The 1986 Mexican release of Hoist was one of the first oustanding Mexican variants discovered along with the Black Prowl. It's not especially rare, but it can be very hard to find in packaging, complete and undamaged or unworn. What follows is a short review of the basic differences between a Mexican Hoist and a US Hoist.

The above pic is the Mexican Hoist in vehicle mode and the bottom picture is the US release. There is more consistency between the different greens used on the US toy than on the Mex toy.

Have a look at the yellow/black striped sticker that runs along the side of the vehicle. The Mex factory sticker is thinner (i.e. has a shorter width)and is no doubt made of a more papery material. Secondly, instead of a rubsign on the roof flap, the Mex version has a papery Autobot sticker.

Now the main thing that sets the Mexican Hoist apart, the robot mode:

Compared with the US robot mode...

The Mexican version has the head of a Trailbreaker painted green, instead of the different Hoist head mold. This is by no means the only time that Iga just repainted a mould in the correct colour, only to not use the updated mold. The Mex minibots and Smokescreen are other fine examples... the result is a very strange looking intermediate toy that actually looks really nice when displayed alongside a Trailbreaker and a regular Hoist. It is a great example of a really significant variation.

Now for some packaging scans/pics, Mex first, then US:

As with all Mexican TF boxes, the Hasbro logo in the bottom left corner of the box front is replaced with an IGA logo, and the text on the box is in Spanish. Unlike the first series Mex TFs, the case assortment number is not printed in black over the US asst. number, instead it is white and there is no trace of the US number.

On the main Mexican boxflap, next to the "TRANS FORMERS" text there is a large Autobot symbol and next to that it says "AUTOBOT" then "HEROICO" underneath. As with the rest of the box, it is translated into Spanish from the original "HEROIC AUTOBOT" text. Nothing strange there, right?

Wrong.

Even though the rest of the box is translated from English to Spanish, Mexican Transformers don't usually have THAT part translated, they all just say "HEROIC" then "AUTOBOT" or "EVIL" then "DECEPTICON". Well, all the ones I've seen do...except this Hoist. It could have something to do with him being released a little later than the other seies 2 Autobots in mexico, or it could just be a typical IGA one-off.

The box back, as with all the later Mex releases, does actually have the techspec graph and has the robot points replaced with an IGA logo. Also text has been added to explain the use of the then- recently-added decoders to Mex TFs.

The box copyright reads "HASBRO INC." so 1986 is most likely the earliest this piece could have seen release in Mexico.

Here's the insert (or what's left of it..) followed by the US insert:

Again, notorious low quality materials used and the grey on the backer card is a different shade than what was used for the US inserts. It also appears to have one less flap.

The copyright is unique too, it has a block over where it should say "JAPAN" as that was no longer the country of manufacture or origin of this particular variant mold.

The instruction sheet that comes with this Mexican Hoist is weird even by Mexican standards. The paper is very non-glossy, almost cardboard-like. That's typical Mex. What's strange is that half the booklet is coloured and half isn't! It's just black and white!

Now, second series TFs usually had the diagrams with highlights depending on the toy's faction (red for Auto, purple for decep), and the Mex ones were no different. But as I say, this Hoist only has the second half of the instructions with the red highlights! Basically, the first side which includes the front cover is uncoloured, but the second side is fine. However, other Mexican Hoists I have found over the years DO have both sides coloured, so again, a very apparent lack of quality control from IGA.

One last thing about the Instructions. The Hoist one is called "Instructivo", but usually that was only used on series 1 Mex TFs, with series 2 having "Instrucciones". However, the more sheets I see the more I notice that there isn't really a pattern. Even though most series 1 are "Instructivo", most series 2 are "Instrucciones", the series 3 Metroplex reverts to "Instructivo" and there are series 2 exceptions like this Hoist and the Jumpstarters.

The stickersheets in Mex TFs were just US sheets, only the Mex factory stickers showed variations. But one thing to keep in mind is that even 1984 characters had rubsign stickersheets, which means the assortment number is printed on the stickersheet.

So to finish up, Mexican Transformers tend to be very strange and memorable, but this particular Hoist was even weirder and more significantly different than even most Mex TFs. A real gem of a TF oddity.

All the best
Maz