Hot Rod (G1)
| This article is about . For other uses of "Rodimus", see Rodimus (disambiguation)|The name or term "Rodimus" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Rodimus (disambiguation).}} |
| This article is about . For other uses of "Hot Rod", see Hot Rod (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).}} |
- Hot Rod is an Autobot from 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 also serves as a calming influence on Hot Rod, and tends to either worry about him when he is not around, or deride and tease him when he is. Their relationship is antagonistic, but friendly. Exactly how deep Hot Rod's feelings for Arcee might run is unknown, whether they be friendly, romantic, or otherwise.
In contrast, his Rodimus Prime persona—while still headstrong and stubborn—seems to suffer from a severe lack of confidence, often doubting his own decisions and expressing distress over his position as an Autobot leader. Of course, much of this comes from having immediately succeeded Optimus Prime as commander—and let's face it, shoes-to-be-filled just don't get much bigger than that.
One thing that both sides of this Autobot's identity have in common is their impatience—neither Hot Rod nor Rodimus Prime can stand to wait around when they could be doing something instead. He is also very self-reliant, rarely sending others to do anything when he could be doing it himself. His Targetmaster partner is Firebolt. As Rodimus Prime, his vehicle sometimes splits between his robot and Mobile Defense Bay.
{{#if:Kup on Hot Rod's transformation into Rodimus PrimeThe Transformers: The Movie|| “ | I knew you had potential, lad. | ” |
| {{#if:Kup on Hot Rod's transformation into Rodimus Prime| —Kup on Hot Rod's transformation into Rodimus Prime{{#if:The Transformers: The Movie|, The Transformers: The Movie}} }}}} | ||
- Japanese name (Hot Rod): Hot Rodimus, except for "The Rebirth"
- Japanese name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Convoy
- French-Canadian name (Hot Rod): Météorite ("Meteorite")
- French-Canadian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Primo ("Rodimus First", official toy name)
- French-Canadian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimus Primus (official dub name)
- Italian name: Folgore, Captain
- Hungarian name (Hot Rod): Nagyágyú ("Hot Shot")
- Hungarian name (Hot Rod, The Movie): Peca ("Fisher"?) in the first dub of the film, 'cause he deals with marine life throughout the film, you see.
- Hungarian name (Rodimus Prime): Rodimusz Fővezér ("Prime Commander Rodimus")
- Chinese name (Taiwan, Hot Rod): Rod / Rhode (羅德 Lúo Dé)
- Chinese name (Taiwan, Rodimus Prime): Rhodie Jr-tsūn (羅迪至尊, "Rodimus Prime")
- Chinese name (China, Hot Rod): Re Po (热破, "Hot Break")
- Chinese name (China, Rodimus Prime): Bu Tian Shi (补天士, "Soldier who repairs the sky")
- Omni Productions Headmasters dub name (Hot Rod): Roadimus Prime (yes. ROAD-imus.)
- Russian TV dub name (Hot Rod): Patron ("Cartridge")
- Russian TV dub name (Rodimus Prime): Rodomes Prime
- Portuguese name (Portugal Comic): (Hot Rod) Roda Quente (Rodimus Prime) Rodimus Supremo
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Madman The Transformers comic
In the year 2001, Hot Rod was on guard duty at the construction site of Autobot City on Earth while the main Autobot forces were evacuating from the Decepticon-conquered Cybertron. As he was complained about his boring assignment to Spike Witwicky, the Decepticon Soundwave struck, intent on stealing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership which Optimus Prime had secreted in a bunker at the building site. When he reclaimed the Matrix, Hot Rod received a vision of the future where he fought a powerful Decepticon. After returning the Matrix to Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader considered that perhaps Hot Rod's destiny was greater than any of them realized. Kup thought differently, however. The Transformers
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actors: Judd Nelson → Ted Schwartz → Dick Gautier (English), Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese, Transformers 2010), Takase Akimitsu (Japanese, The Rebirth), Daniel Gall (French, Movie)
In 2005, Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in the completed Autobot City. He was close friends with the young human Daniel Witwicky and seemed to have a reputation for being something of a troublemaker, judging from a few of Kup's comments to him at the time. Realizing 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 defenses, 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 wound the Autobot leader mortally.
After Prime's death, Autobot City was attacked again—by Galvatron. While escaping, Hot Rod and Kup (and the Dinobots) were separated 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 to come. 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 traveled to Cybertron to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.
Inside of Unicron, Hot Rod was separated 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. After overpowering Galvatron and hurling him through Unicron's hide into the void of space, he opened the Matrix and destroyed Unicron from within. The Transformers: The Movie
Peace reigned on Cybertron for at least long enough to put up some of the more important buildings, and Rodimus Prime began to ease into his role as the new Autobot leader. He even opened the first Galactic Olympics, although the event was disrupted by mysterious assailants who kidnapped Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky. In an attempt to discover if the Decepticons were responsible, Rodimus took Grimlock to spy on them, but the pair were discovered and attacked. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 The two Autobots were rescued by Arcee and Springer, but Rodimus had been injured in the attack, and his spirit entered the Matrix. The experience revealed to him that the Quintessons were behind the kidnapping. With this knowledge, the Autobots rescued their fellows from Quintessa, just as the Quintessons destroyed the planet. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2
The Autobots were flung through space, eventually crashing down on the planet Goo. After Springer's dismemberment at the hands of a giant machine, Rodimus faced the machine alone, clogging its intakes and causing it to crash. Their troubles weren't over, as the Quintesson-led Decepticon army soon showed up to renew hostilities. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 Rescued by the Junkions, the Autobots were taken to Junk, where Rodimus short-circuited himself in order to consult the Matrix once again. The knowledge of Transformer history and their creation at the hands of the Quintessons was revealed to him, leading him to realise that Cybertron was in deadly danger. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
Returning to Cybertron, Rodimus lead the defence of the planet against Galvatron's strike force. It wasn't until Blitzwing's warning that the true nature of the threat was revealed: a switch deep under the planet's surface which controlled the life force of every Transformer in existence. Although Rodimus headed off the contingent of Sharkticons who aimed to pull the switch, Galvatron himself pulled it, disabling all of the Transformers. Fortunately, Spike was on hand to turn them all back on again. After Galvatron was sent into retreat, Rodimus gave a speech to the Autobots about how they had won...for now. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5
Throughout 2006, Rodimus Prime's greatest achievements revolved around his predecessor, Optimus Prime. While fleeing from a Decepticon attack, Rodimus and several other Autobots took refuge in a massive Autobot Mausoleum and discovered that their former leader seemed to have returned to life. Perhaps a little too trusting of Optimus (and possibly eager to relieve himself of the burden of leadership), Rodimus quickly passed the Matrix back to Optimus and, much to his glee, reverted back into Hot Rod. His happiness was short-lived, however, as Optimus was quickly revealed to be nothing more than a puppet of the Quintessons, sent to trick the Autobots into an ambush from which none of them would escape. With no other choice, Hot Rod was forced to do battle with Optimus Prime for the fate of the Autobots. Although their duel was clearly in the favor of the more powerful Optimus, Hot Rod was able to re-awaken the true spirit of his leader. Returning the Matrix to Rodimus, Optimus then piloted his ship into the heart of the ambush and sacrificed himself to save them all. Dark Awakening
Soon after Perceptor left on a standard research mission to a nearby asteroid belt, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots received a distress call from the survey group. They arrived to find the asteroid infested with Quintessons, but managed to drive off the tentacled freaks and their Sharkticon shock troops. Perceptor was near deactivation due to injuries, however, and the rest of the Autobots were nowhere to be seen. The Quints attempted to retake the asteroid but, after failing, were soon desperate enough to tell the truth: Their technology on the rock was a Time Window, and leaving it open was risking the fates of all time and space. With the help of the Quintesson scientist and a mysterious stranger with a devilish moustache, Rodimus Prime retrieved his lost Autobots and shut down the time window. Forever Is a Long Time Coming
The Autobots learned of a lost Cybertronian colony known as Paradron after one of its citizens, Sandstorm, arrived on Cybertron begging for help. It seemed that Galvatron and the Decepticons had seized control over the planet and its vast energon reserves. Rodimus Prime and the Autobots staged a tactical infiltration, but the escalation of violence between the two forces led to total devastation. Rodimus gave the pacifistic Autobots of Paradron his impassioned "Move it or lose it!" speech before hustling them off-world so that Ultra Magnus could blow up their home. As Sandstorm sat there mourning the loss of his world, Rodimus Prime gave him some solemn advice.
{{#if:|| “ | Well, no need to get all mushy. Cybertron's a better place anyway—not so...perfect. | ” |
| {{#if:| —{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}} }}}} | ||
Rodimus and the Autobots were stumped when someone carried off Fort Knox in the middle of the night. They detected Dinosaur transform static at the scene (seriously), found a small pile of energon cubes, and had just been informed by Teletraan II that Trypticon was still alive. It was a head-scratcher, all right. They eventually figured it out, though, and sieged the occupied nation of Carbombya to chase the Decepticons away, then recovered Fort Knox and the other monuments Trypticon had stolen. Thief in the Night
When the freelance agent named Octane was being kidnapped right off of Cybertron's surface by Cyclonus and the Sweeps, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots stormed out to save their associate. Things were more complicated than they looked, however, as when Rodimus confronted Cyclonus, the Decepticon lieutenant spoke with Starscream's voice! For some reason, learning Starscream was involved made Rodimus willing to let the Decepticons go. Crazy as it sounds, though, it worked—Starscream and Octane managed to lure Galvatron into an Autobot ambush. Rodimus Prime gave a friendly wave to Starscream for a job well done as he departed. Zuh? Starscream's Ghost
While preparing for the first annual Cybertron peace conference, Rodimus Prime got together with Spike Witwicky to prepare a surprise party for Danny. They were interrupted by a Combaticon attack, as the Decepticons wanted to prevent the conference from occurring. The Combaticons were driven off, however, and only minor damage was done. Surprise Party
During a diplomatic function, Rodimus Prime was forced to play statesman and deal with Ambassador Ynara and the other delegates. Curiously, when Daniel Witwicky went missing and Rodimus had an excuse to duck out of the "festivities", he chose to delegate the search mission to Ultra Magnus and Blaster. Perhaps the normally action-hungry Rodimus Prime was actually becoming more accepting of his leadership duties. Madman's Paradise
When Daniel Witwicky began experiencing recurring nightmares, Rodimus never dreamed he would have to face those nightmares personally. The Quintessons' latest experiment was to turn the young boy's imagination against his Autobot friends. Danny's own subconscious fought against the Quintessons' manipulations, though, and helped the Autobots save themselves. After that experience, Rodimus Prime stayed by Danny's bedside until he conquered his fears and ended the nightmares. Nightmare Planet
Cybertron was put on high alert after Scourge broke into Metroplex on Earth, stealing his eyes and blowing up a bomb in his brain. Rodimus and the Autobots were eventually able to suss out that Scourge was working with the ghost of Starscream, and they in turn were acquiring those eyes for Unicron. Rodimus put together a strike team and sent Ultra Magnus, Springer, Hot Spot and Groove to Unicron to investigate, but they were repulsed by the Chaos-Bringer's defenses. Their second mission was more successful, detonating a series of explosives underneath Unicron once he came down to Cybertron, intent on connecting himself to the planet and turning it into his new body. After Unicron was successfully blasted back into orbit, Rodimus congratulated his men on a job well done. As a joke, he told Magnus and the others their next mission would be to return to the head of their Living Devil and retrieve his stolen eyes. That Roddy—he's hilarious. Ghost in the Machine
Rodimus was dutifully overseeing some reconstruction work on Cybertron when Sky Lynx and Superion reported odd activity over the planet of Junk and among the Junkions themselves. He assembled a task force aboard Omega Supreme to take a look firsthand. Blaster managed to neutralize the hypnotic signals influencing the Junkions, but the Autobots were unable to learn the cause of the whole situation. The Big Broadcast of 2006
At a galactic peace conference, Rodimus and Ultra Magnus attempted to end the centuries of war between the planets of Xetaxxis and Lanarq. They might as well have asked Galvatron, "Why you so crazy?" Every attempt at straight talk and reasonable discourse broke out into a brawl, fist-fighting and eventually laser fire. The two worlds only reached an accord once Blaster and Sky Lynx arrived with a Quintesson journal, detailing how the entire war between the two planets was a "case study" in escalation manipulated by the Quints to sell bigger and better armaments to both sides. The Quintesson Journal
One day, Rodimus Prime orchestrated the insertion of a new power core on Cybertron, designed by Perceptor to give the Autobots limitless free energy. Unfortunately, Perceptor also installed an emergency level to jettison the power core into space in the statistically impossible scenario that they would ever need to do such a wild, crazy thing. Sure enough, mere hours later, the power core was floating through space with a Trans-Organic monster of Lovecraftian proportions latched to the outside of it. Rule of thumb: Installing any form of self-destruct switch increases the likelihood of needing said switch a billion percent. Encasing it behind glass adds another billion. The Dweller in the Depths
Rodimus Prime and the Autobots joined forces with the human police to help stop a domestic terrorist named Victor Drath. They grossly underestimated their opponent and were easily captured by Drath after he lured them to his residence with an anonymous phone call. Using some Cobra mysterious technology, Drath siphoned the consciousnesses of Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Springer and Arcee out of their bodies, inadvertently casting them into synthetic human forms. While trying to get back into Drath's headquarters, Rodimus and Springer were separated. Drath's girlfriend Michelle was intrigued enough by Rodimus's human form that she hid him from Drath's men. At least until after coffee...THEN she handed him over to Drath. Rodimus managed to overpower Drath and his men, and the villain's scheme was undone. Perceptor managed to reverse the process and restore the Autobots to their true forms. With one regretful look cast towards Michelle as she was led away by the police, Rodimus Prime rolled for home with the other Autobots. Only Human
Rodimus Prime began to struggle with the burden of leadership again during a skirmish in Europe, where the Decepticons were working in conjunction with human terrorists. The pacifistic First Aid chose to leave the Autobots after his refusal to fight cost Metroplex his transforming cog, and Rodimus chided himself for not having the words to convince the medic to stay. He was also unsettled by Galvatron's crowing about a new "Ultimate Weapon" which would bring the Autobots to their knees. Regardless of his internal strife, Rodimus continued the fight. He came up with a plan in which Spike and Daniel Witwicky posed as part of the (evil?) human repair crews working on Trypticon and liberated the Decepticon city-bot's transforming cog just as the 'Cons had taken Metroplex's. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus had to fight off Galvatron and the Stunticon in order to stall for time so that the Witwickys could complete their mission. Fortunately, the Stunticons had been off the shelves the field for a while by this point, and so were utterly demolished by the two Autobots. Eventually, First Aid returned to the Autobots to finish repair work on the cog, and Rodimus ultimately called Galvatron's bluff and uncovered his "Ultimate Weapon" as the sham it was. These victories renewed Rodimus's confidence in his leadership abilities...until next time. The Ultimate Weapon
Rodimus and the Autobots arrived at the scene of a Quintesson quadrant lock as Galvatron was trying to claim it for himself. The Quintessons attempted to stop further investigation of the quadrant lock by casting the Transformers through a warp. Their encounter with the native Zamojins inside the lock was less than cordial, but the Autobots eventually managed to disable the quadrant lock and return starlight to the Zamojin people. The Face of the Nijika
At the unveiling of a new power generator, Rodimus Prime got frustrated at Grimlock's gross stupidity. Things only got worse when the Autobots discovered anti-electrons being beamed out of the power generator and needed to negotiate the tunnels beneath Cybertron to reach the generator core...and Grimlock broke their only map. Luckily for Rodimus's sanity, Grimlock spontaneously developed super-intelligence after biting through the cables connecting the anti-electrons to the power generator. The Autobots then went on a mission to Unicron's head to prevent the Decepticons from recovering any more anti-electrons to use against them. They were nearly overwhelmed by the animalistic Terrorcons, but Grimlock constructed Computron and the Technobots as a counter-force against the bestial Decepticons. Rodimus and the others drove off the remaining Decepticons and restabilized the power generator for Cybertron's use. Grimlock's New Brain
On Earth's Moon, Rodimus Prime and the Autobots were engaged in trench warfare with the Decepticon for some vague but no doubt important reason. Rodimus demonstrated his keen tactical brilliance when the Decepticons attacked, suggesting the Autobots do the unexpected...and counter-attack. No, really—Galvatron seemed utterly amazed when they did that. However, the non-bestial Transformers on both sides were rendered lifeless when the energy-draining creature known as Tornedron attacked them while en route to Earth. When the threat was eliminated by Grimlock, Rodimus and the others came back to life without realising that anything had happened. Call of the Primitives
After a particularly strenuous series of Decepticon attacks on Japan, Rodimus Prime was in no mood to be chewed out by the Japanese government for "not helping enough". When Marissa Faireborn stopped by at just the wrong time with yet another problem, Rodimus blew her off and went racing on the back roads to let off some exhaust. Unfortunately, he was spotted by the Stunticons Dead End and Wildrider, who knocked him for a loop and (surprisingly) shook the Matrix of Leadership loose from his chest cavity. After the Stunticons made off with the Matrix, Rodimus woke up as Hot Rod. Shockingly to Springer and Ultra Magnus, Roddy was in no hurry to go after the thieves and recover the Matrix. His giri had become too burdensome, and Hot Rod was hardly interested in reclaiming the burden so soon. He returned to a dojo that had been upset by Bruticus during the earlier attacks and observed the sensei and his pupils. After finding his center again, Hot Rod returned to the city, where the huntsman known as Scourge had been misusing the Matrix as a source of raw power to destroy everything around him. After a brief fight, Hot Rod reclaimed the Matrix from Scourge and became Rodimus Prime once more, accepting his path in life. Oh, and Kup was nodding sagely on the sidelines the entire time. Apparently, that helped somehow. The Burden Hardest to Bear
As it turned out, far from being destroyed, Optimus Prime had been retrieved by a team of human scientists who were hoping to use him (again) as a weapon against the Autobots—this time as the bearer of a malignant "Hate Plague" that would cause them to destroy one another. When he learned of this, Rodimus swiftly formed a rescue party and led them to retrieve Optimus's body so that their former leader could rest in peace. When all of the rest of the Autobots with him were exposed to the Hate Plague, only Rodimus was able to escape unharmed—and with the still-uninfected body of Optimus. Returning to Autobot City, Rodimus ordered Sky-Lynx to find a Quintesson to repair Optimus, then risked his life to shut down Metroplex before the Plague could spread to the titanic Autobot. Attacked by Ultra Magnus and Wreck-Gar in the process, he succumbed to the plague and became infected with hate. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 In order to stop the Plague, the resurrected Optimus had to defeat the crazed Rodimus and forcibly extract the Matrix from him, changing him back into Hot Rod once more. This time, as Optimus had decided to stick around, the change was a permanent one. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2
Even after losing his position as Autobot leader, Hot Rod was not the sort to rest on his laurels. In 2007, he was among a group of Autobots who were caught in a blast from the Plasma Energy Chamber and shot across the galaxy to the planet Nebulos. The Rebirth, Part 1 There, the Autobots fell in with a group of native rebels and aided them in opposing the tyrannical rule of the dictatorial Hive—a partnership that ultimately evolved into binary bonding, the fusion of Transformer and Nebulan into Headmasters and Targetmasters. The Rebirth, Part 2 Hot Rod was linked to the Nebulan sharpshooter Firebolt and went on to aid in the defence of Cybertron as Galvatron attempted to use the Plasma Energy Chamber to destroy it. The Rebirth, Part 3
Japanese cartoon continuity
Kiss Players
- Voice actors: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese)
When Rodimus Prime hurled Galvatron into space at the conclusion of their battle within Unicron, he could not have predicted the tragic result of this action. Galvatron crash-landed on Earth, on top of Tokyo, Japan, devastating the city and sparking off a massive anti-Transformer movement spearheaded by the Earth Defense Command. Horrified by what his actions had wrought, Rodimus gave up the Matrix to Ultra Magnus and reverted to Hot Rod once more, seeking a way to redeem himself for his unintentional misdeeds. A Big Catch Tonight?!
Hot Rod returned to Earth in the year 2006, by which stage the planet had been scoured clean of Transformers by the E.D.C.. He was badly damaged by the anti-electron field that the E.D.C. had set up around the planet, and wound up falling out of the sky and crashing into the E.D.C.'s headquarters, plunging through its levels into the subterranean chamber known as the Genital System. His explosive arrival interrupted a grotesque experiment involving former E.D.C. operative Shaoshao Li and the severed heads of several Legion (monstrous creatures created when Galvatron's cells, scattered by his impact, fused with Earthly creatures and machines). Kiss Players #2 The Legion attacked Hot Rod and began to fuse with him, but a kiss from Shaoshao—one of the E.D.C.'s Kiss Players, also given fusing powers by Galvatron's cells—saved him, reformatting him into a Ford GT body. Kiss Players #3
Together with Shaoshao, Hot Rod went on the run, battling the E.D.C. and the Legion, while working to expose the evil intentions behind of Shaoshao's former employers. Kiss Players radio drama #2 Shaoshao, a longtime robot-hater, was not pleased about the partnership, disgusted by both the fact that she had to kiss Hot Rod Kiss Players radio drama #5 and the Autobot's own smug self-confidence in his speed and sharpshooting skills. She insisted that he work hard on his martial arts training, but Rodimus preferred to simply use Shaoshao's own skills by fusing with her. Kiss Players radio drama #8 As part of his training, he learned to wield his tonfa weapons as guns, and embarked on a long-distance drive as a test of endurance. Kiss Players radio drama #11
Drawn to the E.D.C. headquarters by a massive Legion attack on the facility, Hot Rod and Shaoshao were shocked to see Optimus Prime at the head of the Legion swarm! Given that Prime had died the previous year, Hot Rod assumed he was facing an imposter and attacked, unaware that this was actually the genuine article, who had been brought back to life by the Kiss Player powers of Shaoshao's old friend, Marissa Faireborn. The battle was broken up and the Legions turned away by the E.D.C.'s most powerful Kiss Player, Atari Hitotonari, and Hot Rod and Shaoshao returned to their fugitive lifestyle. Kiss Players #3
Despite being on the lam, Hot Rod still had time for a little fishing now and then, (even though Shaoshao hated the fishy stench he would invariably return covered in) Kiss Players radio drama #17 and even built himself a fishing pole that could transform into a set of blasters, dubbed the "Exhaust Rod". Kiss Players radio drama #20 While Hot Rod was putting his new pole to use on a fishing trip to Tokyo Bay, he and Shaoshao were attacked by a mass of Legion and fused to fight back. It was during this latest fusion that Shaoshao glimpsed Hot Rod's memories and discovered that he was responsible for throwing Galvatron into space, and her fury caused the fusion to end quite violently. A Big Catch Tonight?! Despite Hot Rod's peace offering of new underwear (actually stolen from Marissa), Kiss Players radio drama #29 Shaoshao concluded that she really didn't care about his guilt, and was just using him to win Marissa back from Optimus Prime. Kiss Players radio drama #26
Investigating a large number of Legion that seemed to be converging on Tokyo, Hot Rod and Shaoshao spotted a dark-haired girl riding on the shoulder of one of the creatures. As they watched, she disappeared into the Legion, and they believed she may have been a Kiss Player, until Hot Rod realised that his scanners had not picked up any body heat from the girl. Kiss Players radio drama #32 As if this haunting experience was not bad enough, Hot Rod then began to suffer from nightmares, filled with images of Megatron, caused by the Galvatron cells that the Legion had added to his system when they had tried to fuse with him. Shaoshao exploited the increase in Rodimus's violent tendencies that these nightmares caused by whispering in the Autobot's ear as he slept, telling him that he had to kill the impostor Optimus Prime so she could have Marissa back. Kiss Players radio drama #35
When Marissa and Prime led another army of Legions in another attack on the E.D.C. headquarters, Shaoshao and Hot Rod were again there to face them. The two Autobots were overcome by the destructive impulses of their Galvatron cells and began viciously fighting, but as they did so, Marissa and Shaoshao were able to settle their own differences and bring the battle to an end, vowing to discover the dark secret at the heart of the E.D.C.. Kiss Players radio drama #37 Together with Atari, the group ventured down into the Genital System, where they discovered a secret plot by E.D.C. commander Hitoshizuku Amaō to resurrect her dead daughter (the ghost girl Hot Rod and Shaoshao had seen) in Atari's body. Atari thwarted Amaō's fusion process, however, and instead caused all of the scattered Galvatron cells to be re-absorbed into the Decepticon leader's comatose body. Hot Rod destroyed the anti-electron field generator, and was then reverted back to normal as his Galvatron cells were drawn out of him and reconstituted within Galvatron's body, which Atari then flung into space. You, I, and the Spinning Earth
Hot Rod went on his way, but did not take back the Matrix and leadership of the Autobots until the year 2010. It is unknown whether he ever discovered that the true instigators of the Tokyo incident were Unicron's minions, the Sparkbots, who had altered Galvatron's trajectory.
The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers
Rodimus Prime faced numerous bizarre challenges in the year 2010, one of which involved Galvatron attempting to seize spaceships with his own spaceship that ate other spaceships. Rodimus infiltrated the toothy craft in order to plant a bomb to destroy it. Unfortunately, Galvatron trapped him inside and beat him senseless. Rodimus was about to give up when the spirit of Optimus Prime spoke to him through the Matrix, urging him to fight on. Rodimus snapped out of it and escaped through a hole created by Galvatron's cannon. Before leaving, though, he dropped the bomb off in Cyclonus' hands, detonating the ship.The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 1
During another adventure, Rodimus and his troops were taken under siege by a horde of Megatron clones calling themselves the Megatron Corps. The Megatron Corps made short work of Rodimus, leaving him to wonder how he could defeat a whole horde of the baddie, when Optimus Prime could barely deal with one. Rodimus eventually realized that Galvatron was secretly controlling the clones and singled him out. With Galvatron defeated, the Megatron Corps ceased to function. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 2
Not long after that, Galvatron attacked Autobot City on Earth with the power of Trypticon. Though Trypticon was defeated by Six-Gun, of all Autobots, Rodimus did not arrive on the scene until after the battle had ended. Young blonde human girls squeeled at his hunkiness, though. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 3
During another battle, he was forced to team with his arch-nemesis, Galvatron, to defeat the all-powerful Guiltaur. Guiltaur was a creation built by the Quintessons utilizing the powers of both Optimus Prime and Megatron. Together, Rodimus and Galvatron defeated their foe (who it turned out was being controlled by the ghost of Starscream) and called off the truce. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 4
After that, Rodimus lead the Autobots to the planet Feminia to protect it's Prime Energy Tower from Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Autobots proved ineffectual against the might of Predaking...at least until the Omnibots showed up to win the day. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers issue 5
The Great Transformer War comic
After the Protectobots rescued the scientist Doctor Dalton from the clutches of the Decepticons, Rodimus met with him to discuss upgrading the Technobots. The Great Transformer War issue 1
Rodimus then watched on in horror as the Terrorcons made short work of the upgraded Technobots and nearly turned them into Decepticons with Cohesive Control Liquid. Spike managed to save the Technobots and send the Decepticons into retreat, swearing vengeance. The Great Transformer War issue 2
Early in 2011, after having given up the Matrix of Leadership and reverted back to Hot Rod, he accompanied the newly resurrected Optimus Prime in a space battle against Galvatron and the Decepticons. The Decepticons fled, and though Hot Rod wished to pursue them, Optimus ordered him the return to base, as the entire battle seemed fishy. Indeed, it was all a distraction so that Galvatron could begin his ultimate invasion of Cybertron. The Great Transformer War issue 3
The Headmasters cartoon
"Yer on!"
One year after the Hate Plague affair and the resurrection of Optimus Prime, Hot Rod maintained a high-level position among the Autobots as well as a new sense of duty and responsibility. Hot Rod was stationed on Athenia when the Decepticons, bolstered with the addition of new Headmaster warriors, attacked Cybertron in an attempt to take control of Vector Sigma, which had become destabilized as a result of the Matrix's energy being released. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky
When a group of Autobot Headmasters arrived to help, Optimus Prime broke off from the battle and ventured into Cybertron's depths, hoping to find a way to stabilize Vector Sigma. This, however, would require the sacrifice of his own life if attempted without the Matrix, which was hidden somewhere on Earth, recharging. The Mystery of Planet Master Hot Rod and the Autobot Headmasters searched the Matrix out and returned to Cybertron with it, where the spirit of Alpha Trion recharged its empty shell, transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime. Optimus and Rodimus defeated the Decepticons together, but Optimus still wound up sacrificing himself to stabilize Vector Sigma, leaving Rodimus Prime in command of the Autobots once again. Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime
Rodimus Prime chose to oversee Autobot operations largely from Athenia, leaving Earth as Ultra Magnus and Metroplex's jurisdiction, and maintaining a relatively minor presence on Cybertron itself. One of his actions as returning leader was to oversee the resurrection of Blaster, who gave his life during the recent search for the Matrix. He had Fortress employ Master technology to revive the communications expert in a new body as Twincast. The Great Cassette Operation After Fortress and the Headmasters ran into trouble on the planet Beest, Rodimus Prime brought the Trainbots and Monsterbots with him as reinforcements to foil Galvatron's plans. Rebellion on Planet Beest He also oversaw the Autobots' efforts to defeat a gravity-warping meteorite, and encouraged Daniel to be courageous enough to help the Autobots against the metal-sensitive menace. Approach of the Demon Meteorite
One day, Rodimus Prime accompanied Ultra Magnus to an energy research laboratory, where a new power source had supposedly been discovered. Upon arrival, however, they discovered the research team had been killed and no new power source existed. Reviewing the tape announcing the discovery, Rodimus realized the broadcasting scientist was actually under the control of Mindwipe, and the whole trip was to get him out of the way so that Scorponok could set a trap for the Headmasters on Praum. Taking the Trainbots, Rodimus Prime arrived on Praum in time to help the Headmasters chase off Galvatron and their evil counterparts. The Four-Million-Year-Old Veil of Mystery Rodimus Prime soon supervised the Autobots during a series of terrorist threats around the globe. He allowed Shoki and the Trainbots to take first crack at the robot threatening their homeland of Japan. Terror! The Six Shadows
When Vector Sigma created a new kind of super-metal known as Cybertonuron, Rodimus Prime realized it would be a tempting target for the Decepticons. Sure enough, Galvatron soon launched an all-out attack on Cybertron to capture Vector Sigma and the Cybertonuron. Rodimus assembled a massive counterstrike force to transport to Cybertron, but Fortress cautioned that the whole ordeal thus far might be a trap. Rodimus recognized the possibility, but stated the idea of Galvatron controlling the Cybertonuron was too dangerous to risk. Rodimus Prime traveled to Cybertron himself aboard the Battleship Maximus, and engaged Galvatron in hand-to-hand combat. Tragically, Rodimus was soundly defeated by his old foe, and would have been helplessly executed by Galvatron if Soundblaster hadn't insisted on giving his leader an office memo Right. That. Minute. TPS reports wait for no 'bot. Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 1 As the fighting continued to escalate, Scorponok decided it was too dangerous to risk the Autobots keeping control of the Cybertonuron. He had Mindwipe and the Headmasters plant a series of bombs at Cybertron core, resulting in a massive planetary explosion, leaving Cybertron a burnt-out husk. Deciding that his time was over, and that newer, younger Transformers should take over, Rodimus passed leadership of the Autobots to Fortress, and departed for space with Kup and Blurr to search for a new planet that the Transformers could make their own. Arcee asked if she could go, too, but Rodimus instructed her to stay behind to look after Daniel and Wheelie. Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2
The Headmasters comic
With Optimus Prime dead yet again, Hot Rod returned to being Rodimus Prime and erected a statue of his fallen commander on Cybertron. During the dedication, the Decepticons were spotted approaching the planet. Rodimus dispatched the Headmasters of Justice to deal with the threat. The Headmasters issue 1
Later, the Decepticons made a second attempt to seize planet Beast while the Autobot Beastformer leader, White Leo, was away. Rodimus Prime sent the Headmasters of Justice to Beast in order to drive back the invading Decepticons. Great Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!
During his journey through space in search of a replacement homeworld for the Autobots, Rodimus faced many dangers and hardships, but was supported by the wisdom of the Matrix and the energy of the Earth that now coursed within it. Learning a new admiration for the human race and the planet Earth, he returned to Earth in the wake of the defeat of Scorponok, and reunited with the Autobots. The Headmasters issue 8
The Battlestars
It would be many years before Rodimus resurfaced. He eventually returned at the same time as Optimus Prime was resurrected as Star Convoy, and was shown to have reverted back into Hot Rod, and been converted into a Micromaster. As a Micromaster, Hot Rod took up residence in Star Convoy's chest, boosting his Supreme Commander's power.
15 Go! Go!
During her travels through time and space, Teletraan 15 encountered Micromaster Hot Rod, who rescued her from a strange mechanical monster, a Novaroid. Teletraan 15 noted that Hot Rod was considerably smaller than she remembered him.
Hot Rod asked if she was the one responsible for all the Transwarp travel and blamed her for the wormholes that were opening everywhere. Spotting a large wormhole opening, he transformed to vehicle mode and told her to climb inside, saying that something big was coming.
Star Convoy appeared and requested Hot Rod's assistance, telling him that Ultra Megatron was fusing with Dark Nova.
As Hot Rod said his farewells to Teletraan 15, he was suddenly struck by an immense blast from the wormhole overhead. The shadowy form of Galvatron descended from the rip in the sky.
15 leaped in front of Hot Rod to protect him, and was rewarded for her heroism by seeing her right arm torn off by the Decepticon's power. The severed arm gripped in his teeth, Galvatron throttled the much smaller Hot Rod. As Safety and Fly-Up of the Guard City team raced toward her, Teletraan 15 faded into unconsciousness, leaving Hot Rod's fate and the outcome of the battle unknown. 15 Go! Go!
Marvel Comics continuity
Generation 1
Several hundred years ago, Fortress Maximus dispatched Hot Rod and Blurr to search for habitable worlds. During this mission, the pair ran afoul of the Tyroxians—unpleasant aliens who captured Blurr and pursued Hot Rod through space. While fleeing, Hot Rod crossed paths with the Autobot war veteran, Kup, living a nomadic existence wandering through space at the time, and the youth's bravado in attacking Tyroxia single-handed re-ignited Kup's fighting spirit. After saving Hot Rod and helping him to rescue Blurr, Kup joined the pair in returning to Cybertron. Kup's Story!
Hot Rod was among the contingent of Transformers who ultimately accompanied Fortress Maximus in abandoning the war on Cybertron for a new world, Nebulos. The Autobots' arrival on the planet immediately stirred civil unrest, however, which led to the Decepticons being brought to the planet, and the war continuing on a smaller scale. Technological advancements developed during the conflict saw Nebulans being bio-engineered into partnerships with the Transformers. Hot Rod became a Targetmaster, and was bonded to the Nebulan sharpshooter, Firebolt (aka Sparks), who transformed into his gun. Eventually, the Autobots determined to move their war away from Nebulos, and followed a signal sent by Goldbug, received by Hot Rod, to the planet Earth. Brothers in Armor!!
Hot Rod and the other Autobots of Nebulos were soon incorporated into the larger Autobot force on Earth, under the command of Optimus Prime. On one occasion, Hot Rod and several Autobots accompanied Prime on what appeared to be a simple mission to stop some Decepticon Micromasters from attacking MacDill Air Force Base. Back from the Dead In fact, the attack was part of a much larger scheme by the deposed Decepticon leader Megatron, luring Prime and his forces away from the Ark and setting them against his rival for Decepticon leadership, the mighty Scorponok. Once Prime realized the greater threat at issue, he ordered his troops to immediately take the shuttle back to the Ark, but Hot Rod recklessly chose to stay behind at Optimus's side to face the Decepticons. All the Familiar Faces! He was therefore on-hand when the newly resurrected Starscream arrived, and began tearing through all Transformers present, in the name of Megatron. He managed to take a shot at Starscream's new Pretender shell, causing enough neural feedback to temporarily weaken the Decepticon, and give Scorponok time to strike and end the threat. Skin Deep
The cost was still high, though, as Optimus Prime returned to the Ark and learned that his good friend, Ratchet, had sacrificed himself to help stop Megatron's schemes. This sent the Autobot leader into a depression, and Hot Rod took it upon himself to snap Optimus out of it. He had the crazy scheme of creating a mock threat with a Guardian Mark V battle droid, with predictable results. The robot proceeded to actually malfunction and endanger the Autobots, but Hot Rod's plan worked when Prime eventually snapped out of his funk and defeated the droid to save the day. Hot Rod needed to find a replacement hand after the Guardian snapped it off, but hey, all's well that ends well. Yesterday's Heroes!
Hot Rod continued to operate with Earth's Autobot forces aboard the Ark, and was present during Thunderwing's rampage through the shuttle bay. He took some damage, but remained functional enough to continue on, and was later seen speeding into the battle with Unicron himself on a hoverscooter, On the Edge of Extinction! He was also one of many Autobots destroyed by the Decepticons on Klo, only to be revived by the Last Autobot. End of the Road!
At some unspecified point in time, Rodimus Prime defeated Galvatron in a battle inside Unicron.
In an alternate future of 2006, Rodimus Prime was the leader of the Autobots, who were in control of Cybertron. Sky Lynx reported suspicious activity on Junkion, so Rodimus sent the Aerialbots to investigate. Superion was defeated in battle but was able to send back an SOS before going offline. Sky Lynx was dispatched to retrieve him, and Rodimus decided to investigate himself. He took Ultra Magnus and Blaster in Omega Supreme.
Once there, the Autobots discovered a chaotic scene where aliens from many worlds, including the Decepticons, had arrived and were all engaged in a deadly battle with one another. Rodimus was immediately attacked by a hypnotized Galvatron, and the two battled to a standstill. The other Autobots were able to disrupt a hypnotic signal that was causing everyone to fight one another. The Junkions then added their strength against the Decepticons, causing the latter to retreat. Rodimus didn't care where the hypnosis signal had been coming from, as long as it was off for good. He never discovered that it was the work of the Quintessons. The Big Broadcast of 2006 (US)
In an alternate future timeline, Hot Rod arose to become Rodimus Prime. However, the planet-eater known as Unicron managed to destroy Cybertron, leaving Rodimus to lead a failed Autobot/human defense of Earth when that timeline's Galvatron attacked and eventually conquered it. Rodimus perished during the conflict, and his body was strung up between the ruined towers of the World Trade Center. In the year 2009, Galvatron returned to Manhattan to survey its devastated landscape, and fired upon Rodimus's corpse, demanding to know how many times he would have to kill him to erase his legacy. Rhythms of Darkness!
Marvel UK future timelines
Hot Rod rose to greater prominence in the alternate future timeline of Earth-120185. In 1990, he, Kup and Blurr were captured by Megatron; although rescued by a double-agent named Warmonger, Hot Rod was recaptured and bore witness first hand to Megatron's mercilessness when he executed Warmonger. Then, in 1991, he was part of a unit that escorted the captive Scorponok, only to lose the Decepticon leader when forced to defend a human settlement against an attack by the Air Strike Patrol. Aspects of Evil! On another occasion in 1995, Hot Rod was present when Optimus Prime first unveiled the female Autobot, Arcee, to a dubious crowd of human feminists. Hot Rod was more than a little flustered by Arcee's presence on the battlefield. Prime's Rib! In 2003, he and Blurr were given "Ark duty," assigned to stand guard over the Autobots' spaceship while construction on Autobot City began. Kup was apparently instructed to deliver the plans of the city to the American government, and when Hot Rod saw him being jumped by the Stunticons, he disobeyed orders and sped out to the rescue. The Stunticons brutally beat on Hot Rod and took the plans, but Hot Rod learned a hard lesson when Kup informed him that it was meant to happen that way because the plans were a fake. Ark Duty When the city was completed in 2004, Shockwave attacked it on its opening day, and Hot Rod repelled him by attacking in a wildly illogical manner, tackling him down a mountain repeatedly. Aspects of Evil! Also, at some unknown point in the past, Hot Rod's Targetmaster partner Firebolt was killed in action. Headhunt
In the year 2006, when the new Decepticon leader Galvatron travelled back in time to 1986 as part of a plan to free himself from the control of Unicron, the chaos-bringer used his mental powers to plant knowledge of Galvatron's plan into the minds of Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr and transported them to Cybertron, where they used Galvatron's equipment to follow him into the past. There, with help from the present-day incarnation of Ultra Magnus, they were able to convince Galvatron that he had, in fact, traveled back in time to a parallel universe, where his actions would have no effect on the future. Believing this, Galvatron returned to his own time, and after setting any remaining wrongs to rights, the trio of Autobots also returned to 2006. Target: 2006 Back in his native timeline, Hot Rod was subsequently involved in a battle with Galvatron inside Unicron's body, during which he opened the sacred Autobot talisman, the Creation Matrix, and was transformed into Rodimus Prime. With this new strength, he hurled Galvatron through Unicron's hide and opened the Matrix, destroying the planet-eater. The Transformers: The Movie
It's believed that Primus deliberately caused Hot Rod's Prime form to resemble him. What an ego! #160's Grim Grams
As the new Autobot leader, Rodimus became paranoid about Galvatron's eventual return, since no body was ever recovered from space. He led the Autobot forces high and low searching the universe for the Decepticon leader, neglecting Cybertron in the process. As a result, Shockwave arose as the new Decepticon leader, and total war broke out on Cybertron once again. Unable to take the time to find Galvatron himself anymore, Rodimus rashly placed a bounty on the Decepticon's head. What Rodimus did not realize, however, was that Galvatron had time-jumped again, traveling back to 1987. Wanted:Galvatron — Dead or Alive! In 2007, when the freelance peace-keeping agent Death's Head pursued Galvatron back to the '80s, Rodimus was informed of this fact by an Autobot double-agent named Nautilus, and, dismayed at the danger he had unleashed on the past, promptly headed back in time himself to stop the dual threats. Burning Sky! Once again teaming up with the present-day Ultra Magnus, Rodimus and his team of Kup, Blurr and Wreck-Gar tracked Galvatron down to Mount Verona, where he was attempting to harness the volcano's molten energy. While arguing with Death's Head, Rodimus and the bounty hunter were both attacked, but when Ultra Magnus opened fire on his power siphon, Galvatron was distracted long enough for Rodimus to escape. Hunters Rodimus then arranged a plan that saw the Autobots capture Galvatron's time-jump mechanism, in order to have Wreck-Gar re-engineer it to return all the time-travelers to their point of origin. Rodimus engaged Galvatron in a protracted battle to buy Wreck-Gar time, but when the device was activated, Rodimus, Death's Head and the other Autobots were returned to 2007. Galvatron was left behind. Fire on High!
Some time later, a disgruntled Death's Head accepted a contract from the Decepticons on Rodimus Prime's head, and ambushed him while he was inspecting Autobot lines. Their battle subsequently went underground, where Cyclonus and Scourge intervened, downing Death's Head in hopes of being the ones to defeat Rodimus, in order to reclaim their lost standing in the Decepticons' ranks. Rodimus was able to lead Death's Head through the underground tunnels, right into the heart of the Autobot camp, where he offered him advance payment for a different contract—on Cyclonus and Scourge. Headhunt Death's Head proceeded to track the two Decepticons for the remainder of the year, until the three of them fell under the mental control of Unicron when they discovered his disembodied head on the planet of Junk in the early days of 2008. Under his control, they assassinated Decepticon leader Shockwave and reignited the stalemated Cybertronian civil war in order to keep the Autobots busy while Unicron worked on rebuilding his body. Rodimus, however, learned of the situation thanks to Smokescreen, and led a small Autobot force to Junk, where Death's Head fought against Unicron's control long enough to project Rodimus's mind into a battle with the demi-god on the astral plane. During the battle, explosives planted by Wreck-Gar destroyed Unicron's head, and his mind was sealed within the Matrix. The Legacy of Unicron!
Later in 2008, the alien Quintessons targeted Cybertron for colonization, and attacked the Autobots with a two-pronged assault on both Cybertron and Earth. When Arcee shirked her guard duty at Autobot City, the Quintessons were given an opening that allowed them to take over the city, and when she returned, they gunned her down as bait for a trap for Rodimus Prime. Arriving at the city, Rodimus discovered the injured Arcee and opened his chest compartment to heal her with the Matrix, only to have it yanked from his grasp by the Quintesson general, Ghyrik, causing him to revert to Hot Rod. Liberating Blaster's cassettes for back-up, Hot Rod and Arcee proceeded to fight their way through the Quintessons to Autobot City's control room, where Hot Rod activated Metroplex to smash the alien threat. In battle with Ghyrik, Hot Rod duped the Quintessons with a bit of amateur ventriloquism and reclaimed the Matrix; transformed back into Rodimus Prime again, he routed the Quintessons. Space Pirates!
Unbeknownst to Rodimus, the Quintessons had sought to colonize Cybertron because their own homeworld was being destroyed by a rift in space and time caused by the Transformers' repeated time-travel. The rift continued to grow in size until it threatened both Earth and Cybertron at the beginning of both 2009 and 1989. To put an end to the threat, Rodimus and a squad of Autobots traveled back to 1989, only to wind up mass-displacing Optimus Prime (since the Matrix could not exist in two time periods at once) and a group of other Autobots to limbo, leading to a brief but violent misunderstanding with the present-day Autobots. Optimus Prime was able to stabilize the situation by communicating with all involved through the power of the Matrix. Subsequently, Autobots and Decepticons from both the present and future teamed up to battle Galvatron and Megatron, but one by one they fell, until Optimus Prime used the Matrix to return himself to reality for a final showdown. After absorbing Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, however, the rift was sealed by Shockwave, and Rodimus and the other future Autobots returned to 2009, vowing to destroy their time machines to prevent this from ever happening again. Time Wars
As it transpired, however, things would not be that easy. In the wake of the massive chronal damage caused by the rift, time had attempted to heal its wounds, but reality was no longer as it had been. The future that Rodimus and the other Autobots came from no longer existed—in its place was a world where Galvatron had never traveled back in time, and had conquered Cybertron after Unicron's destruction. Rodimus quickly established a rebellion, but when Galvatron tracked down their headquarters, he killed Blurr and all others present, goading Rodimus into a ferocious battle in hopes of corrupting the Matrix within him. Rodimus realized what he was doing, however, and ended the fight before more damage could be done. Aspects of Evil!
Rodimus and the Autobots escaped to Earth via hyperspace, only to find that their craft's guidance systems had been damaged. During the flight, Rodimus Prime vanished The Void!, and Kup discovered that he was the saboteur, Edge of Impact deducing that he had been corrupted by an evil force from within the Matrix. Shadow of Evil Inside the Matrix, Rodimus battled with the essence of Unicron, trapped there since the events of 2008, until Kup wrenched the Matrix from his chest, freeing him from the chaos-bringer's influence. But now, Rodimus knew that the evil of Unicron would be waiting for him within it... White Fire ...and in 2010, Unicron's essence succeeded in taking over Rodimus's body, transforming it into a duplicate of his own and attacking Cybertron once more, until Rodimus was able to defeat him from within and re-seal him within the Matrix. Aspects of Evil!
Centuries later, in the year 2356, Rodimus, his body withered and weakened from the continuous harmful influence of Unicron from within the Matrix, lectured a young Autobot student on the nature of evil, unwittingly setting the youth on the path towards villainy himself. Aspects of Evil!
In an unidentified timeline in the year 2510, a healthy Rodimus Prime was overjoyed to announce that the Cybertronian war was finally over, and planned to step down as leader to allow Springer to take over. The sole remaining Decepticon, a double-agent named Triton, spoke out against the decision to cause dissension, and succeeded—as Rodimus could only watch in dismay, arguments escalated into conflict, and the war was born again as Technobot fought Wrecker, and the Autobot Civil War began. Peace
Generation 2
After the defeat of the Decepticons on Klo, the Autobots' forces scattered throughout the galaxy as virtually independent splinter cells. A small group under Optimus Prime's command encountered Bludgeon and his soldiers on a desolate world, both sides looking for new weapons or technology, and were in danger of being overrun. Prime sent Hot Rod into a nearby mausoleum building in the hopes that he could conjure up some form of "graven image" to distract the superstitious Decepticon leader. Hot Rod emerged empty-handed from the ruins, only to find that just such a graven image had conjured itself, chased off the trespassing Decepticons, and was now prepared to do the same to the Autobots. They managed a dignified, if rushed, scramble to safety. Ghosts
Sometime after, Hot Rod was operating somewhere in the universe with Optimus Prime and Kup when Grimlock summoned them to deal with the threat of Jhiaxus and his Cybertronians. Together, they formed the initial Autobot resistance to the Liege Centuro. War Without End! Once Optimus's visions convinced him there was a much greater threat at work in the universe, however, he took the Autobots into hiding until they were ready to deal with the bigger picture. Stuck on a distant asteroid base, Hot Rod amused himself by running training with the Dinobots, Aerialbots, and other soldiers as the army slowly regrouped and reorganized, but chafed at the lack of real action. The Power and the Glory Luckily, the Autobots soon joined forces with the old Decepticons, the fight ramped up to epic proportions... and Hot Rod proceeded to do nothing of import for the rest of the war.
S.T.A.R.S. pack-in flyers
Rodimus Prime remembered the Transformers' greatest battle on Earth. Rodimus Prime remembers the Transformers greatest battle on Earth.
Ladybird Books continuity
Hot Rod was one of several troops stationed on Earth when Ultra Magnus was in charge and the Transformers' war was still a secret one. He got along well with Spike Witwicky, the two spending their downtime looking at car magazines together, and was quite pleased to receive some snazzy gold wheel-trims from the boy. Decepticon Hideout
In the time following this campaign, Hot Rod would mature into a more sensible warrior and even a team leader. During the early stages of the war on Nebulos, Hot Rod was Autobot commander against Cyclonus' Decepticons before the return of Optimus Prime. At one point, he prevented the Decepticons causing Nebulos' destruction via cosmic radiation. Decepticons at the Pole
Transformers PD Type comic
Clutching a Blackball, Rodimus Prime found himself being attacked by Galvatron. As the Decepticon leader attempted to throttle him, a light shone from Rodimus's chest, making Galvatron think it was the power of the Blackball. After Galvatron had fled, Rodimus revealed it was just a torch, and reflected on what an idiot his foe was. Take a Stand! Rodimus Prime! As Fortress Maximus and Mega Zarak clashed violently, Rodimus reminds 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...
Transformers in 3-D
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
Dreamwave comics continuity
Hot Rod joined an underground Autobot cell led by Kup after Shockwave's takeover of Cybertron. Among the members of the cell was Arcee, who Hot Rod became attached to. From the Wastelands, Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer observed an incoming Decepticon shuttle carrying the Dinobots. Cold War Shortly afterward, the cell rescued Optimus Prime from Runamuck and Runabout, and took him to their base. After awakening, Prime attacked Gnaw, Blurr, and Wheelie, forcing Hot Rod (who didn't recognize him) to hold the Autobot leader at gunpoint. After being bitch slapped admonished by Kup, Hot Rod apologized. Passive Aggression
After Shockwave unleashed the Guardian robots on Iacon, Prime organized the resistance cell and other Autobot forces on the planet in an assault on Shockwave's citadel. Fighting alongside the Autobot leader, Hot Rod was amazed that the stories Kup had told him about Prime's courage and heroism had all been true. As an injured Prime breached the citadel, Hot Rod, Ironhide and Springer provided cover fire, taking down a number of Guardians in the process. Along with the rest of Iacon, they witnessed the divine light of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership when Shockwave activated it. Countdown to Extinction
As Prime and Ultra Magnus battled Shockwave within the citadel, Hot Rod and Grimlock took down Astrotrain and Blitzwing. Immediately afterward, they were confronted with the looming threat of a remaining Guardian robot—a threat that was soon neutralized by the arrival of the Wreckers, the Autobot High Council, and Defensor. The unified Autobot group soon breached the citadel. Revelation
Some time later, Hot Rod ran a simulation combat scenario against Kup, and won using tactics that, in Kup's opinion, would have killed them both had it been real. Only after his victory did Hot Rod remember that he'd promised to take Arcee to see an Earth-bound shuttle launch—a duty Springer was happy to relieve him of. Lost and Found Soon afterward, he was assigned to perimeter guard duty at Autobase with Gnaw and Wheelie, separating him from Arcee. The Route of All Evil
Universe: Featuring the Wreckers
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
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
...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
Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comics
Hot Rod was one of Teletran 3's unfortunate victims when the computer malfunctioned and transported a random number of Transformers to random points in Earth's timeline. Along with Jazz and Bumblebee, Hot Rod ended up in mid-1970's San Francisco, where he was locked into the form of a Ford Mustang muscle car. The dormant Autobot was soon stolen by a car thief, but was chased down by a group of G.I. Joes and Cobra members sent to retrieve the Transformers. Discovering Blitzwing in the process, the humans equipped both vehicles with disruption unit that awakened the Transformers and sent them back to present-day Cybertron seconds after Hot Rod commented about feeling "really weird." G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1 Back on Cybertron, they were stuck waiting inside the force field Ultra Magnus had erected to prevent Shockwave from capturing Teletran 3. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #2
Some time after his time travel adventure, Hot Rod reported to Optimus Prime that Grimlock's team on Earth had been sidetracked by a Cobra attack. The Art of War #2 When said team ended up disappearing in Cybertron's Gladiator Zone, Hot Rod convinced Optimus to stay behind and take care of an Autobot peace ceremony instead of going out and searching for them. Hot Rod then assembled his own search party, but they failed to find the missing Autobots. The Art of War #3 Unfortunately, Serpent O.R.'s forces attacked the peace ceremony and captured Optimus Prime, leading to Hot Rod assembling a new team intent on rescuing him. The Art of War #4 They fought Serpent O.R.'s Decepticon army together with reinforcements from G.I. Joe, and during the battle, Hot Rod paused in horror as he saw the light of the Matrix being opened inside the Decepticon base. The Decepticon army eventually defeated, and by the time Hot Rod reached inside their base, Serpent O.R. had been killed as well. The Art of War #6
A few months later, Hot Rod questioned Optimus Prime's choice to go to Earth again, accusing his leader of feeling guilty about Bumblebee's death at Serpent O.R.'s hands and doing everything by himself just to prevent more people from dying. Prime just looked at him sadly before leaving, causing Ultra Magnus to tell Hot Rod that he really needed to learn when to stop talking. Black Horizon, Part 1
IDW comics continuity
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, 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
Returning to Earth to continue his search, Hot Rod arrived at the gates of the Machination's complex, and Scorponok prepared himself to deal with the intruder. Maximum Dinobots #1 Unfortunately, Hot Rod found himself fighting well out of his weight class as he was man handled by Scorponok, who cheerfully bashed his face in, put out one of his optics and snapped his leg. The Headmasters dragged him into Scorponok's control room where, with absolutely no prompting, the big man explained his entire plan for the Dynobots, Skywatch and the Machination. Maximum Dinobots #2
Hot Rod seemed less than impressed with this rather mundane approach, which ticked Scorponok off enough for him to point out that it was obviously just the first stage in his master plan. He was also warned to remained awed or he'd be of no further interest. When the Dynobots and newly-arrived Monsterbots seemed to turn Scorponok's plan on its head, Hot Rod burst out laughing, at which point, Scorponok ordered him taken out and shot. In the lift to the surface, Hot Rod suddenly erupted in flames, killing his captors, but draining his power supply. Weakened and with a crippled leg, he collapsed on the floor. Maximum Dinobots #3
He made it out of the building and ran into the real Sunstreaker, who blasted the 2 clones following Hot Rod. Sunstreaker ignored Hot Rod's warning about Scorponok's army and stormed into the building so Hot Rod painfully wired himself to send a distress signal. When Sunstreaker's real head was later disabled by Hunter, the Headmaster clones shut down, which Hot Rod explained to Grimlock. The group was surprised by the arrival of Shockwave, but Ultra Magnus had heard Hot Rod's distress call and was on his way to Earth. Maximum Dinobots #4
After Scorponok knocked out Sludge and Grimlock tended to him, the remaining Dynobots offered Hot Rod a lift aboard the Monsterbots' ship. He refused though, and made it back into Machination HQ to take care of something "personal". He eventually found Scorponok's real head (and remarked how ugly it was). Hunter also showed up and let Hot Rod know how to disable it, but before he could do so, Scorponok grabbed him. Before Scorponok could crush Hot Rod's head, the Dynobots showed up and began to battle Scorponok. Hot Rod told Swoop which wires to sever, and he did just that, reducing Scorponok to a catatonic state. Ultra Magnus arrived took everyone back aboard his ship, which later docked with the Ark-32. Within 3 days, Hot Rod was fully repaired, with a new body form design. Maximum Dinobots #5
Some time later, while traveling through space by himself, Hot Rod found himself under attack by the Torment, a Decepticon warship crewed by Bludgeon and the Pretender Monsters. He was shot down, but managed to transmit a distress call to the Autobot starship Trion, which came to his rescue. After the Decepticons were chased off, Hot Rod joined the crew of the Trion. Lost & Found
When the Decepticons' galaxy-wide assault hit, the Trion was shot down over Cybertron. Hot Rod sent out a distress signal and was ecstatic when he ran into some other Autobots. They must've come specifically to save his team and... wait, why do you all look surprised about my signal and appear beaten up and resourceless and... oh arsebiscuits! All Hail Megatron #4
Hot Rod was taken back to base and relayed the story of how he and his other crew-mates from the Trion arrived on Cybertron, having been diverted there by Decepticon ships and forced to crash land. Once on the surface, Hot Rod sent out his distress signal and was so sure someone heard it. Kup arrived with the rest of the Trion's crew at that point, just in time to tell Hot Rod of course no one heard his message. All Hail Megatron #5
After the Autobots narrowly avoided the Insecticon swarm and Sunstreaker sacrificed himself, Hot Rod jumped to Drift's defense when he was being insulted by Bumblebee. All Hail Megatron #9 When the Autobots were later rescued by Omega Supreme, Hot Rod was glad that he sent out the distress call. He was then ferried to Earth with the other Autobots aboard Omega. All Hail Megatron #10
For the next two years, the Autobots would remain on Earth as Prime feared the return of the Decepticons. Unfortunately, this lead to the capture of a number of Autobots by Skywatch, including Windcharger, Gears and Prowl. Hot Rod, already frustrated, lashed out at Optimus, accusing him of keeping the Autobots on the planet because he needed someone to protect and demanding he be allowed lead a team to rescue Prowl. An admonished Prime agreed to a covert operation, but with Ironhide along to watch over things. While Prowl was freed, it turned out the humans had used him as bait to draw the other Autobots in. However Wheeljack's new shielding protected Hot Rod's team from Skywatch's inhibitors and in a panic the soldiers switched to lethal measures. Hot Rod was targeted and Ironhide was killed protecting him. An enraged Hot Rod turned on the humans, damaging their equipment and machinery.
After returning with Ironhide's body, Hot Rod was shocked as Optimus Prime resigned his position as leader. ...For All Mankind Disgusted with Prime's decision and unimpressed with the undecisiveness of the others, Hot Rod and several of his comrades took off on their own.
His team later encountered a group of Decepticons led by Swindle and after a short skirmish agreed to join forces in order to leave Earth. New Arrivals, Old Encounters
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A Rude Awakening Seasons in Flight Enemies of the System Earthworks
Henkei! Henkei! pack-in comic
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Henkei! Henkei! volume 2 Henkei! Henkei! volume 3 Henkei! Henkei! volume 4 Henkei! Henkei! volume 9
Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga
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
Toys
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Notes
- 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 the comics, Hot Rod was also colored magenta (almost entirely so), while Rodimus was colored in the reds, oranges and yellows of his toy. Future comics and toys would ignore any differences in color between the character's two forms, presenting them both in the original toy colors (see the image at the head of the article for a good example).
- The Japanese The Headmasters cartoon, in addition to featuring the coloration differences of the Generation 1 cartoon, also added some extra lines around the perimeter of Rodimus's eyes to further distinguish him from Hot Rod. These odd-looking lines appeared only intermittently, thankfully so—they made Rodimus look like he was wearing robo-mascara.
- In The Transformers: The Movie, Hot Rod does not transform the same way twice.
- 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 <ref>Image of Rodimus Prime's animated transformation scheme from TV Magazine</ref> (barring a few animation errors that depicted it as a separate unit). This transformation scheme was realized in toy form with Rodimus's 6" Titanium Series action figure.
- Voice actor Ted Schwartz was originally cast to succeed Judd Nelson as the voice of Rodimus Prime for the third season of the animated series, but was subsequently replaced by Dick Gautier. Before his replacement, however, Schwartz recorded Rodimus's lines for several episodes (most likely all five parts of "Five Faces of Darkness"), and although Gautier re-recorded the dialogue, technical oversight led to some of Schwartz's readings making it into the finished episodes. He can be heard delivering all of Rodimus's lines in the recap for part 1 that plays at the beginning of part 2, and speaking one line during the scene on Goo in part 3.
- Hot Rod might be the Transformers character with the most names in the US. From "Hot Rod" to "Rodimus Prime", to "Rodimus Major" to just plain "Rodimus". Varieties of "Rodimus" appear to be how he will be for a while, as Hasbro appears to be unable to secure the trademark on "Hot Rod".
- Side Burn's powered up form has a color scheme which resembles Hot Rod's.
- Aside from the Energon namesake character, Hot Rod has also been homaged twice (or possibly thrice depending on how you look at it) in the Unicron Trilogy. For Armada, the "Powerlinx" upgrade of Hot Shot was given a very Hot-Rod-inspired deco. In Cybertron, Takara made a redeco of Hot Shot (well, "Exillion"), who already had some Hot Rod homage elements in his toy design, with Hot Rod deco as a DVD-pack-in exclusive. Hasbro then took this deco, altered it, and released it in the US line at mass retail as the new character Excellion.
- One of the first concepts for Classics Rodimus was based around the Pagani Zonda super car, before the Dome Zero design was decided upon.
- At BotCon 2002, Dick Gautier "confirmed", jokingly, that Rodimus Prime is gay.
- This Rodimus Prime, along with the original Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, and Jazz makes a cameo appearance as one of the four elders who began the Space Bridge project in the Cybertron episode Balance.
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
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- Character stubs missing fiction
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