General Information: General Images:
*Images and text from Transformers.com:
This dueling twosome is ready to fight it out in all-out robot-on-robot battle action! Start the combat with these warriors in robot mode, and then convert your BEACHCOMBER figure to dune buggy vehicle mode and your DEADLIFT figure to forklift vehicle mode so they can spar on the streets, too. The struggle rages on, but these two have the “drive” to keep fighting, no matter what! Early 2010 saw the release of several exclusive figures in various stores. Among them were Scout Class figures released at Wal-Mart in two packs with a "versus" style set up. The "Road Rival Showdown" two pack features Beachcomber and Deadlift, redecos of Dune Runner and Dirt Boss repectively. These figures represent the first redecos for both of these figures in the "Revenge of the Fallen" toy line. The two figures were attached to a single card by a large bubble. Considered part of the "N.E.S.T." wave of figures, this two pack does include the "N.E.S.T." Autobot symbol figure that you can use as part of the mail away order for Recon Ravage. Interestingly, these figures also are among the first to feature a new kind of twist tie to hold the figures to their plastic trays. Instead of the stiff, plastic and wire ties fans have gotten used to (but hated) for the past decade or so, the figures now use a much more flexible and thin type of thread that feels almost like cardboard instead of plastic. I found these much easier to work with when opening the figures and am glad for the switch. These reviews will focus on the changes made to these figures for this release. For a more detailed look at the sculpts and mechanics of the figures, check out the reviews for Dune Runner and Dirt Boss.
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Robot Mode: While at first glance it seems like Beachcomber is made up of significantly less distinct plastic colors than Dune Runner, he's really not - the colors are just all arranged differently. What I appreciate about this is that the designers made it a point to choose colors that would call back to G1 Beachcomber and they made sure the pattern of colors used on the figure got that point across. Heck, even his head sculpt looks very much like a modern redesign of G1 Beachcomber's head. While the cartoon incarnation of Beachcomber featured a mouth with visor eyes, the original figure had large visor eyes with a mouthplate. "Revenge" Beachcomber seems to pay homage to that as well. Few G1 fans could look at this figure and not know who he is. For detail work, paint applications are done up in black, silver, red, blue and yellow. I loved the intricacy of Dune Runner's color scheme and Beachcomber is no exception. The lights on his chest and feet are painted yellow while the cage details that outline his lower torso are painted black. You'll find a touch of yellow on his robot head as well. Silver can be found on his chest as well as the section that forms his back and the sections that connect to his elbows. A large red Autobot symbol graces his chest in the same spot that Dune Runner has his. I really like how the colors bring both dark contrast and light colors to the figure all at the same time. He really looks great! All of Beachcomber's joints are just as tight as those on Dune Runner (more so in the case of his heel pieces). I wouldn't expect any less from the second use of the sculpt, but you never know. Transformation to Robot Mode:
Vehicle Mode: The only paint detail I kind of miss are the lights on the back of the vehicle. On Dune Runner each light was individually painted red, but here they're left unpainted which is unfortunate. Still, considering the overall strength of the color scheme, I consider this a very minor blemish. Beachcomber looks fantastic in this mode. I do think that some of the more "military" look is gone, but that makes sense, especially for a character who is more interested in research and exploring than fighting.
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Robot Mode: First, the basic colors of orange and grey are the same that are found on Spoons, but he had a light grey instead of dark. As mentioned earlier, there are two distinct shades of orange used here. A lighter shade is found on parts like the upper arms and legs. A darker and stronger shade is found on the panels that his shoulder joints connect to. The dark grey plastic is used for almost everything else including his forearms and weapons, contrasting those parts quite strongly from the orange parts. What good would a redeco be without a new coat of paint right? This time out, there has been liberal use of gunmetal with some light blue and white tossed in for good measure. While none of these colors are particular callbacks to Gobot Spoons, they do work very well within the context of the colors that th is figure is sculpted in. The white can be found most prominantly on his chest with light blue filling in the circle in the center. His lower legs, feet, forearms and face all have gu nmetal paint on them, but the actual blade weapons on his forearms do not. Instead, the edges are painted white, no doubt a detail that will become more obvious in vehicle mode. A bit of orange paint is found on the robot head, painting the entire "helmet" section that was left mostly unpainted on Dirt Boss. Like Dirt Boss however, Deadlift's eyes are red, adhering to the Transformers tradition of Decepticons having red eyes. I like the paint job on this figure a lot, but as a homage it's slightly weaker than Beachcomber since it doesn't incorporate more colors from its source figure. For instance, if the details on the torso were red and black, they would match the colors of a detail on Spoons' chest. Still, I'm not so huge of a Gobot fan that I'm going to cry foul on this. When comparing joint tightness on Deadlift to Dirt Boss, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it not only matched Dirt Boss', but in a couple cases such as the legs, it exceeded it. Granted this is only the second use of this sculpt, but sometimes that's all it takes for floppy joints to appear on a figure. Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
Vehicle Mode: Perhaps the biggest deco change is the Decepticon symbol on the left side. While it is in the same place, it is now done in black and considerably smaller. Why? Because under it is the letter/number combination of "MR-34". What's the significance? Well, you see before Gobots came to American shores, they were a line of toys called "Machine Robo" in Japan, hence the "MR". The character of "Forklift" aka Spoons was the 34th figure in that particular section of the line, hence the designation MR-34, and it is this deco that proves without a doubt which character inspired this figure redeco.
Final Thoughts:
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I'm an old skool fan as many know, so whenever I see an opportunity for a perfect redeco taken it catches my eye. Both the name and color scheme for "Revenge of the Fallen" Beachcomber originate from a Generation One character of the same name. G1 Beachcomber was recently given a new look in the 
Deadlift is a new character to the Transformers universe, but that doesn't stop him from being a homage to a pre-existing character in Transformers history. Based on the Go-Bot 
