Regarding the TR control, I think there are several slightly different angles at play here: 1) In the control system on the 169 physically connected so that it's possible, given enough force to change the pitch (apparently no). 2) Would it be possible, considering the forces at play, to design a control system with a manual fallback.
If 2) is true, I guess one could discuss if 1) was a smart design choice. More than the TR control system in isolation should probably be considered if such, if the aircraft won't fly without hydraulics for other reasons, manual fallback for the TR might be completely pointless.
Generally I always prefer manual fallbacks, but they even make cars where the steering wheel and brakes has no such fallback these days. I guess it's part of a trend of over-confidence in system designs that leads to arrogance. They can probably also save some money designing a system without such fallback in many cases. I have no idea what considerations are behind the 169 control system were though, so this isn't meant as a speculation for their reasoning.