Bot Reviews: Threezero MLDX Lost Light Rodimus Prime

Each year that I’m at TFCon, I make a point of picking up one of the convention’s exclusives, partially for the souvenir, and partially because it gives me a chance to look at some of the weirder sides of unofficial Third Party Transformers collecting. The previous two years, I picked up the two FansHobby exclusives, Huntsman and Clutch.

But this year, I wanted to try something different, and opted for this Threezero release, for a few reasons. For one thing, it’s actually an official Transformers product. Most things that collectors call “Third Party” are unlicensed, unofficial transforming figures that skirt copyright. But Threezero is an actual by definition Third Party company, with the rights from Hasbro to make official Transformers stuff, albeit in the form of non-transforming action figures in their DLX and MLDX lines. Those ranges of figures also include stuff from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Mega Man games, while other products from the company cover a huge range of licenses, from Blade Runner, to Evangelion, to Walking Dead, and just…a grab bag of everything in between.

So! MLDX is what they call their smaller line of high-end action figures, and their website says this about them:

“MDLX is a new series of articulated figures capturing the spirit of threezero’s renown DLX series at a smaller scale with a similar high range of articulation and great durability resulting in a groundbreaking affordable price.” 

Guys, this figure was $140 Canadian. Me and Threezero have different definitions of affordable. Anyway, those larger DLX guys have “metal frames” in their construction, and are sold as having a heavy amount of articulation and durability. The smaller MLDX Transformers ones, meanwhile, have been making waves in the fandom a bit, mostly because Threezero’s doing their own thing with the designs, offering alternative, stylized takes on Generation One characters.

Rodimus Prime here was apparently intended as a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, but the scuttlebutt that I heard at the convention was that Ages Three And Up (the vendor carrying it) was able to convince whatever Powers that Be decide these things to let them sell a few of them early. That, and the fact that it’s specifically Lost Light Rodimus led me to nab one.

I’ve rhapsodized a few times here about IDW’s award-winning More than Meets the Eye comic series, and its sequel, Lost Light, by James Roberts. The series starred Rodimus (just named Rodimus, no “Prime,” despite what this figure says on the box), and the story was a space opera, where Rod was the captain of the starship Lost Light, jamming across the galaxy on a quest to find the mythical Knights of Cybertron, but mostly getting into unrelated misadventures along the way. Despite the title of the later comic being Lost Light, that chunk of the story mostly involved Rodimus and their closest companions having been betrayed, kicked off of the starship, and marooned, with Rodimus assuming a unique dark purple colorscheme as a signifier of their intent to get revenge. 

Both these comics were very popular at the time (and still are), so there’s been plenty of figures over the years based on designs from their pages, including Legacy Tarn, Siege Rung, and Legends Swerve and Tailgate, all reviewed here. But when it comes to Rodimus, no official, mainline Transformers have ever been made of their MTMTE look (as designed by artist Nick Roche, but mostly drawn by Alex Milne) or its dark Lost Light repaint (mostly drawn by Jack Lawrence), just some model kits, and expensive figures like this one. Well, okay, Takara’s pricey Adamas Machina toyline did a transforming Transformer based loosely on their MTMTE look, and it’s getting a Lost Light repaint, but that first release was multiple hundreds of dollars at TFCon, and I’ve heard it was kind of unfun and complicated.

Good lord, that’s a long intro. Let’s actually talk about this figure!

The Sculpt

Let’s start with scale. Rodimus feels a hair too large to scale with mainline Transformers to me, but can pass the squint test. The figure’s a little bit taller and/or wider than every Voyager-class figure I’ve compared them to, but smaller than every Leader-class figure.

I think “smaller Voyager” would actually feel right for this design, but this is close enough to put Rodimus on the same shelf as my standard figures.

As befits a limited-run convention exclusive, Rodimus here is actually a retool of MLDX’s already-existing Rodimus Prime figure.

Squinting at online pictures of the original, it looks like they replaced the head, chest, and shoulders of it to make this version. This, of course, means that they’re not a perfect replica of the MTMTE/LL design, but look close enough at a glance. They’re certainly spikey enough, and have those raised shoulders with the vents on them, among other unique-to-the-comic details. Plus, certain Hot Rod details, like the big spoiler on their back (which comes as a separate piece you have to install out of the box) are just universal amongst Rodimii.

I think it helps that each artist who drew this design in the comics did it a little differently, so there’s a lot of leeway when it comes to the finer points of proportions and details, especially how lanky their silhouette is or isn’t supposed to be. 

Still, I’d have liked them to have shilled out the cash to retool the lower legs and boots, as Rodimus’s spikey kneepads and sideways leg-pipes are design elements from the comic that I immediately remember, and they’re absent here in favor of 1986-style boots, with pipes on the back.

The headsculpt’s kind of an interesting mixed effort. All of the important details and shapes are there, including two more sets of spikes, a helmet crest, a little block where the chin is, the works. But the face itself doesn’t really evoke the comic design, to me.

Instead, it evokes the art style the rest of the redesigned G1 figures in the MLDX line have. Which, considering this was retooled from one of those, makes artistic sense, I guess. So, in other words, the sculpt mostly works, for a retool. 

The Colors

This is probably the best part of the figure, a real “10/10, no notes” type situation, helped by this being a pricey premium release, which means they were able to go all out on the deco.

Rodimus is different shades of dark purple, teal, silver, and black, just as in the comics. It’s all generously applied, and it’s all done up in shiny metallic tones that really pop in person. It also feels about as accurate to the source material as they can reasonably manage on the sculpt, with the odd little exception of the Autobrand on their chest being light blue with a white border, instead of solid white, but hey, that’s a good little bit of creative liberty. I wish I had more to say here, but there’s not much that can be said beyond “it’s all here, and it all looks really good.”

Build Quality

And then we hit how the actual figure feels, and the answer is “not good.” Mainline Transformers are marginally toys made for kids, so they need to pass certain standards of materials and durability, for safety. When you throw that out of the window for something targeted at an adult collector, it seems like toy designers forget that those safety standards also make mainline Transformers also feel fun and friendly to handle, instead of “rough and a bit hostile,” like this one. 

Let’s start with the “actively hostile” bit. This is a spiky design. You’ve got points on the head, collar, spoiler-wings, and a few other places. The problem is that those points are actually sharp, as in “prick my finger” sharp. Not bad enough to draw blood, or cause any kind of injury, but enough to be irritating, and slightly painful. Fascinatingly, the instructions actually warn you about the spikes on the shoulder-pylons, because it’s possible when posing the figure to scratch the paint off the spoiler with them. They really should have just rounded them off!

As for the rest of the figure, there’s just this feeling of fiddliness to the thing that I don’t like. Too many little panels, too many rough surfaces. It doesn’t feel *good*. It also doesn’t feel durable, which is funny, because durability is supposed to be a selling point for MLDX figures. I feel like some stuff would break if it took a shelf-tumble. 

One thing’s for sure, the spoiler would fly off. I think it’s been “broken in” now, but for my first few weeks of ownership, that thing didn’t want to stay on, after first pegging it in. (Update: No, it still doesn’t like to stay on. It fell off so many times posing for photos. I’m considering gluing it in.)

The same goes for a cuff on the boot near their left foot, it’s on a ball joint, and loves to pop off. I’m assuming I just got hit with QC Roulette on this one, since the right foot’s fine.

And then, during my shoot, the entire torso came apart! It turned out to be something I could plug back in (it’s a rod that goes into a joint), but still, the fact that it even happened! Oh! And the thumb on one of their swappable hands straight up broke off when I tried to put one of their guns in. It might have just been poorly glued, since it’s a separate piece, and I was able to glue it back in easily, but still. When stuff’s flying off and breaking, it makes me side-eye that “durability” callout.

There are a few positive things I can say: The figure supposedly has a metal interior skeleton, which does add an interesting feeling of weight to the figure, ensuring that it’s got no problems staying standing.

On top of that, I don’t think any of the external surfaces are diecast, but bits of the figure somehow manage to feel “cold” to the touch, like the metal feeling is somehow leaking out. I don’t know why this is, but it’s interesting. And at the very least, all of the joints themselves are nice and tight. Which brings me to…

Articulation

This is another selling point of MLDX figures, to the point where the instructions mostly exist to show off how every joint on the figure works. And, y’know what? Fair. There’s a lot of joints on this figure, including ones you don’t often see on standard action figures. Let me see if I can list them out, bottom to top. 

Each foot has a singular “toe” joint on the front of it, and each ankle’s a full ball joint, with a bit of moveable armor above each foot, to make room for them, though that’s the armor that loves to pop off on my figure’s left leg. Above that, there’s full double-knees, with a set of universal hips at the middle.

Those hips can, as per the instructions, drop down a bit to add extra range, though I tend to just leave them down. There’s also four pieces of “skirt” armor to make even more room for the hips. Above that, the waist is on a swivel that’s kind of hard to access, since it’s a tight joint sandwiched between the hips, and another unique joint: A full ab-crunch, on a joint that also lets you rotate and tilt their torso just above the stomach. This is a fun one, because you can even use it to do a sassy hip tilt, if you like.

Continuing up the torso, the shoulders are double-jointed, in a way that lets them “sag,” mostly to stay out of the way of scratching the spoiler. Below that, Rod’s got universal elbows, but they have a problem that the instructions, once again, call out: If the figure’s elbow is bent, it’s tricky to rotate the elbow outwards, because part of the forearm’s sculpt bumps against the joint.

You’d think they’d have just, like, sculpted it differently, instead of writing “hey, this bit’s a little busted” in the paperwork.

Below that, Rod’s wrists are on full ball joints, and up top, there’s a double-ball-jointed neck, for maximum head movement.

Sounds lush, right? And sure, there’s a lot of little extras. But the thing is, in practice, it’s not much better than a modern Leader-class Transformer, or even a good Voyager-class one. Heck, some of my Marvel Legends Spider-Men do better than this. I think the most clever addition is the abdominal joint, you don’t see too many of those.

But everything else is pretty much the same as a mainline Transformer, or the same, but with a little bit extra range. I almost think it’s less of an indictment of this figure, specifically, and more of a matter of mainline Transformers having cracked how to have good articulation, so there isn’t much for a figure like this to surpass.

There’s also the extremely present issue of the crummy handfeel interacting with the articulation, too. Why would I want to bend and flex a figure that doesn’t feel good to handle? Where the spoiler keeps falling off? The Fallen may literally be on fire, but he won’t hurt my hands when I try to make him do a kick. 

Accessories and Features

The biggest feature on Rodimus is swappable hands, and to the designer’s credit, it’s easy enough to pop those hands on and off of the ball-jointed wrists. The 12 included hands run the gamut of pre-posed gestures: Fists, thumbs up, splayed “waving” hands, gesturing towards something, and a few differently-angled accessory hands.

The most interesting one is a blue hand, which is apparently intended to go with MLDX Optimus Prime, so that he and Rodimus can shake hands.

I’m never going to buy this Optimus, so I guess Rodimus can paint one hand blue, and/or shake hands with themselves.  

For other accessories, Rodimus has two asymmetrical laser guns, painted in metallic blue.

They’re original designs, as far as I can tell, but that asymmetry invokes the original G1 toy. This Rodimus can hold them well enough in their hands, if you squeeze them around their fingers.

For an extra, Rodimus Prime-flavored feature, you can pop the front section off of one of the guns, and then clip them both together to form a longer, two-handled rifle, like G1 Rodimus Prime.

I appreciate the two handles, it’s something I wish the original figure (and Kingdom Commander) had, though I think this new design looks more like a sniper rifle than anything else.

Overall

This is a flop for me. This, and probably the entirety of MLDX, if Rodimus is indicative of what they’re like. The thing is, MLDX’s mission statement’s not even a bad idea. I don’t mind the occasional non-transforming Transformer (I like Blokees, after all), and “hyper-articulated replica of a character from the Lost Light” sounds great on paper, same with the mainline MLDX mission of “original redesigns of the classic characters,” which is something mainline Transformers could use more of, in my opinion.

But it’s all let down by the execution. Between the sharp spikes, the fragile, pop-off bits, and the generally crummy handfeel, this figure’s just not *fun.* Maybe it’s just not for me, but I have a hard time picturing the person that it is for.

The funny thing is, some of the things that really drag it down feel like they’re all in service of an inflated, “premium” price tag. Sometimes, things that are expensive really are worse. The $140 Canadian price tag could get you at least two normal, transforming Transformers (a Leader and a Deluxe, if I math’d correctly), and you’ll absolutely have more fun with those than with this turkey.

In fact, HasTak really needs to just make a Lost Light Rodimus in their normal mainline, and quit licensing out expensive, complicated messes like this. For now, though, I’m gonna put this Rodimus up on my shelves, just because there’s no good alternative.

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