Review: #38
Name: Rodimus Prime w/ Offshoot
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2011
Size Class: Masterpiece
Variations: the Japanese TakaraTomy version was released first as MP-09 Rodimus Convoy, and had the inclusion of a trailer
VEHICLE MODE:
Rodimus transforms into futuristic sports car, that is accurate to the on-screen representation of the third season cartoon. There are numerous changes to the Japanese release here, most notable is the exclusion of the trailer, but another thing that jumps out at you is the change to blue headlights, it doesn't look that good here.
The transparent blue plastic used is much darker than the Japanese version, it works much better this way on the windshield. The back doesn't have any paint, so it looks fairly bare and boring, but at least Rodimus keeps the chrome exhausts and it looks great here.
The biggest panel break on mine is definitely the front hood, the spring loaded piece on mine doesn't want to sit flush against the rest of the car, and it's something I have seen on other samples. I've only just noticed in this shot, Rodimus is pretty wide, while the front seems a bit narrow.
Apart from the head, there's not much obvious robot bits sitting along the bottom. Rodimus has really tight clearance in vehicle mode though, he can only roll on smooth surfaces. I can't seem to transform it such that all his wheels are touching the table (although I didn't try very hard).
The back of the car is also situated too high, such that you can clearly see a gap underneath. It doesn't help that it is a big empty gap, which is unsightly. Also, there's a bit of transparent blue plastic on top of the car, I wished they painted this in red as it is very obvious (it's a transformation hinge).
If you look carefully, there are a few gaps in car mode here and there, the most notable ones are formed where the arms plug into the body.
Onto the gimmicks, Rodimus doesn't carry too much in vehicle mode, but they are still quite nice. The first one is that his windshield opens up like in the movie, a very nice touch that I didn't think they needed to include.
By opening the windshield, you can see there are some fairly intricate sculpted details, including seats, steering wheel and some other car aspects. The bad part about this gimmick is that it wears the orange paint down on the hinge, straight out of the packaging and mine already has paint scraped off, that area is constantly being rubbed against other pieces during transformation.
The other gimmick is that you can flip up a small piece on the engine and it reveals a rectangular hole, you can then plug in either of his guns or Offshoot. The engine loses the chrome from the Japanese version but is instead painted in silver.
I think Rodimus looks awesome with the gun plugged in. One thing I forgot to mention is that Rodimus retains the rubber wheels (although I'm not sure how good the quality is, guess I'll just have to wait and see how soon before the tires start to split).
You can also rest Offshoot in gun mode, Targetmaster style. I say 'rest' and not 'plug' because I don't think Offshoot plugs in, it's more like the shape of the engine kinda fits with the gap underneath Offshoot, and he can sort of rest there, that's how he was done in the stock photos and the instructions are very vague for this feature.
Rodimus is decently sized, about leader-classed sizing, I've compared him to Cliffjumper above. Rodimus also has a little bit of heft to him, just a tiny bit heavier than you would expect. Did I mention how the windshield has a nice glossy sheen to it?
A sleek vehicle mode that makes for a great display piece, you can even display him with the interior showing, a great touch. The matte red plastic used is nice, albeit feeling a bit cheap for a 'Masterpiece' figure, I really wished there were more die-cast metal on him to recreate that luxury feel that this line is supposed to convey.
PACKAGED CONTENTS:
Being a Masterpiece figure, Rodimus gets packed with a few extra goodies. Carrying over from the Japanese release, he has this twin guns, spinning saw attachment and a wielding torch attachment. Exclusive to this Hasbro version is Offshoot (his 'Targetmaster'), a second Matrix of Leadership, and a sticker sheet (the stickers are for his forearms). Not too bad for extras, unfortunately, since the trailer is now gone, there is no way to store these extra accessories, so you better find a safe place to put them before you lose them!
Upon careful study, I do believe that although this Matrix is extremely similar to the one packaged with Masterpiece Optimus Prime, it has different sculpting for the handles. It's made from plastic, and fully painted so it looks okay, it would look better if it was chromed though. The Matrix can also be slid open.
The two guns (or Hot Rod's guns) have a few extra painted details which doesn't make it look as bland.
A really nice gimmick is that the two guns can combine to form Rodimus' rifle, which looks great, and avoids a mishmash look that can be common with this type of gimmick.
OFFSHOOT:
Diverging a bit, we now focus on Offshoot. He has a really nice robot mode, the arms are a bit weedy, especially compared to his legs, but his overall stature is great.
He has barely any kibble, and surprisingly for what is basically an accessory, he features an abundance of paint, which brings out the detail. He only bares a passing resemblence to his G1 counterpart, Firebolt, though.
The head sculpt is great, however, his mouth is a bit undefined, and it seems that he has a big jutting chin. I do like how the two cannon barrels lie on his back.
In terms of size, I would have thought he would be bigger, but alas, he seems smaller than even RtS Legends Megatron.
He is clearly bigger than a Minicon though (Chainclaw pictured above). BUT, when compared to the DOTM Legion toys, Offshoot is Legion sized, he is the same height as Legion Bumblebee.
Offshoot's articulation is amazing, he has the lot, and puts a lot of larger toys to shame. Only two things missing, a waist swivel and elbow swivel, otherwise, he is near perfect in this area. One thing to note is that his feet are too small, and he tends to fall back very easily, bigger heelspurs wouldn't have hurt, but otherwise, he is perfect in every way.
Transformation is fairly simple, but it's interesting enough for it's size, more involved than I initially expected. In the end, he turns into a block with a handle and two barrels. At least it's not immediately obvious as a folded up robot, and is plausible enough looking like a gun.
I think it's a bit too thick to look good, I mean, it's nice, but a bit too thick perhaps (the robot arms).
Not much can be said about this mode, the barrels can be tilted, but it's a very solid mode, everything pegs together very nicely.
TRANSFORMATION:
The initial transformation going into vehicle mode, can only be described as painful, frustrating and nerve wrecking. Why the last one? Well, Rodimus is truly breakable, and he is definitely NOT a kids toy. Granted, I thought he would be harder, but then again, I had already studied how he was going to transform, and I had a good video to help me get through the process. The instructions are nowhere near detailed enough and at some points, completely useless and incorrect. Compared to his Japanese release, a few things are fixed, such as the leg panels being more secure. That said, although there are pegs to keep things in place, you feel like you're stressing the toy to make it fit, and some of the pegs aren't very thick, they will stress and break very easily. My one is definitely going to stay in robot mode for a very long time. The trasnformation back to robot is a lot better and more fun, I thought the way the windshield ends up into the body is a really nice aspect. Rodimus carries the whole back of his car as a shell, but considering everything, theoretically, this is a nice transformation.
ROBOT MODE (HOT ROD):
I'll start off with what I like to think of as the 'Hot Rod' representation. It's a very nice robot, well proportioned, and very screen accurate. The blue headlights look too dark on the vibrant colour scheme, and that's my only complaint in terms of colour. The two hood pieces that form his chest juts out to the side, something which I don't like.
Rodimus carries the back half of the car on his back (in compressed form), and there is a tab that clips on, with some effort, you can make it stay on. Although some say that Hasbro's version is leaning more towards the Hot Rod toy, the mold sculpting seems to indicate it favours Rodimus Prime more, especially the crotch design.
I like the darker grey plastic used here, especially for the face, it doesn't make him look as 'pale'. The chest flame design is also least pronounced, but I like the subtle look to it.
The head sculpt is pure awesomeness, it conveys the character very well, and one of the best headsculpts I have seen. The head is situated on a joint slightly too high in terms of the body, so it does look weird in some shots. It's on a ball joint so has pretty much the full range of motion.
On both hands, you can open the forearm out and switch it out for a clip of some sort.
What is this clip thingie for? Well, it's for some of his attachments, I think it is a nice gimmick but do wished that they would have integrated the flame wielder and saw directly into the figure instead of detachable accessories.
The first attachment is his wielding torch, being sculpted in red doesn't make it look as impressive as the black Japanese version.
The second attachment is his buzzsaw, since all the transparent plastic on Rodimus is now blue, the same goes for his saw. A big trade off, as it does not look good in blue, it's supposed to be 'spinning', so the white on the Japanese version works a lot better. The saw itself can spin on the attachment, but it doesn't spin freely.
The next gimmick is Hot Rod's flip down visor, and that is really AWESOME. I always love flip up battle faceplates or visors and this is no exception, being casted in transparent blue plastic just enhances the effect. The toggle to flip the visor up and down is a bit hard to activate, especially for big clumsy adult hands.
Hot Rod can hold his twin guns, his hands are articulated in three bits, the thumb, and then the rest of the fingers have two joints each to bend and grasp the guns.
The hands are poorly designed though, they cannot full grip the gun otherwise they push it out (even though they peg in), Masterpiece Optimus Prime's hands are still easily the best articulated design yet.
It's even harder to grip Offshoot, he falls out a lot easier than the guns.
In Hot Rod's hands, Offshoot feels a bit short and stubby, a longer barrel would have helped the look.
You can also position his arms in such a way that it looks like he's using his side exhausts on his arms as blaster, just like he did in the 1986 movie.
Hot Rod's backpack does jut out a fair bit, but it is a lot better in person than pictures show. Like in vehicle mode, the spoiler sits fairly loosely and flops around on mine.
Above is the clip that comes off fairly easily, at least on this version, with some fiddling, you can get it to stay.
In terms of size, Hot Rod is pretty much leader sized, although he is as tall as a leader, he does not have the same mass. Hot Rod contains noticeably less plastic.
Then there's no comparison with the first Masterpiece figure, he is a LOT shorter, something that is slightly annoying. The only die-cast component of Hot Rod is his feet, everything else is plastic, such a disappointment, especially compared to how much die-cast Masterpiece Optimus has (each Masterpiece mold afterwards contains a really low amount of die-cast).
Either way, this is a really nice looking robot mode, sure, he has a couple of annoying flaws, but they are minor, Hot Rod makes an excellent display piece.
TRANSFORMATION TO RODIMUS PRIME MODE:
To convert into Rodimus Prime, there are three things that are changed. The first is the spoiler, above is the Hot Rod configuration.
Now this is the Rodimus Prime configuration, no difference right? I don't know why they bothered, as you only fold the spoiler up by about five degrees, you cannot discern the difference unless you study and stare at it.
Next, extending the legs, above is the Hot Rod configuration.
Pulling the legs down, a second joint is pulled down, you have now elongated the legs for just a little bit. Again, this is barely noticeable.
Finally, the biggest change, you can pull up the face and switch Hot Rod's face out for Rodimus' older face. It's quite an elegant design and works a whole lot better than Masterpiece Starscream's face changing gimmick.
I prefer Hot Rod's younger face, but this is a good sculpt, and does evoke a more mature character. Simply put, most of the differences in Rodimus Prime mode is negligible, so calling this a third mode is a big stretch.
ROBOT MODE (RODIMUS PRIME):
Wait... this still looks the same!! Nah, it's just that he is barely different. Rodimus looks like Rodimus Prime from the cartoon than the Japanese version, as the colouring is leaning too far towards Hot Rod instead.
Rodimus can hold his rifle, and it is an impressive looking thing.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that the elbows are really weird, there is a small red plastic piece that likes to pop out. This little piece is supposed to secure the elbow joint, and once it pops out, the elbow sags a bit. I just thought it was a really weird design flaw that they didn't pick up (it wasn't present in the Japanese version as it was molded into the elbow).
As Rodimus Prime was the successor of Optimus Prime, naturally, his chest compartment opens to reveal something special...
His Matrix! It is a completely different mold, much smaller, and does not open. You can take it out and get Rodimus to hold it if you wish.
However, why settle for such a tiny thing when you have that second larger Matrix? I think it's a bit of a stretch to call this toy a triple-changer (or the original version a quad-changer) as this Rodimus Prime is more like a minor negligible gimmick than a true third mode. Granted, it does not compromise the engineering and design, so it's a nice little bonus.
OVERALL:
Costing as much, or in my case, cheaper than a Leader, Masterpiece Rodimus Prime is a relative bargain! If you're interested in him, grab him at once, don't hesitate, as he's selling out really fast. He is at heart a decent toy, and a lot of the flaws that plagued the first Japanese release has been fixed. Playing with him, it is very obvious he was designed to be Hot Rod from the start, as there is pretty much no indication of any dedicated hinge or parts for either of Rodimus Prime's modes (for the vehicle mode, the trailer pretty much contains the shell that clamps over the vehicle mode). Yes, he does not have the trailer, but I don't think you're missing much, and you get his bonus Targetmaster Offshoot who is a completely new mold. I had fun with him, he looks great, displays well, and I do not regret grabbing him at all, even though I wasn't terribly interested in him from the start. The more I look at him, the more I prefer him over the Japanese version.
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I have posted some extra photos that I took in a separate post, which you can access here.
Credit: the pictures and text are all my original work, but I've linked a few pages to TFwiki.net.
Have a look at my other reviews if you liked this one, thank you!
