Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 16, 2010 21:55:54 GMT
Transformers Hot Rod
Hot Rod is the new identification character introduced for Transformers The Movie. It's a roll sort of occupied by Bumblebee earlier in the G1 Cartoon and later filled by Cheetor and Hot Shot. He's one of the first new toys to be released by Hasbro that weren't used or designed for another toyline (There's half a dozen that fit this bill in the previous year of Transformers toys) but is believed to have been designed by the animators first. I'm wondering how far in advance he was designed and if his vehicle mode - red with flame details - had any influence on the decision to change Tracks from his Red Diaclone colours to the Blue Autobot that we're familiar with.
Hot Rod's vehicle mode is a red wedge shaped car with a large yellow spoiler on the back, clear blue windows, an exposed chrome engine, firebird detail on the bonnet which tapers towards the front of the car and the inset moulded orange headlights. The sides of the car feature large chromed exhaust pipes. Essentially he's an updated version of the classic American Hot Rod car. To me he's the most plausible of the car modes shown on the three Autobot cars from the Future (Blurr & Kup are the other two) that were released in 1986. You feel you could get into Hot Rod and drive him. He's also got a nice feature that's relatively rare on Transformers up till this point: he can use either of his Photon Laser hand guns in vehicle mode by plugging the 4mm peg on the bottom into the matching hole on top of the engine.
Transformation: Pull back on the base of the rear of the car. Fold the sides of the front of the car out. Pull the bonnet of the car up and then forward so the top of the bonnet faces forward. Fold the engine back 180 degrees to reveal the face and lock into the bonnet. Rotate the waist piece underneath the car. Fold the bonnet forward under the car to form the chest and clip into the waist piece. Fold each arm up at the elbow and rotate in 90 degrees at the bicep. Fold the feet out and stand. Rotate the back panel through 180 degrees so that you end up with a point behind each shoulder.
Hot Rod's robot mode is larger than most of the Diaclone originated cars (save for Inferno & Grapple) and much close to the deluxe sized Transformers we're familiar with today. The robot mode mainly keeps the red from the car with orange plastic used for the upper legs and the body which is covered by the bonnet. The face is painted in grey, with blue eyes, and looks a little more cartoon like than what's gone before. All his articulation is found in his arms, and there's quite a lot of it: They swing back at the shoulders, there's a bicep swivel, bending elbows and turning wrists. If the shoulders could turn allowing the arms to raise - not beyond the engineering of this toy then he'd be nearly perfect here. Each hand has a 4mm peg hole allowing him to hold both of his Photon Laser weapons at once. In addition his exhaust pipes run along the sides lower arms giving him the appearance of three built in weapons tubes on each arm: Indeed they're shown to be weapons in the Movie.
A major variation exists for this toy: he either has metal feet & rubber tires or black plastic feet & tires, as per the later release. In addition to the variation the mould appears to have been adapted before it ever got to the shops. Hot Rod has moulded knees hidden within his lower legs. To modify the toy to allow them to be exposed have a look at this Blog entry on Hot Rod's hidden knees. Hot Rod also suffers from a problem with the stickers attached to the front of his upper legs: They're prone to scraping against the lower legs during Transformation damaging the stickers.
I like Hot Rod. Important Transformers character, yes, but also a decent toy which is a bridge between the Diaclone toys that were sold in the first two years of the Transformers line and the original Transformers to come.
Hot Rod was distributed in the USA and the UK for one year only in 1986, but stock of this original version was still available into 1987 by which time Hasbro had released an upgraded version with minor modifications and different accessories as Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt which I detail bellow. He was sold in Japan in 1986 as Transformers C-78 Hot Rodimus.
The original version of Hot Rod was returned as an original box reissue released by Takara in 2000 and as Rodimus Major in Commemorative Series 1 by Hasbro in 2002 - both these toys have metal feet & rubber tires. The Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt has also been reissued with additional accessories as Takara's Transformers Collection 13 Hot Rodimus in 2004. Meanwhile one of Hot Rod's Photon Laser guns was modified and used on the GI Joe Stellar Stiletto in 1988.
Hot Rod has proved a popular character with many attempts at doing a new version of him. Takara made Micromaster Hot Rodimus in 1991 as a companion for Star Convoy (Optimus Prime) making him the only Generation 1 Transformer to be redone as a Micromaster in the original run of toys. 2004's Energon Rodimus is a new version of a more adult Hot Rod while 2006's Classics Rodimus, 2007's Alternators Rodimus, 2009's Legends Rodimus and Animated Rodimus in 2010 are all new interpretations.
There have been other homages to Hot Rod without using the name, usually as a repaint: Robots in Disguise Super Side Burn/Speedbreaker, a repaint of Sideburn/Speedbreaker, Powerlinx Hotshot, a repaint of Armada Hotshot and Japanese DVD version of Exillion & Western Excellion, both repaints of Cybertron Hotshot are all good examples. In fact the lack of a real Hot Rod version of Energon's Hotshot comes as a real surprise though you can see elements of Hot Rod's colours in Energon Hot Shot's robot mode.
Rodimus Prime
Now I'm guessing most of you have seen the 1986 Transformers movie. If you haven't then go away and watch it.
Seen it ? Good. Much better than the Bay efforts isn't it?
At the end of the film Hot Rod is transformed by the Matrix into the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime. To compliment the film's release Rodimus Prime was released, sharing case space in a new assortment with Wreck-Gar, the Junkion leader who becomes the Autobots ally in the film.
Rodimus Prime is..... well I'm not sure. A camper van/"Winnebago" maybe? Essentially it looks like Hot Rod's vehicle mode has lost it's bonnet mounted engine and been shoved into a huge blocky red trailer with silver exhaust pipes and fire details up the side mimicking Hot Rod's vehicle mode.
Transform: Pull the cab out of the front of the vehicle revealing that the robot's legs have been hidden under the trailer - there are wheel embedded in the front of the legs allowing Rodimus' body to be used as a vehicle, albeit an odd looking one, in it's own right. Fold the feet down at the end of the legs. Pull the sides of the front of the vehicle out to form the arms. Fold the bonnet forward 180 degrees. Raise the head. Remove the yellow fin and peg into the robot's back. Peg the Photon Eliminator gun, a longer black version of one of Hot Rod's Photon Lasers, into his fist.
But the trailer? That transforms too! Fold the sides of the trailer out to the sides revealing a folded up gun inside. Unfold the gun extending it's neck and plugging the blast shield into it.
Rodimus' robot mode looks like a taller version of Hot Rod's. He's got red lower legs, waist, arms & head with an orange chest, hands, and upper legs. His articulation is different though: all he had are turning shoulders which the original Hot Rod lacks. That's it, nothing else. But he looks good, especially standing on his battle station which features a turning dual cannon.
There's a variation on this toy: He either has rubber tires & metal feet or black plastic tires & feet.
Rodimus Prime was released in the USA & UK at the tail end of 1986 and was available into 1987. He was released in Japan at the same time as C-77 Rodimus Convoy. He was reissued by Takara in mid-December 2000 with the rubber tires & metal feet. Hasbro reissued the toy as part Commemorative Series VII which also contained Dirge
Nowhere near as popular as his original version Rodimus Prime has himself had a 2007 Titanium version and is probably more the inspiration behind 2004 Energon Rodimus than Hot Rod is.....
Rodimus does have a limited edition Japanese recolour as the gold chromed God Primus.
Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt
In 1987 a number of older toys were re-released with new Targetmaster companions. Each toy had some remoulding to allow them to use the weapons in vehicle mode hold the weapons in robot mode.
In the west - US, UK and associated markets - we got the following toys:
AUTOBOTS
Blurr with Haywire
Hotrod with Firebolt
Kup with Recoil
DECEPTICONS
Cyclonus with Nightstick
Scourge with Fracas
Japan however got two new repaints of Diaclone Car Autobot packed with Targetmasters taken from the western toys:
Stepper with Nebulon - a Jazz repaint with a renamed Targetmaster Nightstick previously packed with Cyclonus
Artfire with Nightstick - an Inferno repaint with a renamed Targetmaster Fracas previously packed with Scourge
There is some evidence the Japanese exclusive Targetmasters may have had their names swapped round by accident, not least of which is the Nightstick name swapping from one Targetmaster gun to the other!
Hot Rod's toy receives the following modifications: For a start the Targetmaster is the plastic feet & wheels version. Gone are both the Photon lasers. The hands are modified to have 5mm peg holes instead of the 4mm ones found on the previous version. The stickers attached to the front of the upper legs are modified so they no long rub against the lower legs during Transformation.
Hot Rod's handheld weapon is now a Targetmaster, which is either an armoured humanoid, an armoured green skinned alien or smaller Transformer robot depending on which version of Transformers continuity you follow. Firebolt is about 4cm high with a black body, arms & head and grey legs - these colours are shared with all the US & Japanese only Targetmasters while the ones distributed to both countries are red & dark grey for the Autobots and pale blue & pale grey for the Decepticons. His sole point of articulation is his hips which bend forward as part of his transformation sequence.
Transform: Bend the upper body forward 180 degrees so the chest is against the legs and the head between the feet. This exposes the 5mm peg on his back and the pair of grey gun barrels that extended from the tops of his legs into his body. He can now be held as a blocky hand gun with the barrels pointing out of the top of the front of the gun.
As a weapon it looks a little odd and blocky but it does work. I've seen some worse non Transforming guns on Transformers toys! The 5mm standard peg allows him to be held by the other Targetmasters and many other Transformers.
Targetmaster Hot Rod was sold during 1987 in the western markets only - he was not released in Japan and was not retained in the boxed Targetmaster assortment sold during 1988. This led to Targetmaster Hot Rod being a very much in demand toy. Then in 2004 Transformers Collection 13 came out....
Crystal Rodimus
This Hot Rod was one of two limited edition recolours (1500 pairs) sold in 2001 at the Tokyo Toy Festival to accompany the release of Takara's "original box" Hot Rodimus. He was packaged in a blue version of Hot Rod's normal packaging. Crystal Rodimus was cast in transparent versions of the red, orange and yellow plastics used to make up the normal Hot Rod toy. The feet remain metal and the guns are still cast in solid grey.
Incredibly this release has spawned homages of it's own with clear versions of Classics Rodimus & Animated Rodimus being released in 2010!
Black Rodimus
The other Hot Rod recolour sold at the Tokyo Toy Festival in 2001 was Black Rodimus which swaps red for black and orange & yellow to grey.
One of the first Evil Black Transformer repaints, Black Rodimus has spawned it's own homage too in the form of Botcon 2008 Shattered Glass Rodimus.
Transformers Collection #13 Hot Rodimus
The Hot Rod released in Takara's Transformer Collection series of reissues during 2004 is to my mind both the definitive Hot Rod and the definitive lesson in how to do a re-release.
As a base this release uses the Targetmaster Hot Rod, not previously released in Japan. This is a great start because original Targetmaster Hot Rod's cost a lot of money and also helps to sell the toy to those who bought Takara's previous "Original Box" reissue. The feet are the metal versions and the wheels have rubber tires like the original Hot Rod and different to the previous Targetmaster version. The Photon Lasers, sold with the original Hot Rod, are also included here with enlarged rings round the tops of the handles so that both the original and Targetmaster versions can hold them as hand guns and mount them as weapons on the engine in vehicle mode.
Every part you could want for your Hot Rod in one box. To this day TFC#13 Hot Rod remains a strong seller on the secondary market.
Hot Rod is the new identification character introduced for Transformers The Movie. It's a roll sort of occupied by Bumblebee earlier in the G1 Cartoon and later filled by Cheetor and Hot Shot. He's one of the first new toys to be released by Hasbro that weren't used or designed for another toyline (There's half a dozen that fit this bill in the previous year of Transformers toys) but is believed to have been designed by the animators first. I'm wondering how far in advance he was designed and if his vehicle mode - red with flame details - had any influence on the decision to change Tracks from his Red Diaclone colours to the Blue Autobot that we're familiar with.
Hot Rod's vehicle mode is a red wedge shaped car with a large yellow spoiler on the back, clear blue windows, an exposed chrome engine, firebird detail on the bonnet which tapers towards the front of the car and the inset moulded orange headlights. The sides of the car feature large chromed exhaust pipes. Essentially he's an updated version of the classic American Hot Rod car. To me he's the most plausible of the car modes shown on the three Autobot cars from the Future (Blurr & Kup are the other two) that were released in 1986. You feel you could get into Hot Rod and drive him. He's also got a nice feature that's relatively rare on Transformers up till this point: he can use either of his Photon Laser hand guns in vehicle mode by plugging the 4mm peg on the bottom into the matching hole on top of the engine.
Transformation: Pull back on the base of the rear of the car. Fold the sides of the front of the car out. Pull the bonnet of the car up and then forward so the top of the bonnet faces forward. Fold the engine back 180 degrees to reveal the face and lock into the bonnet. Rotate the waist piece underneath the car. Fold the bonnet forward under the car to form the chest and clip into the waist piece. Fold each arm up at the elbow and rotate in 90 degrees at the bicep. Fold the feet out and stand. Rotate the back panel through 180 degrees so that you end up with a point behind each shoulder.
Hot Rod's robot mode is larger than most of the Diaclone originated cars (save for Inferno & Grapple) and much close to the deluxe sized Transformers we're familiar with today. The robot mode mainly keeps the red from the car with orange plastic used for the upper legs and the body which is covered by the bonnet. The face is painted in grey, with blue eyes, and looks a little more cartoon like than what's gone before. All his articulation is found in his arms, and there's quite a lot of it: They swing back at the shoulders, there's a bicep swivel, bending elbows and turning wrists. If the shoulders could turn allowing the arms to raise - not beyond the engineering of this toy then he'd be nearly perfect here. Each hand has a 4mm peg hole allowing him to hold both of his Photon Laser weapons at once. In addition his exhaust pipes run along the sides lower arms giving him the appearance of three built in weapons tubes on each arm: Indeed they're shown to be weapons in the Movie.
A major variation exists for this toy: he either has metal feet & rubber tires or black plastic feet & tires, as per the later release. In addition to the variation the mould appears to have been adapted before it ever got to the shops. Hot Rod has moulded knees hidden within his lower legs. To modify the toy to allow them to be exposed have a look at this Blog entry on Hot Rod's hidden knees. Hot Rod also suffers from a problem with the stickers attached to the front of his upper legs: They're prone to scraping against the lower legs during Transformation damaging the stickers.
I like Hot Rod. Important Transformers character, yes, but also a decent toy which is a bridge between the Diaclone toys that were sold in the first two years of the Transformers line and the original Transformers to come.
Hot Rod was distributed in the USA and the UK for one year only in 1986, but stock of this original version was still available into 1987 by which time Hasbro had released an upgraded version with minor modifications and different accessories as Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt which I detail bellow. He was sold in Japan in 1986 as Transformers C-78 Hot Rodimus.
The original version of Hot Rod was returned as an original box reissue released by Takara in 2000 and as Rodimus Major in Commemorative Series 1 by Hasbro in 2002 - both these toys have metal feet & rubber tires. The Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt has also been reissued with additional accessories as Takara's Transformers Collection 13 Hot Rodimus in 2004. Meanwhile one of Hot Rod's Photon Laser guns was modified and used on the GI Joe Stellar Stiletto in 1988.
Hot Rod has proved a popular character with many attempts at doing a new version of him. Takara made Micromaster Hot Rodimus in 1991 as a companion for Star Convoy (Optimus Prime) making him the only Generation 1 Transformer to be redone as a Micromaster in the original run of toys. 2004's Energon Rodimus is a new version of a more adult Hot Rod while 2006's Classics Rodimus, 2007's Alternators Rodimus, 2009's Legends Rodimus and Animated Rodimus in 2010 are all new interpretations.
There have been other homages to Hot Rod without using the name, usually as a repaint: Robots in Disguise Super Side Burn/Speedbreaker, a repaint of Sideburn/Speedbreaker, Powerlinx Hotshot, a repaint of Armada Hotshot and Japanese DVD version of Exillion & Western Excellion, both repaints of Cybertron Hotshot are all good examples. In fact the lack of a real Hot Rod version of Energon's Hotshot comes as a real surprise though you can see elements of Hot Rod's colours in Energon Hot Shot's robot mode.
Rodimus Prime
Now I'm guessing most of you have seen the 1986 Transformers movie. If you haven't then go away and watch it.
Seen it ? Good. Much better than the Bay efforts isn't it?
At the end of the film Hot Rod is transformed by the Matrix into the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime. To compliment the film's release Rodimus Prime was released, sharing case space in a new assortment with Wreck-Gar, the Junkion leader who becomes the Autobots ally in the film.
Rodimus Prime is..... well I'm not sure. A camper van/"Winnebago" maybe? Essentially it looks like Hot Rod's vehicle mode has lost it's bonnet mounted engine and been shoved into a huge blocky red trailer with silver exhaust pipes and fire details up the side mimicking Hot Rod's vehicle mode.
Transform: Pull the cab out of the front of the vehicle revealing that the robot's legs have been hidden under the trailer - there are wheel embedded in the front of the legs allowing Rodimus' body to be used as a vehicle, albeit an odd looking one, in it's own right. Fold the feet down at the end of the legs. Pull the sides of the front of the vehicle out to form the arms. Fold the bonnet forward 180 degrees. Raise the head. Remove the yellow fin and peg into the robot's back. Peg the Photon Eliminator gun, a longer black version of one of Hot Rod's Photon Lasers, into his fist.
But the trailer? That transforms too! Fold the sides of the trailer out to the sides revealing a folded up gun inside. Unfold the gun extending it's neck and plugging the blast shield into it.
Rodimus' robot mode looks like a taller version of Hot Rod's. He's got red lower legs, waist, arms & head with an orange chest, hands, and upper legs. His articulation is different though: all he had are turning shoulders which the original Hot Rod lacks. That's it, nothing else. But he looks good, especially standing on his battle station which features a turning dual cannon.
There's a variation on this toy: He either has rubber tires & metal feet or black plastic tires & feet.
Rodimus Prime was released in the USA & UK at the tail end of 1986 and was available into 1987. He was released in Japan at the same time as C-77 Rodimus Convoy. He was reissued by Takara in mid-December 2000 with the rubber tires & metal feet. Hasbro reissued the toy as part Commemorative Series VII which also contained Dirge
Nowhere near as popular as his original version Rodimus Prime has himself had a 2007 Titanium version and is probably more the inspiration behind 2004 Energon Rodimus than Hot Rod is.....
Rodimus does have a limited edition Japanese recolour as the gold chromed God Primus.
Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt
In 1987 a number of older toys were re-released with new Targetmaster companions. Each toy had some remoulding to allow them to use the weapons in vehicle mode hold the weapons in robot mode.
In the west - US, UK and associated markets - we got the following toys:
AUTOBOTS
Blurr with Haywire
Hotrod with Firebolt
Kup with Recoil
DECEPTICONS
Cyclonus with Nightstick
Scourge with Fracas
Japan however got two new repaints of Diaclone Car Autobot packed with Targetmasters taken from the western toys:
Stepper with Nebulon - a Jazz repaint with a renamed Targetmaster Nightstick previously packed with Cyclonus
Artfire with Nightstick - an Inferno repaint with a renamed Targetmaster Fracas previously packed with Scourge
There is some evidence the Japanese exclusive Targetmasters may have had their names swapped round by accident, not least of which is the Nightstick name swapping from one Targetmaster gun to the other!
Hot Rod's toy receives the following modifications: For a start the Targetmaster is the plastic feet & wheels version. Gone are both the Photon lasers. The hands are modified to have 5mm peg holes instead of the 4mm ones found on the previous version. The stickers attached to the front of the upper legs are modified so they no long rub against the lower legs during Transformation.
Hot Rod's handheld weapon is now a Targetmaster, which is either an armoured humanoid, an armoured green skinned alien or smaller Transformer robot depending on which version of Transformers continuity you follow. Firebolt is about 4cm high with a black body, arms & head and grey legs - these colours are shared with all the US & Japanese only Targetmasters while the ones distributed to both countries are red & dark grey for the Autobots and pale blue & pale grey for the Decepticons. His sole point of articulation is his hips which bend forward as part of his transformation sequence.
Transform: Bend the upper body forward 180 degrees so the chest is against the legs and the head between the feet. This exposes the 5mm peg on his back and the pair of grey gun barrels that extended from the tops of his legs into his body. He can now be held as a blocky hand gun with the barrels pointing out of the top of the front of the gun.
As a weapon it looks a little odd and blocky but it does work. I've seen some worse non Transforming guns on Transformers toys! The 5mm standard peg allows him to be held by the other Targetmasters and many other Transformers.
Targetmaster Hot Rod was sold during 1987 in the western markets only - he was not released in Japan and was not retained in the boxed Targetmaster assortment sold during 1988. This led to Targetmaster Hot Rod being a very much in demand toy. Then in 2004 Transformers Collection 13 came out....
Crystal Rodimus
This Hot Rod was one of two limited edition recolours (1500 pairs) sold in 2001 at the Tokyo Toy Festival to accompany the release of Takara's "original box" Hot Rodimus. He was packaged in a blue version of Hot Rod's normal packaging. Crystal Rodimus was cast in transparent versions of the red, orange and yellow plastics used to make up the normal Hot Rod toy. The feet remain metal and the guns are still cast in solid grey.
Incredibly this release has spawned homages of it's own with clear versions of Classics Rodimus & Animated Rodimus being released in 2010!
Black Rodimus
The other Hot Rod recolour sold at the Tokyo Toy Festival in 2001 was Black Rodimus which swaps red for black and orange & yellow to grey.
One of the first Evil Black Transformer repaints, Black Rodimus has spawned it's own homage too in the form of Botcon 2008 Shattered Glass Rodimus.
Transformers Collection #13 Hot Rodimus
The Hot Rod released in Takara's Transformer Collection series of reissues during 2004 is to my mind both the definitive Hot Rod and the definitive lesson in how to do a re-release.
As a base this release uses the Targetmaster Hot Rod, not previously released in Japan. This is a great start because original Targetmaster Hot Rod's cost a lot of money and also helps to sell the toy to those who bought Takara's previous "Original Box" reissue. The feet are the metal versions and the wheels have rubber tires like the original Hot Rod and different to the previous Targetmaster version. The Photon Lasers, sold with the original Hot Rod, are also included here with enlarged rings round the tops of the handles so that both the original and Targetmaster versions can hold them as hand guns and mount them as weapons on the engine in vehicle mode.
Every part you could want for your Hot Rod in one box. To this day TFC#13 Hot Rod remains a strong seller on the secondary market.