Transformers Cybertron Hot Shot review

Hot Shot's seen by some of the older members of the fanbase as a cringey character just because of his personality somewhat being that of a typical young anime male protagonist, but I feel that he deserved his character development across Armada, and even though his design was wack in Energon, it was cool that he has still matured (while Ironhide took over as the kid appeal character). Cybertron had him act juvenile at times, though it may have to do with him losing his memory if I recall correctly. Still, I like Hot Shot as a character much like I do with the recent Bumblebees and Cheetor in terms of kid-appeal characters. While I feel that Hot Shot was more iconic in his Armada design, I feel that his Cybertron look is still pretty good. Time for a review of his Deluxe!

Here's Hot Shot in his vehicle mode. It's sleek, stylish, and reminiscent of the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve. It's pretty reminiscent of the mid-2000s era of stylized cars that you'd see Hot Wheels or racing games made for the PS2 would offer (which include music made by Paul Oakenfold). The combination of blue from the body and yellow from the windshield makes this a very nice choice of colors to use in this Hot Shot. Almost feels a bit like Blurr (though Blurr never had yellow windows). I don't even mind the red bits.

The back of the altmode has a 5mm port and a slot for a Cyber Key. I don't have the gun, but it was cast in black and clear yellow plastic, while the Cyber Key is of the Speed Planet variety. Once it's inserted, you can deploy a spoiler reminiscent of G1 Hot Rod. It's subtle but effective for this character.

Hot Shot's transformation is really simple. All you do is extend the legs, open the doors to make way for the forearms, split the front of the vehicle, flip out the toes, and rotate the backpack. It works for what it is, and it's said to belong to a Takara robot called "Volfogg", who came from the Brave series. It'

In robot mode, Hot Shot may not have the unique look of his Armada incarnation, but his Cybertrol self has a nice blend of G1's Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. Mainly with the chest, similar transformation, legs, and forearm pipes. While the forearms having the doors remain unchanged (and mostly yellow from the inside), the backpack being raised up a lot more than it normally would, and the legs having a lot of mass from the sides could be a bit distracting, the rest of the design's pretty solid in my opinion. Sure, the side looks flat while the back looks like the car mode standing upright and having some parts shifted around, but it fits the Hot Rod motif that this guy has.

Do forgive the dust on my Hot Shot, but I like the head sculpt he has. It has a bit of an angry expression that's somewhat out of character, but it's done well and has some design cues of Blurr and Springer, too. I'd say it's a more fully-realized version of his Energon design. Curiously feels like a color reversal of the Armada helmet, which was yellow and a black visor while this has a black helmet and yellow visor (might be a visor, or it's an extension of his forehead).

The toy's articulation's got the standard joints of a Deluxe Class Transformer. Swivels at the neck and shoulders, hinges at the shoulders for transformation, ball joints at the elbows and hips, and bends at the knees. While I don't have his gun to show how he looks with it, you can use the Cyber Key to give him Hot Rod's spoiler.

There are a few repaints that have a bit of variety from each other. The first is Exillion Red Version from TakaraTomy's Galaxy Force line. It's a Hot Rod-themed repaint of the mold, but the paint app designs remain the same with a few color changes. Heck, what's yellow's on some of the original deco remains the same on this variant! This version does have blue translucent parts, though.

Another repaint looks similar to the one we saw, but it's actually called Excellion is a different character from Hot Shot, apparently. There are a few more differences here between this and Exillion Red Version, mainly with the deco on the legs, shoulders, different gray plastics, and the flames that are in vehicle mode.

The first repaint to be made outside of the Cybertron line is Breakaway, who was a Walmart exclusive in the 2007 Movie line. The colors certainly evoke the look of the character, but beyond that, you're better off getting the Titans Return version if you have to have a Getaway/Breakaway.

The final use of the mold is Shattered Glass Goldbug. This is an evil version of Bumblebee that was upgraded after he joined the Autobots and took over Drench's role in-universe. I like this take on Bee, what with the fact that he's a Goldbug figure and has the inverted colors.

This toy is simple but makes for a nice addition to the Cybertron collection if you love the Cybertron aesthetic. I'm happy to have this guy with Cybertron Optimus, but now I want to try to get some of the other characters in the line since Cybertron was the first series that got me interested in Transformers (before the first Michael Bay movie got me hooked even more).

There's only one way to rank this toy...