Hot Shot (Armada)


 * Hot Shot is an Autobot character in the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.



Hot Shot is the quintessential young hero. He's been around long enough to earn a name for himself and a place in Optimus Prime's entourage, but he's still too young to know when he's in over his head. In other words, he's blunt, overconfident, and naive, yet brave and honorable. With time and experience, Prime believes, he could make an excellent leader, and has appointed him to his command structure accordingly. Hot Shot's got the goods, but he just needs to pay attention for more than five seconds. Until that day, Hot Shot's likely response to most anything is, "Yeah yeah, like, whatever."

Hot Shot's Mini-Con partner is Jolt, though he has been known to moonlight with Mirage.

Japanese name: Hot Rod (Armada), Exillion/Exigeyser (Cybertron)

Armada
One million years ago, Hot Shot was a member of the Autobots, the guardians of Cyber City. Soon news of a warlike faction called Decepticons, led by the powerhungry Megatron, reached Cyber City via a dying Mini-Con Hot Shot found. The Mini-Con handed him a video disc and with his dying breath, demanded Hot Shot take it to Optimus Prime. Optimus Prime played the disc, a distress signal from Leader-1, head of Mini-Con village D10, who begged the Autobots for help. The Decepticons themselves soon arrived in Cyber City, armed with Mini-Cons they had captured and reconfigured to bestow incredible power when powerlinxed. Outclassed and near total defeat, Optimus Prime called his troops into retreat, and after the majority of Mini-Cons escaped Cybertron to parts unknown, the Autobots lost much of the planet to the Mini-Con-powered Decepticons.

In the present day, both the Autobots and Decepticons received a signal of the Mini-Cons' activation on the planet Earth. Hot Shot and his colleagues Scavenger, Red Alert, and Smokescreen were led by Optimus Prime to the planet, where they met the Decepticons in battle. But this time, with the help of the estranged Mini-Cons, the Autobots regained the edge they lost against the Decepticons one million years prior. An uneasy alliance was formed, and Hot Shot was partnered with the Mini-Con Jolt.

After this initial battle on Earth, Megatron is quick to capture the Air Defense Mini-Con Team and forge them into the Star Saber sword. Optimus Prime led Hot Shot and Red Alert against the Decepticons again, despite being at a strategic disadvantage while the Mini-Cons were missing, a point Hot Shot belabored. Thankfully, the Autobot-allied Mini-Cons arrived just in time to powerlinx with Hot Shot and the other Autobots, fend off Megatron, and rescue the Air Defense Mini-Cons from the Decepticon leader's clutches. Soon, a Mini-Con beacon tower erected in Tranquility, Kansas, drawing all Earth-bound Mini-Cons to it. Hot Shot and the rest of the Autobots again met the Decepticons in battle at the location when the tower's effect was discovered. However, they were too busy fighting to notice the beacon tower blasting off towards the Earth's moon. Hot Shot and Red Alert secreted Optimus Prime into the Decepticon base for the use of their space bridge, so that the Autobot leader could ask for reinforcements from Cybertron.

After the Mini-Cons were evacuated from the moon, five did not return home safely and sent a distress signal from northern Alaska. When the Adventure Mini-Con Team failed to retrieve them, Hot Shot and the other Autobots arrived in full force, though they were kept in check by Cyclonus, who was suffering from a Mini-Con overdose. Though they were successful, Optimus Prime disappeared before their eyes, and when Hot Shot returned to Autobase, he found an Optimus Prime, dying, sent from another timeline to warn of Unicron's coming. Learning of the "real" Optimus Prime's disappearance, Megatron and his Decepticons stormed Autobase, nearly killing Smokescreen and heavily injuring Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Scavenger.

Optimus Prime was returned to them and insisted on teaming up with the Decepticons to battle the arriving Unicron. Hot Shot excused himself from this alliance, as Smokescreen's critical condition due to the Decepticons' recent attack still weighed heavily in his mind. So when Megatron stole away during the battle with Unicron to strike a deal with the Dark God, Hot Shot, Scavenger, and Red Alert ambushed him, leaving him to die as Unicron was seemingly destroyed by the Mini-Con Matrix.

Energon
Ten years later, at the beginning of the Energon Era, Hot Shot accompanied Optimus Prime, who was skeptic and restless about the new peacetime, to his visit with the High Council in Cyber City. Prime's demands for vigilence were denied, so Hot Shot later followed him to a special uplink platform that Over-Run had directed them to. This trip was a first outing for the rookie Autobot Ironhide, who fawned over Hot Shot. Hot Shot met this with difficulty. Learning of the continued existence of Unicron, Prime once again returned to the High Council, and again accompanied by Hot Shot. But this time, Cyber City was attacked by Cheetor, Rhinox, Airazor, and Terrorsaur, who were presumed dead during the Unicron Battles, but in fact were transformed into Unicron's Beasts of the Apocalypse. The Horsemen were deterred when Hot Shot and the other Autobots were granted the Spark of Combination.

Hot Shot followed Prime to Earth after a distress signal was received. Scorponok and his Terrorcons were after a young boy who could detect Energon named Kicker. The Terrorcons outclassed them, however, and left only when their Energon-mining gear was destroyed, but not without taking Kicker. After the Autobots reunited with Rad and Alexis, Hot Shot and the Omnicon Strongarm were able to pursue the Terrorcons and deliver a special suit to Kicker that his father, Dr. Jones, had made for him. With Kicker's help, the Terrorcons were defeated and returned to Unicron.

Armada

 * Voice Actor(s): Brent Miller (US), Kōsuke Okano (Japan)



An indeterminate number of years ago on Cybertron, Hot Shot and the Autobot Wheeljack were amidst a firey battlefield blaze. Wheeljack was incapacitated, so Hot Shot left him, promising to get help. However, his Autobot comrades would not let him return to help his friend. Instead, Wheeljack was rescued by Megatron and swore vengeance against Hot Shot and the Autobots.

When Optimus Prime received the Mini-Con distress signal, Hot Shot was one of two soldiers he brought with him to Earth to investigate. He soon scanned the form of an Earth sports car and partnered with the Mini-Con Jolt.

When all three Mini-Cons that combine to form the Star Saber sword were collected, Optimus assigned them to Hot Shot. The Autobot was young, inexperienced, and hotheaded, so the great advantage the Star Saber granted him went straight to his ego. With the sword, he was nearly unbeatable on the battlefield until a Decepticon named Scavenger taught him the hard way that power without skill was useless against an experienced opponent. Hot Shot's naivete was his downfall. The double-agent Sideways tricked Hot Shot out of the sword, and Hot Shot was beaten nearly to death by his frustrated opponents.

Wheeljack returned to Hot Shot's life, seeking revenge. The new Autobot recruit Side Swipe was caught up in Wheeljack's vendetta, so Hot Shot protected Side Swipe as best he could, hoping not to repeat his past mistakes. Wheeljack was deterred, but promised he'd be around later to revisit his ill will.

When Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to save Earth, Hot Shot was put in command. Hot Shot declined to take the Matrix of Leadership, which marked the beginning of a very unassertive and indecisive administration. It was also short, as Optimus Prime returned to life after not too long.

The Decepticons managed to take over Cybertron. Unicron, the Chaos Bringer, was looming over their planet, but Galvatron (previously Megatron) would not listen to Optimus Prime's pleas to unite their two factions against him. Hot Shot decided to take matters into his own hands and fought his way through the Decepticon base and countless Decepticon warriors to reach Galvatron and reason with him. If it were not for Wheeljack's intervention, he might not have survived. Under the Autobot/Decepticon alliance, Wheeljack's hatred of Hot Shot seemed to soften, and the two learned to trust each other again.

After the destruction of Unicron and the defeat of Galvatron, Optimus Prime felt he had failed as Autobot Leader, and with the end of conflict between the two factions, he exiled himself to parts unknown. Hot Shot and Jetfire were left in charge of the Transformers.

Energon

 * Voice Actor(s): Brent Miller (US), Kōsuke Toriumi (Japan)

Hot Shot would found himself stationed on Earth as the commander of Ocean City while Optimus Prime was away training new soldiers on Cybertron. Although somewhat less headstrong, Hot Shot was still a young soldier with a large mass of responsiblity placed on his shoulders.

Hot Shot often clashed with Kicker and Ironhide, the latter seeing Hot Shot as his idol, and was often paired with Inferno as his Powerlink partner. It wasn't until the arrival of Hot Shot's former commander and idol, Rodimus, that he would question his own allegiences. Not moved by Rodimus' plea to help him to resurrect Unicron, Hot Shot threatened to open fire, only to be struck down by Rodimus. After Rodimus saved Hot Shot's life, he regretted his quick judgement. The relationship between Hot Shot and Rodimus was eventually restored and they become Powerlink partners.

Hot Shot continued to serve under Optimus Prime, surviving many battles on Cybertron and other worlds. Along with several other Autobots, Hot Shot was injured when the reborn Unicron destroyed a fledgling planet in the reformed Q-system. Hot Shot was reformatted into a slick silver body along with his Autobot comrades. He eventually merged his spark with that of Optimus Supreme and his partners in the final battle with Galvatron.

Cybertron

 * Voice Actor(s): Kirby Morrow (US), Daisuke Hirakawa (Japan)
 * Special attacks: Accel Wing, Double X Shot, Battle Dagger

When Unicron's destruction resulted in a black hole that threatened the Transformers' home planet of Cybertron, Optimus Prime ordered the planet to retreat into hiding on Earth. Hot Shot took the form of a blue Earth sports car.

This form came in handy when Optimus reassigned Hot Shot and Red Alert to search for Velocitron's Cyber Planet Key. He quickly developed a competitive bond with Override, the leader of Velocitron. Against Red Alert's warnings, Hot Shot joined the Great Race. Hot Shot pushed himself beyond his means, almost to the point of destruction, but no matter how he tried, he could never defeat Override. The constant racing took a noticeable toll on his body. Was he really doing this to win the Key or just to prove to himself he was still the fastest in the galaxy?

Hot Shot was in big trouble when Optimus arrived on Velocitron and found out what he was up to. But Optimus Prime changed his mind when he realized that winning the race was the only way to win the Key. With the Autobots' full support and Coby's help, Hot Shot won the Great Race and the Cyber Planet Key.

Later, he would be severely wounded when Megatron used his Death Machine Gun on him, Scattorshot, and Red Alert. Fortunately, the powers of Primus acting through the Omega Lock repaired him into Cybertron Defense Hot Shot. When the Cybertron Defense Team was sent on an advance mission to Cybertron, Hot Shot and the others had to fight their way through a legion of Scrapmetal drones. Once Megatron arrived on Cybertron he was quickly defeated in a battle by the Cybertron Defense Team.

Much later on Gigantion the Cybertron Defense Team was caught in Soundwave's smokescreen, but they managed to figure out the mysterious agent's mind games and defeat him.

After Override resigned from leadership of Velocitron in order to travel to a new world, Hot Shot won the race to determine who would be her successor, despite his bulky new body.

Armada

 * Hot Shot (2002)
 * Japanese ID number: MC-03


 * Hot Rod w/ Jolt and Air Defense Microns (2002)
 * Japanese ID number: MS-01


 * Hot Shot (Happy Meal, 2002)


 * Powerlinx Hot Shot (2003)
 * Japanese ID number: MC-13
 * A red, yellow, and black redeco and retool of the first Hot Shot, Powerlinx Hot Shot has a new head that has a more "serious" look, though his visor, sculpted directly into the new head, is no longer articulated. Intended to be an homage to Generation 1 Hot Rod, he has a yellow spoiler and flames on his hood.  Due to a factory error, his forehead is painted gray instead of left red.  The Japanese version, "Super Hot Rod," fixed this forehead mistake, painted the shoulder symbol more clearly, and retained the LED light-up arm the first Japanese version featured.


 * In November of 2003, US Toys "R" Us stores had special bonus pack Max-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Max-Con during Toys "R" Us' post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Hot Shot is known to have had at least Iceberg packaged with him.

Built-to-Rule

 * Hot Shot (2003)

Energon

 * Hot Shot (2004)
 * Japanese ID number: SC-02


 * Hot Shot and Inferno(2003)
 * Japanese ID number: SS-01


 * Energon Hot Shot (2004
 * Japanese ID number: SC-23

Cybertron

 * Hot Shot (2005)
 * Japanese ID number: GC-02


 * Hot Shot (Legends, 2005)
 * Cybertron Defense Hot Shot (2005)
 * Japanese ID number: GC-19


 * Red Exillion (2005)
 * Hot Shot (red, 2006)

Merchandise

 * Hot Rod (Super Collection Figure, 2002)
 * A PVC figure of Hot Shot was available in Act 9 of Takara's Super Collection Figure series in both full color and pewter.


 * Hot Rod (Mega Super Collection Figure, 2002)

In 2003, Toys "R" Us carried a line of candy toys called Bubble Twist, which dispensed gum from its capsule-shaped container when twisted. Also contained in the capsule was a rubber figurine of a G.I. Joe or Transformers Armada character, including Hot Shot. Blindpacked, each figure came in several different possible colors.
 * Bubble Twist (Candy toys, $1.99)
 * Kabaya Big Transformers Hot Rod
 * Die-cast car Hot Shot
 * Hot Shot puzzle
 * Hot Shot backpack

Attacktix

 * Hot Shot (Booster, 2006)