Review: #798
Name: Hot Shot
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - Legacy: United
Year of Release: 2024
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 3)
Mold Status: new
VEHICLE MODE:
This time based on his Cybertron appearance, Hot Shot transforms into a slick blue sports car.
This is a nice vehicle from the front and sides. It's letdown by the back due to the gaps left from his transformation.
One pleasant surprise is how big Hot Shot is. He is bigger and chunkier than your average Deluxe. We haven't had this for a while now.
He comes with a transparent gun for robot mode, and a Cyber Key. The Cyber Key is tiny, much tinier than the originals.
While the Cyber Key can plug into the back, it is non-functional. You need to flip out the wings yourself as they are on a hinge.
The yellow gun can peg on top to complete the look.
Despite the messy rear, this is a fantastic vehicle mode that's rock solid to hold and play.
TRANSFORMATION:
You can tell why Hot Shot is so big, it's because his engineering is simple, they had the budget for extra plastic. This is not a bad thing, and the same goes for the fact that the transformation scheme is a basic upgrade of his original Cybertron toy. The back splits into two and extends to form the legs. While the front splits in half and forms his arms along with the sides of the vehicle. The roof rotates to form his back and you can reveal his head.
ROBOT MODE:
Just like the transformation, Hot Shot's robot mode is accurate to his original right down to all the awkward kibble placement.
In particular, the windshield hands off his back, and the car's side panels are on his forearms. Interestingly enough, those panels are attached on via 5mm pegs, so you can actually pull them off if you wish.
The head sculpt is fine, it's not particularly noteworthy.
His size will surprise you, as he is tall. Thanks to his chunkiness, Hot Shot feels bigger than nearly all Deluxes, and is almost par with Voyagers. That said, he doesn't have the same mass as Voyagers, but he doesn't feel like a hollow floppy mess either. It's perfect.
From the side, you can tell that he's pretty much the car standing up, again, a simple transformation is not a bad thing.
Articulation is good, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
In terms of proportions, his arms are a bit long, and the swivels and hinges are not combined but rather separate, so can feel off.
He can hold the gun in either hand, and when not in use, it will peg in the same place as in car mode, but this time on his back.
There aren't too many flaws not already mentioned, although as a personal opinion, the wings on his back are a tad small so it can be hard to see thanks to his large shoulderpads.
This is a really faithful update to the character.
OVERALL:
Hot Shot is a fantastic figure and one that you should get. It is a great upgrade to the original toy. While his engineering is simplistic and heavily inspired by the original, it gave it the chance to be produced bigger and more solidly built than a lot of Deluxes, especially ones from the movies. This is Transformers fun distilled to its core.
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