Yes, in their commitment to getting the most out of a mould, not only did we get a Rodimus Prime, but we got a Rodimus Unicronus, facial hair and all. Who are they, you ask. The red one was intended to replace Optimus Prime in G1, but due to backlash from the 86 movie, that... didn't quite happen, so now he's the Autobot equivalent of Luigi, though at least people know who he is, it's more then I can say for characters like Star Saber and Thunderclash. Unicronus on the other hand... is a bit more complicated to explain. While I haven't read Shattered Glass, I have enough of a handle on it to be able to say this. Shattered Glass is the inverse reality. Autobots are evil, Decepticons are good, and this version of Hot Rod backstabbed Optimus, took the power of Unicron for himself, and basically became what Galvatron was in the original G1 show. Are there mistakes in that? Probably, you're better off reading the comics to find out the full details, we're here to review the plastic, so let's get to it after... 7 weeks?! Look, things were a bit chaotic this Christmas period, and not always for the best reasons.
I'll start with the car modes for both Hot Rod and Rodimus cron. While they're not the nicest looking Hot Rods, they do at least barely make the requirements needed to do it. They come off as a bit too blocky at points, mainly around what will become the robot mode arms, thanks to how token the windscreens are. It is laughable how impractical these windscreens are, cause while they do keep with the sleek look of a Hot Rod car mode if you wanted to actually drive this thing, your head would have to be in the glass in order to actually see out of it. Rodimus Cron's black does hide the awkward proportions a bit better, along with a gap both car modes have for no real reason (from what I can tell). It feels like someone made a mistake in the calculations. While I can live with gaps in a mode for the sake of transformation, like holes in the arms where the hands come out because while it does look bad, it does at least do something. Here, it just looks bad and awkward.
Awkward probably best describes the Hot Rod robot modes too, though another would be "G1 but a bit off". The original Hot Rod toy (from what I can tell in pictures, never seen one in person), is just as awkward looking so one could pass these off as a homage of sorts. The main problem I have is the joint placement, mainly in the arms, though that's more on the surface cause when you dig deeper, you'll find other problems, such as sculpting and car kibble limiting leg motions, and my dreaded enemy, stickers. Paintwork at least is nice, I love the purple spiked flames on Rodimus cron, and the purple paint has a metallic coat to it, giving him a larger presence then his goody two shoe brother in mould, though it would have been nice if the head sculpt was different, to better split the two.
Now that the cars are dealt with, let's look at the space Winnebago modes. While they inherit the dumb look from their G1 ancestor, these are solid Rodimus alt modes. There is another gap problem here, though this one gives it more of a "really two vehicles" look so I can let it slide. The trailer's sleeker compared to other incarnations, which I do honestly prefer more as it makes it look more aerodynamic, faster... though something like the air wall above the glass will never change. It is a bit frustrating to get the car to attach to the trailer though at times, due to the amount of tab connections needed to make it works (something that's rather delicate as this is actually my second Rodimus Prime, I had to return the first one in because of a quality control issue in what will be the combined mode knee, which is one of the connection points in this mode. Unicronus' colour scheme though does help hide some of the more glaring issues in the mould, such as the exposed hands, and the fact that while Hot Rod is a bright red, Rodimus Prime's more maroon (at least in most depictions).
Something that becomes pretty obvious in robot mode, as all the bits that come from the Hot Rod car are still bright red, colour changing mid-transformation isn't a thing yet after all. On the plus side though, with the exception of the blatant Hot Rod thighs and easy to spot Hot Rod hands, this is a really nice looking Rodimus Prime, and the deco on Rodimus Unicronus just makes it look even better. The backpack is something I could also do without though as it's quite obnoxious in both modes, I do wish they could have done more with the engineering, and do something like in Transformers Earth Wars, turning the panels into a bigger version of Rodimus's trademark spoiler. Poseability is solid on both of them, though the shoulders are a bit limited, but they do get everything else except for a waist swivel and being able to look up. Like with Optimus Prime, they both have their own versions of the Matrix of Leadership (though I believe the one in Unicronus is meant to be called the Matrix of Chaos? I might be getting that confused with Nemesis Prime though). Unlike Prime though, it's easier to access as all you have to do is lift up the chest formed from the car hoods. Both of them are the same mould, even down to the matrix core, though differing in deco. Prime's one has a yellow grip, and dark blue light piping with silver paint while Unicronus' has a grey handle, dark orange light piping with black paint (and a few touches of that lovely metallic purple). Shine a light on them, and these things will glow beautifully. Like with Primes, they can be used to hold Prime Masters and Titan Masters.
While it would have been great if Rodimus Unicronus had a purple Autobot symbol on him, the deco changes do add a lot to the mould and improve many of the flaws the mould has, even though no engineering has been fixed. While the engineering problems are still bad, sometimes it is how you dress it up that makes the differences, and Rodimus Unicronus is a perfect example of it. Though it could just be the robot facial hair, seriously that moustace and goutie can make anything look evil. What took me so long to review both of them though? Distribution here is a nightmare in terms of getting things from local retail, so I only got Unicronus last month. At least he was worth the wait. On the subject of black repaints making Autobots evil though, I think next week I'll look at Prime's alter ego (if all you know of it is the appearance in The Last Knight), Nemesis Prime. In the meantime, you can always check out the Kingdom Hearts Marathon on the main site, as Wednesday is Kingdom Hearts 2. See you next week.
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