MASTERPIECE RODIMUS PRIME ( HOT ROD) - 2011. -100TH REVIEW

This is the Hasbro version of MP Rodimus Prime not the Tekara version. The differences between them are that the colours are different and the Tekara version comes with a trailer where as the Hasbro version comes with more accessories.

Back Story

Hot Rod was first introduced in the G1 Movie. He was young, flashy and cocky. Hot Rod first raised the alarm on the attack on Autobot city. This gave them about two minutes warning that the Decepticons were coming but it was still a slaughter on the Autobots part.
Hot Rod was best friends with Daniel Witwicky. Blitzwing and the Insecticons are sent to kill Hot Rod and Daniel. They ended up being saved by Kup. The Decepticons moved on to attack Autobot city and that led on to the battle of Autobot city. Hot Rod and Kup raced back to Autobot city to try and help but they nearly got locked out as Springer and Arcee were ordered by Ultra Magnus to transform Autobot city into defence mode.
The Decepticons sent the Insecticons to eat the door so they could flood in but Kup and Hot Rod ran over the insecticons Shrapnel and Kickback and jumped over  and through the door stopped them from entering it.
Hot rod was fighting in the battle but you did not see much of it. There were too many Autobots being blown up so they cut the scene down as they did not want it to be too long.
Optimus Prime arrived with reinforcements including the Dinobots. They fought the Decepticons off and Optimus fought Megatron in the final fight. Optimus would have won if it were not for Hot Rod as Megatron found a laser pistol lying on the ground. Optimus did not see this but Hot Rod did and he rugby tackled Megatron and Optimus did not shot as they were in such a tangle but megatron got Hot rod in a head lock and shot Optimus four times. Optimus still managed to get up and punch megatron right off the roof of Autobot city. Optimus Prime then succumbed to his injuries. It was Hot Rods fault that Optimus died.
On his death bed he predicts that one day an Autobot will rise from the ranks and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour. "Until that day when all are one"
Optimus  drops the Matrix and Hot Rod catches it and the Matrix chooses Hot Rod. he gives it to Ultra Magnus though as Optimus wanted him to be leader.
Later Gavatron arrived with his minions to kill Ultra Magnus Hot Rod is one that leaves earth with Ultra Magnus. When he catches up again with them in space they do the emergency separation from thier ship to escape. Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots ship crashes on Quintessa while the others crashed on the planet of Junk. Hot Rod and Kup fall out of their ship when it crashed. They landed in the water in Quintessa. Hot Rod is attacked by these robotic fish which he manages to kill with his saw blade. he  then helps out Kup who is being attacked by a giant robot squid. he defeats the squid when he shoots it in the eye with his arm cannon. he repairs Kup with his welding torch.
Hot Rod and Kup are found by the Sharkticons. They try to reason with them using the universal greeting " Baa weet grana weet ninibun" This does not work and they attack Hot rod and Kup and take them to their masters the Quintessons who put them on trial. They are dropped into the Sharkticons pit by the Quintessons who intend to execute them. They survive quite a while fighting the Sharkticons and are eventually rescued by Wheely and the Dinobots.
They steel away on the Quintesson ship and sail to the planet of junk to meet up with the other Autobtos. How they knew their comrades where on the planet of Junk I don't know? They made peace with the Junkions using the universal greeting and the Junkions help them to go home. They go back to Cybertron which is  at this point being attacked by Unicron. They crash through Unicrons eye and they all fall out when it crashes. Hot Rod falls separately and finds Galvatron who earlier got swallowed by Unicron. Galvatron has the Matrix of leadership and he wants to help the Autobbots fight Unicron but Unicron still has control over him. Unicron forces Galvatron to fight Hot Rod and that is what they do. Hot Rod manages to get hold of the Matrix and this turns him into Rodimus Prime. he then tosses Galvatron out of Unicron and opens the Matrix using its power to destroy Unicron. Rodimus Prime then becames leader of the Autobots.
I am not going to do Rodimus Primes G1 cartoon history as I have already done it with the G1 Rodimus Prime so please feel free to read that.
Hot Rod came in and out of series three as when he lost the matrix a few times he turned back into Hot Rod. In the "Dark awakening" when the Quinessons zombify Optimus prime. Rodimus gives the matrix back to Optimus because he did not know he was a zombie. The Quinessons turned him into a zombie so he  could lead the Autobots to their doom. Optimus eventually came to his senses and gave the matrix back to Hot Rod so he turned back to Rodimus Prime. Optimus flew the Autobot flag ship right into the Quinessons bombs which blew the ship up with him on it.
There are other times that this happened  when Rodimus gets the matrix stolen by the Decepticons in " The burden hardest to bare" because at this point Rodimus has had enough of  leading the Autobots and wants to quit. he has had enough of the war going on and not being appreciated by the humans as well as his usual self doubt. he refuses to help get the matrix back and goes off. he does came back and takes the matrix back off Scourge who the matrix turned into a Prime in his own right.
In the " Return of Optimus Prime" rodimus gets infected by the hate plague and Optimus has to take the matrix off him so he could go back to being a Prime and find a cure for the hate plague. Hot Rod gets cured by the matrix which turned out to be the cure. This does drain the matrix of all its power. Hot Rod goes back to his cavalier rank and Optimus prime is the leader again.
In  "The Rebirth" Hot rod is on Cybertron with the others Blur, Kup etc. The Insecticons arrive to open the plasma energy chamber. The Autobots managed to get the key but their ship gets hit by the plasma energy and gets knocked half was across the Galaxy where they crash on the planet Nebulos. The Autobtos join forces with  Nebulons rebels and become head masters and Target Masters. When the Decepticons arrive on Nebulos they attack the Autobots and Hot rod, Blur, Kup, Point Blank, Cross Hairs and Shore Shot get captured by them. They take them back to their ship and interrogate them to where the key to the energy chamber is. They get rescued by the Autobot Head Masters. The Decepticons joined forces with the Nebulon Hives and became head masters and Target masters. The Decepticons attacked and they got the key to the plasma energy chamber. During the battle Arcana who is the partner of Brain storm was able to scan Night Stick who was Cyclonus's partner so they were able to make their own target Masters. Blur, Hot Rod, Kup, Point Blank, Shore Shot and Cross Hairs all become the Autobot Target Masters. Hot rods partner is Firebolt.
That is it for the Sunbrow cartoon

Tekara Headmasters

In Tekara head masters they completely discount the Re Birth so they are continuing the story form the return of Optimus Prime. Hot Rod does what he does in the Sunbrow cartoon . When Optimus goes to Cybertron to find Vecta Sigma which is going to explode for some reason. he does not have the matrix with him as it is empty because they cured the hate plague with it.  Optimus hid the matrix on earth and Hot rod set out to find it to take it to Optimus to help him. he does not know where it is and he thought it might be where the energy is most pure on earth such as Antartica. He eventually found it on a base in the middle of the desert. He goes to Cybertron and  with the help of Fortress maximus find Optimus. there is one big fight between Optimus and Galvatron at Vecta Sigma. The ghost of Alphs Trion who is helping Optimus. Whe Hot Rod turns up Alpha Trion gives up his own life force to refill the matrix.and Hot Rod becomes Rodimus prime. Optimus sacrifices himself and absorbs all the energy form Vecta Sigma which kills him. Rodimus becomes the new leader.

In the comics I don't know much about him but I think he is the same character and I think he might have been a wrecker at some point. he becomes Rodimus prime at times as well.

Hot rod has not been in too many Transformer series mainly G1 but he has omages mostly in colour schemes such as RID Side Burns power up mode, Armada Hot Shot Power Linx mode and Cybertron Hot Shot.

FUNCTION; Cavalier

MOTTO; " My actions speak louder then words"

TECH SPEC;  Before the coming of Unicron Rodimus  was already a talented warrior, recognised by his comrades by his potential and his lack of patience. When he became Rodimus prime he immediately set out to lead from the front. he was always the first on the battlefield and the last off, thrusting himself onto the deepest danger rather than asking any of the robots under his command to sacrifice themselves

SATS; Strength 10, Intelligence 10, Speed 9, Endurance 10, Rank 10, Courage 7, Firepower 10, Skill 10

car mode front

 

 

Car mode side

 

 

interior

 

 

car mode with photon rifle

 

 

car mode with off shoot/firebolt

 

 

Robot mode

 

 

Robot mode with off shoot/firebolt

 

 

Robot mode with visor, saw blade and welding torch

 

 

Rodimus Prime in robot mode

 

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Rodimus prime matrix of leadership

 

 

Rodimus prime holding the Matrix

 

 

Showing the Matrix open

 

 

Off shoot/Firebolt robot mode

 

 

In car mode he is superb. He is very sleek, no kibble just exactly what a master piece should be.

He is quite big as well. Ultra class size at least

In this mode he has details such as the ability to lift up the canopy to reveal the interior details. The steering wheel, the seat are his robot mode feet so a bit weird. I would not like to sit on these seats as they look quite uncomfortable.

Unfortunately some of the Orange paint has chipped off and is covering the interior but it is not a huge problem.

He has a chrome exhaust pipe which is pretty nice as well.

he has rubber tyres and can roll along very well. Just make sure his head is turned around for car mode or it will drag along the floor and stop him from rolling properly.

This does not look like it is road legal though as the rear spoiler is like a blade. Too close to the kerb and he could decapitate someone. he also has spikes at the back so I would not like to tailgate this guy.

The tail spoiler is his signature feature but it is a little wobbly on mine. A minor nitpick.

His weapons can be plugged into his engine block like the original toy.

The way that it is engineered is that the top of the engine block folds back to reveal where you plug the guns in. this is so you do not end up with a big hole in the top. Either of his photon rifles or his target master Offshot or Firebolt as he should be called can be pegged on to the engine block.

You can lift the bonnet up to reveal the matrix of Leadership . he is powered by the Matrix rather than an engine.

He has flames on the bonnet and a Autobot Insignia. He does come with a sticker sheet as an extra including an Decepticon insignia which I stuck  on my G1 brawl as I can't think why I would put it on this figure. The other stickers are arrow stickers and not sure where they go. he also has an Autobot insignia with a white outline which I have put on my G1 Bumblebee as he needed stickers I don't think he needs them .

I really have no complaints about it. It is really well done and a superb figure.

when you are transforming him into car mode make sure his hands have the clips deployed as though you are going to use his welding and saw blade as it will make it a lot easier to slide his arms into the side panels of the car. This is unofficial. His fingers get in the way if you use his actual hands.

 

 

The Transformation is a little scary in parts because some parts of him are fragile. He is not as bad as the Tekara version though. I have heard of some people getting that and it broke on their first transformation. Hasbro have somewhat fixed this problem but the little tabs at the back are very thin plastic, thicker than Tekara but not thick enough. I have transformed this guy four times and there are already some stress marks. It is short sighted of Hasbro. They did not make it thick enough on the tabs. I will make this the last time that I transform him as he is a master piece.

The rest of the transformation is not too bad.

They put his engine block on a spring as when he transforms it pushes against the windscreen for robot mode.

Another improvement is that there is a panels on his legs which are on these swinging arms which slide out for car mode. On the Tekara version they where on a pin which broke very easily. Hasbro replaced this with a different pin so it pops out and can pop easily in again.

 

In robot mode he again looks amazing and exactly what you would expect a master piece to be. he has great articulation so you can put him in many dynamic poses.

He does have some problems as his forearm is hooked into his upper arm by a little tab and this has a habit of becoming unhooked and makes his arm floppy and broken looking.

His back has a habit of falling down with the weight of the spoiler. You have to make sure it is clipped in properly.

His feet are made of dye cast to give him stability. All master pieces have die cast in them.

Die cast is a bit of a lost art with transformers. A lot of G1 was die cast but now mostly limited to master pieces.

he looks just like he does in the cartoon.

In the Tekara version his hands and face are light grey and the red is more a pinkish red. his lower legs are black and his flame design is more stylised. they made him look more like the G! toy.

Hasbro went for the G1 cartoon look.

I prefer the colours on this version as I once saw the Tekara version in the London store Forbidden Planet.

His hands and feet in this version are silver. The lower legs are red rather than black. His flames look more like flames are and not stylised and have no black outline.

 

He has his two photon rifles which he holds. There are tabs on both sides of the handles and they slot onto pegs on his hands. His fingers then fold round to make him look like he is holding it.

some times his guns are a little croaked so you have to adjust.

His guns are from the original toy and you only see him use one red gun in the cartoon not the others. In the movie he did not have any guns at all but used his arm cannons.

One gun is slightly smaller and has some blue panels on the side with a longer and fatter barrel. The other one has some red panels on the side and a shorter and smaller barrel.

 

The target master Off shoot aka Firebolt. as a gun he looks OK. To attach him to the engine block you have to fold up the gun handle and attach it by another part. He does hold him in gun mode but not well. he can look croaked and it does not look good.

This target master did not come with the Tekara version as this is an exclusive to the Hasbro version.

The gun mode is black and silver and he does have a bit if kibble. You can see the robot mode hands.

In mine there is a problem as the clip that attaches the gun barrel to the figure came off and I had to screw it back on again but the hook will not hook back in and it is a little floppy in gun mode.

His transformation is quite complex 

I robot mode Offshoot/Firebolt is a nice representation of him. He has some nice articulation.

he is is a nice bonus to this set but I wish that Hot rod could hold him better.

 

I feel like Rodimus Prime is more geared up to be Hot Rod seemingly he does not come with the trailer unlike the Tekara version as you cannot do the Winnebago mode.

You can flip down his visor using some swivels on the side of his head.

You can fold up his hand to reveal a clip which you can use to hold his saw blade or his welding torch.

His saw blade is made from translucent blue plastic and the rest including the blade is silver.

This was used to fight some fish and giant squid on Quintessa.

His welding torch is completely red and he used this to repair Kup when he was damaged by the giant squid. You do not see him actually do this though so we just have to presume he had a welding torch in the movie as you don't actually see it. 

 

In Rodimus Prime mode it is a fairly easy transformation and you pull a new face out. Rodimuses face is longer and has more lines to make him look older.

I like to pull the hips down a but so he can gain some height.

I also bring the spoiler up to more prominence.

In Rodimus mode he has the same articulation but his photon rifles combine to make his photon eliminator rifle.

His rifle is quite big, even too big but I suppose he is a Prime now so needs a big gun.

His chest opens up and he has the Matrix of leadership which is quite small. It does remove but does not open and he can't hold it so no point removing it. There is some nice detail behind it. I wonder if it is his spark as there is a little circle thing.?

Tekara only came with the little one that goes in his chest but the Hasbro come with the big matrix which came with Master Optimus Prime and it opens. It has some nice detail on it and he can hold this..

 

I do display him in Hot Rod mode just because I like it better and I already have G1 Rodimus on my shelf and I don't have a Hot Rod

I really like this figure. It was the first master piece that I got. It is amazing. Such a shame it does not come with the trailer and I would highly recommend getting him. Get him if you have the means. A must have if you are a Rodimus and Hot Rod fan.