Originally written April 2020, this is an especially interesting figure to go back and look at in a post Studio Series 86 Hot Rod world.
By now, you all know I love me some Hot Rod. I’m pretty sure it dates back to repeatedly renting the original animated Transformers movie on VHS as a kid, but the daring young red sportscar Autobot has always been one of my favorites. Something mildly frustrating as a fan is that so many figures of the character come in packages that are almost-perfect, but have one or two big flaws (2022 edit: Well, we got one perfect one, now.)
Shortly after finally securing the “Hot Rod” name again (hence why most figures were known as Rodimus for such a long time), Hot Rod got a new deluxe-sized figure in the Titans Return line in 2016.
After that, they were given a fancy repaint and retooling in Takara’s Legends line in 2017, which is how most of the Generations figures from Thrilling 30 to Titans Return saw Japanese release.
I’ve never been one to take any kind of “Takara does it better than Hasbro” arguments seriously, but Legends was one case where they often did so, thanks to the fact that a) each individual figure had a much higher paint budget (and price tag to go with it), leading to much nicer decos, generally and b) the benefit of coming out so much later than the Hasbro releases often meant that these were “second passes” at the toolings. That being said, Legends had a really strict aesthetic goal, which was “make the figures look as much like the G1 cartoon as possible through paint and retooling,” which sometimes clashed with the design of the figures, which were more “updated redesigns of the classics,” but we’ll get into that later. Also, the less said about the pack-in comics, the better.
This meant that this version of Hot Rod got an elaborate toon-accurate colorscheme, a retooled chest/car hood, and a new Targetmaster partner in the form of Firebolt, whom Hot Rod acquired in the final few episodes of the original cartoon. Let’s have a look at this whole package, and see how well it holds up.
Headmaster Partner
Yup, this is a Titans Return figure, so the head becomes a little guy. In the west, this was “Firedrive,” AKA Firebolt reinvented as a Titan Master, whereas in the pack-in comic for this figure, it’s apparently Hot Rod themselves, commanding a larger Transtector body. Doesn’t matter who it is, really. It’s a little figure forms the head.
Whatever this figure is, it’s incredibly well-painted, especially compared to the Hasbro release, which had no deco on it at all, giving us an immediate look at Takara’s paint budget. The sculpting may suggest Firebolt, but the colors are all Hot Rod, with the blue visor, red body, orange upper torso, black lower legs, and black arms (which make more sense in head mode).
Speaking of that head mode, once transformed, this is a really great-looking Hot Rod facesculpt that actually manages to look properly rounded, thanks to those black arms making you ignore their squareness and focus on the front of the head (and the painted earmuffs, which continue onto the arms). All of the proper G1 details are there, including a serious, determined facial expression for those moments where things get real. I’m also a big fan of subtle paint job on the head, which actually includes two shades of dark red. They did real good here.
Targetmaster Firebolt
This guy looks a lot like Siege’s Battlemaster Firedrive (reviewed last week, right here), but it’s actually a totally different mold. Siege Firedrive must have used the same CAD file or something, though, because almost all of the sculpted details are the same, it’s just made out of different parts in different configurations.
In some ways, Firebolt here (and the few other Targetmaster figures put out in the Legends line) were prototypes for those Battlemasters. They didn’t come with blast effects, and were just a tiny bit smaller, but were made of sturdier materials. Firebolt certainly looks nicer, cast in different shades of bright grey and clear plastic, with some slick grey and silver paint apps, plus some blue eyes, compared to the detail-hiding white finish on most of Firedrive. It’s also funny looking at the little details he shares with the smaller Titan/Headmaster figure, since they’re different interpretations of the same character model.
For poseability, he has swivelling hips and shoulders, and actually has ball-jointed knees. The only thing he lacks is the later Battlemaster’s ability to take his backpack off and hold it as its own gun.
Firebolt is also more involved to transform than Siege Firedrive, with waist and knee twists. In his gun mode, we see another bit of engineering the Battlemaster improved on: Stability. Firebolt’s arms float freely, and his legs sort of peg in, but not as stably as the Battlemaster. Oh, also, he can sort of use Siege blast effects, though it’s a tight squeeze.
I may sound like I’m grousing, but he does look good in silver. I think it’s really a draw in terms of which one turned out better, though.
Vehicle Mode
I’ll state this right off the top: This is nearly perfect, and they really nailed this vehicle mode. It’s just the G1 Hot Rod altmode, full stop, with all of the details there. The big yellow spoiler, the silver pipes on the sides, and the flames outfront. It’s a little stylized, presenting us with a more curvy design than the animation’s flat wedge, but it works, and it hits the right notes. The one place the sculpting doesn’t quite work for me is that no matter how many times I transform it, I can’t quote get the back of the car to come together into an unbroken shell, and you can slightly see the orange of the robot mode’s legs poking out at the back in some images, like the one above.
Since this owes more to Hot Rod’s appearance in the final episodes of the cartoon than the movie, the main color here is a darker maroon, instead of anything pinkish-purple, or bright red like the Titans Return version. The advanced Takara paint budget also means that we get shiny silver exhaust pipes, instead of flat grey ones, as well as painted silver wheels. In a nice detail, the spoiler is actually two shades of yellow, an often-missed animation detail.
So, the front of the car’s interesting, since it’s also the bit they retooled from the Titans Return release. The flames on the hood are actually cast in transparent yellow, with tech detailing sculpted inside. This is what drew me to the figure initially, as it vaguely reminded me of Rodimus Imhotep, from Tom Scioli’s GI Joe/Transformers mashup.
It’s not based on anything in particular, but it looks really cool. There’s a bit of a flaw in this, though, in that you can plainly see that there’s nothing under the hood, thanks to the transparency. In addition, the engine block’s been retooled in a way that leaves a big gap between it and the cockpit that isn’t present on the western release. Also, thanks to the piece being painted clear plastic, and the sides of the car being solid plastic, the headlights have this weird thing where they’re half-clear half painted yellow. So, this odd front end’s got its ups and downs.
Let’s talk gimmicks, the highlight of Titans Return vehicle modes. Firstly, obviously, it rolls, and rolls well.
Secondly, the clear blue cockpit flips open, and seats a single Titan Master figure nice and snug, with little control panels even sculpted in.
Next, there’s a pair of tiny pegs behind the cockpit where other Titan Masters can peg in and ride along.
Finally, the resculpted engine block has a big hole in it specifically so Firebolt can plug into it in gun mode, for an attack configuration. It’s a little bit ridiculous looking, considering that it totally blocks the driver’s view, but hey, that’s how it was on the G1 Targetmaster figure. There’s an additional pair of holes behind each of the front wheels that can peg similarly-sized weapons in (including the guns the original release came with), but Firebolt’s too wide to fit there. Still, there’s a ton of interactivity in this mode, with both included minifigures having stuff they can do.
Transformation
There’s really something to Titans Return Deluxe transformations, and Hot Rod’s no exception. This is the kind of transformation you can do in a minute, yet still involves a lot of pleasant-feeling flips, rotations and tabs (I particularly like folding together the lower legs). Nothing’s difficult, everything works, and at the end, you pop the head on to finish things.
Robot Mode
Like the vehicle mode, the sculpt isn’t strictly G1 Hot Rod. All the details are in the correct places (Pipes on the arms, spoiler on the back, flames on the chest and so forth), but this figure gives them a more stylized silhouette. This version of Hot Rod’s less slim, and has beefy shoulders and arms, for one thing, as well as stompier boots made of car parts, making them feel built like a linebacker. But I think it works for the character, bot of action that they are, particularly with the Headmaster’s excellent facesculpt.
One thing I do like about the sculpt is that its thighs are hollow, but they actually sculpted little pistons in there to make it feel more deliberate.
So, let’s talk about the big sticking point here: That retooled, be-flamed chest. The original Titans Return version kept the engine block right at the neckline, and included an extra step where you folded in the bottom half of the hood, to give Hot Rod a more tapered waist, resulting in an upside-down-triangle of a torso. The new Legends version of the hood-chest was designed to let you flip away and hide the engine block for better animation-accuracy, but losing that lower hood-flip and tapered torso in the process, resulting in a bulky, flat torso. I’d say the more egregious part of this, to me, is that this new hood chest has these big, obvious gaps from every angle except the front, exposing a mostly hollow torso, like you can see right here:
Not gonna lie: I really wish they’d just kept the original tooling here, animation accuracy be damned. The funny thing is this kind of stuff (the chest in particular) is things I’d complain about on a Masterpiece figure, but at a Deluxe mass-release scale, feels a bit more acceptable.
Colors-wise, animation-accuracy is again key, and it looks pretty swank, between the subtle two shades dark maroon, orange, yellow and silver accents. And while the sculpting may be weird, the transparent flames at the center of it all do put a nice aesthetic cherry on top of it, so to speak.
For poseability, this is a standard Titans Return Deluxe, so we don’t have any swiveling wrists or ankle tilts, but we do have swiveling thighs, on top of a standard, good-looking range of poseability. On my sample, the hips are maybe a hair too loose, not enough to impact stability, but enough to make me a bit cautious. I don’t know how common this was, but a tiny bit of floor polish ought to clear it right up. Honestly, the poseability intersects really nicely with the beefy, built-looking sculpt to give Hot Rod some really nice personality, and it seems like they’re meant to permanently rest a hand or two on their hips.
For accessories, the twin guns of the Titans Return release are gone, but the Hot Rod I know generally shoots from those wrist-mounted exhaust pipes, so I don’t really miss them.
Besides, they have Firebolt’s gun mode to hold instead, and it looks appropriately menacing.
Overall
Regardless of everything else, if you’re in the market for a Hot Rod at the Deluxe scale, this is the best version out there right now (2022 edit: No longer true, though the new one’s sold as a Voyager) in terms of sculpt, colors, transformation, poseability, the works, with the two extra minifigures that come in the box just increasing the level of playability, making the whole package feel like even better value (2022 again: This part’s still true.)
That being said, like most Hot Rods, it’s very close, but just shy of being perfect, thanks to the new torso and hood coming with a set of aesthetic issues. If they’d just done a straight repaint of the North American release, this would have been a whole lot closer to perfect. Still, it’s a very good Deluxe rendition of my favorite character.
(2022 thoughts: It’s interesting looking at this in comparison to the Studio Series 86 figure, which pretty much finally nailed the character down in plastic form. I still think that one’s better, but this one’s a bit more unique, in that it’s more stylized, a bit simpler, and more toy-ish. The vehicle mode’s got way more playability and features, and the transformation’s a lot easier. It’s a figure I can’t bear to part with, just because of the pluses that it has. I’d still say it, or the original Titans version, are worth a look if you’re a fan of the character.)
