Hot Rod (G1)/2005 IDW continuity
Arrogant, rash, and believes his own press. Call him Hot Rod or Rodimus, he's got a good spark, but you might need to tread carefully to find it.
"Or maybe... maybe what's really making you angry is the fact that you didn't defeat Overlord yourself. Fortress Maximus and Chromedome and Rewind—dear Rewind—they got him off the ship. They saved everyone; not you. And you hate it, and you hate that you hate it."
IDW Generation 1 continuity
A turbo-revving young punk
Hot Rod came online in Nyon, 4.2 million years ago. To him it was like "waking up". World, Shut Your Mouth Part 3: Predestination: A Beginner's Guide
Just before the war, Hot Rod was an unaffiliated Cybertronian who stood up against Zeta Prime and the corrupt Senate, though he refused to join the growing Decepticon terrorist movement. He and the other Nyon insurgents knew that Autobot captain Orion Pax was also unhappy with the Senate and wanted him on their side, but first they had to show him Zeta Prime's evils firsthand. Ruins To attract Orion's attention, Hot Rod attacked his team with a plasma-charge during one of their missions. Law and Disorder Before long, Zeta Prime ordered the same team to find and arrest him. Cause and Effect When Orion Pax and his Autobots found Hot Rod at the Acropolex, he took pot shots at them to get them to follow him to the heart of the building, where they discovered tanks full of energon that Zeta Prime had drained from Nyon's citizens. Hot Rod then approached them, explaining that this kind of thing was happening all across Cybertron, and asked Orion to join the insurgents. Ruins Their talk was interrupted when Zeta suddenly attacked Nyon, and while this did push Orion Pax into turning on him, he couldn't do anything to save the city from Zeta's marauding Omega Destructors. As their homes burned, the insurgents saw no other option but to go with their contingency plan: having Hot Rod destroy the entire city with hidden explosives rather than let Zeta Prime use its population to fuel his war machines. Purge
As Orion's Autobots were brought to Kaon to discuss an alliance with the Decepticons, Rodimus tagged along and confessed to Orion that he deeply regretted having to destroy Nyon. Orion reassured him that he did what he had to do and that making difficult decisions and carrying the burden afterwards was all part of being a leader. Choices After Zeta Prime had been assassinated and Orion Pax had been majorly injured and discarded into the Undergrid, Megatron took over Cybertron and the Autobots went into hiding along with Hot Rod, who was growing apathetic and seeing factions as irrelevant since the violence would never stop anyway. When they were discovered and arrested by the Decepticons, Hot Rod was separated from the Autobots by Starscream who suggested he become a Decepticon. Transformation He was taken to see Megatron himself, who lauded his actions in Nyon, saying that a true leader acts decisively and without regret.
Upon witnessing Megatron callously ordering the execution of Bumblebee, however, Hot Rod realized that Megatron was an even worse dictator than Zeta Prime and made his decision to become an Autobot. He quickly broke the other Autobots out of prison and followed them to the ruins of Nyon, where they were shocked to find that Orion Pax had become Optimus Prime and awakened Metroplex, the true identity of the Acropolex. Rise
Once Optimus Prime had formed an army to stand against Megatron, Hot Rod marched with them to the Citadel where they would fight for control of Cybertron. Broadcast 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, only to be seized by the Decepticon leader and used as a human (well, robot) shield while he prepared to shoot Prime... only for Hot Rod to transform straight out of his grip, allowing Prime to defeat him. After the battle, Hot Rod turned away Optimus Prime's thanks for saving his life, claiming that he didn't deserve gratitude after Nyon's destruction. Prime retorted that he should be proud for taking a stand and following his heart, telling him to hold his head up since someday, he could be holding the one holding the Matrix. Endgame
Some time later, Hot Rod joined the Autobots officially through the Act of Affiliation ceremony, during which Optimus Prime told him... something profound which he ended up forgetting. You, Me, and Other Revelations Shortly after attending Autobot Academy, he ran into Slinger, an old friend from his insurgency days. Slinger was unhappy to see him, however, blaming Hot Rod for the destruction of Nyon and revealing he'd chosen a different path: that of the Decepticons. Returning to Metroplex, Hot Rod was teamed up with a recently cured Grimlock for a mission to check up on Trypticon's body, though the gruff Dynobot leader didn't much appreciate his optimistic outlook. Things got heated between the two when Grimlock, unaware of Hot Rod's regrets over Nyon, accused him of not understanding guilt, but their argument was cut short when they discovered Trypticon was missing. Primacy #1 Hot Rod was later present at a security meeting in response to Trypticon returning... from space, at a collision course with Metroplex. Primacy #2
As Metroplex and Trypticon fell and Megatron initiated a full-scale assault on Iacon, Hot Rod took to the frontlines to defend the city from the Decepticon, Junkion and Sharkticon forces. Primacy #3 During the battle he was attacked by Onslaught, but saved by none other than Slinger, who had lost his faith in the Decepticon cause. To Hot Rod's horror, however, Slinger was caught in the act by the Predacons, who viciously tore the traitor apart before turning on him. Fortunately, Grimlock arrived with his Dynobots to battle the Predacons and prove that there were no hard feelings over their previous argument. Primacy #4
The adventurer
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
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
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, Devastation #3 Devastation #4 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
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 Spotlight: Sideswipe
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 two 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
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 All Hail Megatron #6
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 #8 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
The callow leader
For the next two years, the Autobots would remain on Earth as Prime feared the return of the Decepticons. Unfortunately, this led 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 to 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 Ride-Along 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
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 authority, 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
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. The blast caused some sort of energy discharge from the Matrix that knocked 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 Altered Carbon
Eventually, Rodimus crash-landed on the desolate LV-118. Fortunately for him, the Matrix had somehow bonded/interfaced with his body and kept him alive. However, he wasn't alone. An Ilxian warship had also crashed there a long time ago, leaving only three survivors: a lab technician calling himself "The Admiral" and two custodians. "The Admiral", desperate for a way off the planet, attempted to use the Matrix as a power source for his ship, which he had fully repaired but was lacking sufficient fuel. But when he informed Rodimus that his plan to use the Matrix to power the ship might put him offline permanently, Rodimus broke free from his bonds and surprised the Ilxians by transforming and driving off.
Having escaped from "The Admiral", Rodimus found a cave to hide in and figure out what to do next, only to be attacked by a hostile native creature, the Chaosteros. Suddenly, strange music began to play, causing the Chaosteros to run off, and Rodimus was surprised to find himself face-to-face with Wheelie, who had been missing for centuries. Wheelie and Rodimus devised a plan to seize the Ilxian warship. This plan succeeded and the two Autobots, along with one of the Ilxian custodians, Garnak, who had agreed to help them, took off in the warship using the Matrix as a power source. The Stars My Destination
Rodimus planned to return to Earth and rejoin the other Autobots, however, Wheelie misunderstood his instructions to navigate the warship "home" and took them to Cybertron instead while Rodimus was unconscious from the takeoff (It was implied that the Matrix could not accommodate both the ship and keeping Rodimus's spark alive at the same time; hence the risk when "The Admiral" wanted to use it to power the ship. Fortunately for Rodimus, Wheelie managed to fix him up enough that he could survive without it). Rodimus and Wheelie were reunited with Ironhide and Sunstreaker on Cybertron. Sunstreaker informed Rodimus that Cybertron's atmosphere had been processed and the Swarm eliminated, rendering the planet habitable once again. The group was then attacked by one of Galvatron's Sweeps, but Rodimus and Wheelie followed the Sweep and spotted Galvatron preparing his army. Having realized that Galvatron had seen them, Rodimus and Wheelie rushed back to the others and took off in the stolen Ilxian warship before the Sweeps could attack. Heart of Darkness #4 Out of the Silent Planet
As Rodimus, Sunstreaker, Wheelie, Ironhide, and Garnak returned to Earth and joined the other Autobots, he made it his first task to return the Matrix to its rightful owner, Optimus Prime. Seeing that the young Autobot's recent experiences had changed him for the better, Prime declared that he had left his past as the reckless Hot Rod behind him and officially christened him Rodimus, which Rodimus saw as a great honor. After hearing of Galvatron's recent activity on Cybertron, Prime elected to return to his home planet on Omega Supreme, and take any of the other Autobots along who volunteered to accompany him, including Rodimus. Orphans of the Helix
During the journey back to Cybertron, Rodimus was disturbed when it appeared that Optimus was getting a little too "cozy" with Megatron, and voiced his concern during a discussion about the imprisoned Megatron's fate. Later, Optimus asked Rodimus what it felt like to interface with the Matrix. Rodimus revealed that it felt wonderful, in contrast to the pain Optimus felt when he bonded with it. However, Optimus chose not to tell Rodimus this. Chaos Theory #1 Chaos Theory #2
When Omega Supreme arrived in Cybertron's orbit, Rodimus spotted a message from Galvatron sent using binary by ordering his soldiers to shoot off their weapons in a certain order and pattern. The message indicated that Galvatron wanted Optimus to send a landing party with which he could have a civil discussion. Optimus obliged, and Rodimus, along with several other Autobots including Drift, Sunstreaker, and Ironhide, accompanied Optimus to the meeting with Galvatron. Galvatron revealed that he was preparing an army to fight against "a threat that could destroy us all", and offered to allow Optimus and his army to join his ranks, but would not relinquish any further details. Rodimus complained that Galvatron's soldiers had attacked him before he'd rendezvoused with the others simply for setting foot on Cybertron, but Galvatron claimed the attack was a mistake. However, Optimus declined Galvatron's offer, and the latter attacked. A battle ensued, but Galvatron eventually retreated to the Kimia Facility, which he had stolen and seized control of earlier. Rodimus and the other Autobots were discussing whether Galvatron should be trusted or not when they were taken by surprise by Galvatron transforming Kimia into a massive laser cannon. Lamentations
As Galvatron began firing on Cybertron using Kimia, Optimus ordered the Aerialbots to launch an attack on the facility. Rodimus volunteered to take Omega Supreme into orbit, along with Trailbreaker, in order to oversee the Aerialbots' attack and gather intel on what Galvatron was up to. Rodimus ordered Trailbreaker to attempt to stop the beam from firing by projecting a force field into the barrel of the laser, but this did not work and Trailbreaker suffered significant damage from the feedback. Rodimus then endeavored to ram the facility with Omega Supreme in an effort to disable the laser and/or knock the facility out of orbit. However, he was not aware that the Autobots who remained trapped within Kimia after Galvatron seized control had a plan of their own: Lightspeed blew up the facility from the inside before Omega Supreme could strike it, damaging the latter enough that he could no longer maintain orbit. Besides that fact, Trailbreaker was in need of repairs that only Ratchet could perform. Rodimus and Omega landed at the base that Sunstreaker had set up on Cybertron. He then asked Sunstreaker where Prime had gone, and when Sunstreaker told him that he and Ironhide had suddenly run off toward the blast crater created by the laser, he and Drift went off to search for them. Numbers
Drift and Rodimus found Optimus with Ironhide at the blast crater. Confident that Galvatron was headed toward the core of the planet through the hole the laser had made, the four of them went down there after him and confronted him. Galvatron claimed that if he didn't succeed at destroying the core of Cybertron, the universe would be doomed. At that moment, the D-Void began to take control of all the Decepticons and Sweeps, forcing them to fuse together and form a single giant monstrosity, except for Galvatron and Megatron (who had broken out of his cell on Omega Supreme). The standoff ended and Galvatron slipped past as Optimus, Rodimus, and Ironhide became distracted with Drift, who stabbed himself with his own blade to keep from becoming overwhelmed by the D-Void's mind control.Kings
Through his link to the Matrix, Rodimus realized that Galvatron was planning on fusing Vector Sigma with the Heart of Darkness in order to destroy it, as well as the fact that he was delusional because the Heart of Darkness' influence had fooled him into believing that such an action would destroy Cybertron and prevent the D-Void from creating a giant portal to the Dead Universe at the core of the planet when in fact it would allow him to do just that. He then convinced Ironhide to take an injured Drift back up to the surface for repairs while he and Optimus attempted to stop Galvatron. However, they were too late. Galvatron had already succeeded in fusing the two just before they'd arrived on the scene. Just when it all seemed hopeless, Arcee and Hardhead crashed an Autobot battlecruiser into Galvatron, temporarily distracting him and buying Optimus and Rodimus some time. Rodimus knew that using the Matrix was the only way to save Cybertron; however, Optimus was reluctant to risk losing it. Despite his initial hesitation, he finally took Rodimus' advice after Galvatron recovered from being hit by the ship and attacked them again. While Galvatron was again temporarily distracted by Cyclonus (who had somehow escaped the D-Void's control and now fought on behalf of Cybertron), Optimus opened the Matrix into Vector Sigma. Genesis
The callow-er leader
After the Heart of Darkness was purged, Cybertron came alive again in a primordial state. Rodimus and the Autobots set up High Command in the remains of the Kimia crash just as Cybertron's long lost civilian population returned to repopulate the planet. A new political landscape began to unfold, with the Autobots coordinating with the captured Decepticons and surly returnees, dubbed Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms (or NAILs) by Prowl. Worse, the Matrix was now hollowed out and empty, its power apparently lost forever. Inside its shell, however, Perceptor and Rewind found a curious inscription and a photonic starchart...a map. Rodimus and Drift seized upon the idea that the map led to the legendary Cyberutopia of the Knights of Cybertron. Despite the objections of Bumblebee and Prowl, Rodimus believed that finding the Knights of Cybertron was the best hope for reuniting their fractured people. As he began making plans to pursue the map, Rodimus was bequeathed half the Matrix's shell by Orion Pax, formerly Optimus Prime, who left for deep space in exile to signify the end of the war. The Death of Optimus Prime As part of preparations, Rodimus conspired with Prowl to take Overlord in an attempt to extract information from the former Decepticon. This Calamitous Life
With Ultra Magnus at his side, Rodimus sent out word to all Autobots and Cybertronians that he planned to search for the Knights, and rallyed more than 200 'bots to join the crew of his new ship, the Lost Light. Things went wrong from the very start, though. The Lost Light suffered a freak quantum jump in the upper atmosphere as it launched, catapulting the ship halfway across the galaxy. Roughly 40 crew members fell out into open space as they rematerialized, and fell down to the planet below. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It
Rodimus arranged a search and rescue force to recover the fallen Autobots, but nonetheless three crew members were dead almost before the mission had begun. Just as Rodimus was giving news of the casualties to the rest of the crew he got word from Red Alert, who had found another crew member dead. Hangers On Rodimus later found a Sparkeater was on board and ordered all crew members to their quarters. He then secretly ordered Ultra Magnus to lock them in. Rodimus, Chromedome, Rewind, Trailbreaker, Drift, Ratchet, and Ultra Magnus examined Shock's body and Ratchet revealed that a Sparkeater had done the damage. Rodimus later uses Rung and Skids to lure the Sparkeater into the engine room. Rodimus then grappled with the creature and positioned it into the engine block and told Perceptor to initiate quantum jump. This merged to creature into the engine block and killed it but Rodimus lost his arms in the process. After Ratchet built him some new ones, he had a tense conversation with Ultra Magnus. The Chaos of Warm Things
Rodimus was informed by Ultra Magnus that Tailgate wanted to be a Decepticon after what he heard from Cyclonus about the Great War. Ultra Magnus stated he was tired of keeping the crew together and when questioned why was he on the Lost Light, he said he had no idea. Rodimus then ordered Rewind to show Tailgate video footage of the Great War from the Autobot side, after which Tailgate became ashamed of his previous announcement about wanting to sympathize with the Decepticons. Life After the Big Bang
Rodimus took it upon himself to award his crew with "Rodimus Stars" for any accomplishments he felt were worthy of commendation. He presented Highbrow, Chromedome and Brainstorm with one such medal each when they helped fix the ship after it impacted with a discarded thumb from Metroplex. During the afterparty, he was approached by Whirl, who asked on Trailbreaker's behalf on why the forcefield specialist wasn't awarded a medal as well, despite being integral to saving the ship. Rodimus noted that since creating forcefields was one of Trailbreaker's natural abilities, he felt it would be inappropriate to reward him for doing what he did. Later, Rodimus along with (nearly) the entire crew of the Lost Light, was frozen in place because one of Brainstorm's experimental weapons accidently went off. Thanks to Trailbreaker Trailcutter's efforts, he was returned to normalcy. Rodimus finally awarded Trailcutter a medal for both rescuing the entire ship and warding off a crew of Decepticons. He also awarded a medal for everyone else aboard however, "for exceptional endurance in the face of adversity." The Reluctant Specialist
After Fortress Maximus went on a shooting spree on board the ship and locked himself in Rung's office with both Rung and Whirl, Rodimus was briefed in, and placed a security team near the doors if the need arose. He watched as the situation unfolded but was deprived of audio and had to make decisions based on guesswork. He eventually sent Swerve and Rewind, who were on rivet duty, to take out Maximus using their rivet gun through the porthole. This ended badly, as Swerve missed and hit Rung instead. Afterwards, Rodimus delivered a speech that marked Rung's passing, and was complimented on it by Drift. Interiors
When a Nanocon infestation within Ultra Magnus became active, Rodimus and a small team were shrunk to microscopic size to go in and deal with them. Afterwards Rodimus attempted to conduct Tailgate's Act of Affiliation ceremony, only for it to be interrupted when Rodimus unconsciously scrawled "Let me out" in Old Cybertronian on the other Autobot instead of drawing an insignia. As more strange events cropped up, the Galactic Council ship The Benign Intervention arrived to protest the Lost Light's incursion into the sector, however Captain K'gard agreed to let Rodimus and select others visit Crystal City on Theophany. Though Rodimus and his team found the city in ruins and the Circle of Light missing, they also discovered a Titan trapped under the ruins. They succeeded in freeing it, in return for which it transported them all to safety. Following the adventure, Rodimus became determined to stop winging it and concentrate on finding the Circle of Light. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations
Rodimus was quick to blame Cyclonus when Red Alert's headless body was found in the ship's oil reservoir. Post Hoc Though he had Drift attempt to interrogate Cyclonus, Patternism Rodimus was disturbed when First Aid broke the news that it was actually a suicide and at first angrily rejected the idea. At Ultra Magnus's suggestion, he put Red Alert in cold storage to hopefully be revived later. An Intimate Beheading
Following recon work by Ultra Magnus indicating that the Circle of Light might be being held on the planet Temptoria, Rodimus took a shuttle full of Autobots there to rough up the occupying Decepticons. A bracing battle was had by all, even if Drift did steal one of Rodimus's kills, but rather than the Circle, all they found was that the Decepticons were using pink alchemy on the natives. Rodimus and his men returned to the Lost Light to tend to their wounded. Before & After
At a stopover above the pleasure planet Hedonia, Rodimus gave his crew shoreleave. He insisted that Ultra Magnus take the opportunity to relax some, and sent Swerve down with him to make the bigger 'bot have fun. Cybertronian Homesick Blues Later, Rodimus met with Rung about what happened to Red Alert while the psychoanalyst was recovering in sick bay. When Rung told Rodimus Red's concerns about a noise coming from inside the ship, Rodimus initially dismissed the idea off-hand. After Rung forcibly backed up his patient's observations, though, Rodimus relented and agreed to look into it...eventually. Signal to Noise
Rodimus was less than enthusiastic when the Lost Light was visited by Thunderclash, and failed to keep his ego in check when it turned out the more famous Autobot was on the same quest to find the Knights of Cybertron. He later allowed the ship's engines to be used to jump start Thunderclash's ship, the Vis Vitalis. Little Victories
The mysterious noise Red Alert had reported revealed itself: the Decepticon Phase Sixer called Overlord escaped from the slow cell secretly placed on the Lost Light, and began killing his way through the crew. Despite his gusto, Rodimus barely managed to entertain the Decepticon sadist for a few moments. He was eventually disposed of through the combined efforts of Fortress Maximus, Chromedome, and Rewind, the last of whom gave his life to eject Overlord from the ship. Under Cold Blue Stars
In the aftermath, Rung found Rodimus after a tantrum in his office. Ultra Magnus was in critical condition, at least five crew members died, and Rodimus was unable to prevent any of it...all of which he initially claimed to be the reasons for his anger. Rung perceptively pointed out, however, that the real reason Rodimus was upset was that he didn't get to be the hero, the one who saved the day. The cold fury Rodimus displayed at that remark led Rung to leave the office, and quickly, but at the funeral services later Rodimus acknowledged Rewind (and implicitly Rung's remarks) by declaring the little robot the true hero of the day, who saved them all even when Rodimus could not.
Rodimus initially promised an inquiry to find out how Overlord got on board. Instead, Drift came forward and took full responsibility for Overlord's presence. Before the crew, Rodimus stripped Drift of his Autobot insignia and cast him out of the ship, sending him into exile. The Gloaming
Rodimus watched a seemingly comatose Ultra Magnus on CCTV suddenly reanimating and floating out to the nearest shuttle. Being Rodimus, he hadn't given the other members of the Lost Light much of a chance of opting out of following the shuttle, and followed it until they passed through a space portal.
Once through the portal they discovered the Miracle Moon of Luna 1, the moon that previous quests failed to find. Rodimus put together an away-team of fighters and scientists, notably choosing Rung to replace Ultra Magnus as a No-Man, and Cyclonus to bring to the team what Rodimus has lost on exiling Drift. On setting foot upon Luna 1's surface, matrix-carrying Rodimus inexplicably fertilised the billions of unborn sparks in the hot-spot field, lighting up the entire moon. Before he could properly understand what had happened, Lockdown appeared with a team of Decepticons, and accused them all of trespassing. The Fecund Moon
Taking flight into a Titan graveyard didn't help, as Rodimus and his depleted team were quickly captured. The captor revealed himself to be Chief Justice Tyrest, Ultra Magnus' old boss. Rodimus clashed with Tyrest after being erroneously charged with "Crimes Against Creation" and was imprisoned with Minimus Ambus House of Ambus, to whom he recounted his tale. The Fecund Moon
While speaking with Ambus, it became evident that Dominus' little brother was hiding something, and after Rung's clever interventions, Minimus revealed to everyone's surprise that he was in fact Ultra Magnus, a smaller robot inside a large robot suit, one of a long line of wearers. Rodimus was accepting and curious about Minimus' reveal. He filled Minimus in on the details of the Lost Light post-Overlord, including Drift’s exile, an answer Rodimus still found trouble articulating.
Minimus had some information of his own to give Rodimus, that the Lost Light had been harbouring a criminal, Skids. (Rodimus' thoughts immediately went to Whirl, Lancet, Atomizer and Ammo first, though). Then Minimus finally told Rodimus that for his Crimes Against Creation charge, Tyrest had arranged for Rodimus to be executed. Letting himself out of the cell, Minimus promised he would return with some answers. The Divided Self
Rodimus had the chance to effect an escape when more Lost Light prisoners joined them, as well as Skids's former partner in the Diplomatic Corps, the escapologist Getaway. Teaming up with Ratchet and First Aid, they gatecrashed Tyrest's control room, only to be struck down by a thought weapon, paralysing them all. Rodimus initially thought that the paralysis was part of Tyrest's universal killswitch weapon to kill all cold constructed Cybertronians and was confused that the switch should work on him, as he was forged and not cold constructed. Tyrest then threw the killswitch for real, and Rodimus was forced to listen helplessly to the cold constructed members of his crew dying in agony. He swore he would find and kill Tyrest even as the Chief Justice turned and walked through his portal to Cyberutopia. Arm the Lonely While Tyrest was prevented from escaping by Tailgate, the Autobots were left with the problem of the killswitch. Revealing his part in the Overlord affair, Rodimus allowed himself to be wired to the killswitch in a potentially-fatal attempt to use his half of the Matrix to undo the effects of the device. Fortunately he survived the operation, though the Matrix half was shattered. This Calamitous Life In the aftermath, Rodimus took a more responsible position coordinating the cleanup, and pondered his guilt over exiling Drift, though it had been Drift's idea. They were finally able to contact Cybertron, only to discover Starscream was in charge there. The Sound of Breaking Glass
On detecting a distress call warning other ships not to come to the aid, Rodimus correctly surmised it had been sent by Orion Pax and had the Lost Light pick up Orion's stricken vessel before it could be sucked through a portal to the Dead Universe. Rodimus found himself reunited with a delighted Garnak. Dark Dawn After preparations were made, Rodimus left Ultra Magnus in charge of the ship and joined Orion's team heading through the portal to the Dead Universe. They were immediately attacked by cyberwraiths, which eventually retreated, leaving the team to head towards the center of the universe. Black Metal As they walked, Hardhead and Rodimus discussed the progress the latter had made in finding the Knights. The discussion was interrupted when they encountered Nightbeat. Into the Abyss The team puzzled over how Nightbeat was alive when he'd been killed by Hardhead, however that turned out to be a side issue, as Nightbeat was still an agent of Nova Prime, and trapped the party in a containment cube. Finest Hour Rodimus took a back seat as Nova Prime and Orion had a tense confrontation. After killing Hardhead, Nova Prime revealed he had a way to create a space bridge. No Exit
That way turned out to be Kup. Rodimus fancied the chances of Orion's team against Nova Prime and Nightbeat, however after the team was placed in a cell, Rodimus was able to use the numbers he'd carved into the palm of his hand — the tally from a vote he'd held to retain his captaincy — to force Nightbeat to use his deductive reasoning and break Nova's mind control. The Dead Are Not Enough After they battled their way through legions of Sweeps, Rodimus told Orion about the numbers only to be taken aback when Orion insisted he should have resigned instead of holding a vote. The team found Kup, only for Nova to find them. Burning Bright Orion found himself faltering against Nova, Rodimus gave him a pep talk, revealing the fact he'd always looked up to Optimus Prime as an ideal. After Rodimus was knocked down by a blow from Nova, Orion had all the confidence he needed to reclaim the title of Prime and defeat Nova. Finis Temporis
Unfortunately their exit from the Dead Universe was gone, effectively stranding them there. The Becoming Fortunately an alternative exit presented itself — a portal through Brainstorm, who'd unwittingly been infected by the Dead Universe — and Rodimus and the others were able to return to the regular universe. Black Planet Finding themselves in the midst of the climax of Shockwave's grand scheme to collapse the universe, Rodimus turned down the chance to be part of confronting Shockwave in order to help Cyclonus and the other members of the party who'd been infected by the Dead Universe, taking them back to Brainstorm's lab for treatment. Afterwards Rodimus captained the Lost Light once again as they rescued Megatron, Optimus and Magnus from the black hole forming as the result of the defeat of Shockwave's plan. ...And the Damage Done
Getaway had looked at Rodimus over the course of the Dark Cybertron crisis and found him wanting. The Rodpod alone made him decide that the Lost Light really needed a better captain. A betterway captain.How Bright Their Frail Deeds
Though he was keen to return to his quest, Rodimus found offworld travel had been halted while the Megatron issue was dealt with. This involved a trial, which Rodimus fulled expected would end with an execution, and told Megatron as much. Towards Peace As Rodimus watched the trial unfold, Atomizer presented him with a list of the crew who'd voted for him to go. Words Hang in the Air He thought long and hard about it but, after seeing the crew gift him a new Rodpod, decided not to do it. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide(Which is handy because Atomizer was part of Getaway's crew and planning to blackmail him over it) How Bright Their Frail Deeds Rodimus showed the list to Ratchet, who revealed he knew the list was fake because his name wasn't on it.
He also revealed to Rodimus the news that Megatron was joining the Lost Light crew, having invoked his right to be tried by the Knights of Cybertron. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide
Co-captain with an enterprise
As the Lost Light set off again with the aim of finding Thunderclash, Towards Peace Rodimus took to skulking in his habsuite as Megatron had been made co-captain. He emerged when the ship picked up a coffin which contained his own dead body and assembled a team to analyze the corpse. Their determination that it was definitely Rodimus almost had him amputating his own arm to avoid what he thought was an inevitable future, however the fact that the Lost Light was slowly disappearing led him and the rest of the crew to abandon ship. Rodimus evacuated on board the Leading Light with Magnus. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Rodimus, along with the shuttle and those aboard, mysteriously vanished in the same manner as the Lost Light. Twenty Plus One The remaining Lost Light crew members, now under Megatron's leadership, discovered the wreck of another Lost Light, the result of quantum duplication when the ship originally left Cybertron. On that vessel, Rodimus had been killed defeating the sparkeater, resulting in his body being ejected into space in a coffin. With this knowledge, Megatron's team were able to shut down the destroyed ship's quantum engines and restore the Lost Light along with Rodimus and the rest of the crew. The Road Not Taken
With the revelation that Brainstorm was a Decepticon and had used a time machine to jump backwards in time, Rodimus and the others tried to work out his end game. The Custom-Made Now The assumption was made that Brainstorm intended to kill Orion Pax, so Rodimus assembled a team with compatible sparks to pursue Brainstorm back through time. Their first mission was to help Orion Pax save a field of sparks four million years ago in Alyon, sparks that just happened to be sent to Nyon for a secret activating at the same time a young Hot Rod would come online. Rodimus attempted to avert Trailbreaker's future death by feeding his fellow Autobot subtle information, only for his work to be undone when Chromedome accidentally wiped Trailbreaker's memory of the adventure. All Our Parlous Yesterdays Their continued tracking of Brainstorm led Rodimus and his team to become involved in a pivotal brawl in Maccadam's New Oil House, from which they had to retreat while trying not to change history. Stet They finally caught up with Brainstorm as he attempted to kill Megatron at the latter's point of construction. Though they, in a roundabout way, prevented Megatron's destruction, the team was left stranded in the past with insufficient power to return to the present. Rodimus and Cyclonus teleported to another section of Cybertron and used a prototype quantum generator to repower Brainstorm's time travel device. Rodimus and his team returned to the present day with Brainstorm a prisoner. Predestination: An Expert's Guide
Rodimus, along with Xaaron and Ultra Magnus, presided over Brainstorm's subsequent inquisition and opted not to banish him from the ship. Ratchet later called Rodimus in for an examination, but mainly so he could point out to the co-captain the inconsistency between the treatment of Brainstorm and the earlier treatment of Drift. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme The Lost Light finally caught up with the Vis Vitalis (Rodimus finally got to strike his gong in celebration) only to find that Thunderclash was on the verge of death. Rodimus, however, was too busy to go to Thunderclash's pre-wake. The Sensuous Frame Alerted to a situation on the Vis Vitalis, Rodimus and Megatron arrived in time to overload the personality ticks with their combined charisma. The Frail Gaze Optimus contacted the Lost Light to invite them back to Cybertron as the lost colony worlds were about to be made contact with. Rodimus declined only the basis you just couldn't take a few days off from a quest. First Contact When one of Swerve's old injuries resulted in the manifestation of a holographic Earth, Rodimus and the rest of the crew projected their holomatter avatars to the fake world in an attempt to locate Swerve's psyche. The One Where They Go to Earth
While tidying Rodimus's room, Ultra Magnus made the discovery that Rodimus had been subconsciously carving a copy of the map to Cyberutopia into his desk since they started on the quest. Swerve's injury turned out to be a bullet containing data from Agent 113 which led the crew to find the Necrobot's world. Rodimus and Megatron took a small team down where they met the Necrobot himself, in reality a bot named Censere. The Not Knowing
Returning to the Lost Light following a three-day excursion to Meteorfest, Rodimus found the ship being prepared for a journey through space controlled by the Maulers. He and the rest of the crew were forced to spend that leg of the journey in artificial hibernation to avoid detection. Silent Light
After Tailgate attempted to kill Megatron, Rodimus accompanied Megatron on a visit to the sick bay to give Cyclonus the news that they'd worked out that Getaway and Atomizer were the ones who put Tailgate up to it. Speak, Memory: Part 1 Immediately afterwards, Rodimus was one of the crew assaulted by the murderous Sunder and forced to turn himself inside out. Luckily the day was saved... by Tailgate, and a repaired Rodimus found it very funny that the minibot had turned out to be a super-strong, super durable outlier. On a serious note, he questioned why Megatron hadn't shot Sunder and was stunned to find out that Megatron had renounced violence completely!Speak, Memory! (Part 2)
When a time fissure opened in Swerve's, Rodimus used it to look back at the first day of the second voyage of the Light. Rather than hear Perceptor's guess about when the fissure might re-open, Rodimus toasted surprises. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
Shortly after, the Light liberated the planet of Miliarium. Rodimus was in the thick of it and snarked that Megatron's newfound pacifism was all about having an excuse to stay on the ship and order them around remotely. After liberating the planet, Rodimus told Megs to lighten up about saving organics instead of 'bots and offered to let him say "roll out" to cheer him up. And more fun came when a strange signal hit selected members of the ship and the only way to find out why was to follow it in the Rodpod! YEAHHH!
They tracked it to the Necrobot's planet and found an attack squadron of Decepticons, supported by the Decepticon Justice Division waiting. Rodimus ordered a retreat, found the 'pod teleport engines had been sabotaged, and found the Light wasn't responding to their distress signals; his next order was to use the Necrobot's temple as a makeshift fortress, where he found Censere dead. Worse, the Light was contacted and Rodimus learned the crew had mutinied: Getaway had been let out and the whole remaining crew had helped trick him into leaving, as they were sick of having Megatron onboard and considered Rodimus to be too friendly with him. Getaway was taking them to find the Knights and Rodimus and his crew were going to be left to die. Rodimus swore vengeance How Bright Their Frail Deeds and then ordered the crew to search for any possible advantage they could get in Censere's home before the enemy fell on them. To his annoyance, there was nothing...
...until Nightbeat unveiled a teleport chamber! But unfortunately, Velocity had found sleeping organics underneath the building and the Decepticons would surely kill them. Unsure what to do, Rodimus allowed Brainstorm to talk him and the others into having a nice, moral justification for abandoning the helpless but Megatron shamed his co-captain by giving a stirring speech in favour of protecting them, even if he'd die. Rodimus quickly flipped back to positive as they worked out a half-baked way to leave with the organics, and in private questioned Megatron about why he was doing this and planning to meet with Tarn. Megatron told him how the 'lure' had unlocked his guilt, making him 'hear' all the organics he'd killed. The Sun in Flight
In the Functionist Universe
After the battle with the DJD, Rodimus got a new paint job. In Spectralism, his new black, violet, and blue colors expressed both grief for a fallen comrade, but also a promise to kill (specifically Getaway, for what he'd caused). After Brainstorm completed his rebuilt teleporter, Rodimus checked the coordinates with Drift. Soon after, he gathered a team to fetch a ship from Cybertron to gather his stranded crew. They teleported to Cybertron, but it wasn't theirs; they were in an alternate universe!
In a vision seen by Drift, Rodimus, Drift, and Grimlock face Pharma and an army of Worldsweepers and sparkeaters, with a message etched in the ground. Some Other Cybertron
Regeneration One
In an alternate universe, another Hot Rod had journeyed to the Primus chamber at the centre of Cybertron with the Dinobots, where he had a multiversal out-of-body experience and saw many different versions of himself, including Rodimus. Destiny, Part Three When that Hot Rod, now Rodimus Prime, infiltrated Zero Space to confront the Dark Matrix creature it summoned three versions of Optimus Prime to defend itself so Rodimus Prime likewise sent ripples throughout the universe, calling forth the various versions of himself. Rodimus took command and ordered them to blast anyone without a "Hot" or "Rod" in their name and they managed to injure the Dark Matrix creature, loosening its hold over Optimus and allowing Rodimus Prime to seal the multiversal breach with the Sword of Primus, returning Rodimus and his counterparts to their home realities. The War to End All Wars, Part 5
Notes
- Hot Rod's Earth mode from The Transformers: Devastation was based on a Dodge Viper. Rather than a conventional rear wing becoming his trademark robot mode spoiler, the "spoiler" on his back was actually formed from part of the roof and side panels next to the rear window.[1]
- Originally, Hot Rod's use of the Magnificence in Spotlight: Doubledealer was going to come with serious side-effects, but this was dropped, as with much else, with the truncation of Revelation.[2]
- James Roberts attributed Rodimus's brief possession by Metrotitan in the MtMtE Annual to his Matrix affinity.[3]
References
- ↑ E.J. Su: I tried to retain as much of the design elements from Nick Roche's Cybertronian design as possible. Dodge Viper is actually not a very easy vehicle to transform especially if I want to keep much of the original car transformation scheme. Viper has an extremely long hood, which is one of the element that makes the vehicle sexy. After the tranformation, the hood has been shortened quite a bit more than my liking in order to make the robot mode more well-proportioned.
- ↑ Simon Furman: One story angle I just never got to cover properly in the four-part Revelation arc was the ‘price’ that comes with using the Magnificence. A bit like the Monkey’s Paw scenario, the Magnificence does give you exactly what you want/need, but the information or what information precipitates mostly turns out to be a poisoned chalice. That side-story got sidelined, I’m afraid. Originally, there was going to be a Hot Rod payoff, in which he goes well and truly through the wringer as a consequence of his mining of the Magnificence. There’s an element of that in Maximum Dinobots, though.
- ↑ [1]: In the Annual we saw Ore snap back to life, offliners ready to rip out their audio receptors and also... Rodimus' hands taking a life of their own, is this a Marvel Unicron-like possession tie in, that Rodimus is still channeling Matrix energy from when it revived him back in the old ongoing, and again in Vector Sigma's chamber in Chaos? I had it in mind that Rodimus was particularly susceptible to the influence of the Metrotitan because he’d carried the Matrix and, yes, been close to Vector Sigma.
