You already know Hot Rod by this point. In fact, the last time I took a look at the G1 version of the guy was back in 2019 with the Titans Return figure. It was a decent figure, though part of me wished the proportions would be more refined and that he'd capture a more lean look to him. Not that this toy is bad, but I don't think he's an awful toy. That being said, we have a version of him in the Studio Series 86 line, and while I wasn't too sure if I'd like to see more G1 characters in the line, I'd accept it so long as the figures themselves were good. Now let's get into it!
Here is Hot Rod in his vehicle mode. It's a very faithful take on the vehicle he's known to possess, what with the shape, engine block, and deco. I love the silver paint used for the rims, engine, and pipes, the blue plastic used on the windshield is good, and the flame deco looks nicely applied. The only ugly thing is the yellow hinge between the windshield and window. Otherwise, it looks good!
The side of the car looks fine, though the gaps on the pipes are kind of annoying. On a side note, the rear wheels aren't painted silver and the red paint used on the windshield is slightly darker. One thing to say is that this guy might be closer to the magenta hue of the G1 cartoon, since Hot Rod wasn't really red (it was Rodimus that was a darker shade of red), so under some lighting, this guy is cartoon accurate!
You can place the weapons on the engine block as well as have the effect pieces from the sides. I'd place the buzzsaw on the guns but it'd look bad.
Here he is next to the Titans Return version of the character, the only other version of the character that I have. The Titans Return version was good for what it was, but I'll admit it was the stronger of the two modes. I like the unique design, the more futuristic design, the rims (which I painted), and the pipes looking more like pipes. Even the spoiler looks pretty cool.
Transformation is very involved, and moreso than I originally anticipated. Things like the back of the car folding into the back of the legs, the arm transformation being something I don't think was replicated with other Hot Rod toys, the way the backpack collapses fairly smoothly, and the torso bunching every piece of the front to be inside it. The robot mode we end up with is perfect for Hot Rod! The proportions are accurate (even if the arms may be a wee-bit short and a little too close to the torso), the chest is at the right size, and the legs look agile without any of the clunkiness from past toys. The arms even have the wheels in the back of the shoulders as well as having the spoiler remain prominent in the front. Even the legs look accurate to the cartoon model. The only real oddity to me comes from how the pipes look on his arms, but it's good.
The head sculpt is perfect for the character, and aside from the forehead having the silver paint as well as the darker red, the face looks accurate to Hot Rod on top of including the nice blue eyes that he'd normally be associated with. We'll get into why his helmet's done up like that. His articulation is consistent with the rest of the WFC line, but the only interesting thing about the toy is that the (tighter than I'd like) shoulders hinge front and back normally yet binge in and out in the base of the swivel used for the arm transformation rather than the inside of the shoulder. They also swivel in the base of the transformation piece, so you can use them like butterfly joints but they will make things like, IDK, hugging a little harder than it should be.
This guy has quite the amount of accessories for a Voyager Class figure, because as we'll discuss in a bit, he's a smaller Voyager. We have an effect piece made for the Matrix that originally came with Optimus Prime, two guns coated in silver paint with red pegs, two effect pieces for the pipes and his guns, and a saw blade.
The display options with him are on-par with the 6-inch figures found from lines like Marvel Legends, Star Wars: The Black Series, and Power Rangers: Lightning Collection, the third line being one of the more common series found on my site. So you can give him some of the stuff we've already covered, but...
...there are some unique display options not mentioned just yet. You can flip the pieces holding the wrists within the forearms so you can display him with a torch, and his cranium has a flip-out visor like in the introductory scene from the movie. On top of that, he can hold the Matrix in his hands thanks to their articulated fingers like with Earthrise Prime, Kingdom Primal, and (by extension) Studio Series Blitzwong.
The Matrix of Leadership goes well with the effect piece, especially when you want to pose him lighting our darkest hour.
And here we have the current reuse of the mold, that being Legacy Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection Hot Rod, now in toy-accurate colors with orange flames and a blue saw. If I'm honest, this is pretty cool, and it makes for a nice compromise for him if he gets demoted in fiction. Ironically, the more accurate toy gets the nostalgic deco while the more nostalgic toy gets the more accurate deco with the unique G1 reissue (which I won't get because I like the toy colors on the old toy). Also, as of this writing, this repaint was not included in the actual release of Wave 2. Hasbro claims he isn't canceled, but they sure as hell haven't done a damn thing about him. Not even a Gen Selects release.
For a comparison with his prior counterparts in the CHUG line, here he is with the Titans Return figure, the Power of the Primes Hot Rod figure, and the Classics version from a decade and a half ago. Titans Return Hot Rod was good for his time, and while I don't mind owning him, he was the weakest of the three Autobot cars representing the 86 movie since he's pretty blocky from the waist up. His colors were more toy-accurate compared to the Studio Series 86 version, which is more faithful to the cartoon (since he has a bit of a magenta tint under some lighting). Though I have to mention that Hot Rod was likely around $17 at the time of his release while Studio Series 86 Hot Rod was around $29.99 in some retailers, yet both of them are at the same size yet with different proportional differences...and I got Hot Rod at a cheap price of $6 back in 2017, so...anyways, POTP Hot Rod was one I was originally going to use for a Rodimus Prime since he was the size of an Optimus, but I think he looks pretty bad. His torso's too long, the legs look under-developed, the arms look long and wibbly, and he was an example of what made POTP feel like a weird line to revisit, even with the nice intent. He was clearly made to be a torso at the best of his ability. And Classics Rodimus is kinda cool for what he is, though he was a little too bulky for Hot Rod, and I think his hop articulation might be a little odd, though I'd have to see it for myself. So not a bad toy, but I think I'm good with Studio Series 86 Hot Rod.
The thing that threw me off from the Titans Return version aside from the proportions are how oversized the guns are, which made him look like his arms were longer even further.
And here is Hot Rod in-between Optimus Prime and Megatron, both from the Earthrise line. He's a shorter figure than both Optimus and Megatron, which makes sense yet he lacks the beef that the other two have (which is why he has a lot more accessories to compensate that. Either way, with Hot Rod being a taller-than-normal Autobot Car, I think it works in his favor since he wasn't the height of Jazz or Sideswipe.
This scene is for all of the people that think Hot Rod killed Optimus Prime...
...and this scene is for the people that wished Optimus Prime survived! He doesn't have to feel too sad about it since he can always use Siege Firedrive! As for the actual figure itself, Hot Rod is another great addition to the 86 subline of the Studio Series. He was one that I was pretty hesitant about because he was likely going to make me roll my eyes on Hasbro going crazy over making a line about the movies now have the most overrated Transformers film ever (don't get mad if I mocked the 86 movie if it's okay to repeat the same old complaints about Michael Bay!), yet this figure ends up working well overall in terms of quality and engineering. I didn't even need to compare him with the Masterpiece versions because those two were pretty flawed (especially MP-09). Now go get one!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment