Hot Rod cannot catch a break, can he? Hot Rod's been a character bound to controversy since his inception, and though not all of his appearances have caused issues, the ones that do tend to get a lot of negative attention. To the community, he's seen as the poster boy for Hasbro's "out with the old, in with the new" mindset that caused a lot of beloved 1984-1985 characters to be killed off in the 1986 movie, with some (either jokingly or seriously) still claiming he was the one that killed Optimus Prime. Many a meme exists of his collaboration with Megatron to kill the beloved big rig. Jumping 35 years later, and Hot Rod's got a new controversy. Smaller characters, sold at higher price points padded out with accessories. Both he and his Matrix infused alter ego Rodimus Prime (Rodimus moreso than Hot Rod) have taken pages from Siege Astrotrain and Earthrise Cliffjumper and are filling out their price range with lots of accessories. Hot Rod's a Deluxe Class toy being sold as a Voyager, while Rodimus is a Voyager being sold as a Commander. The original plan was to review both of these figures together; QC issues and shipping delays have put Rodimus on the backburner for now. His time will come, but in the meantime, is Hot Rod worth the extra $15?
Starting in car mode. While I think the car mode looks excellent, tolerance issues plague this toy, and the car mode suffers from it the most. For the sake of the transformation, the panel lines don't look clean and intentional, making some parts like the ends of the headlights stick out like they're being held on with gaffer tape. Some of the tabs themselves are also relatively easy to snap. I've snapped off a tab on one of the smokestacks on the copy I have, which makes the panel line gaps even more significant due to a missing locking point. For something taking so much strain, it's annoying that it wasn't given more support. If you manage to get everything into place properly or can look past the gaps, the car mode looks good. One issue that many might have, though, is that it's not movie accurate. A few minor shaping differences, and a different colour pallet, opting more for a toy accurate colour scheme. With a Fan First Friday coming soon, I wouldn't be surprised to hear if a movie-accurate colour scheme is on the way, similar to how Galvatron is getting a toy accurate colour scheme. While I think the paint scheme with this release is ok, I wish some things were handled better, like the flames on his hood, but overall, it's not bad. I love the look of the car mode; I think the sculpting differences between this and the movie work in the toy's favour, adding to the sense of speed it has. However that is entirely subjective, it might be more of a problem for you, or you may not have even noticed.
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| Ahh, gotta love mistransformed product shots... |
Hot Rod comes with a lot of accessories, with the overall package being a bit hit and miss for me. First, you get the guns from his original toy, which can peg into the car in either the engine or slots on the hood of the car (which also double as robot mode storage), but these have a habit of scraping off the silver paint. It's a shame because the guns are nicely sculpted. Another accessory you get is his buzzsaw from the underwater scene on the Quintesson planet, which can also tab into the guns for the sake of storage. Finally, for now, you get some effect parts for his arm blasters, which can tab into the smokestacks in car mode. I'll cover the last two accessories once we get to Robot mode, as they cannot store anywhere in car mode. The buzzsaw is a nice inclusion, though the sculpting is kept intentionally plain for the sake of making it look like it's constantly spinning. The effect parts for the arm blasters are an annoying compromise for me; they were done in blue as a part of gang moulding, which looks bad when you consider the Autobot energy blasts are a yellow/ orange colour. Hopefully, a movie-accurate repaint has the parts moulded in that colour instead of Matrix Blue (more on that later).
When you get into Robot mode, you get a good looking but also not very exciting Hot Rod. One big issue with 2021 toys of the 1986 movie cast is that thanks to them being divided between Studio Series and War for Cybertron, there's an awkward mix of standards for the aesthetics of characters. This becomes really noticeable when you get cases like Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime. Rodimus goes all-in on the WFC aesthetic, with lots of detailing in the plastic, whereas Hot Rod goes for more movie-accurate detailing, making him look very dull in comparison. That's not to say that this is a bad toy, far from it. The Deluxe size at the Voyager price range has meant that the transformation can be more complicated, and extra joints were included to add more playability to the figure. Unlike other Transformers, there aren't many visible hollow spaces on the figure; a common shortcut designers use to cut down on the budget. The three areas I can find, the back of the pelvis and the bottom of the feet, are minuscule and so far out of the way that it's not a problem. Unfortunately, tolerances are once again an issue because while the figure looks very limber, certain areas are uncomfortably stiff, a prime example of that being the shoulders. A mix of joint placement, sculpting oversight, and uncomfortably stiff joints has resulted in some figures breaking at the shoulders. I want to say something is similar to a fault the original Masterpiece Hot Rod/ Rodimus Prime had. It also makes some poses somewhat awkward to do, including the position that's one of the big selling points of the toy, the ability to do the "Light our Darkest Hour" scene from the movie. The final two accessories are to pull off this moment, a Matrix (the same one that comes with Earthrise Optimus Prime), and an effect part to go over it to make it look like it's opening (this effect part being why the laser effects were also blue). Hot Rod's hands even act like Earthrise Prime's do, in that they can open up to have the Matrix handle slide over the thumbs. The only problem with this is the small size of the Matrix combined with the joint positions in the shoulders; it is challenging to get Hot Rod in a place where holding it feels natural or closely resembles the movie. A large part of that also comes from how small the Matrix is, for the sake of storing in Earthrise Prime. Storage for the Matrix isn't an issue for Hot Rod because there's nowhere to keep it on him. While it is movie accurate, if it wasn't going to store on him anyway, it would have been nice to get a Matrix that was sized to allow figures to hold it properly, something almost every Matrix gives up for the sake of storage. While it is fantastic that Hot Rod has a fold-out visor, a flip-out welding torch and a flip-out plug for the buzzsaw, I would have prefered those got cut to get a better Matrix. I'm also disappointed that he didn't come with a fishing pole, 0/10.
While this is a very good, gimmick-free Hot Rod toy, some issues take the shine off. I want to love the car mode, but it feels like it's fighting to stay out of car mode. Robot mode looks good, but the sparse detailing makes it look rather basic compared to his older self in Kingdom. While I like most of the accessories, the big selling point of the Matrix opening loses its charm due to the issues with the shoulder joints and the size of the Matrix itself. For the sake of storage, the small size works, but not when the figure is holding it. I hope that the stiff joints and the connections needed to keep together in car mode are improved, either on the version currently in stores or a potential Generations Selects release. Though I have minor complaints with the accessories, the joints and locking points are the most significant issues I have with the toy. It'll be interesting to see if Rodimus improves on those issues; for now, he will be one of the following Autobot reviews once he comes in. In the meantime, the next review continues the Heralds of Unicron, with Kingdom Cyclonus.
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