Hot Rod (DOTM)

This subject of this article goes by multiple names that apply to other articles as well. See Hot Rod (disambiguation), Rodimus (disambiguation).

Hot Rod is an Autobot from the live-action film series continuity family.

Oui oui, mon ami, je m’appelle Hot Rod
The Lancelot of the second World War
I came from afar just to say bonsoir
Tell the king "casse-toi"
Who’s the best, c’est moi

Hot Rod (aka Rodimus and Rodimus Prime) is an Autobot who has been on Earth for a long time. Brother-in-arms to Bumblebee, as the two have fought in many battles together. Brave and patient, he has spent years undercover on earth after having been assigned to watch over Viviane Wembly, who he has grown very fond of. He is a close ally of Sir Edmund Burton and in addition to regular weapons, Hot Rod possesses a special weapon that can create temporary temporal bubbles in which time slows to a crawl. He also finds his inability to get rid of his hated French accent a source of constant frustration.

Fiction

The Last Knight film

Voice actor: Omar Sy (English), Yōhei Tadano (Japanese)

Here is what I have that Shockwave doesn't: both of my arms, depth perception, and a pulse!

Hot Rod was an Autobot warrior who had been on Earth for some time. At some point after arriving on the planet, he somehow picked up a French accent that he did not know how to get rid of, something that caused him much frustration. Along with Bumblebee, he joined the Allies in World War II; using their vehicle modes to infiltrate a Nazi convoy and attack an occupied Nazi command post. Their adventures in the war were documented and covered up by the Order of the Witwiccans, who had covertly monitored Transformer activity on Earth for centuries.

Qu'est que c'est?

In the modern day, Hot Rod had become the primary confidant of the surviving Witwiccans, working closely with Edmund Burton and the father of Oxford University professor Viviane Wembly. As Wembly was, in reality, the last living descendant of the ancient Merlin and thus the only one able to wield his Cybertronian staff, Hot Rod became her deep cover bodyguard, spending years disguised as her Citroen and coming to admire her. Following the disappearance of Optimus Prime and the impending awakening of Unicron, Burton tracked him down and told him the time to recruit Viviane to fulfill her destiny had come. The next day, as she prepared to leave for work, Hot Rod sprang into action, locking her in and racing through the London streets. When she broke his window in an attempt to escape, he broke cover, begging her to stop. With his true nature revealed, she mistook him for a Decepticon and grew more frantic in her escape, wondering aloud if he was "one of the famous ones". He grew angrier as she continued to try and escape, and on the way, he scanned and upgraded into a new Lamborghini Centenario vehicle mode.

That would be your mother.

He arrived with her at Burton's castle, mere seconds after the arrival of Cade Yeager and his old comrade Bumblebee. He transformed and attempted to calm the frantic Viviane, who he thought was being very difficult. After things had calmed down a bit, he formally introduced himself to Viviane, though she found understanding his accent very hard. He once again bemoaned his inability to get rid of the hated accent.

Gentlemen.

When the TRF tracked them down and stormed the castle, Hot Rod volunteered to buy time to cover their escape, using his time bubble gun to slow down their pursuers while the group made their escape. The humans and Autobots raced to London's Royal Navy Submarine Museum in search of a working water vehicle. When they found themselves pursued by the authorities on arrival, Hot Rod volunteered to lead them away so the others could continue the search for the Staff.

He later made his way to Stonehenge and joined with the other Autobots, humans, and Guardian Knights. The returned Optimus Prime rallied them all to save Earth from Quintessa and Megatron's plan to drain Unicron, who resided within the planet, of energy to restore the recently arrived Cybertron. En-route to Cybertron, he and the other Autobots were not impressed by the intimidating knights. As the battle began, he rode an Orbital Assault Carrier as they took on the airborne Decepticons.

You have not seen the last of Le Quack.

He was eventually shot down by Infernocus but survived and joined Optimus's charge on the control chamber, congratulating Sqweeks on his destruction of the enemy gun emplacement. He was very happy to see Viviane had returned rather than flee with the TRF. As the battle raged in the unstable chamber, he used his time gun to freeze Megatron, saving Hound's life. Quintessa and Megatron were quickly defeated and his beloved Viviane retrieved the Staff. As the control center fell to Earth, he managed to save Viviane and Cade from falling to their deaths by freezing them with his gun, buying them just enough time to be grabbed and flown to safety by Optimus. He and the other Autobots managed to survive the crash of the control center and soon bid farewell to the humans as the left to return home to Cybertron. The Last Knight

Timelines

In a universe where Optimus Prime died in the Battle of Chicago, Rodimus took the mantle of Prime, ultimately defeating Megatron in a struggle atop a space bridge on Cybertron. Botcon 2015 Megatron bio card

Games

Transformers: Forged to Fight

"Does this remind you of anything, monsieur?"

Hot Rod was one of the Autobots pulled from his universe by the Quintessons and forced to fight. He eventually joins the Commander. There are at least a few of him running around! Transformers: Forged to Fight

A Question of Loyalty - Chapter 2: Volatile Reunion - Uncharted Territory Brothers At Arms Bring Him Home

• Class: Warrior
• Basic Abilities
  • Ranged Attacks: Hot Rod’s Time Bubble Gun has a 60% chance to inflict Deceleration for 3.2 seconds, preventing the opponent from Evading attacks and reduces the opponent’s Power Flow by 22~37.5% per stack.
  • Melee Attacks: Gains a Critical Rate Buff for 2.8 seconds when the opponent is under the effect of a Deceleration Debuff, increasing Critical Hit Rate by 7.9~18%.
  • Critical Heavy Attacks: 40% chance to Stun for 1.2 seconds.
• Signature Ability: Acceleration - Successful Special Attacks Overclocks Hot Rods engines, increasing his Power Flow on attacks by 60~120% for 7 seconds. Additionally, while Acceleration is active, Hot Rod has a 30% chance to Evade Ranged Attacks.
• Special Attacks

1. Punishing Pirouette - A flurry of aerial kicks to knockdown the opponent.
2. Time Tampering - Series of acrobatic kicks that ends with a taste of the Time Bubble Gun. - inflicts Deceleration for 9 seconds.
3. Time Bubble Blast - A temporal coup de grâce. - Hot Rod uses the most powerful setting on his Time Gun, inflicting Deceleration for 20 seconds.

• Synergy Bonuses -
  • Code 12: Reckless Driving (Prowl->) - Prowl gives Hot Rod an Attack Buff when Heavy Attacking.
  • Brother in Arms (Bumblebee ->) Bumblebee gives Autobots +2-8% Armor and +4-6% Melee Damage in Solo Missions.
  • Allies (Bumblebee <-) - Hot Rod gives Bumblebee +2-8% Armor.
  • Enemies (Barricade) - Both bots get a 2-8% Attack Rating.
  • Racing Rivals (Mirage) - Both bots get +8-30% Critical Damage.
• Strong Match-ups:
  • Bumblebee and Sideswipe

Evasive Bots will have a very hard time against Hot Rod, his Decceleration Debuff will completely negate the opponent’s chance to activate their **Evade abilities. Bonecrusher - Hot Rod relies on his Critical Rate Buffs in order to inflict Critical Hits reliably. Being able to control his Critical Chance gives him a major advantage against Bots like Bonecrusher, who will often activate a Bleed if you Crit against him.

• Weak Match-ups:
  • Grindor - Hot Rod generates a lot more Power because of his signature ability. Grindor gets stronger the more Power the opponent gets, enabling him to deal a lot of damage.
• Recommended Modules for Hot Rod:
  • Laser Guidance Module - Hot Rod has a chance to inflict Decceleration on his Ranged Attacks, Laser Guidance will further enhance damage and also make it easier for Hot Rod to hit with those attacks because of the ranged projectile speed increase.
  • Robot Resource - Robot Resource reduces the Power generated on attacks and in exchange provides passive Power over time, but Hot Rod’s signature ability will enhance his Power generated in attacks, neutralizing the negative effects of the module and making it extremely powerful.

Toys

Dark of the Moon

It's a pretty impressive...promotion for a bonus figure.

• Bumblebee / Soundwave with Rodimus (Cyberverse 3-pack, 2011)

Rodimus is a redeco of the Universe Legends Class Rodimus, transforming into an orange sports car. On the United States market, he is only available as a Walmart exclusive, as the "Bonus" figure in a pack with Bumblebee and Soundwave. This three-pack was also available as an Asda exclusive in the United Kingdom and from Rossmann stores in Germany and Auchan stores in Hungary and Italy. Of note is that the European packaging does not market Rodimus as a "bonus figure" (presumably so stores can charge full price for three toys), and his window lacks the yellow edges highlighting him as a special feature, despite still being separated from Bumblebee and Soundwave, who share a common window like in the U.S. version. Despite this, Rodimus still doesn't get a mention on the back of the packaging, which only features a one-sentence "bio" about Bumblebee planning to bring down Soundwave in twelve different languages.

All versions of the packaging also lack any logos that label the toys as Cyberverse products.

This sculpt was also used to make Revenge of the Fallen Smokescreen.

• More information on Rodimus at TFU.info

The Last Knight

"Yup, it's ze whopper alright."

• Autobot Hot Rod (Tiny Turbo Changer, 2017)
  • Series: 2
  • Bag Code: P

Released in Series 2 of blindbagged Tiny Turbo Changers, Hot Rod is a small soft-plastic transformable figure based that changes from robot to luxury sports car tank in a few simple steps. He has articulated shoulders and his hands can grip 3mm posts and other small accessories. Like all Tiny Turbo Changers, he can't roll in vehicle mode.

"Seriously, turning back into a car is very difficult!"

• Autobots Unite (Turbo Changer 2-pack, 2017)

Released as part of the Walmart-exclusive Turbo Changer 2-pack along with his brother-in-arms Bumblebee, Hot Rod is a retool of Age of Extinction Turbo Changer Lockdown, transforming from vehicle to robot by pressing a button on his vehicle mode. His only articulation is the elbows, which they can only pivot up and down.

As he shares with the same transformation scheme with Lockdown, Hot Rod's vehicle kibble seems to have some difficulties locking together from their proper position.

"Hey Hasbro, don't you have better things to do now than retooling Lockdown's body for me?"

• Autobot Hot Rod (Flip N' Change, 2017)

Flip N' Change Hot Rod is a retool of Age of Extinction Flip N' Change Lockdown with a new head. He is a simplified toy that can auto-transforms from an unlicensed approximation of a Lamborghini Aventador rather than a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 into a Voyager-sized robot by pulling out the arms first, and then flip the figure over itself. He features articulation on his arms and features 5mm compatible hands.

Ma Petite Chou-Fleur.

• Autobot Hot Rod (Legion Class, 2017)

Released as part of Walmart's Autobots Unite subline, Legion Class Hot Rod transforms from a robot (which shares a similar transformation to Robots in Disguise Legion Class Sideswipe) into a fictionalized Lamborghini Centenario with an added spoiler.

Much like the Deluxe Class figure, Legion Class Hot Rod later saw a regular release for normal retail, with his packaging altered to match the regular Legion Class figures.

Paint me Ferrari Red Magneta ASAP. So I can let her ride in style!

• Autobot Hot Rod & Bumblebee (Legion Class 2-pack, 2017)

Packed along with his brothers-in-arms Bumblebee, this Hot Rod is a "stealth-themed" black redeco of the figure above. As a reference to his Generation 1 namesake, he features a flame tampograph (complete with an Autobot insignia) on his vehicle mode's front hood, as well as a yellow spoiler.

Premier Edition

File:TF-TLK-Deluxe-Class-Hot-Rod.jpg

No thanks, I've had enough Cajun for one day.

• Autobot Hot Rod (Deluxe Class, 2017)
  • Japanese ID Number: TLK-20
  • Japanese release date: 2017-09-16

Released as part of Walmart's Autobots Unite subline, Deluxe Class Hot Rod is an extensive retool of Age of Extinction Deluxe Class Lockdown, transforming into a Lamborghini Centenario. While almost the entire figure has been remolded, the lower legs and feet as well as some internal structuring parts remain unchanged. Along with added transformation steps, Hot Rod's new tooling makes him substantially taller than the original mold taking it from being one of the shorter Deluxe molds to being one of the tallest Deluxes in the line. Uncommon for deluxe class toys, the figure does not include any weapons or accessories.

"And you'd better stay close to me, little lady."

His Walmart exclusive (and the Japanese release's) box art is strange in that it features a CG render of Hot Rod and Bumblebee standing side-by-side, however Bumblebee is in the forefront and is far more prominent. Unlike most modern instruction pamphlets, Hot Rod's instructions are printed in full color. Additionally, he is thus far the only Premier Edition Deluxe Class figure to have a full-length bio on his box. As for the regular release, he features the same default Premier Edition style box that most figures use, omitting the bio.

After a month of release as a Walmart exclusive (also with some scalping after its release), the figure finally got a regular release for retail, as part of the normal Premier Edition Deluxe Class lineup.

Merchandise

Hot Rod

• Hot Rod (Die-cast Figurine, 2017)

This Hot Rod is a 1/64 non-transforming robot mode figurine, and like MetaColle figures, he was made partially out of die-cast metal.

• Hot Rod (Die-cast cars, 2017)

This Hot Rod is a 1/64 non-transforming but screen-accurate vehicle mode based on his alternate mode seen in the film.

Jada Toys

All of the releases below are Walmart exclusives. The 1/24 and 1/32 scale cars also saw release in Japan in November 2017.

Let's burn rubber, madame!

• Hot Rod (1/24 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)

A 1/24-scaled non-transforming diecast car based on Hot Rod'2017 Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 form, and he features opening doors and vehicle front hood, revealing the driver's seat (with its steering wheel chromed) & engines (also chromed). And similar to Robot Powered Machines, Hot Rod features a sculpted robot mode underneath. He also comes with a collector's coin with his face engraved on it.

• Hot Rod (1/32 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)

A medium-sized version of the Hot Rod car is also available. The opening gimmick is only limited to the doors.

"We can't hold out forever, Viviane, but we can give them one humongous repair bill.

• Hot Rod (1/64 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)
  • Accessories: Display base

A smaller, Hot Wheels/Matchbox-sized version of the Hot Rod car is also available. He also comes with his own Display Base with his picture printed on it.

Notes

Voila! Dr. Le Quack at your service. I go in, steal all their valuables and they won't remember.

• Dark of the Moon Rodimus's packaging has no technical notes or biographical information on the character, but does sport information on Soundwave and Bumblebee.
• Concept art for "Hot Rod" appeared in the "Transformers 3" section of Massive Black Volume 2, along with various other designs.
• Early concept designs for The Last Knight's Lamborghini Centenario character were simply labelled "Side Kick".
• In The Last Knight's WWII flashback, Hot Rod is shown to transform into a Steyr truck, but his robot-mode kibble is from an M8 armored car. Strangely, unlike the case with Bumblebee, this does not appear to be a consequence of using Josh Nizzi's original concept art (at right), which depicts Hot Rod using distinctive vehicle parts from an M4 Sherman tank.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Hot Rod (ホットロッド Hotto Roddo)
• Korean: Hot Rod (홋 로드 Hot Rodeu)
• Mandarin: Huǒbào Rod (Taiwan, 火爆洛迪 Huǒbào Luòdí, "Hot Rod"), Rè Pò (China, 热破, "Hot Break")
• Ukrainian: Honschyk (Гонщик, "Racer")