Hot Rod (DOTM)
| This subject of this article goes by multiple names that apply to other articles as well. See Hot Rod (disambiguation), Rodimus (disambiguation). |
- Hot Rod is an Autobot from the live-action film series continuity family.
The Lancelot of the second World War
I came from afar just to say bonsoir
Tell the king "casse-toi"
Who’s the best, c’est moi
Hot Rod is a Autobot who has been on Earth for a long time. Brother-in-arms to Bumblebee, as the two have fought in many battles together. Brave and patient, he has spent years undercover on earth after having been assigned to watch over Viviane Wembly, who he has grown very fond of.[1][2] He is a close ally of Sir Edmund Burton and in addition to regular weapons, Hot Rod possesses a special weapon that can create temporary temporal bubbles in which time slows to a crawl. He also finds his inability to get rid of his hated French accent a source of constant frustration.
He is also known as Rodimus. In certain universes, he is also known as Rodimus Prime.
Fiction
The Last Knight film
- Voice actor: Omar Sy[3] (English, French), Yōhei Tadano (Japanese)
Hot Rod was an Autobot warrior who had long been on Earth, having fought for the allies along with Bumblebee in World War II. He also somehow acquired a French accent that he did not know how to get rid of. Years later, he was a close ally of Edmund Burton, as well as the father of Oxford University professor Viviane Wembly, who tasked him with protecting his daughter. Viviane was, in reality, the last living descendant of the ancient Merlin, and thus the only one able to wield his Cybertronian staff. He spent years disguised as her car, a Citroen DS, and developed a strong fondness for her. One day, Burton tracked him down and told him the time to recruit Viviane to fulfill her destiny had come. The next day, as she prepared to leave for work, Hot Rod sprang into action, locking her in and racing through the London streets. When she broke his window in an attempt to escape, he broke cover, begging her to stop. With his true nature revealed, she mistook him for a Decepticon and grew more frantic in her escape, wondering aloud if he was "one of the famous ones". He grew angrier as she continued to try and escape, and on the way, he scanned and upgraded into a new Lamborghini Centenario vehicle mode.
He arrived with her at Burton's castle, mere seconds after the arrival of Cade Yeager and his brother-in-arms Bumblebee. He transformed and attempted to calm the frantic Viviane, who he thought was being very difficult. After things had calmed down a bit, he formally introduced himself to Viviane, though she found understanding his accent very hard. He once again bemoaned his inability to get rid of the hated accent. When the TRF tracked them down, he used his special time bubble gun to slow them down to cover their escape. They made their way to London and when they found themselves pursued by the authorities, Hot Rod volunteered to lead them away so the others could continue the search for the Staff.
He later made his way to Stonehenge and joined with the other Autobots, humans, and guardian knights. The returned Optimus Prime rallied them all to save Earth from Quintessa and Megatron's plan to drain Unicron, who resided within the planet, of energy to restore the recently arrived Cybertron. En-route to Cybertron, he and the other Autobots were not impressed by the intimidating guardian knights. As the battle began, he rode an Orbital Assault Carrier as they took on the airborne Decepticons. He was eventually shot down by Infernocus but survived and joined Optimus's charge on the control chamber, congratulating Sqweeks on his destruction of the enemy gun emplacement. He was very happy to see Viviane had returned rather than flee with the TRF. As the battle raged in the unstable chamber, he used his time gun to freeze Megatron, saving Hound's life. Quintessa and Megatron were quickly defeated and his beloved Viviane retrieved the Staff. As the control center fell to Earth, he managed to save Viviane and Cade from falling to their deaths by freezing them with his gun, buying them just enough time to be grabbed and flown to safety by Optimus. He and the other Autobots managed to survive the crash of the control center and soon bid farewell to the humans as the left to return home to Cybertron. The Last Knight
Timelines
In a universe where Optimus Prime died in the Battle of Chicago, Rodimus took the mantle of Prime, ultimately defeating Megatron in a struggle atop a space bridge on Cybertron. Botcon 2015 Megatron bio card
Games
Transformers: Forged to Fight
Hot Rod was one of the Autobots pulled from his universe by the Quintessons and forced to fight. He eventually joins the Commander. There are at least a few of him running around! Transformers: Forged to Fight
A Question of Loyalty - Chapter 2: Volatile Reunion - Uncharted Territory Brothers At Arms Bring Him Home
- Class: Warrior
- Basic Abilities
- Ranged Attacks: Hot Rod’s Time Bubble Gun has a 60% chance to inflict Deceleration for 3.2 seconds, preventing the opponent from Evading attacks and reduces the opponent’s Power Flow by 22~37.5% per stack.
- Melee Attacks: Gains a Critical Rate Buff for 2.8 seconds when the opponent is under the effect of a Deceleration Debuff, increasing Critical Hit Rate by 7.9~18%.
- Critical Heavy Attacks: 40% chance to Stun for 1.2 seconds.
- Signature Ability: Acceleration - Successful Special Attacks Overclocks Hot Rods engines, increasing his Power Flow on attacks by 60~120% for 7 seconds. Additionally, while Acceleration is active, Hot Rod has a 30% chance to Evade Ranged Attacks.
- Special Attacks
- Punishing Pirouette - A flurry of aerial kicks to knockdown the opponent.
- Time Tampering - Series of acrobatic kicks that ends with a taste of the Time Bubble Gun. - inflicts Deceleration for 9 seconds.
- Time Bubble Blast - A temporal coup de grâce. - Hot Rod uses the most powerful setting on his Time Gun, inflicting Deceleration for 20 seconds.
- Synergy Bonuses -
- Code 12: Reckless Driving (Prowl->) - Prowl gives Hot Rod an Attack Buff when Heavy Attacking.
- Brother in Arms (Bumblebee ->) Bumblebee gives Autobots +2-8% Armor and +4-6% Melee Damage in Solo Missions.
- Allies (Bumblebee <-) - Hot Rod gives Bumblebee +2-8% Armor.
- Enemies (Barricade) - Both bots get a 2-8% Attack Rating.
- Racing Rivals (Mirage) - Both bots get +8-30% Critical Damage.
Toys
Dark of the Moon
- Bumblebee / Soundwave with Rodimus (Cyberverse 3-pack, 2011)
- Rodimus is a redeco of the Universe Legends Class Rodimus, transforming into an orange sports car. On the United States market, he is only available as a Walmart exclusive, as the "Bonus" figure in a pack with Bumblebee and Soundwave. This three-pack was also available as an Asda exclusive in the United Kingdom and from Rossmann stores in Germany and Auchan stores in Hungary and Italy. Of note is that the European packaging does not market Rodimus as a "bonus figure" (presumably so stores can charge full price for three toys), and his window lacks the yellow edges highlighting him as a special feature, despite still being separated from Bumblebee and Soundwave, who share a common window like in the U.S. version. Despite this, Rodimus still doesn't get a mention on the back of the packaging, which only features a one-sentence "bio" about Bumblebee planning to bring down Soundwave in twelve different languages.
- All versions of the packaging also lack any logos that label the toys as Cyberverse products.
- This sculpt was also used to make Revenge of the Fallen Smokescreen.
The Last Knight
- Hot Rod (Tiny Turbo Changer, 2017)
- Bag Code: ?
- Autobots Unite (Turbo Changer 2-pack, 2017)
- Released as part of the Walmart-exclusive Turbo Changer 2-pack along with his brother-in-arms Bumblebee, Hot Rod is a retool of Age of Extinction Turbo Changer Lockdown, transforming from vehicle to robot by pressing a button on his vehicle mode. His only articulation is the elbows, which they can only pivot up and down.
- As he shares with the same transformation scheme with Lockdown, Hot Rod's vehicle kibble seems to have some difficulties locking together from their proper position.
- Autobot Hot Rod (Flip N' Change, 2017)
- Flip N' Change Hot Rod is a retool of Age of Extinction Flip N' Change Lockdown with a new head. He is a simplified toy that can auto-transforms from an unlicensed approximation of a Lamborghini Aventador rather than a Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 into a Voyager-sized robot by pulling out the arms first, and then flip the figure over itself. He features articulation on his arms and features 5mm compatible hands.
- Autobot Hot Rod (Legion Class, 2017)
- Released as part of Walmart's Autobots Unite subline, Legion Class Hot Rod transforms from a robot into a fictionalized Lamborghini Centenario with an added spoiler.
- Autobot Hot Rod & Bumblebee (Legion Class 2-pack, 2017)
- Packed along with his brothers-in-arms Bumblebee, this Hot Rod is a "stealth-themed" black redeco of the figure above. As a reference to his Generation 1 namesake, he features a flame tampograph (complete with an Autobot insignia) on his vehicle mode's front hood, as well as a yellow spoiler.
- Autobot Hot Rod (Premier Edition Deluxe Class, 2017)
- Japanese ID Number: TLK-20
- Japanese release date: 2017-09-16
- Released as part of Walmart's Autobots Unite subline, Deluxe Class Hot Rod is an extensive retool of Age of Extinction Deluxe Class Lockdown, transforming into a Lamborghini Centenario. While almost the entire figure has been remolded, the lower legs and feet as well as some internal structuring parts remain unchanged. Along with added transformation steps, Hot Rod's new tooling makes him substantially taller than the original mold taking it from being one of the shorter Deluxe molds to being one of the tallest Deluxes in the line. Uncommon for deluxe class toys, the figure does not include any weapons or accessories.
- His box art is strange in that it features a CG render of Hot Rod and Bumblebee standing side-by-side, however Bumblebee is in the forefront and is far more prominent. Unlike most modern instruction pamphlets, Hot Rod's instructions are printed in full color. Additionally, he is thus far the only Premier Edition Deluxe Class figure to have a full-length bio on his box.
Merchandise
Jada Toys
- Hot Rod (1/24 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)
- A 1/24-scaled non-transforming diecast car based on Hot Rod'2017 Lamborghini Centenario LP770-4 form, and he features opening doors and vehicle front hood, revealing the driver's seat (with its steering wheel chromed) & engines (also chromed). And similar to Robot Powered Machines, Hot Rod features a sculpted robot mode underneath. He also comes with a collector's coin with his face engraved on it.
- Hot Rod (1/32 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)
- A medium-sized version of the Hot Rod car is also available. The opening gimmick is only limited to the doors.
- Hot Rod (1/64 Scale Die Cast Car, 2017)
- Accessories: Display base
- A smaller, Hot Wheels/Matchbox-sized version of the Hot Rod car is also available. He also comes with his own Display Base with his picture printed on it.
Notes
- Dark of the Moon Rodimus's packaging has no technical notes or biographical information on the character, but does sport information on Soundwave and Bumblebee.
- Concept art for "Hot Rod" appeared in the "Transformers 3" section of Massive Black Volume 2, along with various other designs.[4]
- Hot Rod's working title was Side Kick.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Hot Rod (ホットロッド Hotto Roddo)
- Korean: Hot Rod (홋 로드 Hot Rodeu)
- Mandarin: Huǒbào Rod (Taiwan, 火爆洛迪 Huǒbào Luòdí, "Hot Rod"), Rè Pò (China, 热破, "Hot Break")
- Ukrainian: Honschyk (Гонщик, "Racer")
