Bot Reviews: Choro-Q Robo Rodimus Prime (TV Version)

Every year that I go to TFCon, there’s always some random little thing that wasn’t on my shopping list that I wind up grabbing, and it always becomes a highlight of the stuff I bring back. This year, it was this little figure: Choro-Q Rodimus, a tiny little novelty item released in Japan way back in 2001. Choro-Q is a long-running Takara toyline (we’re talking started in 1978) of chibified model cars with pull-back-and-go motors, and it shares some design lineage with Transformers already, as some of the earliest Autobot Minicars from the very start of the original Transformers toyline were meant to resemble Choro-Q cars instead of real-world vehicles, explaining the original Bumblebee’s squished proportions.

As for Rodimus here, this was part of a line called Choro-Q Robo, which consisted of tiny transforming robots from a bunch of different franchises (or so the Transformers Wiki says, I can only find a few references elsewhere). For Transformers, they only did Rodimus, Optimus, and Megatron, and each got two paintjobs (this one’s the normal “TV Colors” release). Regardless of where this little ‘bot comes from, I saw a tiny Rodimus Prime, I got a tiny Rodimus Prime, and now I get to have a look at an old, unusual item. And by the way, the packaging is just excellent, it’s a small box covered in all kinds of Cool Transformers Livery.

Robot Mode

Rodimus is a stumpy little thing, shorter than a Core-class Transformer, shorter than the smaller Legends scale, even shorter than a G1 Minibot. But what they lack in height, they make up for in girth, because they’re a wide, broad, solid little brick of a bot.

In terms of design, this is a 100 percent pure G1 Rodimus, to a surprisingly detailed degree. Picking up the Kingdom figure to compare, it’s actually impressive how many details are faithfully translated over. There’s the obvious stuff, like the spoiler backpack, and the pipe arms, but there’s less obvious stuff, like the headlights at the bottom of the chest, or the specific shapes on the arms and legs.

Outside of squashing and broadening their size and shape, this is a strangely accurate bit of character design, with only some visible wheels, and a sticky-out chest with a windshield collar as the inaccurate bits (and that’s me looking for inaccuracies, it’s a miracle how close it is). The headsculpt is similarly surprisingly nice and accurate (even if it’s a relief sculpted into a panel behind it), with a slight stylization in the form of slightly larger eyes, and a generally more youthful look that makes me read it as a bit of a half-step between Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime.

The other thing that really impresses me here is just how much paint is on this figure. At this scale, you usually see novelty items like this cheap out, but Rodimus is just slathered in color. Deep red is the base here, mixed in with bright orange, silver, light gray, a bit of light blue, some darker gray for the boots, and a yellow spoiler. They’ve got the flame pattern right there on the chest, and the headsculpt even has a bit of slightly darker red on the helmet’s crest, a detail that a lot of attempts at the character leave out. I wasn’t expecting to compare this to the Commander-class Kingdom figure and realize their decos are actually comparable, but here we are. I’m not sure how much of this deco is paint versus plastic, but mine did pick up a scuff on the orange paint on their right wrist, due to them being packaged with their weapon pressed against it, so this might be a universal issue.

Another thing that impressed me is this bot’s durability. I’m not going to throw it against the wall, I’d worry about the paint, but this is a surprisingly chunky slab of plastic, and feels like an actual toy instead of an abstract collectible, probably for the sake of its gimmick (more on that later).

One gimmick it doesn’t really have is articulation, which is what I was expecting, given the size and shape of this thing. We’re looking at front-and-back shoulder swivels, and that’s it, basically putting them on the same level as a G1 Minibot, which feels appropriate.

What puts them beyond a G1 Minibot, though, is that they actually have an accessory, in the form of a tiny, squashed version of their usual Photon Eliminator Rifle, painted black. It fits in either fist, perfect for aiming with the little articulation those arms have.

You can also stash it on a hole on their back, if you’re sensibly worried about losing it.

The worst I can say is that the peg is at an odd scale, and can’t be used by anything else I have, but this thing came out in 2001, man.

Transformation

Oh, this is so nice. It’s G1 levels of simple, but feels so satisfying to do that I just flick it back and forth idly. I can go step by step: Flip up the chest, point the arms forward, fold the sides in, rotate the spoiler, and that’s it, you’re done.

There is one thing to make sure of, though: There’s little pegs on the sides of Roddy’s boots that peg into holes on the sides of the vehicle when you flip them in, and you need to make sure they clip in, for the sake of the altmode’s gimmick, but more on that later. Bottom line, easy, peasy.

Vehicle Mode

Again, they managed to make this shockingly accurate to G1 Rodimus’s proper Space Winnebago-looking alternate mode. Details like the pipes running up the sides and the six wheels are faithfully preserved here, just squished down to a smaller, cubier set of proportions. If there’s any sculpt inaccuracies, it’s that the back wheels are sticking out instead of properly inside the vehicle (a concession to the transformation), and the windshield’s oddly small (ditto). Oh, and the spoiler’s uptop, but it had to go somewhere.

For colors, again, there’s a ludicrous amount of work put in here. Most of the gray vanishes, to be replaced with a lot more red and orange. The pipes are painted silver, and they even tampo’d on a tiny replica of the flames that run down the side of the trailer, which is going above and beyond, in my books. I’d say this alternate mode’s color layout is slightly less accurate than the robot mode, with the all-orange-save-for-the-bumper front half, and the lack of any orange on the front or top of the trailer, but it looks right at a glance, and actually matches the G1 toy more than the TV show model.

In terms of materials and construction, this little truck rolls on rubberized tires with chrome rims, though I do find myself worrying about those tires splitting, in light of Car Robots/Robots In Disguise stuff from the same era having that happen (these ones feel solid, at least).

This vehicle mode itself is an even brickier brick than the robot mode, and holds together nicely, with the only bit of construction oddness being an unsightly gap right in the middle of the windshield that refuses to properly line up.

Anyway, onto the star of the show, the big gimmick: All Choro-Q cars have a pull-back-and-go motor, and Rodimus Prime is no exception, with the motor being contained in the front wheels of the vehicle. To activate it, you just place the truck on a hard surface, pull it back, and watch it go.

It’s a surprisingly robust bit of gimmickery, and this thing’ll fly really far if you let it. In the above photos, the car hit the backdrop, and when I picked it up, the wheels still needed to spin to get the juice out. A word of caution as a cat owner, though: When I tried it on my floor, I spent time afterwards fishing cat hair out of the wheelwells and dusting off the tires, so I might stick to tables and desks going forward.

This is also where it’s important to make sure you remembered to properly peg the sides of the vehicle mode in, as having them flop around will definitely interfere with this gimmick. Still, I can’t stress enough how cleanly fun this gimmick is, and it comes from a proper transforming Transformer, too.

Outside of that, there’s still a little peghole on top of the spoiler to mount the weapon, and the accessory is small enough that it just lives there in this mode, otherwise I feel like it’ll go missing.

Overall

Perfect 10/10, no notes.

Really, though. In terms of what this version of Rodimus Prime sets out to do and be, it pulls it off flawlessly. It’s not just a chibi transforming robot, it’s a chibi transforming robot with a pull-back-and-go gimmick that works really well, on top of a great transformation. Some Transformers happen to have transformations that are good fidget-toy fodder, this has that, and an entire second motorized gimmick with additional fidget potential. And on top of that, they went way harder with the design and paintwork than something this size needed, making it feel bizarrely premium for something that still has the energies of a fun little knockaround toy. And it’s my favorite character, too!

I paid 30 Canadian dollars for this at TFCon, and at the time, assumed it was a premium for its age and rarity (and how it was mint in box). But, when you think about it, modern Core-class figures cost about $16-18 Canadian before tax, and this has enough stuff going on with its paint, gimmicks, and construction that it feels worth more than those, meaning I actually feel like I got a bit of a deal. So, if you see this, get it, simple as that. They made an Optimus and a Megatron (and everyone got a second color variant), and honestly, I might try and grab the other two toolings if I ever see them, on the strength of this one.

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