Allegiances: Autobot
Set Price: $33 (U.S.)

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on RotF Blazemaster-- the mold used for Blades--go here. For a review on Universe 2.0 Inferno-- the mold used for Hot Spot--go here.)
 

Blades

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: White, moderately dark blue, and some black, light orangish red, silver, and transparent light blue
Individual Rating: 6.0

    Well, Hasbro's digging unexpectedly far back for this 2-pack, aren't they? Revenge of the Fallen Blazemaster, really? Well, anyways, this time around the mold has been done up in a deco job fitting a rescue helicopter, with the primary colors being white, dark blue, and a light red that has just a tinge of orange in it. All three colors go together very well-- after all, they're pretty standard rescue vehicle colors, and putting them on a small helicopter mode certainly works. They particularly go together nicely in vehicle mode, where the dark blue lines across the middle and the light orangish red lines across the bottom help to break up the white, with the dark blue back end also working in nice contrast to the front end. The light transparent blue used for the windows is a nice shade of the color, and complements the darker blue plastic nicely. There's also a bit of silver on the robot mouth and the sides of the vehicle mode below the black rotor, but against pure white plastic like they are, they blend in a bit; I wish a bit darker a shade of the color had been used. In robot mode, the big issue here is that much of the coloration from vehicle mode is either folded up on the sides or on the back; particularly from a frontal view, Blades has way too much white, particularly on his upper body and arms where the stripes from the vehicle mode aren't really present/obvious. As such, he ends up looking really dull (as well as having just a bad-looking robot mode, but that's the mold's fault). Another-- in my opinion, more minor-- issue is that these aren't G1 Blades' colors. G1 Protectobot Blades was mostly red with some white accents; white was not his dominant color at all, to say nothing of the blue.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Blades.
 

Hot Spot

Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Light red, bluish gray, black, and some silver, light sky blue, transparent light sky blue, and yellow
Individual Rating: 8.9

    This mold was actually already done up as the G1 Protectobot Hot Spot, so having it done up again in the same colors would be rather pointless. Thus, it appears that this version's color scheme is loosely based on the unreleased G2 Hot Spot's color scheme, taking a more traditional tack to a fire truck's color scheme what with being mostly light red and gray. The gray plastic has a slight blue tint to it, which actually helps it contrast against the light red; I dig it, and you won't hear me say that about gray often. There's also the requisite amount of black on things like the fists and wheels, and a fair amount of silver on appropriate parts like the wheel hubs and robot face. What really makes this color scheme, though, are two things: first, the yellow stripes along the sides of the vehicle mode/chest, with Autobot symbols imprinted in said stripes at the front; it helps to add another color that fits in the red area of the color wheel, but contrasts against it a bit at the same time. I also really like the light blue paint apps on his shoulders, lower legs, and arm panels, and not just because they tie Hot Spot to his G1 namesake a bit; they look really, REALLY nice against the light red, providing some contrast while still keeping the overall color scheme light. The transparent plastic is also of pretty much the same hue, and similiarly looks nice.
    Although this version of Hot Spot doesn't have any mold changes unique to this release, he does have some mold changes that were made to previous releases of this mold. And it's here that Hot Spot gets a big question mark-- he has Solar Storm Grappel's crane, instead of, y'know, what a fire truck would have. He also has that release's head, though he keeps Universe 2.0 Inferno's lower arms. So he has Grappel's head, despite there already existing a head sculpt for this mold specifically for this character. Oooookay....

    The Protectobots Evac Squad pack is a bit of a hard sell, even at its discount price, what with actual combining Protectobots released less than a year later after these guys, and what with both of the toys in this 2-pack not resembling their original selves much beyond the general alt mode. Blades also is redecoed from a just plain bad mold. That said, if you don't have either of these molds, like more complex transformations, and just want the toys for themselves and not representative of the actual G1 characters themselves, this is a mild recommendation, if for nothing else than Hot Spot. I mean, with the price, you're nearly getting Blades free, what with rising labor and part costs...

Reviews by Beastbot

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