Here is Hot Rod's backdrop. This scene depicts the character as he and Bumblebee kill all Nazis in sight, which makes me wish we got a Transformers movie that took place in the time period of WWII (even though I'd rather not get prequel films and stick with moving forward in current-day films). The figure works well with the display, but good luck wanting to combine backdrops with Bumblebee.
Here we have Hot Rod in his vehicle mode. It's still a Humber Light Reconnaissance Car rather than a Steyr-Daimler-Puch 2000 truck (the altmode Hot Rod took form of in the flashback). Once again, this really isn't accurate to the movie, and it doesn't help that it was already a problem with Bumblebee. The details are about the same with the Bumblebee, with the only differences being the coloring, door sculpting, and the weapon. The gun does slide in the spot where the hammer handle of Bumblebee used to fit, which is a neat method of weapon storage (same can't be said for the turret used for Bumblebee.
The deco does have a bit of fade from top to bottom, which goes from the gray to midnight black (that thankfully gets a bit broken up with some nice silver). Certainly does look a bit neater than the solid military green of Bumblebee (and does feel slightly better in hand, too).
Next to Bumblebee, Hot Rod does look a bit nicer in terms of coloring and also attempts to look a little different with the new gun, but is otherwise about the same as Bumblebee in terms of look.
Aside from the colors and weapons, this is the only newly molded part of the toy in vehicle mode. Doesn't seem like much, but perhaps the robot mode will have new parts of its own, right?
The transformation is the same as with the original figure, so if you're familiar with that, then you should be aware of the slight issues with the shoulders tabbing in and the backpack strapped in the back. Hot Rod's robot mode is thankfully retooled differently from Bumblebee, but don't expect it to be at the same level as going from Dropkick to Drift. Only the head, shoulders chest, and waist are retooled differently. The arms look like they're retooled from Bumblebee, but they're only painted differently. I do appreciate the more traditional military gray of this figure, along with the added orange and silver, but this toy still has the same issues that plague Bumblebee. There's still a massive shell on his back, and the lower legs have kibble that sticks out more than they should. From the back, he looks like he's almost like a gray Bumblebee.
The head sculpt is sort of like a French Bumblebee, in that he reminds me why I don't want Bee's mouth to be exposed when he has his Movie face. There's a nice amount of sculpted detail and paint applied on the figure, with the signature orange over parts of the silver. The eyes are Autobot optic red, as expected.
Articulation is the same with Bumblebee, only the waist has a bit of limited ranger thanks to the newly molded midriff. Bumblebee at least had a waist that would move a bit more freely. Here, it's not as effective...ouch. The gun does hold decently on his hand if he wants to, though the handle does look a little too short. Weirdly, he comes with one gun when he had two in the box art and in the movie.
Here he is next to WWII Bumblebee, brother in arms and mold mate in arms. I guess it's neat that Hot Rod is more than just a repaint with a new head. While I do appreciate the retooled parts and new weapon, it's got the same issues that were already present with WWII Bumblebee. If you already got Bumblebee, or if you are a completionist, you can certainly get that toy to complete the duo and the line. If not, then you could probably do without this figure and get one of the third-party offerings.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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