had that same kind of basic vibe to them, being plain green tow-trucks that change into kinda generic-looking robot men, and this new one looks to be no exception. Let’s see how Earthrise, with its animation accuracy and excellent build quality handles a nondescript design like this.

 Robot Mode

Hoist’s very big for a Deluxe, towering over a lot of his comrades. He’s also very, very accurate to his Sunbow cartoon animation model, which means he’s kind of dumpy, with a large, bulky torso, and rather slender legs and arms. That’s the thing, though. His original toy and animation model were both kind of dumpy, too, and this version replicates that.

He’s got the forcefield generator uptop, wings on the sides, a big hood-gut, and skinny legs. Sadly, his torso is hollow, and it’s pretty evident from some angles, though they do their best to hide it. He’s got a nice sharp headsculpt, too, with a really basic, friendly-looking visor and mouthplate.

There’s something nondescript about his colors, very kid-friendly. He’s a couple shades of dark green, mixed in with hazard orange and white, along with some silver details. Curiously, he still has the damage associated with Siege, but it’s on his hood, and looks more like general wear and tear than battle damage. In fact, his whole vibe, sculpt and colors included, feels less like he belongs on a battlefield, and more like he should be hanging out with construction toys, which suits his character, and says a lot about Earthrise versus Siege.

Here’s the incredible thing: He may be dumpy, but he’s still super-poseable and stable, despite his appearance. He’s got all of the Siege-standard articulation, including ankle tilts and even wrist swivels (which Deluxes don’t always get), and despite his skinny legs, has no problems staying standing. In fact, it’s kind of jarring, and almost funny to see such an awkward-looking robot strike action poses. Make sure, when transforming him back to robot mode, that his tummy hood is plugged in exactly the right groove just above his waist, so as not to block his articulation in that area.

His one flaw in this mode is that he’s got odd arm articulation, though. On one hand, his shoulders can swing all the way up, like he’s cheering, which is neat.

However, he has two big flaps of truck sides hanging off of his shoulders, and they’re a solid, fused piece that can’t be moved out of the way, or repositioned, and like it or not, they’re an eyesore, despite not technically getting in the way.

When you move his shoulders forwards or backwards, the panels stick out awkwardly, moving with the shoulders, and staying pointing straight. An extra joint or two to move them out of the way might have fixed that.

His one accessory is an orange cone-like device, a missile on the original toy, but something that really looks like more of a wielder and repair tool. It’s meant to slide over his wrist and replace one of his hands, as seen in the G1 Cartoon’s animation, though it’s still obviously handheld from below. He’s got additional mounting points on his lower legs (two on each,) arms (also two on each), and on his back, but it feels inappropriate equipping him with Siege weapons. This is a bot that needs to be decked out in repair tools.

Transformation

Admittedly, it took me two tries to get his vehicle form’s back end together. Most of it’s pretty intuitive, but there’s a lot of small clips keeping things in place, and folding in his legs and making sure they connect to both his vehicle mode sides and truck bed can be a bit of a challenge. But not an impossible one, and I got it on the second try.

Vehicle Mode

 

Hoist transforms into a nondescript tow truck. Between his green colors, and the caution stripes on the sides, I’ve definitely seen trucks almost exactly like this on the streets in Toronto. It’s very nondescript and normal, a break from the usual flashy sportscars and big trucks of modern Transformers. It makes a lot of sense as a disguise, leaving aside the big Autobot logo. He’s also very well-painted in this form, including headlights and wheel rims, which are usually the first things to be budgeted out. I particularly like how his headlights are transparent plastic.

He’s got one unfortunate visual problem, and it’s that he’s got a ton of robot undercarriage hanging down underneath him, blatantly visible from the sides, including his arms and hands. I really wish there was a way to make it cleaner, and it contrasts sharply with what is otherwise a well-painted and well-sculpted alternate mode. Also, I wish his truck mode windows were handled consistently, instead of having a clear front window and opaque sides.

In terms of features, first of all, he rolls really well, with that undercarriage not causing any problems.

Secondly, while you can still leave it undeployed (like in my first photo), in this mode, you’re supposed to flop his truck bed out, and leave it hanging behind him. Here’s a neat bit of engineering: It’s got a little wheel on the bottom of it, so it actually rolls just as well as the rest of him, despite looking like it drags. It’s got a connector on the end of it that can supposedly link up with Earthrise roads, and some of the figures. For now, though, it’s got a slight lip on it that can catch under certain vehicles, and tow them, depending on what’s on the bottom. Here’s a couple it worked with:

It’s a surprisingly fun feature, when it works. The instructions also say to mount his little orange traffic-cone gun on the side of his truck bed, but he can also connect it to his wheel rims.

Overall

In terms of what it sets out to do, which is “be a dead-on replica of Hoist as depicted in the Transformers cartoon,” it does it nearly flawlessly. He’s maybe not as clean as he could be in altmode, with a transformation that involves a lot of careful clicking, and he’s got those odd robot mode arms. But he’s also crazy poseable, crazy accurate, and just well-made. So, what it comes down to, really, is, do you like his design and character?

I do, because of the unique charm of having a non-combatant Construction and Maintenance Friend who’s just trying to get by in this crazy universe. And whether or not you like him will be dependent on what that means to you. But for what he is, he’s very well-put-together.

Compared to Thrilling 30 Hoist

Hoist’s previous Deluxe-sized toy was released in the 2014 Thrilling 30 line, and is still pretty easy to obtain. In fact, if you’re a mainline G1-update collector like me, you probably have one. As for which is better, compared side by side, it’s a very close thing, since they’re both very nice figures. I think the new one’s slightly better, solely thanks to his excellent robot mode articulation. The old one poses fine, it’s just that articulation engineering has increased slightly since 2014, so the new one’s a bit more bendy.

That being said, visually, they’re trying to do totally different things. The Thrilling 30 one is a modernized update of the design, made to look more heroic and sleek. Meanwhile, the Earthrise one is less heroic on purpose, slavishly recreating his original design. I’ll be keeping both, because the Thrilling 30 one fits in with my Lost Light crew (since he appeared in those comics in this form). I’d say getting an upgrade is conditional on how much having a G1-looking Hoist is worth to you, or if the extra poseability is really important.

(2021 note: With Earthrise in the rearview mirror, I can still say that this guy was one of the highlights of the entire line, to me. Sometimes, all you need is a figure of favorite nondescript B-lister, executed near-flawlessly).

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