Hot Rod (G1)

The name or term "Rodimus" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Rodimus (disambiguation).

The name or term "Hot Rod" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hot Rod (disambiguation).

This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

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Hot Rod is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family. He has also been known as Rodimus Prime, Rodimus, and Rodimus Major.

Rodimus Prime.

Hot Rod is brash and headstrong, with an overwhelming self-confidence that borders on arrogance. Kup has assumed the role of mentor and advisor to the impetuous young Hot Rod, offering him wisdom and advice when he needs it (though Hot Rod rarely feels that he does, much to Kup's annoyance). Arcee also serves as a calming influence on Hot Rod, and tends to either worry about him when he is not around, or deride and tease him when he is. Their relationship is antagonistic, but friendly. Exactly how deep Hot Rod's feelings for Arcee might run is unknown, whether they be friendly, romantic, or otherwise.

In contrast, his Rodimus Prime persona—while still headstrong and stubborn—seems to suffer from a severe lack of confidence, often doubting his own decisions and expressing distress over his position as an Autobot leader. Of course, much of this comes from having immediately succeeded Optimus Prime as commander—and let's face it, shoes-to-be-filled just don't get much bigger than that.

One thing that both sides of this Autobot's identity have in common is their impatience—neither Hot Rod nor Rodimus Prime can stand to wait around when they could be doing something instead. He is also very self-reliant, rarely sending others to do anything when he could be doing it himself. His Targetmaster partner is Firebolt. As Rodimus Prime, his vehicle sometimes splits between his robot and Mobile Defense Bay.

“	I knew you had potential, lad.	”
—Kup on Hot Rod's transformation into Rodimus Prime, The Transformers: The Movie

Japanese name (Hot Rod): Hot Rodimus, except for "The Rebirth"

Japanese name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Convoy

French-Canadian name (Hot Rod): Météorite ("Meteorite")

French-Canadian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Primo ("Rodimus First", official toy name)

French-Canadian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Primus (official dub name)

Italian name: Folgore, Captain

Hungarian name (Hot Rod): Nagyágyú ("Hot Shot")

Hungarian name (Hot Rod, The Movie): Peca ("Fisher"?) in the first dub of the film, 'cause he deals with marine life throughout the film, you see.

Hungarian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimusz Fővezér ("Prime Commander Rodimus")

Chinese name (Taiwan, Hot Rod): Rod / Rhode (羅德 Lúo Dé)

Chinese name (Taiwan, Rodimus Prime): Rhodie Jr-tsūn (羅迪至尊, "Rodimus Prime")

Chinese name (China, Hot Rod): Re Po (热破, "Hot Break")

Chinese name (China, Rodimus Prime): Bu Tian Shi (补天士, "Soldier who repairs the sky")

Omni Productions Headmasters dub name (Hot Rod): Roadimus Prime (yes. ROAD-imus.)

Ukrainian TV dub name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Naikrashyi(Родімус Найкращий, Rodimus The Best)

Russian TV dub name (Hot Rod): Patron ("Cartridge")

Russian TV dub name (Rodimus Prime): Rodomes Prime

Portuguese name (Portugal Comic): (Hot Rod) Roda Quente (Rodimus Prime) Rodimus Supremo

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Madman The Transformers comic

"You're gonna be the death of that guy, you know?"

In the year 2001, Hot Rod was on guard duty at the construction site of Autobot City on Earth while the main Autobot forces were evacuating from the Decepticon-conquered Cybertron. As he was complaining about his boring assignment to Spike Witwicky, the Decepticon Soundwave struck, intent on stealing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership which Optimus Prime had secreted in a bunker at the building site. When he reclaimed the Matrix, Hot Rod received a vision of the future where he fought a powerful Decepticon. After returning the Matrix to Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader considered that perhaps Hot Rod's destiny was greater than any of them realized. Kup thought differently, however. The Transformers

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actors: Judd Nelson → Ted Schwartz → Dick Gautier (English), Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese, Transformers 2010), Takase Akimitsu (Japanese, The Rebirth), Daniel Gall (French, Movie)

"I'm tellin' you, Daniel, you HAD to kiss me to activate my fishing rod. STOP crying!"

In 2005, Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in the completed Autobot City. He was close friends with the young human Daniel Witwicky and seemed to have a reputation for being something of a troublemaker, judging from a few of Kup's comments to him at the time. While out fishing with Daniel one day, he consoled his young human friend over the absence of his father Spike (currently stationed on one of Cybertron's moon bases), then attempted to cheer him up by proposing that they head to Lookout Mountain to watch the arrival of an Autobot shuttle. This required smashing through a security cordon that Kup and some other Autobots were in the process of setting up, but Hot Rod's breach of security was soon to fade to irrelevance. Observing the shuttle through a viewing scope, Daniel was alarmed to spot a hole in the side, and the concerned Hot Rod used his built-in telescopic visor to discern the horrifying truth of the situation: the shuttle had been hijacked by Decepticons! Hot Rod opened fire on the stolen shuttle and exposed their ruse before Megatron could enter the city, though he was nearly blasted by Blitzwing for his troubles and had to be rescued by Kup. Hot Rod's action had given the rest of the Autobots time to begin transforming Autobot City and raising their defenses, but this in turn left Hot Rod trapped outside with Kup and Daniel, until the Insecticons helpfully chewed an opening into the city that the trio were able to use to gain access, swatting the pesky critters as they did so.

Dibs!

Fighting continued through the night, culminating with the arrival of a second shuttle commanded by Optimus Prime. Prime engaged Megatron in a one-on-one battle, but at a pivotal moment, Hot Rod observed that Megatron was feigning defeat in an attempt to reach a fallen weapon. Hot Rod tackled Megatron, but proved no match for the Decepticon leader; Megatron seized him and used him as a human (well, robot) shield while he delivered the fatal blasts that mortally wounded Prime. Although Prime used the last of his strength to dispatch Megatron, he was on the brink of death, and passed the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus just before he passed on, reciting a prophecy that claimed an Autobot would use the Matrix to "light our darkest hour". When the Prime's strength gave out and he dropped the talisman as he was handing it over, Hot Rod caught it before it fell to the floor, and it glowed brightly in his hands.

He's on the run from Barbie's garage.

After Prime's death, news reached Autobot City of a monster planet that was advancing on Cybertron. Hot Rod had "this feeling" that the Matrix could stop the creature, but before any plans could be made, Autobot City came under Decepticon attack once again—by Galvatron. The Autobots were able to flee into space aboard twin shuttles, and Hot Rod passed the time sparring with an auto-combatant before the Decepticons caught up to them. In the ensuing space battle, Hot Rod's shuttle was shot down by Cyclonus, and he, Kup and the Dinobots found themselves stranded on the planet Quintessa. Awakening underwater in one of Quintessa's oceans, in the clutches of some mechanical vines and beset by ferocious robotic fish, Hot Rod hacked his way to freedom with his buzzsaw-hand, then saved Kup from the grip of a huge metal squid-creature. Hot Rod took the damaged Kup to shore and pieced him back together, and the pair then set off to search for the Dinobots, only to wind up crossing paths with more strange inhabitants. The universal greeting and energon goodies only temporarily placated the creatures, who captured Hot Rod and Kup and brought them before their masters, the Quintessons. They learned from another captive, Kranix, that the monster planet was known as "Unicron", then attempted to stage an escape when they were brought to trial and thrown to the Sharkticons. The pair gave a good account of themselves, but were hugely outmatched by the Sharkticon swarm and seemed doomed for certain, until the Dinobots and their new ally Wheelie arrived to turn the tide. Wheelie provided the team with a ship to leave the planet, and together, they all rendezvoused with Ultra Magnus's team on the planet Junk, where Hot Rod was just in time to stop the native Junkions and their leader Wreck-Gar from destroying the rest of the Autobot City refugees with a timely—and successful— use of the universal greeting. Together, they all traveled to Cybertron to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.

"BAM! You've had unsafe sex!"

Hot Rod crashed the Quintesson ship through Unicron's eye, and was separated from his comrades as they fell through his giant body. Alone, deep in the bowels of the chaos-bringer, he found himself facing Galvatron in a battle to the death over the Matrix of Leadership, which Galvatron had previously stolen. Overpowered by Galvatron, Hot Rod was throttled by the Decepticon and was moments from death, until he seized the Matrix that hung around Galvatron's neck. Filled with its power, Hot Rod proved to be the "Chosen One" of legend, and was transformed into "Rodimus Prime": an older, larger, and more powerful version of himself. After overpowering Galvatron and hurling him through Unicron's hide into the void of space, he opened the Matrix and destroyed Unicron from within. The Transformers: The Movie

Peace reigned on Cybertron for at least long enough to put up some of the more important buildings, and Rodimus Prime began to ease into his role as the new Autobot leader. He even opened the first Galactic Olympics, although the event was disrupted by mysterious assailants who kidnapped Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky. In an attempt to discover if the Decepticons were responsible, Rodimus took Grimlock to spy on them, but the pair were discovered and attacked. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 The two Autobots were rescued by Arcee and Springer, but Rodimus had been injured in the attack, and his spirit entered the Matrix. The experience revealed to him that the Quintessons were behind the kidnapping. With this knowledge, the Autobots rescued their fellows from Quintessa, just as the Quintessons destroyed the planet. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2

The Autobots were flung through space, eventually crashing down on the planet Goo. After Springer's dismemberment at the hands of a giant machine, Rodimus faced the machine alone, clogging its intakes and causing it to crash. Their troubles weren't over, as the Quintesson-led Decepticon army soon showed up to renew hostilities. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 Rescued by the Junkions, the Autobots were taken to Junk, where Rodimus short-circuited himself in order to consult the Matrix once again. The knowledge of Transformer history and their creation at the hands of the Quintessons was revealed to him, leading him to realise that Cybertron was in deadly danger. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4

Returning to Cybertron, Rodimus lead the defence of the planet against Galvatron's strike force. It wasn't until Blitzwing's warning that the true nature of the threat was revealed: a switch deep under the planet's surface which controlled the life force of every Transformer in existence. Although Rodimus headed off the contingent of Sharkticons who aimed to pull the switch, Galvatron himself pulled it, disabling all of the Transformers. Fortunately, Spike was on hand to turn them all back on again. After Galvatron was sent into retreat, Rodimus gave a speech to the Autobots about how they had won...for now. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5

Crap, I hope this isn't a popularity contest!

Throughout 2006, Rodimus Prime's greatest achievements revolved around his predecessor, Optimus Prime. While fleeing from a Decepticon attack, Rodimus and several other Autobots took refuge in a massive Autobot Mausoleum and discovered that their former leader seemed to have returned to life. Perhaps a little too trusting of Optimus (and possibly eager to relieve himself of the burden of leadership), Rodimus quickly passed the Matrix back to Optimus and, much to his glee, reverted back into Hot Rod. His happiness was short-lived, however, as Optimus was quickly revealed to be nothing more than a puppet of the Quintessons, sent to trick the Autobots into an ambush from which none of them would escape. With no other choice, Hot Rod was forced to do battle with Optimus Prime for the fate of the Autobots. Although their duel was clearly in the favor of the more powerful Optimus, Hot Rod was able to re-awaken the true spirit of his leader. Returning the Matrix to Rodimus, Optimus then piloted his ship into the heart of the ambush and sacrificed himself to save them all. Dark Awakening

Soon after Perceptor left on a standard research mission to a nearby asteroid belt, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots received a distress call from the survey group. They arrived to find the asteroid infested with Quintessons, but managed to drive off the tentacled freaks and their Sharkticon shock troops. Perceptor was near deactivation due to injuries, however, and the rest of the Autobots were nowhere to be seen. The Quintessons attempted to retake the asteroid but, after failing, were soon desperate enough to tell the truth: Their technology on the rock was a Time Window, and leaving it open was risking the fates of all time and space. With the help of the Quintesson scientist and a mysterious stranger with a devilish moustache, Rodimus Prime retrieved his lost Autobots and shut down the time window. Forever Is a Long Time Coming

He just needs a cigarette.

The Autobots learned of a lost Cybertronian colony known as Paradron after one of its citizens, Sandstorm, arrived on Cybertron begging for help. It seemed that Galvatron and the Decepticons had seized control over the planet and its vast energon reserves. Rodimus Prime and the Autobots staged a tactical infiltration, but the escalation of violence between the two forces led to total devastation. Rodimus gave the pacifistic Autobots of Paradron his impassioned "Move it or lose it!" speech before hustling them off-world so that Ultra Magnus could blow up their home. As Sandstorm sat there mourning the loss of his world, Rodimus Prime gave him some solemn advice.

“

Well, no need to get all mushy. Cybertron's a better place anyway—not so...perfect.

”

Fight or Flee

Rodimus and the Autobots were stumped when someone carried off Fort Knox in the middle of the night. They detected Dinosaur transform static at the scene (seriously), found a small pile of energon cubes, and had just been informed by Teletraan II that Trypticon was still alive. It was a head-scratcher, all right. They eventually figured it out, though, and sieged the occupied nation of Carbombya to chase the Decepticons away, then recovered Fort Knox and the other monuments Trypticon had stolen. Thief in the Night

AKOM liked to color my crotch like my windshield (as was originally intended). AKOM did a loooot of episodes.

When the freelance agent named Octane was being kidnapped right off of Cybertron's surface by Cyclonus and the Sweeps, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots stormed out to save their associate. Things were more complicated than they looked, however, as when Rodimus confronted Cyclonus, the Decepticon lieutenant spoke with Starscream's voice! For some reason, learning Starscream was involved made Rodimus willing to let the Decepticons go. Crazy as it sounds, though, it worked—Starscream and Octane managed to lure Galvatron into an Autobot ambush. Rodimus Prime gave a friendly wave to Starscream for a job well done as he departed. Zuh? Starscream's Ghost

While preparing for the first annual Cybertron peace conference, Rodimus Prime got together with Spike Witwicky to prepare a surprise party for Danny. They were interrupted by a Combaticon attack, as the Decepticons wanted to prevent the conference from occurring. The Combaticons were driven off, however, and only minor damage was done. Surprise Party

During a diplomatic function, Rodimus Prime was forced to play statesman and deal with Ambassador Ynara and the other delegates. Curiously, when Daniel Witwicky went missing and Rodimus had an excuse to duck out of the "festivities", he chose to delegate the search mission to Ultra Magnus and Blaster. Perhaps the normally action-hungry Rodimus Prime was actually becoming more accepting of his leadership duties. Madman's Paradise

Rodimus really needs to learn how to delegate.

When Daniel Witwicky began experiencing recurring nightmares, Rodimus never dreamed he would have to face those nightmares personally. The Quintessons' latest experiment was to turn the young boy's imagination against his Autobot friends. Danny's own subconscious fought against the Quintessons' manipulations, though, and helped the Autobots save themselves. After that experience, Rodimus Prime stayed by Danny's bedside until he conquered his fears and ended the nightmares. Nightmare Planet

Cybertron was put on high alert after Scourge broke into Metroplex on Earth, stealing his eyes and blowing up a bomb in his brain. Rodimus and the Autobots were eventually able to suss out that Scourge was working with the ghost of Starscream, and they in turn were acquiring those eyes for Unicron. Rodimus put together a strike team and sent Ultra Magnus, Springer, Hot Spot and Groove to Unicron to investigate, but they were repulsed by the Chaos-Bringer's defenses. Their second mission was more successful, detonating a series of explosives underneath Unicron once he came down to Cybertron, intent on connecting himself to the planet and turning it into his new body. After Unicron was successfully blasted back into orbit, Rodimus congratulated his men on a job well done. As a joke, he told Magnus and the others their next mission would be to return to the head of their Living Devil and retrieve his stolen eyes. That Roddy—he's hilarious. Ghost in the Machine

Rodimus Prime: diplomat.

Rodimus was dutifully overseeing some reconstruction work on Cybertron when Sky Lynx and Superion reported odd activity over the planet of Junk and among the Junkions themselves. He assembled a task force aboard Omega Supreme to take a look firsthand. Blaster managed to neutralize the hypnotic signals influencing the Junkions, but the Autobots were unable to learn the cause of the whole situation. The Big Broadcast of 2006

At a galactic peace conference, Rodimus and Ultra Magnus attempted to end the centuries of war between the planets of Xetaxxis and Lanarq. They might as well have asked Galvatron, "Why you so crazy?" Every attempt at straight talk and reasonable discourse broke out into a brawl, fist-fighting and eventually laser fire. The two worlds only reached an accord once Blaster and Sky Lynx arrived with a Quintesson journal, detailing how the entire war between the two planets was a "case study" in escalation manipulated by the Quintessons to sell bigger and better armaments to both sides. The Quintesson Journal

"I did your mom!"

Rodimus Prime began to struggle with the burden of leadership again during a skirmish in Europe, where the Decepticons were working in conjunction with human terrorists. The pacifistic First Aid chose to leave the Autobots after his refusal to fight cost Metroplex his transforming cog, and Rodimus chided himself for not having the words to convince the medic to stay. He was also unsettled by Galvatron's crowing about a new "Ultimate Weapon" which would bring the Autobots to their knees. Regardless of his internal strife, Rodimus continued the fight. He came up with a plan in which Spike and Daniel Witwicky posed as part of the (evil?) human repair crews working on Trypticon and liberated the Decepticon city-bot's transforming cog just as the 'Cons had taken Metroplex's. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus had to fight off Galvatron and the Stunticon in order to stall for time so that the Witwickys could complete their mission. Fortunately, the Stunticons had been off the shelves the field for a while by this point, and so were utterly demolished by the two Autobots. Eventually, First Aid returned to the Autobots to finish repair work on the cog, and Rodimus ultimately called Galvatron's bluff and uncovered his "Ultimate Weapon" as the sham it was. These victories renewed Rodimus's confidence in his leadership abilities...until next time. The Ultimate Weapon

One day, Rodimus Prime orchestrated the insertion of a new power core on Cybertron, designed by Perceptor to give the Autobots limitless free energy. Unfortunately, Perceptor also installed an emergency level to jettison the power core into space in the statistically impossible scenario that they would ever need to do such a wild, crazy thing. Sure enough, mere hours later, the power core was floating through space with a Trans-Organic monster of Lovecraftian proportions latched to the outside of it. Rule of thumb: Installing any form of self-destruct switch increases the likelihood of needing said switch a billion percent. Encasing it behind glass adds another billion. The Dweller in the Depths

That's right. He stayed for breakfast.

Rodimus Prime and the Autobots joined forces with the human police to help stop a domestic terrorist named Victor Drath. They grossly underestimated their opponent and were easily captured by Drath after he lured them to his residence with an anonymous phone call. Using some Cobra mysterious technology, Drath siphoned the consciousnesses of Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Springer and Arcee out of their bodies, inadvertently casting them into synthetic human forms. While trying to get back into Drath's headquarters, Rodimus and Springer were separated. Drath's girlfriend Michelle was intrigued enough by Rodimus's human form that she hid him from Drath's men. At least until after coffee...THEN she handed him over to Drath. Rodimus managed to overpower Drath and his men, and the villain's scheme was undone. Perceptor managed to reverse the process and restore the Autobots to their true forms. With one regretful look cast towards Michelle as she was led away by the police, Rodimus Prime rolled for home with the other Autobots. Only Human

At the unveiling of a new power generator, Rodimus Prime got frustrated at Grimlock's gross stupidity. Things only got worse when the Autobots discovered anti-electrons being beamed out of the power generator and needed to negotiate the tunnels beneath Cybertron to reach the generator core...and Grimlock broke their only map. Luckily for Rodimus's sanity, Grimlock spontaneously developed super-intelligence after biting through the cables connecting the anti-electrons to the power generator. The Autobots then went on a mission to Unicron's head to prevent the Decepticons from recovering any more anti-electrons to use against them, but once there, they came under attack by the particles again, and Rodimus was affected so badly that he actually briefly transformed him back into Hot Rod. The Autobots were nearly overwhelmed by the animalistic Terrorcons, but Grimlock constructed Computron and the Technobots as a counter-force against the bestial Decepticons. Rodimus and the others drove off the remaining Decepticons and restabilized the power generator for Cybertron's use. Grimlock's New Brain

On Earth's Moon, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots were engaged in trench warfare with the Decepticon for some vague but no doubt important reason. Rodimus demonstrated his keen tactical brilliance when the Decepticons attacked, suggesting the Autobots do the unexpected...and counter-attack. No, really—Galvatron seemed utterly amazed when they did that. However, the non-bestial Transformers on both sides were rendered lifeless when the energy-draining creature known as Tornedron attacked them while en route to Earth. When the threat was eliminated by Grimlock, Rodimus and the others came back to life without realising that anything had happened. Call of the Primitives

Rodimus goes camping in style.

Rodimus and the Autobots arrived at the scene of a Quintesson quadrant lock as Galvatron was trying to claim it for himself. The Quintessons attempted to stop further investigation of the quadrant lock by casting the Transformers through a warp. Their encounter with the native Zamojins inside the lock was less than cordial, but the Autobots eventually managed to disable the quadrant lock and return starlight to the Zamojin people. The Face of the Nijika

"I sure hope Optimus Prime doesn't come back next week or something."

After a particularly strenuous series of Decepticon attacks on Japan, Rodimus Prime was in no mood to be chewed out by the Japanese government for "not helping enough". When Marissa Faireborn stopped by at just the wrong time with yet another problem, Rodimus blew her off and went racing on the back roads to let off some exhaust. Unfortunately, he was spotted by the Stunticons Dead End and Wildrider, who knocked him for a loop and (surprisingly) shook the Matrix of Leadership loose from his chest cavity. After the Stunticons made off with the Matrix, Rodimus woke up as Hot Rod. Shockingly to Springer and Ultra Magnus, Roddy was in no hurry to go after the thieves and recover the Matrix. His giri had become too burdensome, and Hot Rod was hardly interested in reclaiming the burden so soon. He returned to a dojo that had been upset by Bruticus during the earlier attacks and observed the sensei and his pupils. After finding his center again, Hot Rod returned to the city, where the huntsman known as Scourge had been misusing the Matrix as a source of raw power to destroy everything around him. After a brief fight, Hot Rod reclaimed the Matrix from Scourge and became Rodimus Prime once more, accepting his path in life. Oh, and Kup was nodding sagely on the sidelines the entire time. Apparently, that helped somehow. The Burden Hardest to Bear

"I did his mom, too."

As it turned out, far from being destroyed, Optimus Prime had been retrieved by a team of human scientists who were hoping to use him (again) as a weapon against the Autobots—this time as the bearer of a malignant "Hate Plague" that would cause them to destroy one another. When he learned of this, Rodimus swiftly formed a rescue party and led them to retrieve Optimus's body so that their former leader could rest in peace. When all of the rest of the Autobots with him were exposed to the Hate Plague, only Rodimus was able to escape unharmed—and with the still-uninfected body of Optimus. Returning to Autobot City, Rodimus ordered Sky-Lynx to find a Quintesson to repair Optimus, then risked his life to shut down Metroplex before the Plague could spread to the titanic Autobot. Attacked by Ultra Magnus and Wreck-Gar in the process, he succumbed to the plague and became infected with hate. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 In order to stop the Plague, the resurrected Optimus had to defeat the crazed Rodimus and forcibly extract the Matrix from him, changing him back into Hot Rod once more. This time, as Optimus had decided to stick around, the change was a permanent one. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2

Not shown: Firebolt expelling the contents of his stomach shortly afterward.

Even after losing his position as Autobot leader, Hot Rod was not the sort to rest on his laurels. In 2007, he was on Cybertron sharpening his skills in a race with Blurr through an obstacle course called "the Maze", and won the contest with a little help from Daniel. This provided Autobot scientist Brainstorm with more fodder to wax lyrical on his theories about Transformer-human partnership, but his lecture was cut short by the sudden arrival on the planet of the full force of the Decepticon army, who were intent on opening the Plasma Energy Chamber. Hot Rod and his team were able to steal the key to the chamber from the Decepticons, but not before the chamber was briefly opened, releasing a blast of energy that catapulted their shuttle across the galaxy. They crash-landed on the planet Nebulos, where they were captured by a group of native rebels that mistook them for the mechanical servants of the planet's evil rulers, the Hive. The rebels changed their tune when a team of Decepticons attacked, having tracked the Autobots to the planet, but half the Autobots, including Hot Rod, were taken captive by the villains. The Rebirth, Part 1 Hot Rod and his fellows stood up to the Decepticons' torture, and were soon rescued by their team-mates, who had bonded with the Nebulan rebels to become Headmasters. The Decepticons then teamed up with the Hive to create Headmasters of their own, and took the process further by creating Targetmasters as well. The Autobots copied the technology, and Hot Rod volunteered for the process, allowing his gun to be reconfigured into an exo-suit for the Nebulan sharpshooter Firebolt. The Rebirth, Part 2 Hot Rod and Firebolt went on to aid in the defence of Cybertron as Galvatron attempted to use the Plasma Energy Chamber to destroy it. The Rebirth, Part 3

Japanese cartoon continuity

The events of the Generation 1 cartoon occur in Japanese animated continuity as described above, except without the events of "The Rebirth". Additionally, this continuity moves the events of 2006 forward to 2010 and inserts several additional events into the newly created intervening years.

Kiss Players

Voice actors: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese)

When Rodimus Prime hurled Galvatron into space at the conclusion of their battle within Unicron, he could not have predicted the tragic result of this action. Galvatron crash-landed on Earth, on top of Tokyo, Japan, devastating the city and sparking off a massive anti-Transformer movement spearheaded by the Earth Defense Command. Horrified by what his actions had wrought, Rodimus gave up the Matrix to Ultra Magnus and reverted to Hot Rod once more, seeking a way to redeem himself for his unintentional misdeeds. A Big Catch Tonight?!

Guys, we don't have to settle for this, there's a small girl right over there!

Hot Rod returned to Earth in the year 2006, by which stage the planet had been scoured clean of Transformers by the E.D.C.. He was badly damaged by the anti-electron field that the E.D.C. had set up around the planet, and wound up falling out of the sky and crashing into the E.D.C.'s headquarters, plunging through its levels into the subterranean chamber known as the Genital System. His explosive arrival interrupted a grotesque experiment involving former E.D.C. operative Shaoshao Li and the severed heads of several Legion (monstrous creatures created when Galvatron's cells, scattered by his impact, fused with Earthly creatures and machines). Kiss Players #2 The Legion attacked Hot Rod and began to fuse with him, but a kiss from Shaoshao—one of the E.D.C.'s Kiss Players, also given fusing powers by Galvatron's cells—saved him, reformatting him into a Ford GT body. Kiss Players #3

Together with Shaoshao, Hot Rod went on the run, battling the E.D.C. and the Legion, while working to expose the evil intentions behind of Shaoshao's former employers. Kiss Players radio drama #2 Shaoshao, a longtime robot-hater, was not pleased about the partnership, disgusted by both the fact that she had to kiss Hot Rod Kiss Players radio drama #5 and the Autobot's own smug self-confidence in his speed and sharpshooting skills. She insisted that he work hard on his martial arts training, but Rodimus preferred to simply use Shaoshao's own skills by fusing with her. Kiss Players radio drama #8 As part of his training, he learned to wield his tonfa weapons as guns, and embarked on a long-distance drive as a test of endurance. Kiss Players radio drama #11

Drawn to the E.D.C. headquarters by a massive Legion attack on the facility, Hot Rod and Shaoshao were shocked to see Optimus Prime at the head of the Legion swarm! Given that Prime had died the previous year, Hot Rod assumed he was facing an imposter and attacked, unaware that this was actually the genuine article, who had been brought back to life by the Kiss Player powers of Shaoshao's old friend, Marissa Faireborn. The battle was broken up and the Legions turned away by the E.D.C.'s most powerful Kiss Player, Atari Hitotonari, and Hot Rod and Shaoshao returned to their fugitive lifestyle. Kiss Players #3

Flames on his arms and a naked girl in his tummy.

Despite being on the lam, Hot Rod still had time for a little fishing now and then, (even though Shaoshao hated the fishy stench he would invariably return covered in) Kiss Players radio drama #17 and even built himself a fishing pole that could transform into a set of blasters, dubbed the "Exhaust Rod". Kiss Players radio drama #20 While Hot Rod was putting his new pole to use on a fishing trip to Tokyo Bay, he and Shaoshao were attacked by a mass of Legion and fused to fight back. It was during this latest fusion that Shaoshao glimpsed Hot Rod's memories and discovered that he was responsible for throwing Galvatron into space, and her fury caused the fusion to end quite violently. A Big Catch Tonight?! Despite Hot Rod's peace offering of new underwear (actually stolen from Marissa), Kiss Players radio drama #29 Shaoshao concluded that she really didn't care about his guilt, and was just using him to win Marissa back from Optimus Prime. Kiss Players radio drama #26

Kisses!

Investigating a large number of Legion that seemed to be converging on Tokyo, Hot Rod and Shaoshao spotted a dark-haired girl riding on the shoulder of one of the creatures. As they watched, she disappeared into the Legion, and they believed she may have been a Kiss Player, until Hot Rod realised that his scanners had not picked up any body heat from the girl. Kiss Players radio drama #32 As if this haunting experience was not bad enough, Hot Rod then began to suffer from nightmares, filled with images of Megatron, caused by the Galvatron cells that the Legion had added to his system when they had tried to fuse with him. Shaoshao exploited the increase in Rodimus's violent tendencies that these nightmares caused by whispering in the Autobot's ear as he slept, telling him that he had to kill the impostor Optimus Prime so she could have Marissa back. Kiss Players radio drama #35

When Marissa and Prime led another army of Legions in another attack on the E.D.C. headquarters, Shaoshao and Hot Rod were again there to face them. The two Autobots were overcome by the destructive impulses of their Galvatron cells and began viciously fighting, but as they did so, Marissa and Shaoshao were able to settle their own differences and bring the battle to an end, vowing to discover the dark secret at the heart of the E.D.C.. Kiss Players radio drama #37 Together with Atari, the group ventured down into the Genital System, where they discovered a secret plot by E.D.C. commander Hitoshizuku Amaō to resurrect her dead daughter (the ghost girl Hot Rod and Shaoshao had seen) in Atari's body. Atari thwarted Amaō's fusion process, however, and instead caused all of the scattered Galvatron cells to be re-absorbed into the Decepticon leader's comatose body. Hot Rod destroyed the anti-electron field generator, and was then reverted back to normal as his Galvatron cells were drawn out of him and reconstituted within Galvatron's body, which Atari then flung into space. You, I, and the Spinning Earth

Hot Rod went on his way, but did not take back the Matrix and leadership of the Autobots until the year 2010. It is unknown whether he ever discovered that the true instigators of the Tokyo incident were Unicron's minions, the Sparkbots, who had altered Galvatron's trajectory.

The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers

The events of this manga occur concurrently with the events of Generation 1 cartoon, as described above.

He's so dreeeaaaaamyyyy.

Rodimus Prime faced numerous bizarre challenges in the year 2010, one of which involved Galvatron attempting to seize spaceships with his own spaceship that ate other spaceships. Rodimus infiltrated the toothy craft in order to plant a bomb to destroy it. Unfortunately, Galvatron trapped him inside and beat him senseless. Rodimus was about to give up when the spirit of Optimus Prime spoke to him through the Matrix, urging him to fight on. Rodimus snapped out of it and escaped through a hole created by Galvatron's cannon. Before leaving, though, he dropped the bomb off in Cyclonus' hands, detonating the ship.The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 1

During another adventure, Rodimus and his troops were taken under siege by a horde of Megatron clones calling themselves the Megatron Corps. The Megatron Corps made short work of Rodimus, leaving him to wonder how he could defeat a whole horde of the baddie, when Optimus Prime could barely deal with one. Rodimus eventually realized that Galvatron was secretly controlling the clones and singled him out. With Galvatron defeated, the Megatron Corps ceased to function. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 2

Not long after that, Galvatron attacked Autobot City on Earth with the power of Trypticon. Though Trypticon was defeated by Six-Gun, of all Autobots, Rodimus did not arrive on the scene until after the battle had ended. Young blonde human girls squeeled at his hunkiness, though. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 3

During another battle, he was forced to team with his arch-nemesis, Galvatron, to defeat the all-powerful Guiltaur. Guiltaur was a creation built by the Quintessons utilizing the powers of both Optimus Prime and Megatron. Together, Rodimus and Galvatron defeated their foe (who it turned out was being controlled by the ghost of Starscream) and called off the truce. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 4

After that, Rodimus lead the Autobots to the planet Feminia to protect it's Prime Energy Tower from Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Autobots proved ineffectual against the might of Predaking...at least until the Omnibots showed up to win the day. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 5

The Great Transformer War comic

After the Protectobots rescued the scientist Doctor Dalton from the clutches of the Decepticons, Rodimus met with him to discuss upgrading the Technobots. The Great Transformer War issue 1

Rodimus then watched on in horror as the Terrorcons made short work of the upgraded Technobots and nearly turned them into Decepticons with Cohesive Control Liquid. Spike managed to save the Technobots and send the Decepticons into retreat, swearing vengeance. The Great Transformer War issue 2

Early in 2011, after having given up the Matrix of Leadership and reverted back to Hot Rod, he accompanied the newly resurrected Optimus Prime in a space battle against Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Decepticons fled, and though Hot Rod wished to pursue them, Optimus ordered him the return to base, as the entire battle seemed fishy. Indeed, it was all a distraction so that Galvatron could begin his ultimate invasion of Cybertron. The Great Transformer War issue 3

The Headmasters cartoon

Voice actor: Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese)

"And you better stay close to me!"

One year after the Hate Plague affair and the resurrection of Optimus Prime, Hot Rod maintained a high-level position among the Autobots as well as a new sense of duty and responsibility. Hot Rod was stationed on Athenia when the Decepticons, bolstered with the addition of new Headmaster warriors, attacked Cybertron in an attempt to take control of Vector Sigma, which had become destabilized as a result of the Matrix's energy being released. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky

When a group of Autobot Headmasters arrived to help, Optimus Prime broke off from the battle and ventured into Cybertron's depths, hoping to find a way to stabilize Vector Sigma. This, however, would require the sacrifice of his own life if attempted without the Matrix, which was hidden somewhere on Earth, recharging. The Mystery of Planet Master Hot Rod and the Autobot Headmasters searched the Matrix out and returned to Cybertron with it, where the spirit of Alpha Trion recharged its empty shell, transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime. Optimus and Rodimus defeated the Decepticons together, but Optimus still wound up sacrificing himself to stabilize Vector Sigma, leaving Rodimus Prime in command of the Autobots once again. Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime

"Race ya to the Matrix!"
"Yer on!"

Rodimus Prime chose to oversee Autobot operations largely from Athenia, leaving Earth as Ultra Magnus and Metroplex's jurisdiction, and maintaining a relatively minor presence on Cybertron itself. One of his actions as returning leader was to oversee the resurrection of Blaster, who gave his life during the recent search for the Matrix. He had Fortress employ Master technology to revive the communications expert in a new body as Twincast. The Great Cassette Operation After Fortress and the Headmasters ran into trouble on the planet Beast, Rodimus Prime brought the Trainbots and Monsterbots with him as reinforcements to foil Galvatron's plans. Rebellion on Planet Beast He also oversaw the Autobots' efforts to defeat a gravity-warping meteorite, and encouraged Daniel to be courageous enough to help the Autobots against the metal-sensitive menace. Approach of the Demon Meteorite

One day, Rodimus Prime accompanied Ultra Magnus to an energy research laboratory, where a new power source had supposedly been discovered. Upon arrival, however, they discovered the research team had been killed and no new power source existed. Reviewing the tape announcing the discovery, Rodimus realized the broadcasting scientist was actually under the control of Mindwipe, and the whole trip was to get him out of the way so that Scorponok could set a trap for the Headmasters on Praum. Taking the Trainbots, Rodimus Prime arrived on Praum in time to help the Headmasters chase off Galvatron and their evil counterparts. The Four-Million-Year-Old Veil of Mystery Rodimus Prime soon supervised the Autobots during a series of terrorist threats around the globe. He allowed Shōki and the Trainbots to take first crack at the robot threatening their homeland of Japan. Terror! The Six Shadows

"Don't worry, all you have to do to be a better leader than me is to not get the planet blown up."

When Vector Sigma created a new kind of super-metal known as Cybertonuron, Rodimus Prime realized it would be a tempting target for the Decepticons. Sure enough, Galvatron soon launched an all-out attack on Cybertron to capture Vector Sigma and the Cybertonuron. Rodimus assembled a massive counterstrike force to transport to Cybertron, but Fortress cautioned that the whole ordeal thus far might be a trap. Rodimus recognized the possibility, but stated the idea of Galvatron controlling the Cybertonuron was too dangerous to risk. Rodimus Prime traveled to Cybertron himself aboard the Battleship Maximus, and engaged Galvatron in hand-to-hand combat. Tragically, Rodimus was soundly defeated by his old foe, and would have been helplessly executed by Galvatron if Soundblaster hadn't insisted on giving his leader an office memo Right. That. Minute. TPS reports wait for no 'bot. Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1 As the fighting continued to escalate, Scorponok decided it was too dangerous to risk the Autobots keeping control of the Cybertonuron. He had Mindwipe and the Headmasters plant a series of bombs at Cybertron core, resulting in a massive planetary explosion, leaving Cybertron a burnt-out husk. Deciding that his time was over, and that newer, younger Transformers should take over, Rodimus passed leadership of the Autobots to Fortress, and departed for space with Kup and Blurr to search for a new planet that the Transformers could make their own. Arcee asked if she could go, too, but Rodimus instructed her to stay behind to look after Daniel and Wheelie. Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2

The Headmasters comic

The events of the Headmasters manga take place concurrently with the Headmasters cartoon.

With Optimus Prime dead yet again, Hot Rod returned to being Rodimus Prime and erected a statue of his fallen commander on Cybertron. During the dedication, the Decepticons were spotted approaching the planet. Rodimus dispatched the Headmasters of Justice to deal with the threat. The Headmasters issue 1

Later, the Decepticons made a second attempt to seize planet Beast while the Autobot Beastformer leader, White Leo, was away. Rodimus Prime sent the Headmasters of Justice to Beast in order to drive back the invading Decepticons. Great Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!

During his journey through space in search of a replacement homeworld for the Autobots, Rodimus faced many dangers and hardships, but was supported by the wisdom of the Matrix and the energy of the Earth that now coursed within it. Learning a new admiration for the human race and the planet Earth, he returned to Earth in the wake of the defeat of Scorponok, and reunited with the Autobots. The Headmasters issue 8

The Battlestars

It would be many years before Rodimus resurfaced. He eventually returned at the same time as Optimus Prime was resurrected as Star Convoy, and was shown to have reverted back into Hot Rod, and been converted into a Micromaster. As a Micromaster, Hot Rod took up residence in Star Convoy's chest, boosting his Supreme Commander's power.

15 Go! Go!

Well, at least this girl has clothes on.

While Star Convoy was occupied battling the reborn Megatron, Hot Rod was busy on Earth dealing with the threat posed by Transwarp wormwholes that had randomly begun appearing around the planet. During his efforts, he came upon the human computer Teletraan 15, who had traveled forward in time on an information-gathering mission, and saved her from a Novaroid. Having been familiar with Hot Rod in the past, 15 was a little surprised to see him in a Micromaster form, but he brushed off her comments and accused her of being responsible for the Transwarp disturbances. The appearance of a huge wormwhole overhead, however, prompted Hot Rod to set his concerns aside, transform to vehicle mode and carry 15 away to safety. Hot Rod's chapter

Before they got very far, Star Convoy appeared and requested Hot Rod's assistance, telling him that Megatron was fusing with Dark Nova. Hot Rod said his farewells to 15, preparing to depart with his leader, Star Convoy's chapter but before he could leave, he was suddenly struck by an immense blast from the wormhole overhead. The shadowy form of Galvatron descended from the rip in the sky, and 15 leaped in front of Hot Rod to protect him, but was rewarded for her heroism by having her right arm torn off by the insane Decepticon. Galvatron's chapter Rescued by Safety and Fly-Up of the Guard City team, the last thing Teletraan 15 saw before passing out was Galvatron throttling Hot Rod. Galvatron's chapter 2 The outcome of the battle and the fate of Hot Rod were left unknown, but he had obviously left his mark on 15, whose severed arm was replaced with a convertible buzz-saw blade, just like Hot Rod's own. Galvatron's chapter 3

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Several hundred years ago, Fortress Maximus dispatched Hot Rod and Blurr to search for habitable worlds. During this mission, the pair ran afoul of the Tyroxians—unpleasant aliens who captured Blurr and pursued Hot Rod through space. While fleeing, Hot Rod crossed paths with the Autobot war veteran, Kup, living a nomadic existence wandering through space at the time, and the youth's bravado in attacking Tyroxia single-handed re-ignited Kup's fighting spirit. After saving Hot Rod and helping him to rescue Blurr, Kup joined the pair in returning to Cybertron. Kup's Story!

I'm important! Just not right now.

Hot Rod was among the contingent of Transformers who ultimately accompanied Fortress Maximus in abandoning the war on Cybertron for a new world, Nebulos. The Autobots' arrival on the planet immediately stirred civil unrest, however, which led to the Decepticons being brought to the planet, and the war continuing on a smaller scale. Technological advancements developed during the conflict saw Nebulans being bio-engineered into partnerships with the Transformers. Hot Rod became a Targetmaster, and was bonded to the Nebulan sharpshooter, Firebolt (aka Sparks), who transformed into his gun. Eventually, the Autobots determined to move their war away from Nebulos, and followed a signal sent by Goldbug, received by Hot Rod, to the planet Earth. Brothers in Armor!!

Hot Rod and the other Autobots of Nebulos were soon incorporated into the larger Autobot force on Earth, under the command of Optimus Prime. On one occasion, Hot Rod and several Autobots accompanied Prime on what appeared to be a simple mission to stop some Decepticon Micromasters from attacking MacDill Air Force Base. Back from the Dead In fact, the attack was part of a much larger scheme by the deposed Decepticon leader Megatron, luring Prime and his forces away from the Ark and setting them against his rival for Decepticon leadership, the mighty Scorponok. Once Prime realized the greater threat at issue, he ordered his troops to immediately take the shuttle back to the Ark, but Hot Rod recklessly chose to stay behind at Optimus's side to face the Decepticons. All the Familiar Faces! He was therefore on-hand when the newly resurrected Starscream arrived, and began tearing through all Transformers present, in the name of Megatron. He managed to take a shot at Starscream's new Pretender shell, causing enough neural feedback to temporarily weaken the Decepticon, and give Scorponok time to strike and end the threat. Skin Deep

I, Hot Rod, have entered the main US cast so that I may hatch hilariously hairbrained sitcom schemes!

The cost was still high, though, as Optimus Prime returned to the Ark and learned that his good friend, Ratchet, had sacrificed himself to help stop Megatron's schemes. This sent the Autobot leader into a depression, and Hot Rod took it upon himself to snap Optimus out of it. He had the crazy scheme of creating a mock threat with a Guardian Mark V battle droid, with predictable results. The robot proceeded to actually malfunction and endanger the Autobots, but Hot Rod's plan worked when Prime eventually snapped out of his funk and defeated the droid to save the day. Hot Rod needed to find a replacement hand after the Guardian snapped it off, but hey, all's well that ends well. Yesterday's Heroes!

whoopeee

Hot Rod continued to operate with Earth's Autobot forces aboard the Ark, and was present during Thunderwing's rampage through the shuttle bay. He took some damage, but remained functional enough to continue on, and was later seen speeding into the battle with Unicron himself on a hoverscooter, On the Edge of Extinction! He was also one of many Autobots destroyed by the Decepticons on Klo, only to be revived by the Last Autobot. End of the Road!

In an alternate future of 2005, Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in the completed Autobot City. He was close friends with the young human Daniel Witwicky. Realizing that the Decepticons were invading in a stolen shuttle, Hot Rod and Daniel tried to outpace them before they reached the city. Optimus Prime fell in battle against Megatron, and Hot Rod stood with a handful of others as Optimus died and passed the Autobot Leadership Matrix to Ultra Magnus. The Planet-Eater!

Galvatron can shoot at Rodimus until he's blue in the face, but he'll never surrender his coconut.

After Prime's death, Autobot City got word from Spike Witwicky and Bumblebee that a "monster planet" was devouring Cybertron's moons. En route, Hot Rod and Kup (and the Dinobots) were separated from the rest of the Autobots during a Decepticon attack and crashed on the planet Quintessa. After escaping the sadistic trial of the Quintessons and attempted execution (as well as meeting Wheelie), Judgment Day! Hot Rod went on to the planet Junk, where he was just in time to stop Wreck-Gar from fighting another group of stranded Autobots with a timely use of the Universal greeting. Together, they all traveled to Cybertron to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.

Hot Rod plunged his ship through Unicron's eye and was separated from the rest of his team. Alone, he found himself facing Galvatron in a battle to the death over the Autobot Leadership Matrix. Claiming the Matrix, Hot Rod evolved into "Rodimus Prime", an older, larger, and more powerful version of himself. After overpowering Galvatron and hurling him through Unicron's hide into the void of space, he opened the Matrix and destroyed Unicron from within. The Final Battle!

In 2006, Rodimus Prime's Autobots had taken control of Cybertron. Sky Lynx reported suspicious activity on Junkion, so Rodimus sent the Aerialbots to investigate. Superion was defeated in battle but was able to send back an SOS before going offline. Sky Lynx was dispatched to retrieve him, and Rodimus decided to investigate himself. He took Ultra Magnus and Blaster in Omega Supreme.

Once there, the Autobots discovered a chaotic scene where aliens from many worlds, including the Decepticons, had arrived and were all engaged in a deadly battle with one another. Rodimus was immediately attacked by a hypnotized Galvatron, and the two battled to a standstill. The other Autobots were able to disrupt a hypnotic signal that was causing everyone to fight one another. The Junkions then added their strength against the Decepticons, causing the latter to retreat. Rodimus didn't care where the hypnosis signal had been coming from, as long as it was off for good. He never discovered that it was the work of the Quintessons. The Big Broadcast of 2006 (US)

In the UK version of the story, the events of "The Big Broadcast of 2006" are a fabrication invented by Wreck-Gar.

"Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr Prime, I expect you to die!"

In an another alternate future timeline, Hot Rod arose to become Rodimus Prime. However, the planet-eater known as Unicron managed to destroy Cybertron, leaving Rodimus to lead a failed Autobot/human defense of Earth when that timeline's Galvatron attacked and eventually conquered it. Rodimus perished during the conflict, and his body was strung up between the ruined towers of the World Trade Center. In the year 2009, Galvatron returned to Manhattan to survey its devastated landscape, and fired upon Rodimus's corpse, demanding to know how many times he would have to kill him to erase his legacy. Rhythms of Darkness!

Marvel UK future timelines

"Really, by assigning me to Ark duty, they're practically demanding me to go be irresponsible!"

Hot Rod rose to greater prominence in the alternate future timeline of Earth-120185. In 1990, he, Kup and Blurr were captured by Megatron; although rescued by a double-agent named Warmonger, Hot Rod was recaptured and bore witness first hand to Megatron's mercilessness when he executed Warmonger. Then, in 1991, he was part of a unit that escorted the captive Scorponok, only to lose the Decepticon leader when forced to defend a human settlement against an attack by the Air Strike Patrol. Aspects of Evil! On another occasion in 1995, Hot Rod was present when Optimus Prime first unveiled the female Autobot, Arcee, to a dubious crowd of human feminists. Hot Rod was more than a little flustered by Arcee's presence on the battlefield. Prime's Rib! In 2003, he and Blurr were given "Ark duty," assigned to stand guard over the Autobots' spaceship while construction on Autobot City began. Kup was apparently instructed to deliver the plans of the city to the American government, and when Hot Rod saw him being jumped by the Stunticons, he disobeyed orders and sped out to the rescue. The Stunticons brutally beat on Hot Rod and took the plans, but Hot Rod learned a hard lesson when Kup informed him that it was meant to happen that way because the plans were a fake. Ark Duty When the city was completed in 2004, Shockwave attacked it on its opening day, and Hot Rod repelled him by attacking in a wildly illogical manner, tackling him down a mountain repeatedly. Aspects of Evil! Also, at some unknown point in the past, Hot Rod's Targetmaster partner Firebolt was killed in action. Headhunt

Since this is a comic book, Rodimus has to hum "The Touch" to himself.

In the year 2006, when the new Decepticon leader Galvatron travelled back in time to 1986 as part of a plan to free himself from the control of Unicron, the chaos-bringer used his mental powers to plant knowledge of Galvatron's plan into the minds of Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr and transported them to Cybertron, where they used Galvatron's equipment to follow him into the past. There, with help from the present-day incarnation of Ultra Magnus, they were able to convince Galvatron that he had, in fact, traveled back in time to a parallel universe, where his actions would have no effect on the future. Believing this, Galvatron returned to his own time, and after setting any remaining wrongs to rights, the trio of Autobots also returned to 2006. Target: 2006 Back in his native timeline, Hot Rod was subsequently involved in a battle with Galvatron inside Unicron's body, during which he opened the sacred Autobot talisman, the Creation Matrix, and was transformed into Rodimus Prime. With this new strength, he hurled Galvatron through Unicron's hide and opened the Matrix, destroying the planet-eater. The Final Battle!

It's believed that Primus deliberately caused Hot Rod's Prime form to resemble him. What an ego! #160's Grim Grams

Rodimus learned the wrong lesson from Optimus's death.

As the new Autobot leader, Rodimus became paranoid about Galvatron's eventual return, since no body was ever recovered from space. He led the Autobot forces high and low searching the universe for the Decepticon leader, neglecting Cybertron in the process. As a result, Shockwave arose as the new Decepticon leader, and total war broke out on Cybertron once again. Unable to take the time to find Galvatron himself anymore, Rodimus rashly placed a bounty on the Decepticon's head. What Rodimus did not realize, however, was that Galvatron had time-jumped again, traveling back to 1987. Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive! In 2007, when the freelance peace-keeping agent Death's Head pursued Galvatron back to the '80s, Rodimus was informed of this fact by an Autobot double-agent named Nautilus, and, dismayed at the danger he had unleashed on the past, promptly headed back in time himself to stop the dual threats. Burning Sky! Once again teaming up with the present-day Ultra Magnus, Rodimus and his team of Kup, Blurr and Wreck-Gar tracked Galvatron down to Mount Verona, where he was attempting to harness the volcano's molten energy. While arguing with Death's Head, Rodimus and the bounty hunter were both attacked, but when Ultra Magnus opened fire on his power siphon, Galvatron was distracted long enough for Rodimus to escape. Hunters Rodimus then arranged a plan that saw the Autobots capture Galvatron's time-jump mechanism, in order to have Wreck-Gar re-engineer it to return all the time-travelers to their point of origin. Rodimus engaged Galvatron in a protracted battle to buy Wreck-Gar time, but when the device was activated, Rodimus, Death's Head and the other Autobots were returned to 2007. Galvatron was left behind. Fire on High!

Rodimus discovers a depressing third option to "fight and die" or "live with the knowledge that I ran."

Some time later, a disgruntled Death's Head accepted a contract from the Decepticons on Rodimus Prime's head, and ambushed him while he was inspecting Autobot lines. Their battle subsequently went underground, where Cyclonus and Scourge intervened, downing Death's Head in hopes of being the ones to defeat Rodimus, in order to reclaim their lost standing in the Decepticons' ranks. Rodimus was able to lead Death's Head through the underground tunnels, right into the heart of the Autobot camp, where he offered him advance payment for a different contract—on Cyclonus and Scourge. Headhunt Death's Head proceeded to track the two Decepticons for the remainder of the year, until the three of them fell under the mental control of Unicron when they discovered his disembodied head on the planet of Junk in the early days of 2008. Under his control, they assassinated Decepticon leader Shockwave and reignited the stalemated Cybertronian civil war in order to keep the Autobots busy while Unicron worked on rebuilding his body. Rodimus, however, learned of the situation thanks to Smokescreen, and led a small Autobot force to Junk, where Death's Head fought against Unicron's control long enough to project Rodimus's mind into a battle with the demi-god on the astral plane. During the battle, explosives planted by Wreck-Gar destroyed Unicron's head, and his mind was sealed within the Matrix. The Legacy of Unicron!

Hasbro slips Rodimus a few Shanix under the table to "lose" the Matrix ever so often. They's got Hot Rod toys to sell.

Later in 2008, the alien Quintessons targeted Cybertron for colonization, and attacked the Autobots with a two-pronged assault on both Cybertron and Earth. When Arcee shirked her guard duty at Autobot City, the Quintessons were given an opening that allowed them to take over the city, and when she returned, they gunned her down as bait for a trap for Rodimus Prime. Arriving at the city, Rodimus discovered the injured Arcee and opened his chest compartment to heal her with the Matrix, only to have it yanked from his grasp by the Quintesson general, Ghyrik, causing him to revert to Hot Rod. Liberating Blaster's cassettes for back-up, Hot Rod and Arcee proceeded to fight their way through the Quintessons to Autobot City's control room, where Hot Rod activated Metroplex to smash the alien threat. In battle with Ghyrik, Hot Rod duped the Quintessons with a bit of amateur ventriloquism and reclaimed the Matrix; transformed back into Rodimus Prime again, he routed the Quintessons. Space Pirates!

Rodimus traveled 20 years into the past just to be upstaged by That Guy again.

Unbeknownst to Rodimus, the Quintessons had sought to colonize Cybertron because their own homeworld was being destroyed by a rift in space and time caused by the Transformers' repeated time-travel. The rift continued to grow in size until it threatened both Earth and Cybertron at the beginning of both 2009 and 1989. To put an end to the threat, Rodimus and a squad of Autobots traveled back to 1989, only to wind up mass-displacing Optimus Prime (since the Matrix could not exist in two time periods at once) and a group of other Autobots to limbo, leading to a brief but violent misunderstanding with the present-day Autobots. Optimus Prime was able to stabilize the situation by communicating with all involved through the power of the Matrix. Subsequently, Autobots and Decepticons from both the present and future teamed up to battle Galvatron and Megatron, but one by one they fell, until Optimus Prime used the Matrix to return himself to reality for a final showdown. After absorbing Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, however, the rift was sealed by Shockwave, and Rodimus and the other future Autobots returned to 2009, vowing to destroy their time machines to prevent this from ever happening again. Time Wars

As it transpired, however, things would not be that easy. In the wake of the massive chronal damage caused by the rift, time had attempted to heal its wounds, but reality was no longer as it had been. The future that Rodimus and the other Autobots came from no longer existed—in its place was a world where Galvatron had never traveled back in time, and had conquered Cybertron after Unicron's destruction. Rodimus quickly established a rebellion, but when Galvatron tracked down their headquarters, he killed Blurr and all others present, goading Rodimus into a ferocious battle in hopes of corrupting the Matrix within him. Rodimus realized what he was doing, however, and ended the fight before more damage could be done. Aspects of Evil!

Tonight the part of Rodimus Prime will be played by the Green Goblin.

Rodimus and the Autobots escaped to Earth via hyperspace, only to find that their craft's guidance systems had been damaged. During the flight, Rodimus Prime vanished The Void!, and Kup discovered that he was the saboteur, Edge of Impact deducing that he had been corrupted by an evil force from within the Matrix. Shadow of Evil Inside the Matrix, Rodimus battled with the essence of Unicron, trapped there since the events of 2008, until Kup wrenched the Matrix from his chest, freeing him from the chaos-bringer's influence. But now, Rodimus knew that the evil of Unicron would be waiting for him within it... White Fire ...and in 2010, Unicron's essence succeeded in taking over Rodimus's body, transforming it into a duplicate of his own and attacking Cybertron once more, until Rodimus was able to defeat him from within and re-seal him within the Matrix. Aspects of Evil!

Centuries later, in the year 2356, Rodimus, his body withered and weakened from the continuous harmful influence of Unicron from within the Matrix, lectured a young Autobot student on the nature of evil, unwittingly setting the youth on the path towards villainy himself. Aspects of Evil!

In an unidentified timeline in the year 2510, a healthy Rodimus Prime was overjoyed to announce that the Cybertronian war was finally over, and planned to step down as leader to allow Springer to take over. The sole remaining Decepticon, a double-agent named Triton, spoke out against the decision to cause dissension, and succeeded—as Rodimus could only watch in dismay, arguments escalated into conflict, and the war was born again as Technobot fought Wrecker, and the Autobot Civil War began. Peace

Generation 2

Try purple! It's the new maroon!

After the defeat of the Decepticons on Klo, the Autobots' forces scattered throughout the galaxy as virtually independent splinter cells. A small group under Optimus Prime's command encountered Bludgeon and his soldiers on a desolate world, both sides looking for new weapons or technology, and were in danger of being overrun. Prime sent Hot Rod into a nearby mausoleum building in the hopes that he could conjure up some form of "graven image" to distract the superstitious Decepticon leader. Hot Rod emerged empty-handed from the ruins, only to find that just such a graven image had conjured itself, chased off the trespassing Decepticons, and was now prepared to do the same to the Autobots. They managed a dignified, if rushed, scramble to safety. Ghosts

No?

When Grimlock sent out a message summoning Optimus Prime, Hot Rod and Kup accompanied him. Hot Rod was quick to remark the sorry state of the planet they were on, and pondered exactly why they were here. As Prime continued his lengthy internal monolog, they were ambushed by a second-generation Cybertronian patrol. Hot Rod pretended to flee, but quickly came back as he and Prime caught the squad in a crossfire, annihilating the lot of them. Grimlock made his presence known afterwards and took them to his ship, where Hot Rod casually fiddled with a panel while Grimlock exposited. Jhiaxus attacked soon after, crippling the Autobots's ship and capturing them. They later managed to escape Jhiaxus's flagship. War Without End! When Grimlock and a team of Autobots were captured once again by the Liege Centuro, Hot Rod was part of Optimus's rescue team. Devices and Desires! While Optimus Prime went on a vision quest back on Cybertron, some Autobots set up camp on a deserted asteroid, where Kup set up some war games for training. Hot Rod managed to lure the Aerialbots and Groove into a false sense of confidence and into a trap consisting of Dinobots. When the exercise was over, Hot Rod expressed frustration at the fact that they were stuck playing games while Jhiaxus and his Cybertronians were still out there.The Power and the Glory Megatron's resurfacing on Earth made Optimus Prime decide to confront him alone. Fortunately, Grimlock had different ideas and mounted up a rescue, which Hot Rod participated in. He tried to engage Rumble in vehicle mode, but the small Decepticon used his piledrivers to send Hot Rod tumbling away. Hot Rod crashed just behind Megatron, prompting the Decepticon leader to order a full retreat. The Gathering Darkness

Hot Rod is the honorary fifth Laser Rod member.

Hot Rod was amongst the Autobots deployed to the planet Ethos where they fought hard to counter a Cybertronian offensive, but quickly found themselves overwhelmed and had to be saved by their newfound Decepticon allies. Escalation! After Starscream sold out the location of the Autobots' Autobase on Earth, Jhiaxus organized a full-scale assault. Hot Rod was part of the counter-offensive, and as the Cybertronians were being eradicated by the Autobot-Decepticon alliance, he was quick to report Prime his new finding: Jhiaxus had a second wave waiting in the wings. Total War! When the Cybertronian threat was overshadowed by the oncoming Swarm, Hot Rod and Electro went scouting out for its position. Thanks to Murphy's law, he had the misfortune of reporting its arrival just as Grimlock pondered just how things could get worse. Unlike many of his fellow Autobots, Hot Rod was saved from being devoured by the Swarm thanks to Megatron's timely arrival, carrying cannisters of Rheanimum. Soon afterwards, Hot Rod and company witnessed Optimus Prime's return to life in a shiny new body, and cheered at his speech for unity and a higher purpose than war. A Rage in Heaven!

Classics

The Classics comic takes place after the end of the original Marvel Comic, but in a splinter timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or Generation 2.

We got to buy... more time!

Once peace was restored on Klo, Hot Rod followed Optimus Prime back to Cybertron, where the young Autobot fell back into the racing scene. After countless years of fighting for his life, this quickly bored Hot Rod, who went to Optimus to ask advice. Hot Rod was put in charge of the rehabilitation of Cybertron and the integration of the millions of Transformers who had fled the planet during the war. To keep the returning Transformers entertained, Hot Rod devised the Cybertron Grand Challenge, a cross-factional racing event of an epic scale. Following his cultural triumph, Hot Rod changed his name to Rodimus, both to reflect his growing maturity and in homage to Optimus Prime, the leader he still adored. Rodimus became one of Optimus Prime's closest officers, and when Megatron reared his head again on Earth, Rodimus was one of the first recruited to accompany Optimus to hunt him down. Classics Rodimus profile

After the Autobots discovered the mysterious Autobot, Skyfall, they flew to South America to investigate a mysterious power source. Rodimus led them there with a tracking device, muttering that he wished Wheeljack were around to help him use it. Clearly they arrived at the correct location, however, because the Decepticons were there looking for it as well! Crossing Over: Part 3 As the battle raged, Mirage and Rodimus cornered Soundwave, but the two worried that they were being overwhelmed by numbers. Crossing Over: Part 5 Rodimus tried contacting Cliffjumper, but the Autobot scout wasn't responding, and so Rodimus grew even more frustrated when Mirage went invisible and left him. Mirage's gambit helped win the battle, and the Decepticons withdrew. Crossing Over: Part 6

Rodimus was damaged severely, and so after the battle in South America, Optimus Prime carried him all the way home. Bumblebee was asked to put him in a CR chamber. Games of Deception

S.T.A.R.S. pack-in flyers

Just like he remembers Woodstock.

Unicron just might consume the universe, and the Autobots need to determine who the Chosen One is so that he may rise from their ranks, unlock the Matrix of Power, and save all from Unicron! Unfortunately, not even the Chosen One himself knows his identity, and his discovery may come too late. The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:

There was a legendary conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons when Optimus Prime led Rodimus Prime and a large team of Autobots in a search for the future site of Autobot City. They were ambushed by Megatron and Thundercracker, and this became known as the Transformers' greatest battle on Earth. Rodimus Prime dubbed it "Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction." Rodimus Prime remembers the Transformers greatest battle on Earth. Some of the Autobots were forced to retreat due to Thundercracker's "force shield," and Optimus Prime told Rodimus and the others that their only hope was to call in for additional troops. Transformers Combat Data

Later, Rodimus Prime remembered the Transformers' greatest battle on Earth. Rodimus Prime remembers the Transformers greatest battle on Earth.

Big Looker Storybook continuity

Hot Rod clearly does not pass emissions standards.

Kup and Hot Rod traveled to the coliseum to check out a robot car the humans had built that could respond to voice commands. They heard about it on their car radios! But when they arrived at the coliseum, Kup spotted Decepticons flying about. As some entered the back door, Kup shooed Hot Rod away, telling him to warn the others. If Hot Rod stayed, he would just get into trouble!

This is the genocide referred to above.

When Hot Rod returned with the Autobots, Kup had been captured and held prisoner, so the others entered the coliseum in vehicle mode. Meanwhile, Hot Rod snuck up behind Kup and freed him. Yelling "Geronimo!" they jumped from the control room onto the coliseum floor, taking the Decepticons by surprise. Galvatron and the others escaped, but Kup and Hot Rod agreed that they'd be ready for him when he returned. Car Show Blow Up

Later, Kup led Hot Rod, Arcee, and the Dinobots on a special mission to take supplies from Earth to a space station on Cybertron's second moon. Despite Kup's warnings, the Dinobots loaded too many supplies onto the ship, and in the middle of their journey, the ship began to have problems. Hot Rod reassured Arcee that everything would be okay, but the ship was going down! It crashed on a planet which Kup recognized. It was the planet Quintesson! They were interrupted by a tribal scream and a flurry of firestones. However, the boy who made his presence known was not aiming at them, but at the Quintessons behind them. The boy's name was Wheelie, and he had been abandoned on the planet when his ship crashed their earlier.

Wheelie led them through the jungle, battling Quintessons along the way, until they reached Wheelie's crashed ship. Hot Rod was able to fix it, and everyone left the planet Quintesson, Wheelie included! The Story of Wheelie, the Wild Boy of Quintesson

Ladybird Books continuity

Say I'm badly drawn to my face, pal!

Hot Rod was one of several troops stationed on Earth when Ultra Magnus was in charge and the Transformers' war was still a secret one. He got along well with Spike Witwicky, the two spending their downtime looking at car magazines together, and was quite pleased to receive some snazzy gold wheel-trims from the boy. Decepticon Hideout

In the time following this campaign, Hot Rod would mature into a more sensible warrior and even a team leader. During the early stages of the war on Nebulos, Hot Rod was Autobot commander against Cyclonus' Decepticons before the return of Optimus Prime. At one point, he prevented the Decepticons causing Nebulos' destruction via cosmic radiation. Decepticons at the Pole

Sticker Adventures

Out searching for a missing shuttle, Hot Rod and Kup spied it crashed on the Junk planet. They landed to find their friends engaged in battle with the natives, but Kup cautioned Hot Rod not to rashly jump in and join them. Kup's use of the Universal Autobot Greeting resulted in the Junkions abandoning the fight and making friends with the newcomers, and causing Hot Rod to exclaim "Holy cow!" The Junkions helped repair the damaged shuttle before the Autobots left. Battle on the Junk Planet

Young Corgi Adventure books

When you're weary, feelin' small...

Hot Rod had himself delivered by freight to the planet of Nebulos, where he and his Targetmaster partner Professor Sparks suspected the Decepticons were attempting reinforce their position in spite of a treaty in place to limit their numbers. With your help they traced the Decepticons to the Wolf at the Door nightclub, an oil bar for Nebulan miners run by Monzo, and discovered that Weirdwolf, Skullcruncher and Mindwipe were importing Attack Squad robots from Cybertron and awakening them from cryogenic suspension with a catalytic stimulant disguised as Sirian brandy.

After a confrontation with the Decepticons that left Skullcruncher and Mindwipe out of action, Hot Rod faced off against Weirdwolf and Monzo. Weirdwolf was defiant, but Monzo wasn't feeling lucky and surrendered to the Autobot. Though the Headmasters had to be released under the terms of the treaty, the Attack Squad robots were destroyed. Desert of Danger

"Desert of Danger" is a multipath adventure and the above only applies to the optimum path through the book. If you make the wrong decision, the Decepticons may well triumph instead.

Transformers PD Type comic

Clutching a Blackball, Rodimus Prime found himself being attacked by Galvatron. As the Decepticon leader attempted to throttle him, a light shone from Rodimus's chest, making Galvatron think it was the power of the Blackball. After Galvatron had fled, Rodimus revealed it was just a torch, and reflected on what an idiot his foe was. Take a Stand! Rodimus Prime!

As Fortress Maximus and Mega Zarak clashed violently, Rodimus reminded Optimus that he had said never to let those two fight. Watch Out! Mega Zarak!

Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime enjoyed many victories against the Decepticons, but who was that in the background? No One Knows When he's Come or Gone. Greatshot...

Together with Ultra Magnus, Rodimus engaged in battle against Sixshot, but was terrified when the Decepticon ninja unleashed the fury of his "Six Shadow Selves"! Luckily for Rodimus, Sixshot's doppelgangers were actually other Decepticons whom he'd painted black (and weren't very happy about it).The Ninja of Space, Sixshot!!

In a later altercation with Sixshot, Rodimus attempted to use his Photon Eliminator gun to strike down the fleeing ninja. Though he managed to shoot every other Decepticon on the battlefield, he failed to hit his intended target. Rodimus sat pouting in the corner as the other Autobots convened to register their disappointment that Rodimus let Sixshot get away.Photon Eliminator

Joining God Ginrai and Ultra Magnus in an assault on Mega Zarak, Rodimus was terrified when the mammoth Decepticon unleashed his titanic Anti-Gravity Rifle. Fortunately for the Autobots, the gun jammed and Mega Zarak was left fiddling with it while they opened fire. Anti-Gravity Rifle

Transformers in 3-D

GRONK yourself!

As Ultra Magnus left for a mission to find an Energon source, Hot Rod assured him that everything would be fine on Cybertron, and if there was any hint of trouble "Rodimus" would pop up and save the day. When Magnus later checked in, Hot Rod reported that they'd made some process on Headmaster technology. Though Magnus was more concerned about the threat of war, Hot Rod told him not to worry, unaware that Sixshot was planning to throw him a surprise. The Test

Hot Rod was pleased to have Optimus Prime back. Then Monitorus arrived with the news that Tau-Ursa had been attacked and leveled by Decepticons, and Hot Rod got to point out that the Tau-Ursans had refused the Autobots permission to build a defense base there. He shortly took part in an attempt to repel a Decepticon attack on Cybertron, finding himself fighting against Sixshot, who seemed more interested in goading him than fighting. This turned out to be a diversion, while Galvatron used his new Nullification Cannon on the planet's Energon supplies.

Hot Rod and Blurr next visited Tau-Ursa to check for Decepticons, and encountered Ape Face, who had found a Logicon warning beacon. The two Autobots wrestled it from him and returned to Cybertron, where the beacon was found to hold the coordinates to Metascan Alpha, a major Energon storehouse. Prime placed Hot Rod in charge of one of two teams to search for the planet, though the operation was hampered slightly by the discovery of the two Decepticon Clones spying on them. The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3

At this point Blackthorne Publishing went bankrupt and the storyline was never completed

Dreamwave comics continuity

Hot Rod joined an underground Autobot cell led by Kup after Shockwave's takeover of Cybertron. Among the members of the cell was Arcee, who Hot Rod became attached to. From the Wastelands, Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer observed an incoming Decepticon shuttle carrying the Dinobots. Cold War Shortly afterward, the cell rescued Optimus Prime from Runamuck and Runabout, and took him to their base. After awakening, Prime attacked Gnaw, Blurr, and Wheelie, forcing Hot Rod (who didn't recognize him) to hold the Autobot leader at gunpoint. After being bitch slapped admonished by Kup, Hot Rod apologized. Passive Aggression

After Shockwave unleashed the Guardian robots on Iacon, Prime organized the resistance cell and other Autobot forces on the planet in an assault on Shockwave's citadel. Fighting alongside the Autobot leader, Hot Rod was amazed that the stories Kup had told him about Prime's courage and heroism had all been true. As an injured Prime breached the citadel, Hot Rod, Ironhide and Springer provided cover fire, taking down a number of Guardians in the process. Along with the rest of Iacon, they witnessed the divine light of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership when Shockwave activated it. Countdown to Extinction

As Prime and Ultra Magnus battled Shockwave within the citadel, Hot Rod and Grimlock took down Astrotrain and Blitzwing. Immediately afterward, they were confronted with the looming threat of a remaining Guardian robot—a threat that was soon neutralized by the arrival of the Wreckers, the Autobot High Council, and Defensor. The unified Autobot group soon breached the citadel. Revelation

Some time later, Hot Rod ran a simulation combat scenario against Kup, and won using tactics that, in Kup's opinion, would have killed them both had it been real. Only after his victory did Hot Rod remember that he'd promised to take Arcee to see an Earth-bound shuttle launch—a duty Springer was happy to relieve him of. Lost and Found Soon afterward, he was assigned to perimeter guard duty at Autobase with Gnaw and Wheelie, separating him from Arcee. The Route of All Evil

Universe: Featuring the Wreckers

It's funny because Rodimus sucked at everything.

A few months after the destruction of Unicron in 2005, Rodimus Prime spearheaded an effort to establish multiple recon posts to watch for advancing threats... even though some of his scientists said he shouldn't. When only two of the five launched ships were ever heard from again, Rodimus felt like a schmuck. Guy can't catch a break. Betrayal

After the Great Wars ended and the Pax Cybertronia was signed, he changed his name to simply "Rodimus" and decided to check out the new "Maximal Upgrade". His relationship with Arcee effectively ended shortly after, as the latter went through dark gripping emo depression over the death of Daniel Witwicky and vanished.

Rodimus joined the Wreckers at some undetermined point afterward. After Megatron took over Cybertron with his Vehicon drones, Wrecker leader Apelinq got stranded on prehistoric Earth, leaving Rodimus in charge. True to form, he ditched leadership duties to Primal Prime as soon as possible.

After Primal Prime got his marching orders from the Oracle, he met Rodimus deep inside Cybertron's caverns, where an even more gothy-emo Arcee—in a new Maximal body—lurked and stewed in her depression. Realizing he couldn't convince her to give a damn about anything, he left, rejoining the main Wrecker force in battle. Making it onto an ancient Autobot shuttle, the Wreckers blasted off... with late-arrival Arcee. Departure

Except you're the size of my arm now.

Rodimus recognized the homing beacon emitting from Archa Nine as one of those missing exploration parties mentioned before. When the shuttle landed, Rodimus stayed behind to help repair the damage the ship had suffered. The entire Wrecker team later gathered in an Akalouthan village, where Rodimus was reunited with Glyph, who took them to see the artifact known as the Divine Light. The Wreckers' analysis of the item was cut short, as it was stolen by the traitor Cyclonus. Rodimus saw the back-in-his-old-body Devcon off, who was sent to chase after Cyclonus, while the Wreckers made for their next destination... even though several of them were now leery of the visions Primal Prime had been getting. Because they'd really done so well by the Wreckers so far. Betrayal

Upon landing on the frozen planet, Rodimus was part of the search party immediately dispatched to look for... something. Primal Prime wasn't too specific. They came across Al-Badur, an exiled Quintesson, who gave them a little history lesson. They were then promptly attacked by a school of Sharkticons, but the Wreckers made short work of them. They made their way back to the ship, with Al-Badur in tow, and made for their next destination... Disclosure

If Optimus can die, so can I!

...Cybertron. As Primal Prime took some Wreckers after their true foe, Cryotek, Rodimus tried to get their injured to a safe place. Unfortunately, the planet was under a full scale Quintesson invasion, and some anti-aircraft fire inevitably clipped the ship and sent them plummeting downwards. After they made it to safe ground, Rodimus and the crew hooked up with his fellow Matrix Templar, Cheetor, and followed his insight to the battle. They confronted Cryotek's underling, Cyclonus, and his purloined squad of Sharkticons. With casualties mounting on both sides, Cyclonus beat a safe retreat, collapsing the tunnel behind him to prevent pursuit. Rodimus was quick enough to dive through the falling debris, however, leaving the two old enemies alone to do battle. Centuries of bad blood carried them through the conflict, until both drew their weapons at point blank range, and fired.

Horribly damaged by this last attack, Rodimus struggled to keep up with the other Wreckers and the running conflict between Sentinel Maximus and Cryotek. The fighting came to an end at a Quintesson banishing chamber, where the treacherous Al-Badur had attempted to toss Sentinel and Cryotek into a formless void. The two warriors were trapped behind an energy dome, barely able to fight off the portal's pull using their flight systems. Once Fractyl pointed out that Cryotek was empowered by the Divine Light, a fraction of Primus's own power, Rodimus realized that as Matrix Templars he and Cheetor could drain that power away from the Predacon. They managed to extract most of it before Cryotek cut off their siphoning effect. In the end, Sentinel Maximus sacrificed himself to pull Cryotek into the void with him. Rodimus finally expired from his wounds from fighting Cyclonus, quietly passing on into the Matrix. Wreckers: Finale Part II

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

"That bumperchest really doesn't feel right. How do Prowl and Jazz live with it?"

Hot Rod was one of Teletran 3's unfortunate victims when the computer malfunctioned and transported a random number of Transformers to random points in Earth's timeline. Along with Jazz and Bumblebee, Hot Rod ended up in mid-1970's San Francisco, where he was locked into the form of a Ford Mustang muscle car. The dormant Autobot was soon stolen by a car thief, but was chased down by a group of G.I. Joes and Cobra members sent to retrieve the Transformers. Discovering Blitzwing in the process, the humans equipped both vehicles with disruption unit that awakened the Transformers and sent them back to present-day Cybertron seconds after Hot Rod commented about feeling "really weird." G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1 Back on Cybertron, they were stuck waiting inside the force field Ultra Magnus had erected to prevent Shockwave from capturing Teletran 3. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #2

Some time after his time travel adventure, Hot Rod reported to Optimus Prime that Grimlock's team on Earth had been sidetracked by a Cobra attack. The Art of War #2 When said team ended up disappearing in Cybertron's Gladiator Zone, Hot Rod convinced Optimus to stay behind and take care of an Autobot peace ceremony instead of going out and searching for them. Hot Rod then assembled his own search party, but they failed to find the missing Autobots. The Art of War #3 Unfortunately, Serpent O.R.'s forces attacked the peace ceremony and captured Optimus Prime, leading to Hot Rod assembling a new team intent on rescuing him. The Art of War #4 They fought Serpent O.R.'s Decepticon army together with reinforcements from G.I. Joe, and during the battle, Hot Rod paused in horror as he saw the light of the Matrix being opened inside the Decepticon base. The Decepticon army eventually defeated, and by the time Hot Rod reached inside their base, Serpent O.R. had been killed as well. The Art of War #6

A few months later, Hot Rod questioned Optimus Prime's choice to go to Earth again, accusing his leader of feeling guilty about Bumblebee's death at Serpent O.R.'s hands and doing everything by himself just to prevent more people from dying. Prime just looked at him sadly before leaving, causing Ultra Magnus to tell Hot Rod that he really needed to learn when to stop talking. Black Horizon, Part 1

IDW comics continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

WHEEEEEEE! AWESOME! TUBULAR! COWABUNGA! REAGANOMICS!

Years ago, Hot Rod was put in charge of a mission to the planet Ki-Aleta to obtain a powerful artifact named the Magnificence so as to keep it out of the hands of the Decepticons. The mission started off smoothly enough, with Gizmo using a holomatter generator to distract the defense systems while the rest of the team went after the Magnificence. Unfortunately, after that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. First, the generator malfunctioned, then Download tripped the security lasers around the Magnificence itself. Gizmo, Download, and Backbeat were destroyed by the security systems while Hot Rod and Dealer fled. Hot Rod, nearing the exit tunnels they had previously drilled, got a call from Dealer—he had been ambushed by a Decepticon attack squad and needed help. Unfortunately, Hot Rod had been given his own, top secret orders: the Magnificence was to be the top priority of the mission, and placed before all else. With a heavy heart, Hot Rod abandoned Dealer to his fate as he left Ki-Aleta with the Magnificence.

Years later, Hot Rod learned that Dealer had not died that day; he was being held prisoner at the Decepticon penal colony known as Styx. Hot Rod stealthily infiltrated the prison complex, using a holomatter generator to disguise himself as a guard and then short-circuiting the power grid to cause all the cell doors to unlock. During the chaos he snuck in, extracted Dealer, and took off while the Decepticons were busy getting the prisoners under control. Spotlight: Hot Rod

Mine!

Recently, Hot Rod was called to Earth to aid the crew of the Ark-19 in procuring a Decepticon facsimile construct from Brasnya, a former Soviet state in eastern Europe. Escalation #3 He and Hardhead went down to Earth from the Ark-32 against Nightbeat's wishes, and proceeded to join the battle unannounced. As Hardhead went to support the main battle, Hot Rod went after the facsimile... which led to him colliding with Prowl as they both tried to stop the Georgi Koska facsimile from letting himself get gunned down by Soviet soldiers. Escalation #4 Prowl and Hot Rod managed to defuse the situation and secure the facsimile in the end Escalation #5, but before he could return to his ship he was attacked by Thundercracker and Skywarp, unable to defend himself because he had to keep the facsimile alive. After returning to the Ark-32, he had to be put in a CR chamber to recover. His injuries were for nothing, as the facsimile melted during the bounce. Escalation #6

Hardhead, I'm with Arcee now. Let it go.

After Hot Rod was repaired and reformatted into a Dodge Viper, his "friend" Dealer tried to convince him to pull some strings to get him to Earth, but Hot Rod and Wheeljack had the more important task of rescuing Ironhide. Devastation #1 They ran into a bit of trouble with the Machination's Headmasters. Devastation #2 They managed to escape temporarily, but were found and Wheeljack was incapacitated. Hot Rod easily held his own with the Headmasters Devastation #5, and noted that for some reason they had lost their "edge". He received a little help from Hardhead, who was mainly there to take Hot Rod and the others back to the Ark-32 for evacuation to Garrus-9. Hot Rod refused to go, wanting to see the Headmaster mystery through to the end. Hardhead reluctantly let him go. Devastation #6

Oh, Magic 8-Ball, will I ever be Prime in this continuity?

Hot Rod's search was interrupted by Dealer's arrival on Earth, with orders for Hot Rod: find the Magnificence and use it to learn what they could about the Expansion. Hot Rod took Dealer to his hiding spot, which turned out to be the planet where they first found the device. As Dealer and Hot Rod closed on the Magnificence, he went over his first visit to the planet in his mind, and how things could have gone so wrong. Eventually he began to have suspicions, and upon locating the Magnificence, asked it the question that haunted him: had Dealer betrayed him? Sadly, it revealed the truth, and Hot Rod was forced to kill Dealer as the traitor attacked. Looking down on his remains, Hot Rod realized the truth had been staring him in the face, he just hadn't wanted to accept it. He then used the Magnificence to find out all he could about the Expansion, and relayed the information to the Autobots. Spotlight: Doubledealer

You're not fooling anyone, Bender. The next screw that falls out will be YOU.

Returning to Earth to continue his search, Hot Rod arrived at the gates of the Machination's complex, and Scorponok prepared himself to deal with the intruder. Maximum Dinobots #1 Unfortunately, Hot Rod found himself fighting well out of his weight class as he was man handled by Scorponok, who cheerfully bashed his face in, put out one of his optics and snapped his leg. The Headmasters dragged him into Scorponok's control room where, with absolutely no prompting, the big man explained his entire plan for the Dynobots, Skywatch and the Machination. Maximum Dinobots #2

Hot Rod seemed less than impressed with this rather mundane approach, which ticked Scorponok off enough for him to point out that it was obviously just the first stage in his master plan. He was also warned to remained awed or he'd be of no further interest. When the Dynobots and newly-arrived Monsterbots seemed to turn Scorponok's plan on its head, Hot Rod burst out laughing, at which point, Scorponok ordered him taken out and shot. In the lift to the surface, Hot Rod suddenly erupted in flames, killing his captors, but draining his power supply. Weakened and with a crippled leg, he collapsed on the floor. Maximum Dinobots #3

He made it out of the building and ran into the real Sunstreaker, who blasted the 2 clones following Hot Rod. Sunstreaker ignored Hot Rod's warning about Scorponok's army and stormed into the building so Hot Rod painfully wired himself to send a distress signal. When Sunstreaker's real head was later disabled by Hunter, the Headmaster clones shut down, which Hot Rod explained to Grimlock. The group was surprised by the arrival of Shockwave, but Ultra Magnus had heard Hot Rod's distress call and was on his way to Earth. Maximum Dinobots #4

After Scorponok knocked out Sludge and Grimlock tended to him, the remaining Dynobots offered Hot Rod a lift aboard the Monsterbots' ship. He refused though, and made it back into Machination HQ to take care of something "personal". He eventually found Scorponok's real head (and remarked how ugly it was). Hunter also showed up and let Hot Rod know how to disable it, but before he could do so, Scorponok grabbed him. Before Scorponok could crush Hot Rod's head, the Dynobots showed up and began to battle Scorponok. Hot Rod told Swoop which wires to sever, and he did just that, reducing Scorponok to a catatonic state. Ultra Magnus arrived took everyone back aboard his ship, which later docked with the Ark-32. Within 3 days, Hot Rod was fully repaired, with a new body form design. Maximum Dinobots #5

Some time later, while traveling through space by himself, Hot Rod found himself under attack by the Torment, a Decepticon warship crewed by Bludgeon and the Pretender Monsters. He was shot down, but managed to transmit a distress call to the Autobot starship Trion, which came to his rescue. After the Decepticons were chased off, Hot Rod joined the crew of the Trion. Lost & Found

Ironhide has waited twenty-two years to pay Hot Rod back for shooting down his shuttle.

When the Decepticons' galaxy-wide assault hit, the Trion was shot down over Cybertron. Hot Rod sent out a distress signal and was ecstatic when he ran into some other Autobots. They must've come specifically to save his team and... wait, why do you all look surprised about my signal and appear beaten up and resourceless and... oh arsebiscuits! All Hail Megatron #4

Hot Rod was taken back to base and relayed the story of how he and his other crew-mates from the Trion arrived on Cybertron, having been diverted there by Decepticon ships and forced to crash land. Once on the surface, Hot Rod sent out his distress signal and was so sure someone heard it. Kup arrived with the rest of the Trion's crew at that point, just in time to tell Hot Rod of course no one heard his message. All Hail Megatron #5

After the Autobots narrowly avoided the Insecticon swarm and Sunstreaker sacrificed himself, Hot Rod jumped to Drift's defense when he was being insulted by Bumblebee. All Hail Megatron #9 When the Autobots were later rescued by Omega Supreme, Hot Rod was glad that he sent out the distress call. He was then ferried to Earth with the other Autobots aboard Omega. All Hail Megatron #10

"Don't talk to me about stuck, Hot Rod, you're the one with that horrible sneer stuck on your face!"

For the next two years, the Autobots would remain on Earth as Prime feared the return of the Decepticons. Unfortunately, this lead to the capture of a number of Autobots by Skywatch, including Windcharger, Gears and Prowl. Hot Rod, already frustrated, lashed out at Optimus, accusing him of keeping the Autobots on the planet because he needed someone to protect and demanding he be allowed lead a team to rescue Prowl. An admonished Prime agreed to a covert operation, but with Ironhide along to watch over things. While Prowl was freed, it turned out the humans had used him as bait to draw the other Autobots in. However Wheeljack's new shielding protected Hot Rod's team from Skywatch's inhibitors and in a panic the soldiers switched to lethal measures. Hot Rod was targeted and Ironhide was killed protecting him. An enraged Hot Rod turned on the humans, damaging their equipment and machinery.

After returning with Ironhide's body, Hot Rod was shocked as Optimus Prime resigned his position as leader. ...For All Mankind Disgusted with Prime's decision and unimpressed with the indecisiveness of the others, Hot Rod decided to make his own way. He announced his intention to leave planet Earth behind, and invited any of his fellow Autobots to follow him in pursuit of that goal. After leaving the Autobot caves with a half-dozen recruits, Hot Rod went looking for Omega Supreme, in the hopes of convincing the massive Autobot to use his interstellar rocket mode to get them all off-planet. Omega remained resolutely loyal to Optimus Prime, however, and refused to abandon the Earth. At that moment, a small squad of Decepticon stragglers led by Swindle staged an attack on Omega Supreme. After some fast and smooth-talking, Swindle convinced Hot Rod that they all wanted the same thing...to go home. The Autobots put it to a vote, and the majority decided to work with the Decepticons to get off of Earth. New Arrivals, Old Encounters

The first thing Swindle asked of Hot Rod was help in reviving their incapacitated "brothers"...several Decepticons mode-locked by the humans. Hot Rod convinced Jetfire to work on the problem, as there "were no sides anymore", and these other Decepticons were brought back on-line to help with the construction of a new space cruiser. A Rude Awakening

No, don't shoot Swindle! He had some cheap electronics equipment in his van he wanted to sell me!

Hot Rod wasn't completely foolish -- when Swindle started suggesting they find and revive all the Constructicons, he remembered how deadly Devastator could be, and rejected the idea. Ever the smooth-talker, though, Swindle convinced Hot Rod to let the Stunticons go after Breakdown, the last missing member of their unit. He did so by lavishing a ridiculous amount of praise on Hot Rod, calling him Rodimus Prime, the herald of a new age.

The alliance was soon tested when Ultra Magnus arrived on the scene, attempting to investigate the death of Ironhide for Autobot Command. When he saw Hot...saw Rodimus working with Decepticons, and Swindle of all mechs, he freaked out and tried to take the Decepticon ringleader into custody. Rodimus and the other Autobots stood up for Swindle, though, and told Magnus he had to be prepared to fight all of them if he wanted to take one of them. Stunned that they did not respect his authoritay, Magnus retreated and work continued on the star cruiser. Seasons in Flight

What everyone failed to realize, even Ultra Magnus, was that Swindle was not only trading in combiner technology, he knew how to make it work. By the time Magnus came back for Swindle with a posse of Autobots, the Decepticon was prepared to end his alliance with Rodimus. He had forged the Stunticons into Menasor, and turned the giant loose on the assembled Autobots. Enemies of the System

Rodimus fought alongside Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and the others against the renewed Decepticon threat. They finally managed to bring down the titan, but the alliance was finished and Rodimus's own comrades turned against him for his poor judgment. Looking to escape his own bad decisions, Rodimus hijacked Ultra Magnus's ship and fled out into space. Earthworks

Spoiler warning: Plot details for Heart Like a Wheel follow. Spoilers expire in 186 days

Since trying to talk and reason with people had only led to betrayal Rodimus decided that it was best to simply act on his own. He had a plan to regain the respect he had lost by taking back the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, stolen by Starscream years earlier. Using the ship's advanced tracking equipment, Rodimus found the Decepticons' asteroid base and hid in one of Ultra Magnus's thickly armored weapons lockers. When the ship was shot down, he emerged from the wreckage unscathed, took out several Decepticon guards and even put Razorclaw under his control by improvising with one of Bombshell's cerebro-shells. Rodimus first sent Razorclaw to attack Starscream, but after that failed, he confronted the self-appointed Decepticon leader himself.

Starscream himself was nigh-impervious to damage, but Rodimus improvised again and fired at the Matrix around his neck, having no idea what would happen. He was in luck, as the blast caused energy to burst from the Matrix and knock Starscream unconscious. Triumphant, Rodimus took the artifact and went looking for an escape craft... only to run straight into Megatron himself. He panicked and waved the Matrix threateningly at the massive Decepticon while warning him to "stay back!", but Megatron was unphased and shot him at point blank range, blowing a huge hole in Rodimus's torso and sending him flying into space. With the Matrix still around his neck, Rodimus's lifeless body could only drift through the void... Heart Like a Wheel

Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic

While the other Autobots were busy dealing with a rampaging Astrotrain, Rodimus disrupted Megatron and the other Decepticons' attack on a power plant by engaging them solo. Henkei! Henkei! volume 2 Unable to tackle Megatron in hand-to-hand combat, he was able to get Starscream to accidentally blast his leader instead, but this did little more than annoy Megatron, who flattened Rodimus with a fusion cannon blast. With Rodimus defeated, the Decepticons pulled out, but the Autobot cavalier didn't let the defeat get him down, and he sped off to join the other Autobots in battling Astrotrain. Henkei! Henkei! volume 3 Soon after, Rodimus helped defend another power plant against a Decepticon attack, shielding the human workers from Starscream's blasts with his own body. Henkei! Henkei! volume 4

When the mysterious new Decepticon warrior Cyclonus provided Megatron with the means to transform himself into the monstrous Galvatron, Rodimus, Ironhide and Mirage trailed Cyclonus's Targetmaster partner Nightstick to the volcano in which Megatron was carrying out his transformation. Despite resistance from Starscream and Cyclonus, Rodimus and his team were able to collapse the volcano's cone in on itself. They believed they had sealed Megatron within, and were about to focus their attack on Starscream when they were sent scattering by the explosive emergence of Galvatron from the remains of the caldera. Henkei! Henkei! volume 9

Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga

Following the defeat of Galvatron on Earth, Rodimus was among the Autobots that Optimus Prime summoned to the planet. Together with Ironhide, Hound and Skyfire, Rodimus was to protect the planet while Optimus's team set off for Cybertron in pursuit of the fleeing Galvatron. To the Sea of Stars

3D Battle-Card Game

Hot Rod was one of Optimus Primal's many Autobot allies in a fight against Megatron's Decepticon forces. Energon Wars Expansion Set

Games

The Transformers: Battle to Save the Earth

Along with their fellow Autobots, Hotrod[sic] and Rodimus Prime protected Earth from the menace of the Decepticons. Hotrod was ostensibly under the command of Rodimus Prime. The Transformers: Battle to Save the Earth

In this game, "Hotrod" and Rodimus Prime are separate characters who can be in the same place at the same time. Don't try to think about this too hard.

Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

When Optimus Prime went missing under mysterious circumstances, Ultra Magnus was given the task of battling hordes of Decepticons in order to solve the mystery of his whereabouts. The Decepticons had also stolen a collection of seven energon cubes belonging to Rodimus Prime, which Magnus strove to recover during his fight. When all seven were successfully obtained and the battle was won, a new challenge rose its head, but with his energon cubes back, Rodimus was able to take up the fight! He had a funny habit of looking like an orange Ultra Magnus if you looked at him sideways. Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

The Transformers (PS2)

"I am from the future and know a lot about history!"

Voice actor: Peter von Gomm

When Shockwave gained the incredible power of the Zel Quartz in the year 2010 and began cutting a swath of destruction across the galaxy, Rodimus Prime, Kup and Arcee resolved to prevent this devastation by traveling back in time and eliminating the quartz in the past, thereby altering their future. Using a Transwarp-equipped ship supplied by the Quintessons, they traveled to the world of Zel Samine in the year 2003, where they ran across teams of present-day Autobots and Decepticons led by Optimus Prime and Megatron, who were carrying out investigations on their own on the planet. Making matters worse, Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge also followed them back in time, and the two teams allied themselves with their respective present-day factions in order to locate the Zel Quartz.

After several false leads, the quartz was eventually located, serving as the power source of the ELTA power transmission array. Rodimus and Optimus engaged Megatron and Galvatron in a two-on-two battle over ELTA, using the power of their twin Matrices to stop the computer from self-destructing. Once the dust from the fight had settled, Starscream snatched up the Zel Quartz, only to promptly take it off-planet, where it disintegrated without Zel Samine's atmosphere and electromagnetic properties to sustain it. With their future thus averted, Rodimus and his Autobots began fading away to rejoin the timestream. Before they disappeared, Rodimus attempted to warn Optimus of the coming dangers in the future, including his Optimus's death (for which Rodimus continued to blame himself), but Optimus silenced him, telling him that he did not need to know what the future held. Rodimus told Optimus that he would always be the greatest leader in Autobot history, but Optimus told him that he was merely a soldier who loved justice, and that that was all Rodimus needed to be too. Call of the Future

Notes

File:RodimusPrime-earlymodel.jpg

"It's the end of the road, Galvatron! ...right after I take my pills."

• Like the rest of the 1986 movie's original characters, Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime had early designs by Floro Dery which the toys were based on, and then final models were drawn from the toys. Rodimus Prime's first design is the most obscure, since unlike the others, it wasn't published in the Transformers Universe profile books, nor did it appear in the comics. Since it looked like a frail old man despite the intent for Rodimus Prime to be Optimus Prime's super-awesome successor, perhaps it was rejected more quickly than the others.
  • But not so quickly that the toy wasn't based on it. Check out that face!
  • Rodimus Prime's early model appears to carry the trailer of the truck on his back, plus additional kibble on the back of his forearms. If only there were art of the back of this design. We'd plotz.
  • Curiously, it was Hot Rod's early model that served as the primary basis for Rodimus's finished model.

• Both Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime's character models suggest that the windshield and roof of their respective vehicles form the pelvic area, including little side windows on their hips. The animation studio AKOM even colored his crotch like his windshield. Unsurprisingly, this has never been duplicated on any toy.

• Meanwhile, both sets of wheels are on Hot Rod's arms in his character model, as they are intended to span the entire length of the vehicle. His wristcuffs are intended to become the vehicle's taillights. This also has never been duplicated on any toy.

File:Hotrodrodimuscharactermodels.jpg

Rodimus is always embarrassed by his yearbook photos.

• Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime look very similar in fiction, but there are ways to distinguish them by sight.
  • Rodimus Prime's character model has extra lines on his face that go from the bottom of his nose and connect to another line forming a triangle shape. Hot Rod's cheeks are more clear and youthful.
  • Despite their toys being the same color of red, the cartoon series rendered Hot Rod as magenta, and Rodimus a dark shade of burgundy (the movie, however, made Rodimus the same color as Hot Rod). In addition to repeatedly getting the two character models mixed up, sometimes the animation would depict one model colored as the other.
  • In Marvel stories, Hot Rod was also colored almost entirely magenta, with a yellow spoiler and flame deco, but with silver thighs instead of orange. Whoever did the Marvel deco sheet seems to have been looking at the original toy photos and colored the thighs like the toy's silver stickers. While Marvel Hot Rod was stark magenta, Marvel Rodimus was colored in the reds, oranges and yellows of his toy. Future comics and toys would ignore any differences in color between the character's two forms, presenting them both in the original toy colors (see the image at the head of the article for a good example).
  • The Japanese The Headmasters cartoon, in addition to featuring the coloration differences of the Generation 1 cartoon, also added some extra lines around the perimeter of Rodimus's eyes to further distinguish him from Hot Rod. These odd-looking lines appeared only intermittently, thankfully so—they made Rodimus look like he was wearing robo-mascara. The Headmasters Rodimus Prime character model also moved the wheel kibble from the back of the arms to the front, to better approximate their position on the toy.

• In The Transformers: The Movie, Hot Rod does not transform the same way twice.

Maybe his Mobile Defense Bay is just an extra set of legs!

• Rodimus Prime's toy followed the model set by Optimus Prime before him by having a trailer that disconnected and transformed into a battle station (in this case, called the "Mobile Defense Bay"). Unlike Prime's Combat Deck, however, Rodimus's Defense Bay failed to make the leap to fiction, with the cartoon simply depicting his trailer as somewhat unfeasibly folding up into his legs and body (barring a few animation errors that depicted it as a separate unit). This transformation scheme was realized in toy form with Rodimus's 6" Titanium Series action figure.

• Voice actor Ted Schwartz was originally cast to succeed Judd Nelson as the voice of Rodimus Prime for the third season of the animated series, but was subsequently replaced by Dick Gautier. Before his replacement, however, Schwartz recorded Rodimus's lines for several episodes (most likely all five parts of "Five Faces of Darkness"), and although Gautier re-recorded the dialogue, technical oversight led to some of Schwartz's readings making it into the finished episodes. He can be heard delivering all of Rodimus's lines in the recap for part 1 that plays at the beginning of part 2, and speaking one line during the scene on Goo in part 3.

• Hot Rod might be the Transformers character with the most names in the US. From "Hot Rod" to "Rodimus Prime", to "Rodimus Major" to just plain "Rodimus". Varieties of "Rodimus" appear to be how he will be for a while, as Hasbro appears to be unable to secure the trademark on "Hot Rod".

• Side Burn's powered up form has a color scheme which resembles Hot Rod's.

• Aside from the Energon namesake character, Hot Rod has also been homaged twice (or possibly thrice depending on how you look at it) in the Unicron Trilogy. For Armada, the "Powerlinx" upgrade of Hot Shot was given a very Hot-Rod-inspired deco. In Cybertron, Takara made a redeco of Hot Shot (well, "Exillion"), who already had some Hot Rod homage elements in his toy design, with Hot Rod deco as a DVD-pack-in exclusive. Hasbro then took this deco, altered it, and released it in the US line at mass retail as the new character Excellion.

• At BotCon 2002, Dick Gautier "confirmed", jokingly, that Rodimus Prime is gay.

• This Rodimus Prime, along with the original Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, and Jazz makes a cameo appearance as one of the four elders who began the space bridge project in the Cybertron episode Balance.

External links

• Hot Rod at TFU.info

• Hot Rod's Universe profile at NTFA.net

• Rodimus Prime's profile at NTFA.net