Review: #309
Name: Hot Rodimus
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
For the 28th flagship figure in the Masterpiece line comes Hot Rodimus... wait... didn't Hot Rod already have a toy? Nah, that's Rodimus Prime.
Anyway, Hot Rod comes in the fancy black boxes that all Japanese releases of Masterpiece figures have been in.
In terms of contents, taking everything out Hot Rod comes with a fishing rod (made of a plastic that has higher flexibility so it won't snap as easily), a pair of guns and and a circular saw.
He also comes with the standard collector's card, with a nice piece of artwork on one side and tech specs on the other.
VEHICLE MODE:
Hot Rod transforms into a futuristic sports car with a blue canopy, sweet chromed side exhausts and a huge spoiler.
This is a fantastic vehicle mode and wins over the previous Masterpiece version. It is very sleek in person and looks amazing.
One thing to note is that a lot of people have commented about the poor quality chrome on the figure, which is prone to rubbing off soon after taking him out of packaging. There's nothing to avoid this apart from putting on clear nail polish, unfortunately the underlying plastic is orange so eventually, your Hot Rod is going to have matte orange exhausts, :(.
This version of Hot Rod is in the newer smaller size of the Autobot cars. He's approximately the size of a Voyager figure (above is Classics Optimus Prime). He is able to fit into Masterpiece Optimus's trailer (MP-10 version) and also Masterpiece Ultra Magnus' trailer.
The pair of guns can tab onto slots on the roof. These slots are spring-loaded so when not in use, the roof still sits flush.
You can flip open the engine to slot the gun in there as well. Note that clearance in vehicle mode is extremely tight, most likely Hot Rod will scrap the table when you try to roll him.
Overall, a beautiful vehicle mode that does the character justice.
TRANSFORMATION:
You'd have thought that Hot Rod won't be able to surprise you and that his transformation will be similar to his previous Masterpiece incarnation right? Wrong. Hot Rod has a clever transformation. there are two sections which will impress you. The first is how his shoulders rotate around the wheels for robot mode. The second is how the back of the car compresses and folds up into his background. Both are ingenious and neat. Hot Rod is worthy of the Masterpiece title and the design does not feel lazy at all.
ROBOT MODE:
Hot Rod's robot mode is nicer in person than photos depict him. Although he has seem to be a bit elongated with the skinny-ish legs.
He carries most of the vehicle as a backpack, although it's very compact and does not interfere with his balance at all.
From the side, you can tell that the backpack does just out a lot and most of the mass is on top, with the legs being hollow. Funnily enough, he still manages to balance securely in any pose. Testament to the good design.
The headsculpt is nice, with his red helmet and silver crest. The paint on his face is great. The head is on a combination joint that allows him to both swivel side to side and also look up.
There is a gimmick in that you can open up the helmet and flip down his visor, which looks cool.
He has vents on his backpack which mimic the ones in the G1 cartoon. A neat feature.
In terms of size, Rodimus gets a lot taller in this mode but retains an athletic look.
He scales well with the rebooted Masterpiece line, and is understandably shorter than the Autobot leaders (since this representation is before he became Rodimus Prime).
In comparison with the previous Masterpiece figure, this version wins hands down in terms of aesthetics and also functionality. MP-28 is nowhere near as flimsy or prone to breakage.
If you open the hood of the vehicle on Hot Rod's torso, you'll see a bit empty space. If you also have MP-10 Optimus, then you can place the matrix into this slot.
In terms of poseability, Hot Rod is great with double jointed elbows and double jointed knees. Not to mention his ankle tilt which is impressive.
As mentioned, he balances well in robot mode even when you have him dynamically posed. He has wrist articulation and his hands can open (all his fingers are jointed as one).
He also has waist articulation, able to do crunches. Not many Transformations can say that they can bend forward at the waist.
Of course, you can pose him in such a way that he uses his vehicle exhausts as weapons, and coupled with the visor, this makes for a great looking iconic pose.
In terms of accessories, first up is his saw blade, which is a big silver disc. The disc can spin.
To attach it, you need to fold the hand back into its slot which reveals a peg to attach the disc to. It's quite big compared to the robot to be fair.
The next piece of accessory is the fishing rod. An oddly peaceful choice.
Hot Rod actually has enough articulation to pull off the fishing peacefully while sitting down pose, which is extremely impressive.
Lastly, he has his pair of guns, which are called the Photon Laser.
To get Hot Rod to hold them, there are slots on the inside of his hands which correspond to the pegs on the gun's handles. Note that in order to attach the guns to the vehicle, you need to flip a separate handle down.
The pair of guns had good sculpting and they are both different, one has a rounded barrel while the other is more squared.
Both guns are painted in a light purple. Hot Rod actually has a decent number of paint applications.
If need be, you can open up the hip flaps in order to give you the full range of motion for the hips. Hot Rod doesn't actually have any ratchet joints though.
Hot Rod feels solid in your hands and love the way the designer have given us such a well formed torso, from the filled sides (from the vehicle headlights) to the face that parts of the hood fold down to fill in the space on either side of his head.
A fantastic robot mode and you'd be hard pressed to decide which is the better most. This Hot Rod has good proportions, amazing articulation and is a great representation of the character.
OVERALL:
When MP-28 was revealed to be Hot Rodimus, you'd be forgiven for thinking that TakaraTomy wasted a slot since the character was already done before in the Masterpiece line. Then Hot Rodimus was released without as much hype as other characters, which is a shame as Hot Rodimus is a fantastic toy. He has improved upon the MP-09 incarnation in every way. The vehicle mode is sleek while the robot mode is athletic and packs a huge amount of articulation. Hot Rodimus is worth purchasing and worthy of the Masterpiece name.
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