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.

And yet he still gets carded.

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 comparisons with his former commander Optimus Prime—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

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

At some point before 2005, Hot Rod became stationed at Autobot City and so was present during the Battle of Autobot City. This was a turning point in the life of the turbo-revving young punk, because the Matrix of Leadership chose him as its next bearer following the death of Optimus Prime. As Rodimus Prime, his first accomplishments were the defeat of Unicron and the return of Cybertron to the Autobots.

During his time as Prime, Rodimus not only had to deal with the Decepticons and their new leader, but also the political complexities of the planetary alliance Cybertron joined, the return of the Transformers' cruel masters from long ago, the Quintessons, the possible revival of Unicron and the arrival of Unicron's "little brother" Tornedron.

During the Hate Plague outbreak in 2006, he was infected by Wreck-Gar. Optimus Prime was brought back to life and Rodimus gave up his rank of Prime, becoming Hot Rod once more. He would live to see the next Cybertronian Golden Age..did I mention he became a red hot chili pepper?

Marvel Comics continuity

Wheeeee....

Initially serving under Fortress Maximus on Cybertron, Hot Rod travelled to Nebulos where he became a Targetmaster and then on to Earth where he joined Optimus Prime's forces aboard the Ark. Returning to Cybertron, he survived the battle against Unicron and formed part of the shaky Autobot-Decepticon alliance under the leadership of Prime's successor Grimlock. Betrayed by Bludgeon's Decepticons, Hot Rod was killed during the ambush on Klo but revived shortly afterwards by the power of the Last Autobot.

In some splinter timelines Hot Rod went on to become Rodimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, and took part in further battles against Unicron and his minion Galvatron, albeit with mixed results. In others, he has yet to fulfil this part of his destiny.

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!

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's 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

The Transformers Adventure Game Books

As the following stories are multipath adventures, details will vary depending on the path taken. See individual pages for information on alternate paths.

Desert of Danger

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

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 flashlight, 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

Find Your Fate Junior

As the following stories are multipath adventures, details will vary depending on the path taken. See individual pages for information on alternate paths.

Autobot Alert!

Autobot Alert!

Project Brain Drain

Project Brain Drain

The Invisibility Factor

The Invisibility Factor

Dreamwave Generation One 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, whom 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 receiving a corrective slap from and being 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

3H comics

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 continuity

"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 #5

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 of 2

IDW Generation 1 continuity

As much as anything else, this was to troll Prowl.

Originating from the city-state of Nyon, Hot Rod destroyed it to keep its population from being painfully, fatally drained to fuel the corrupt Zeta Prime's war machines.

Years later, Hot Rod held a fairly high rank in the Autobot army, equivalent to Prowl, and was sent on a mission to Ki-Aleta to retrieve the Magnificence which turned into a only technically-successful disaster, with himself the only apparent survivor. When he found out Dealer had also survived, he rescued him from a Decepticon prison, unaware that he was the traitor who had caused things to go so wrong. Soon after, he was called to Earth to aid Optimus Prime, but briefly returned to retrieve the Magnificence to gain information on the Expansion, during which he discovered Dealer's treachery and killed him. Thereafter, he returned to his information-gathering task on the Machination, and though was badly beaten by Scorponok, he still aided in the Decepticon's defeat.

After surviving the Surge and watching Optimus surrender to Skywatch, he led a group of Autobots to make an alliance with Swindle to get off Earth, with the capitalist Decepticon buttering him up by dubbing him "Rodimus Prime", a name he adopted and continued to use even after Swindle's inevitable betrayal. Flying off in a stolen shuttle to retrieve the Matrix from the Decepticons, he was blasted into space by Megatron after taking it from Starscream, leading to a trip that involved the discovery of Galvatron's army-building. Returning the Matrix and this information to Optimus, he was permanently redubbed Rodimus and joined him in facing Galvatron, convincing Optimus that only the Matrix could undo the Heart of Darkness' contamination of Vector Sigma.

After the Chaos War was done, he was given half of the now-empty Matrix by Optimus, and led a two-hundred strong crew into space aboard the Lost Light to seek the Knights of Cybertron, leaving Cybertron and its returned, hostile, population of neutral Transformers.

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

Games

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

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

Transformers: The Headmasters

Rodimus Prime was kidnapped by the Decepticons and held captive on Cybertron by Galvatron. He was rescued by Chromedome and his other comrades, and in turn helped rescue those who were still imprisoned. Once they had reunited, Rodimus Prime and the others met with Fortress Maximus for the last battle against Scorponok. Transformers: The Headmasters

The Transformers (PS2)

Voice actor: Peter von Gomm (English)

Autobot story

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

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. It wasn't necessarily an easy alliance to make: Rodimus was barely able to keep his cool when Jazz, not believing that he and his team were really Autobots, demanded to know if Rodimus was Autobot leader in the future, what happened to Optimus? Fortunately, Optimus calmed his lieutenant down and welcomed the trio of future Autobots into his forces.

Working with the present day Autobots was not easy for Rodimus, as he was well aware of the fate that awaited them. On a number of occasions, he struggled with his knowledge of the future, knowing he could prevent a great tragedy but could also cause untold damage to the timestream by doing so. He also showed some interest in Arcee when he attempted to give her a precious stone he'd found during a mission to a mine, only for the female Autobot to scold him for taking something that didn't belong to him. Luckily for him, Optimus stepped in and settled things by ordering Rodimus and Arcee to return the stone. That Optimus makes one heck of a wingman.

After several false leads, the quartz was eventually located, serving as the power source of the ELTA power transmission array. After fighting their way through the likes of Cyclonus, Scourge, Starscream and both Soundwave and his future counterpart Soundblaster, 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 reemerged and 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.

Decepticon story

Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave encountered Rodimus Prime while investigating the presence of unknown craft over Zel Samine. Rodimus was stunned to see the Decepticon Emperor of Destruction before reminding himself of the era he was in. For his part, Megatron thought he was facing Hot Rod, but quickly realised his mistake. After a short, sharp fight that saw Rodimus defeated, Megatron was distracted enough by the appearance of Galvatron to allow the future Autobot to escape.

Rodimus would again battle Megatron as well as Galvatron at the ELTA power transmission array, this time alongside his hero Optimus Prime. He was shocked that despite the fact the two Primes were working together, they were still defeated. When Megatron and Galvatron resolved to destroy the ELTA array Rodimus pleaded with them to stop, pointing out that the array generated a massive amount of energy, the same energy the Decepticons so loved. Sadly, the two Emperors of Destruction felt that with the Zel Quartz now in their possession, they no longer needed the array and proceeded to destroy it with their combined power. The wounded Rodimus barely escaped.

He presumably returned to the future alongside all the future Transformers when Starscream unwittingly rendered the Zel Quartz powerless. The Transformers

Transformers Legends

Following Megatron's rebirth as Galvatron, Rodimus led the Autobots to a decisive victory over the Decepticon forces. All Hail Galvatron When Galvatron summoned Trypticon to the battlefield, Rodimus attempted to block the Decepticon advance with Metroplex, though unsuccessfully. The Colossus War

Rodimus and Sergeant Kup were put on trial by the Quintessons. They faced death by Sharkticon until Grimlock organized a well-timed coup. Mockery of Justice The Autobots subsequently found themselves up against Unicron. Rodimus defeated the monster by opening the Matrix of Leadership, saving Cybertron and becoming the new Autobot leader in the process. 'Til All Are One

When Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike were abducted by Skuxxoids during the Galactic Games, Grimlock and Rodimus Prime traveled to Chaar to see if the Decepticons were responsible. Damaged in an attack, he had a vision revealing the Quintessons were behind the kidnapping. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 1 He almost sacrificed himself on the planet Goo to save the rest of his team. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 2 Rodimus traveled into the Matrix to learn the origin of the Transformer race. Following an attack on Cybertron, Galvatron was only prevented from fighting with Rodimus by Blitzwing. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 3

Following an Decepticon assault led by Galvatron, Rodimus, alongside Spike, Arcee, and Ultra Magnus were forced into taking cover within the Autobot Mausoleum. This did little to improve their situation, however, as the Decepticons continued their advance. Unexpectedly, Optimus Prime rose from his tomb, providing hope that the tide may yet turn in the Autobots' favour. Rodimus returned the Matrix of Leadership to the resurrected Autobot leader, reverting to Hot Rod in the process. Once in possession of the Matrix, however, Optimus fled for Cybertron, leaving the other Autobots stranded. The Matrix was returned to Hot Rod when Optimus regained his senses, who sacrificed himself once more to undo the Quintessons' trap, much to the chagrin of the Autobots. Dark Awakening

Arcee, Rodimus, Ultra Magnus and Springer were trapped in human bodies by Victor Drath and Old Snake, but still managed to foil the pair's plan to destroy Autobot City. They were later successfully returned to their robot bodies. Only Human

Notes

File:RodimusPrime-earlymodel.jpg

"Hey, ladies. Look at your G1 Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime toys, now back to us, now back at your toys, now back to us."

• 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. Both designs had revised heads that made it into the Transformers Universe profile books and subsequent Marvel comic book appearances.
  • 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.
  • 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, although the Masterpiece version makes a nod to it with a transparent groin plate with indentations underneath denoting two seats and a steering wheel.
  • 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.
  • Much of Hot Rod's early model seemed to form the basis of Rodimus Prime's finished model. (Though given that nearly everybody else from the movie had a totally redrawn finished model, we wouldn't be surprised if there's a more-final-er model out there.)
  • According to earliest materials (also the source of the earliest Hot Rod head seen in this section's first image), Rodimus Prime's original name was Hot Rodimus.

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 American 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.

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.
• A lot of early secondary material uses Hot Rod and Rodimus in ways that don't fit the main Movie-established dynamic. As with stories from the same era that portrayed Megatron and Galvatron as separate beings, this was likely to avoid spoiling the Movie's ending.
• 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. The reference came full circle with G1 Side Burn, who was a redeco of a Rodimus toy.
• 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.
• 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".

Foreign names

Hot Rod

• Japanese: Hot Rodimus (ホットロディマス Hotto Rodimasu), Hot Rod (ホットロッド Hotto Roddo)
• English: Roadimus Prime (Omni Productions dub)
• French: Météorite (Canada)
• Hungarian: Nagyágyú ("Hot Shot"), Peca (The Movie, "Fisher")
• Indonesian: Hotrod (홑롣 The Hot One)
• Italian: Folgore
• Mandarin: Rod (Taiwan, 羅德 Lúo Dé), Rè Pò (China, 热破, "Hot Break")
• Portuguese: Roda Quente (Portugal comic)
• Russian: Patron (cartoon, Патрон, "Cartridge")

Rodimus Prime

• Japanese: Rodimus Convoy (ロディマスコンボイ Rodimasu Konboi), Rodimus Prime (ロディマスプライム Rodimasu Puraimu)
• French: Rodimus Primo (Canada toy, "Rodimus First"), Rodimus Primus (Canada cartoon)
• Hungarian: Rodimusz Fővezér ("Prime Commander Rodimus")
• Indonesian: Rodimus Prime (로디뭇 패리므 Rodimus Prime)
• Italian: Captain
• Mandarin: Rhodie Jr-tsūn (Taiwan, 羅迪至尊, "Rodimus Prime"), Bǔ Tīan Shì (China, 补天士, "Soldier Who Repairs the Sky")
• Portuguese: Rodimus Supremo (Portugal comic)
• Russian: Rodimes Prime (cartoon, Родаймес Прайм)
• Ukrainian: Rodimus Najkrashhyj (cartoon, Родімус Найкращий, "Rodimus The Best")

External links

• Hot Rod's Universe profile at NTFA.net
• Rodimus Prime's profile at NTFA.net