Hot Rod (G1)
| This article is about the Generation 1 Autobot. For the Energon Autobot, see Rodimus (Energon). |
- Hot Rod is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family. He has also been known as Rodimus Prime, Rodimus, and Rodimus Major.
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, a female Autobot, 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 leadership from Optimus Prime, and shoes-to-be-filled 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.
Japanese names: Hot Rodimus, Rodimus Convoy
French-Canadian name: Météorite
... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... no changes ... ==Fiction==
Animated continuity
Voice actors: Judd Nelson → Dick Gautier; Hiroya Ishimaru (Japan)
Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in Autobot City, on Earth. He was close friends with the young human Daniel Witwicky, and seemed to have a reputation for being something of a trouble-maker, judging from a few of Kup's comments to him at the time. Realising that the Decepticons were invading, Hot Rod opened fire on their stolen shuttle and exposed their ruse before Megatron could enter the city. Although this did give the rest of the Autobots time to begin transforming Autobot City and raising their defences, it also left Hot Rod trapped outside with Kup and Daniel. After defeating the Decepticons Blitzwing and Shrapnel with some help from Kup, Hot Rod managed to find a way inside the fortress city and took part in its defense. During Optimus Prime's battle with Megatron, Hot Rod intervened in an attempt to help, but succeeded only in giving Megatron the chance he needed to mortally wound the Autobot leader.
After Prime's death, Autobot City was attacked again - by Galvatron. While escaping, Hot Rod and Kup (and the Dinobots) were seperated from the rest of the Autobots and crashed on the planet Quintessa. There, Hot Rod met the Quintessons, an enemy who would haunt him for some time later. After escaping their sadistic trial and attempted execution (as well as meeting Wheelie), Hot Rod went on to the planet Junk, where he was just in time to stop Wreck-Gar from destroying the rest of the Autobot City refugees with a timely use of the Universal Greeting. Together, they all travelled to Cybertron to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.
Inside of Unicron, Hot Rod was seperated from the rest of his team when their ship crashed (something which happens to Hot Rod a lot). Alone, he found himself facing Galvatron in a battle to the death over the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Claiming the Matrix, Hot Rod evolved into "Rodimus Prime", an older, larger, and more powerful version of himself, and used the power of the Matrix to destroy both Galvatron and Unicron once and for all (supposedly).
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. When Ultra Magnus and Spike Witwicky were kidnapped during a peace celebration, it was Rodimus who spied on the Decepticons with Grimlock to determine if they were the ones who had done it. The way Rodimus had it figured, the Decepticons were usually behind everything anyway, so they seemed like a good enough place to start. After getting caught and severely beaten by the Decepticons (who were innocent of the kidnapping, but not really fans of his anyway), Rodimus was able to interface with the Matrix and learned about the origins
Toys
Generation 1
- Hot Rod (Autobot Car, 1986/2000/2002)
- Japanese ID number: C-78
- Hot Rod was one of the first toys designed specifically for the Transformers toyline, versus being an imported pre-existing toy. Designer Floro Dery created Hot Rod for the animated film and then the toy was created from his model sheet. (The model sheet would be altered further after the toy was completed.) Hot Rod transforms from a robot into a "futuristic" hot rod sportscar. The toy comes with two rifles. There are two versions of this toy; initial releases have die-cast (unpainted) metal feet, while later shipments use black plastic.
- In 2000, Takara re-released the Hot Rod toy, having had to retro-retool it from the Targetmaster release. In 2002, Hasbro released it as part of the Toys 'R' Us exclusive Commemorative Series line as Rodimus Major. Both versions use die-cast metal for his feet.
- The same mold is used by Black Rodimus.
- Rodimus Prime (Autobot Hero, 1986/2004)
- Japanese ID number: C-77
- Rodimus Prime was designed in much the same way as Hot Rod. Rodimus transforms from a robot and battle platform into a futuristicky Winnebago camper. The toy comes with a "Photon eliminator" rifle and two blast shields to attach to either side of his battle platform's cannon. (The yellow spoiler was also to be removed and replaced during transformation.) Like Hot Rod, there are materials variations; initial releases have metal toes with rubber tires, while latter shipments replaced both with black plastic.
- The metal-toes/rubber-ties version of the toy saw re-release in both Japan and the US in 2004.
- This mold is also used by Primus.
- Hot Rod w/ Firebolt (Targetmaster, 1987/2004)
- Japanese ID number: C-110, TFC-13
- Hot Rod was re-released with his new Nebulan Targetmaster partner Firebolt a year after the original release. The toy was retooled to have larger pegholes in his fists and his engine block so the Targetmaster gun would fit. Latter versions of this toy retooled his lower legs to minimize the scraping of his thigh decals.
- Takara reissued Targetmaster Hot Rod in 2004 as sort of an "ultimate" version, with metal toes (the original versions all used plastic) and the twin rifles from the non-Targetmaster version.
- Crystal Rodimus (Autobot Car, 2001)
- Japanese ID number: C-78C
- One of the earliest e-Hobby exclusives, "Crystal" Rodimus uses the reissue Hot Rod mold, but cast almost entirely in transparent plastics. He was availbale only in a set with the evil clone Black Rodimus.
Battlestars
- Star Convoy w/ Hot Rodimus (Autobot, 1991/2005)
- Japanese ID number: C-372
- Available only with Star Convoy, Hot Rod's Micromaster form is a simplified version of his original toy, transforming into the same futuristic race car. In 2005, Star Convoy was re-released with several deco changes; among them, the decals used on Hot Rod were changed to paint applications.
Classics
- Rodimus (Deluxe, 2006)
- Rodimus comes out in fall 2006. This toy is a sleeker, more streamlined version of the original, now transforming into a heavily-altered Dome Zero, a futuristic race car from 1978. His rear-mounted thruster engine becomes a hand-held weapon in robot mode, launching a spring-loaded missile. In a twist of fandom irony, classics Rodimus has elements that were introduced in his Energon version, making him a backwards homage.
Merchandise
Trivia
- A new Rodimus Prime was devised for the 1987-1988 lineup, however this one did not leave the drawing board. He was to be a fire truck, apparently with a transformation scheme similar to Inferno.
External links
