Hoist (RB)
| The name or term "Hoist" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hoist (disambiguation). |
- Hoist the Tow-Bot is an Autobot from the Rescue Bots portion of the Aligned continuity family.
Hoist was once a spaceship repair-bot and aspiring inventor. Now he's putting his engineering skills and towing abilities to new use as a potential Rescue Bot. Studying at the Rescue Bot Training Center on Earth, Hoist is learning to have more confidence in himself and work as part of a team with his fellow students Hot Shot, Medix, Wedge, and Whirl. Just make sure the mission doesn't involve dinosaurs or, by extension, Dinobots.
Fiction
2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon
Following the restoration of Cybertron from the Great War, Hoist was one of the many Autobots blacklisted by the new High Council for being a supporter of Optimus Prime. Enemy of My Enemy
Rescue Bots Academy cartoon
- Voice actor: Alan Trinca (English), Dario Sansalone (Italian)
Hoist was selected to be a new recruit at the Rescue Bot Training Center on Earth. Shortly after Hot Shot joined the team, Heatwave had them undertake a test rescue, with Hoist and Medix extracting Tough Luck Chuck from a burning building, however the test ended in failure thanks to Hot Shot. Recruits Part I Whirl and Hoist unsuccessfully tried to find Hot Shot, who appeared to be headed back to Cybertron, however their fellow recuit later turned up with two extra alternate modes bestowed on him by Optimus Prime. The recruits went on to successfully carry out a cave rescue. Recruits Part II Hoist and the other recruits got to meet Blades when the copter-bot was brought in to help tutor Hot Shot in the art of flying, and later took part in a forest fire rescue. The Secret of Flight
After a rescue turned out to be more difficult than expected, the other recruits got Hoist to create new rescue tools for them to use, including a winch whip for himself. Hoist was discouraged when the first test of the tools was a dismal failure, but the other recruits got Boulder involved, and Hoist successfully perfected the tools. If at First... After Hot Shot was assigned to look after Tough Luck Chuck when the test robot was damaged, Wedge and Hoist found Chuck roaming the training center. Chuck managed to slip off Hoist's hook and escape through the GroundBridge, forcing the Rescue Bots to hunt for him in Milford. Tough Luck Chuck Bored by Chase's class on police codes, Hoist and the other recruits persuaded Chase to let them try to do a practice rescue, and ended up being rescued themselves by Whirl when they got stuck in the snow. Whirl'd View When the recruits didn't understand why Boulder was having them plant flowers, the Rescue Bot set them a task which taught them that all parts of nature are important, though Hoist had the misfortune of stepping in cow patties. Plan Bee
Hoist was helping Boulder by repairing the launch tubes, when Wedge started abusing the rescue alarm for a series of drills intended to get the team's response time down. As a result, the repairs didn't get done and Wedge ended up trapped in one of the launch tubes when it malfunctioned. The Bot Who Cried Rescue The recruits had to contend with a runaway rock sculpture of Hot Shot's head when he decided to carve it into a mountain alongside the likenesses of the Rescue Bots. Mount Botmore After he broke up an argument between Hot Shot and Wedge, Hoist was put in charge of a rescue exercise but had trouble getting the other recruits to follow his orders. Mission Inaudible After completing a simulated rescue, despite a glitch occuring, the recruits took part in a real rescue in Griffin Rock which was only successful because the glitch gave Medix an idea to complete it safely. Glitch
After a ride on the Sigma, the recruits assumed the four command chairs meant one of their number wouldn't graduate. The team went on to botch a volcano rescue drill after staying up all night worrying, until Heatwave told them they'd assumed wrong. Five into Four When Whirl was filming footage for a recruitment video, Hoist broke out his Heatwave and Optimus puppets for a brief show before falling through a GroundBridge portal to Outer Mongolia. He and the others later helped whip the footage into a usable state. Rescue Promo After a botched rescue had the recruits blaming each other, Heatwave assigned them to cleaning duties. Hot Shot sneaked out to do a rescue, and as a result, the rest of the recruits had to go help him when he hit trouble. Blame Game Hoist and the other recruits set up a surprise rescue mission for Medix, who didn't get the appeal of surprises. Unfortunately the mission did not go well, and the other recruits promised to stop with the surprises. Medix Surprise
The recruits got to try out some TX3000s on loan to the rescue center, and even used them during an actual rescue. The TX3000 After being proclaimed hero of the hour for a rescue, Hoist was reluctant to spend time recuperating in his stasis pod, and as a result jeopardized another rescue mission with his malfunctions. Little Bot Peep During Teen Pioneer Wes's visit to the Academy, he and Hoist spend some time in Hero Hall practicing their skills with the lassoo. Driving a Wedge Boulder accompanied the recruits to the planet Parvus where they rescued the last surviving Galax. The Big, Small Rescue
When Hot Shot and Wedge decided to compete over who was qualified to get into the Heroes of Cybertron card game, Hoist acted as referee. After the competition ended in a tie, Hoist revealed he'd made custom cards for them both. Battle of the Bots Hoist and the other recruits had to round up a small rock alien that got loose in the academy. About a Rock The recruits tried to keep secret the fact a dog had followed them home after the last rescue, only to discover that the dog was actually trying to alert them to the fact they'd missed someone who needed rescuing. Dog Stray Afternoon Hoist took part in the rescue of Dr Hart on a runaway iceberg. Lucky Ducky
Whirl tried to get Hoist and the other recruits into cheerleading, but it wasn't until they employed the skills they'd learned during a rescue that they were enthusiastic about it. Go Team, Go! When Boulder assigned the recruits the task of familiarizing themselves with smartphones, they neglected their lessons and chores, resulting in them screwing up a rescue exercise. Screen Time During a visit to the museum in Milford, Hoist and the others helped Whirl apprehend a criminal in the act of robbing the place. Fright at the Museum
When their teachers went missing on a space mission, the recruits worked together to pilot the Sigma and mount a rescue. Space Case Assigned the task of trash collection, Hoist souped up his garbage grabber to incorporate an electromagnet. He successfully used it to locate a shipwreck when the recruits' next mission was undersea trash collection. All at Sea Hoist created the Scrub-A-Dubber to clean up the academy for them while the teachers were away, however the recruits plugged so many power pods into it that it became out of control and they had to trap it in Heatwave's office. All Washed Up
Heatwave suggested that the bored students try their hands at being teachers for the day. Hoist set up a driving course for Medix to demonstrate, however a sudden downpour made it trickier than intended. Who's Teaching Who? An attempt to rescue a balloon from a tree turned into a major disaster when the recruits went in without a plan. Balloon Up A Tree During a sim exercise, Hoist was so distracted reading about dragons that Heatwave assigned the recruits a new medieval sim with a dragon in it. They first attempted to corral the dragon before realizing it was actually trying to help. The Mystery of Dragon Mountain Another sim turned into chaos thanks to Hot Shot combining it with his game, forcing the recruits to deal with giant hedgehogs. Hack Attack
Hoist and the other recruits found their rescues complicated by Medix's attempts to loosen up after they suggested he was a stick in the mud. Life of the Party Hoist was unenthusiastic when it turned out Grimlock was joining the academy as a teacher, as he was afraid of Dinobots. He kept making excuses to skip lessons, until he discovered Grimlock was deathly afraid of cats, and pledged to work through his fear. Tyrannosaurus Wrecked Despite this, Hoist asked to be let off a trip to Dino Island due to his fear of dinosaurs only to find himself stuck in the academy with a dinosaur which had come through the GroundBridge. After he bravely removed a rock stuck in its foot, it was much happier, although he still had not completely shaken his fear of dinosaurs. Dino Hard
Assigned a stealth mission by Chase, Hoist and Whirl managed to find Tough Luck Chuck hiding in a barn, but were caught by Chase after Whirl accidentally demolished the structure. Buddy Cop Another mission saw the recruits having to rescue penguins from an island the hard way after an electrical storm knocked out their tools and even their ability to transform. Escape from Penguin Island During a competitive search and rescue exercise, Hoist cheated by using an accidentally dropped map to find Chuck. He won the prize, picking an Old West sim for the recruits to do, but had to admit that he'd cheated earlier when the sim turned into another search and rescue. All that Glitters A hunt for a downed satellite resulted in the recruits hiding out backstage at Dig Fest while trying to signal Wedge. Dig Fest
The recruits took part in Halloween festivities and ended up having to deal with a house fire. Trick or Treat Medix's confusion over a television commercial meant that the recruits had to mount a hasty coverup so he wouldn't blow their secret to all of Milford. Monster Savings Heatwave assigned Hoist the task of looking after the experimental Virtual Sonic Fence, for which the recruit memorized the unlock code by remembering the tune it made. Unfortunately the tune turned out to be such an earworm it interfered with the recruits' concentration and they had to erase it from their minds. This later caused problems when they needed to use the device during a mission to Herbu, but Hoist eventually succeeded in remembering the tune. Tune Out A trip to survey a geyser field saw the recruits having to deal with a swarm of Scraplets. Metal Munchers
Hoist and the other recruits took part in essential maintenance as directed by Bumblebee, unlike Wedge who spent the whole time trying to impress his hero, and they were therefore fully functional for the following rescue drill. Bee Prepared When Whirl's failed attempts to do a maneuver led her to try to seek out the Wise One, the other recruits went after her and became trapped in a ravine, requiring her to rescue them using the maneuver she had been trying to perfect. Whirl's Wise-Bot Quest Hot Shot's careless actions in ejecting his junk into space had Hoist and the others following his lead, resulting an a huge junk meteor that threatened the satellite they were trying to repair. Flying Hunk-A-Junk A mission deep undersea forced the recruits to rely on each other as they rescued an automated drone from deep sea wildlife. Into the Depths
Inspired by a dog whistle, Hoist created the "talkie squawkie", a new comms device designed to not be audible to humans. Despite Heatwave insisting it needed testing before use, Hoist proceeded to test it anyway, causing problems when it turned out to drive animals crazy. Milford Goes To The Dogs The recruits struggled to complete a rescue sim until Hot Shot realized they'd been trying to stop the disaster instead of saving the people. The Ice Wave As graduation drew closer, the recruits successful competed against their teachers in a relay race carrying a pretend rescue victim. Hoist and the others were surprised and saddened when Hot Shot opted to abandon his Rescue Bot training and return to Cybertron to compete in the Cube finals. Best Bots Forever Part 1 Wanting to watch Hot Shot's Cube game, Hoist came up with the idea of boosting the holo-emitter screen using the space bridge. This resulted in the creation of a slowly growing energon bubble which engulfed the academy. It was only when Hot Shot returned that the recruits were able to burst the bubble. The recruits were able to graduate from year one of their learning. Best Bots Forever Part 2
Toys
Rescue Bots
- Hoist the Tow-Bot (2012)
- Part of the fifth wave of the original Rescue Bots toyline, Hoist transforms from robot into a tow truck. Pulling the tow truck's hook up converts him back into a robot.
- The wave with Hoist and Medix was originally a bit scarce on retail shelves (though it hit Target clearance in some places), and as such the two demanded some hefty prices on the secondary market thanks to a surge of interest in the line as a result of the cartoon). However, there must have been a warehouse find or something, as eBay sellers eventually started listing them in large numbers for roughly original retail.
- This figure was redecoed and given a new head to create the tow-truck version of Optimus Prime, currently an Amazon-exclusive.
- Hoist the Tow-Bot (Rescan Series, 2016)
- Part of the eleventh wave of "Rescan" figures (second wave of the 2016 assortment), Hoist is a re-working of his original toy in a smaller scale. He transforms from robot to tow truck (and back) in a single step, activated by swinging his legs down (or up), which swings out (or in) his arms and head. His tow-winch is adjustable and can in theory tow another toy in vehicle mode, but the hook sits pretty dang close to his rear bumper and prevents some toys from hooking up with him; Quickshadow and Bumblebee both work for this.
- He has 5mm post-holes on his tow-winch and both sides of his fists, though the ones on the bottoms of his fists have considerably more clearance for large "accessories" like the Rescue Bots Mini-Cons.
- This figure was retooled into "Academy Rescue Team" Hoist featuring a color scheme more in line with his on-screen appearance in the Rescue Bots Academy show.
- Hoist the Tow-Bot (Flip Racer, 2017)
- Part of the first wave of individually packed Flip Racers, Hoist transforms automatically from tow-truck to robot when the vehicle mode is lifted up and placed on its end.
Rescue Bots Academy
- Academy Rescue Team (2019)
- The first Academy-branded Hoist is a redeco and retool of the earlier Rescan version of Hoist, now cast in colors more closely resembling his on-screen appearance in the Rescue Bots Academy show. First revealed at Toy Fair 2019[1], he features a new head, new vehicle mode traybed, and revised waist and legs, turning him into a 6-wheeled flatbed tow truck. Hoist comes in a set of four, similar to the previous "Griffin Rock Rescue Team", with Whirl (retool of VTOL jet version of Blades), Hot Shot (retool of Rock Rescue Team Bumblebee) and Wedge (retool of cement mixer Salvage).
- Hoist the Tow-Bot (2019)
- This version of Hoist is sized similarly to the previous Megabots line, and at about 11 inches tall is in scale with the previously released helicopter-mode Whirl, car-mode Medix and payloader-mode Wedge, transforming into a tow-truck in a couple of "Easy 2 Do Conversion" steps. He features a "tow-line" gimmick in his left arm; the winch on said arm actually works and has a hook, and can be retracted on a spring by pressing the left side of his front bumper.
- Like the other Academy figures at the same scale, Hoist is functionally an up-sized version of a previous toy; in this case, his own original and Rescan-sized figures.
Notes
- The original Hoist's package art shows him teamed with an unnamed human partner in the shape, but not colors, of the original Charlie Burns figure. This character never materialized as a toy.
- His Rescan series artwork is a trace-over of the original rendered in style to match the cartoon's look. It also omits the human partner and changes a handful of details to line up more with the new toy.
- Compared to the final version, Hoist's initial character model for Rescue Bots Academy featured black wrist panels instead of green, no silver shoulder hubcaps, different leg stripe placements, and silver ear disks instead of black. The coloring for his vehicle mode also resembles his original toy much more.
