Hot Rod (Transformers)
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Rodimus, originally named Hot Rod, is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. Originally named Hot Rod and then Rodimus Prime, later Rodimus, is the name of several fictional characters in the various |Transformers universes.
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[edit] Transformers: Generation 1
| Transformers character | |
| Hot Rod/Rodimus Major/Rodimus | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Autobot |
| Japanese name | Hot Rodimus |
| Sub-Group | Autobot Cars Deluxe Vehicles Targetmasters Micromasters Wreckers |
| Function | Cavalier Matrix Templar Warrior |
| Partner | Firebolt (Sparks in the Marvel Comics series) |
| Motto | "My actions speak louder than my words." "Action is my middle name." (Classics) "Wisdom will always defeat firepower." (Alternators) |
| Alternate Modes | Dome Zero Ford GT |
| Series | Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Classics Transformers: Titanium |
| English voice actor | Judd Nelson (movie), Richard Gautier (post movie episodes) |
| Japanese voice actor | Hiroya Ishimaru |
Hot Rod was first introduced in The Transformers: The Movie, where he was voiced by Judd Nelson. He transforms into a futuristic red sports car, with flames painted on the hood and doors.
Hot Rod has displayed the ability to shoot lasers out of his forearms as well as having a retractable saw blade.
[edit] Animated series
Hot Rod has a youthful attitude, and serves as an older brother figure to Daniel Witwicky, son of Autobot ally Spike Witwicky. He has a sort of mentor-student relationship with the veteran Autobot, Kup. He was also good friends with Springer and Arcee. Later in life, he temporarily bears the Autobot Matrix of Leadership and becomes Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Convoy in Japan), and leader of the Autobots.
Hot Rod first appeared in the American animated series during the events of Transformers: The Movie, where he was one of the many Autobots stationed at Autobot City. He fought in the Autobot city battle and witnessed (some may say contributed to) the death of Optimus Prime due to his attempted intervention in the battle between the Autobot leader and Megatron. He fled the city with Kup and the Dinobots when Galvatron, a recreated Megatron, attacked the city after being reformatted by Unicron. After meeting up with the other Autobots after a series of adventures on planets Quintessa and Junk, Hot Rod returned to the other Autobots and rushed to Cybertron to save it from being eaten by Unicron. After facing Galvatron inside Unicron's body, Hot Rod was able to get his hands on the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, which reformatted him into Rodimus Prime. He then threw Galvatron into deep space and destroyed Unicron, before truly assuming his role as the prophesied new leader of the Autobots.
After the movie, Hot Rod only appeared three more times: once when he gave the Matrix to a Quintesson-controlled Optimus Prime, when he lost the Matrix to the Decepticon Scourge, and finally when Optimus Prime was resurrected and Rodimus Prime was able to return to being Hot Rod for good. In all 3 occasions, his return to Hot Rod took place because he lost or passed the Matrix to someone else.
In the 3-part finale to the American Transformers animated series, "The Rebirth", Hot Rod became a Targetmaster.
[edit] Headmasters
In the Japanese exclusive Headmasters storyline (which replaced the Rebirth in Japanese continuity), Hot Rod appeared as part of Optimus Prime's inner circle. When Galvatron and his Headmaster warriors launched a devastating attack on Cybertron, Vector Sigma was damaged, and Hot Rod was sent to Earth to retrieve the Matrix. Recovering it, he returned it to Prime, only to be surprised when the ghost of Alpha Trion once again reformatted him into Rodimus Prime to help Optimus. After Optimus' death, Rodimus once again took command of the Autobots. However, when Scorponok destroyed Vector Sigma, Rodimus decided to leave the war, and left Fortress Maximus in command of that Autobots.
[edit] Battlestars: The Return of Convoy
Although Rodimus would leave the dying Cybertron to find a new homeworld in the Headmasters series, he returned in the pages of the Battlestars manga. Once again going by the name Hot Rod, he was now a Micromaster, and aided Star Convoy (the once again reborn Optimus Prime) in his battles against Super Megatron.
[edit] Marvel Comics
Hot Rod first appeared in the Headmasters limited series as one of the Autobot crew led by Fortress Maximus. He became a Targetmaster in the fourth and final issue of the series. However, his Targetmaster partner is called Sparks, instead of Firebolt (though the U.K. comic would occasionally call him Firebolt). Hot Rod made sporadic appearances, with a few U.K. stories starring him as the lead but most of them were set in the past or future. Kup's Story revealed the first meeting between Kup and Hot Rod, and how Hot Rod's influence shook Kup out of depression; and Ark Duty starred Hot Rod and set up the creation of Autobot City. Hot Rod debuted in the main continuity after the loss of many warriors to the Underbase powered Starscream as part of Fortress Maximus's group. He served as an eager soldier who idolized Optimus. However, he was killed during the Decepticon ambush on Klo in the last issue of the Marvel G1 comic, only to be resurrected by Prime and the Last Autobot. He continued to appear in the Transformers: Generation 2 comic as one of Prime's right-hand men.
The Hot Rod from the future animated movie continuity would also appear. Target: 2006 had Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr timejump from 2006 (specifically partway through the Transformers movie) to 1986 to thwart Galvatron's scheme, under the influence of Unicron; later post-movie stories revealed that Firebolt had died on Earth years before 2007, and Space Pirates had Rodimus Prime briefly reverting back to Hot Rod during the Quintesson attack on Autobot City. This Hot Rod also appeared in several of the "Aspects of Evil" stories. Told from the flashbacks of an aged Rodimus Prime, these had Hot Rod come up against some of the greatest Decepticon villains. He accepted the surrender of Scorponok - only to wind up defending him and a human town against the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol: defending Autobot City from a full scale attack by Shockwave: and being captured and used as a pawn by Megatron to flush out an Autobot spy in his ranks.(Marvel U.K. #223-227)
[edit] Fun Publications
Based on the Transformers Classics toy line, the Timelines 2007 story is set 15 years after the end of the Marvel Comics story (ignoring all events of the Marvel U.K. and Generation 2 comics).
According to exclusive bio information in in the Transformers Collectors' Club magazine #15 Hot Rod followed Optimus Prime back to Cybertron from the Planet Klo. Once back Hot Rod took up racing, but after a while found it pointless. Optimus Prime assigned to help organize the millions of Cybertronian refugees who returned to their home world. Hot Rod chaired the Cybertron Grand Challenge race, a race which featyred combined Autobot/Decepticon teams. With his maturing Hot Rod changed his name to Rodimus and was chosen to return with Optimus Prime to Earth to stop Megatron.
Optimus Prime returned to Earth commanding Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Jetfire, Mirage and Rodimus. When the Cybertronians Skyfall and Landquake arrive on Earth unexpectedly Megatron attempts to destroy them, but Optimus Prime and his Autobots are able to drive Megatron away. Rodimus was wounded on a mission with Optimus Prime, before being brought back to the Autobot base.
[edit] Transformers Battle Circuit
The Classic line appeared in a simple Flash-based video game on the Hasbro web site. In this one-on-one fighting game you press the right and left arrow keys to try to overpower your opponent. In the came you can play Rodimus, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Jetfire, Starscream, Astrotrain, Trypticon or Menasor. Optimus Prime and Megatron each appear as the boss you must defeat to win the game. [1]
[edit] Books
Hot Rod appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books.
[edit] Dreamwave Productions
Hot Rod led a cell of Autobots in resistance to the leadership of Shockwave on Cybertron until Shockwave was overthrown by Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus. Later, he was part of Ultra Magnus's team to fortify one of Cybertron's moons, and clashed with Springer over Arcee.
Although Targetmaster Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime received bio pages in Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye series, they never appeared in the comic stories before the company closed, barring one flash Optimus Prime had of the future when the Matrix was damaged, where he saw Hot Rod as a Targetmaster.
[edit] Devil's Due Publishing
Hot Rod would also appear in the G.I Joe vs the Transformers crossover comics from Devil's Due Publishing. He made his first appearance in the second crossover, where he was transported to Earth by a malfunctioning Teletran-3 and reformatted into the form of an Earth sports car.
He reappeared in the third crossover, where he apparently acted as Optimus Prime's right hand man. Putting a team together to look for the missing team that had journeyed to Earth (who had been captured by Serpentor and the Decepticons), he would later lead the combined G.I Joe/Autobot force that rescued Optimus Prime. It is interesting to note that in contrast to his usual "youthful rookie" portrayal here Hot Rod seems to be in a high command position, outranking Ultra Magnus, Prowl and Ironhide among others. However, by the fourth crossover Hot Rod is forced to wait on Cybertron under Magnus's command as Optimus Prime journeys to Earth.
[edit] Kiss Players
Hot Rod also appeaered in the Japanese exclusive Kiss Players storyline, having given up the Matrix to Ultra Magnus after his actions in hurling Galvatron out of Unicron's body resulted in the Decepticon leader crashing into and devastating Tokyo. He subsequently came to Earth to try to repair relations with the humans, but was instead attacked and nearly killed by a Legion Creature, a hybrid created from Galvatron's Unicron-corrupted cells fusing with local creatures. He was saved by a kiss from the human Li Shao-Shao and reformatted into a body resembling a Ford GT. He went on to battle the Earth Defense Command (an anti-Transformer organization), the Legion - and Optimus Prime himself. Prime had been resurrected in a Kiss Player body, but Hot Rod, believing his commander to be dead, thought it was a trick.
[edit] 3H Enterprises
In the Transformers: Universe storyline, Rodimus (as he is now called) gets upgraded into a Maximal (looking like his Autobot form, but slightly smaller and more energy efficient). He serves as a member of the Wreckers, third in command after Primal Prime and Apelinq. He serves as the Matrix Templar for the group.
According to the script for the unreleased issue #4 of Transformers: Universe - The Wreckers the Wreckers returned to Cybertron where they helped repel the an invasion by the Quintessons.
[edit] Fun Publications
Rodimus and Cyclonus appeared together in the story Wreckers: Finale Part 2 by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. During the invasion of Cybertron Cyclonus and Rodimus came to final blows, fighting each other to a stand-still. Both severely wounded, Cyclonus was about to kill Rodimus when the Predacon Rotorbolt arrived and killed Cyclonus for betraying him. When Rodimus was dying from wounds he received battling Cyclonus Tigatron was unable to save the former Autobot leader.
[edit] IDW Publishing
Hot Rod would make his first IDW Publishing appearance in a Spotlight issue focusing on him. In this he was shown to be newly promoted to command of a group of Autobots including Gizmo, Backbeat and Dealer, who had been sent to secure the Magnificence, a device of some sort that could predict the future. Getting past the guardians, Hot Rod was swapping it with a fake to prevent the Decepticons from getting their hands on it when a seeming Decepticon ambush wiped out his squad. Determined to rescue the only survivor, Dealer, Hot Rod staged a daring solo rescue mission that managed to rescue Dealer - unaware that he was really Doubledealer, a Decepticon spy sent by Banzaitron to retrieve the Magnificence and now out to find where Hot Rod had stashed it.
Hot Rod was then summoned to Earth by Optimus Prime, as revealed in The Transformers: Escalation. With typical bravado Hot Rod and Hardhead insisted on heading to assist Prime's unit in stopping Megatron. Hot Rod left Hardhead to assist the other Autobots while he captured the Decepticon facsmile. Unfortunately, he almost collided with Prowl, who had had the same idea. Despite some bickering between the two, they were able to eventually capture the facsimile, forcing the Russian troops to back down. When Hot Rod heard the battle between the Ore-13 powered Megatron and the rest of Prime's troops, Prowl forbade him from interfering, entrusting him with the safe return of the facsimile. Calling Nightbeat for transport out, he was jumped and severely damaged by Skywarp and Thundercracker. Nightbeat teleported him away, but Hot Rod had been badly damaged, and the facsimile reportedly killed.
Preview art from the first issue of The Transformers: Devastation reveals that Hot Rod's vehicle mode has since been reformatted as a Dodge Viper.
[edit] Toys
- Generation 1 Autobot Car Hot Rod (1986)
- A special gold chrome edition of this toy was released by Takara to its staff in 1987.[2]
- Generation 1 Targetmaster Hot Rod (1987)
- Came with a Nebulan Targetmaster Firebolt. Rodimus himself was retooled slightly to enlarge the holes on his fists and adding a mounting hole to to engine which Firebolt could fit into.
- Classic Rodimus (2006)
- The all new 2006-2007 Classics line featured characters from the original series in updated forms. Hot Rod (now called Rodimus due to trademark reasons) was in the first wave of Autobots along with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Due to most of the Classics lacking visible Autobot and Decepticon insignias, this figure lacks the distinctive Autobot symbol seen on the chest of all other versions of Hot Rod/Rodimus, to which fan companies have responded to with alternative stickers. His new vehicle mode is interestingly based on an obscure Japanese Supercar, the Dome Zero, manufactured by DOME Co. Ltd in 1978[1].
- This toy was featured on page 19 of the book Transformers: The Fantasy, The Fun, The Future by Erin Brereton published by Triumph Books.
- Titanium Rodimus (2006)
- Rodimus received a new figure in the Transformers: Titanium line in 2006, as a 3 inch tall non-transforming toy. An upgraded Rodimus, called Rodimus Prime was also released among the fully transformable 6-inch Titanium subline in early 2007.
- Robot Heroes Rodimus (2007)
- Packaged opposite Insecticon in the Robot Heroes line as a non-transforming PVC figure.
- Transformers: Kiss Players Hot Rodimus (2006)
- With the Japanese Binaltech toy series having transformed into the Kiss Players line, the second figure to be released as a Kiss Players character was Hot Rodimus. Based on the same Ford GT mold as Mirage, Hot Rodimus features several differences from Mirage. First, it has a unique head sculpt, which includes a movable crest to allow a "visor" to be lowered over his eyes, referencing a scene from the animated Transformers Movie during which Hot Rod is on Lookout Mountain. Additionally, it includes a fishing-rod accessory, which can be split and connected in a different configuration to create a tri-barreled arm weapon, reminiscent of Hot Rod's exhaust-pipe blasters. The figure also includes a PVC figurine named Syao Syao and a CD featuring a Kiss Players radio drama. The vehicle mode stays true to the Ford GT's factory color scheme, lacking Hot Rod's signature "flame" detailing, and, like Binaltech, is fully painted. Meanwhile, the robot mode reveals additional orange and yellow body parts, such as the chest, abdomen, arms and hands, as well as flame-like paint applications on the lower arms to link the figure with the original Hot Rod.
- Alternators Rodimus
- In April 2007, photos of a repainted Alternators Mirage, in a color scheme similar to Kiss Players Hot Rodimus, and in Alterators-style "fishbowl" packaging began to appear on the internet. Simply called Rodimus, the 27th Alternator lacks almost all of the Kiss Players accessories, including the fishing pole, but keeps the new head sculpt. This figure also sports the classic "flame" detailing in lieu of the Kiss Player's white stripes, while the vanity plate reads "TOO HOT". Rodimus was first sold as a convention exclusive at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con. The Monday after the convention, it was made available on the Hasbro Toy Shop website, where it would sell out that same morning. The instructions present an alternate name for the figure: Rodimus Prime; whether this is merely an oversight is unknown.
- Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game Hot Rod (2007)
- Produced by Wizards of the Coast, wave 2 of their Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game included a Hot Rod card, who was a redeco of Autobot Jazz from wave 1.
[edit] Transformers: Generation 2
In some European countries the Laser Rod known as Jolt was released under the name Hot Rod, although he seems to have no relation to the Generation 1 Hot Rod.
[edit] Transformers 2007 movie
According to an online post by Roberto Orci Hot Rod was considered for the 2007 Transformers movie. [3]
[edit] Transformers: Armada
Hot Rod is the Japanese name for the Autobot, Hot Shot. Both characters share similarities in alternate modes, personality and eventual new leader of the Autobots until Optimus returned.
