Hot Rod (G1)


 * Hot Rod is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family. He has also been known as Rodimus Prime, Rodimus, and Rodimus Major.



Hot Rod is brash and headstrong, with an overwhelming self-confidence that borders on arrogance. Kup has assumed the role of mentor and advisor to the impetuous young Hot Rod, offering him wisdom and advice when he needs it (though Hot Rod rarely feels that he does, much to Kup's annoyance). Arcee, a female Autobot, also serves as a calming influence on Hot Rod, and tends to either worry about him when he is not around, or deride and tease him when he is. Their relationship is antagonistic, but friendly. Exactly how deep Hot Rod's feelings for Arcee might run is unknown, whether they be friendly, romantic, or otherwise.

In contrast, his Rodimus Prime persona - while still headstrong and stubborn - seems to suffer from a severe lack of confidence, often doubting his own decisions and expressing distress over his position as an Autobot leader. Of course, much of this comes from having immediately succeeded leadership from Optimus Prime, and shoes-to-be-filled don't get much bigger than that.

One thing that both sides of this Autobot's identity have in common is their impatience - neither Hot Rod nor Rodimus Prime can stand to wait around when they could be doing something instead. He is also very self-reliant, rarely sending others to do anything when he could be doing it himself.

His Targetmaster partner is Firebolt.

Japanese names: Hot Rodimus, Rodimus Convoy French-Canadian name: Météorite

Animated continuity

 * Voice actors: Judd Nelson → Dick Gautier; Hiroya Ishimaru (Japan)

Hot Rod was one of the many Autobots based in Autobot City, on Earth. He was close friends with the young human Daniel Witwicky, and seemed to have a reputation for being something of a trouble-maker, judging from a few of Kup's comments to him at the time. Realising that the Decepticons were invading, Hot Rod opened fire on their stolen shuttle and exposed their ruse before Megatron could enter the city. Although this did give the rest of the Autobots time to begin transforming Autobot City and raising their defences, it also left Hot Rod trapped outside with Kup and Daniel. After defeating the Decepticons Blitzwing and Shrapnel with some help from Kup, Hot Rod managed to find a way inside the fortress city and took part in its defense. During Optimus Prime's battle with Megatron, Hot Rod intervened in an attempt to help, but succeeded only in giving Megatron the chance he needed to mortally wound the Autobot leader.

After Prime's death, Autobot City was attacked again - by Galvatron. While escaping, Hot Rod and Kup (and the Dinobots) were seperated from the rest of the Autobots and crashed on the planet Quintessa. There, Hot Rod met the Quintessons, an enemy who would haunt him for some time later. After escaping their sadistic trial and attempted execution (as well as meeting Wheelie), Hot Rod went on to the planet Junk, where he was just in time to stop Wreck-Gar from destroying the rest of the Autobot City refugees with a timely use of the Universal greeting. Together, they all travelled to Cybertron to stop Unicron before he could eat more than just its moons.

Inside of Unicron, Hot Rod was seperated from the rest of his team when their ship crashed (something which happens to Hot Rod a lot). Alone, he found himself facing Galvatron in a battle to the death over the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Claiming the Matrix, Hot Rod evolved into "Rodimus Prime", an older, larger, and more powerful version of himself, and used the power of the Matrix to destroy both Galvatron and Unicron once and for all (supposedly).

Peace reigned on Cybertron for at least long enough to put up some of the more important buildings, and Rodimus Prime began to ease into his role as the new Autobot leader. When Ultra Magnus and Spike Witwicky were kidnapped during a peace celebration, it was Rodimus who spied on the Decepticons with Grimlock to determine if they were the ones who had done it. The way Rodimus had it figured, the Decepticons were usually behind everything anyway, so they seemed like a good enough place to start. After getting caught and severely beaten by the Decepticons (who were innocent of the kidnapping, but not really fans of his anyway), Rodimus was able to interface with the Matrix and learned about the origins of the Transformer race. He also learned that his old enemies, the Quintessons, were back and looking to destroy every Transformer in existence. Making things worse, Galvatron soon returned as well, and the war that everyone had assumed was safely over quickly started up again.

During this period, Rodimus Prime's greatest achievements both revolved around his predecessor, Optimus Prime. While fleeing from a Decepticon attack, Rodimus and several other Autobots took refuge in a massive Autobot crypt and discovered that their former leader seemed to have returned to life. Perhaps a little too trusting of Optimus (and possibly eager to relieve himself of the burden of leadership), Rodimus quickly passed the Matrix back to Optimus and, much to his glee, reverted back into Hot Rod. His happiness was short-lived, however, as Optimus was quickly revealed to be nothing more than a puppet of the Quintessons, sent to trick the Autobots into an ambush from which none of them would escape. With no other choice, Hot Rod was forced to do battle with Optimus Prime for the fate of the Autbots. Although their duel was clearly in the favour of the more powerful Optimus, Hot Rod was able to re-awaken the true spirit of his leader. Returning the Matrix to Rodimus, Optimus then piloted his ship into the heart of the ambush and sacrificed himself to save them all.

Or so it had seemed at the time. As was so often the case for Rodimus, things did not quite wrap up as tidily as he might have hoped. Far from being destroyed, Optimus had been retrieved by a team of human scientists who were hoping to use him (again) as a weapon against the Autobots - this time as the bearer of a malignant "Hate Plague" that would cause them to destroy each other. When he learned of this, Rodimus swiftly formed a rescue party and led them to retrieve Optimus' body so that their former leader could rest in peace. When all of the rest of the Autobots with him were exposed to the Hate Plague, only Rodimus was able to escape unharmed - and with the still uninfected body of Optimus. Returning to Autbot City, Rodimus ordered Sky-Lynx to find a Quintesson to repair Optimus, then risked his life to shut down Metroplex before the Plague could spread to it. Attacked by Ultra Magnus and Wreck-Gar in the process, he succumbed to the plague and became infected with hate. In order to stop the Plague, the resurrected Optimus had to defeat the crazed Rodimus and forcibly extract the Matrix from him, changing him back into Hot Rod once more. This time, as Optimus had decided to stick around, the change was somewhat more permanent. Somewhat.

"Rebirth" miniseries (America-only)
Even after losing his position as Autobot leader, Hot Rod was not the sort to rest on his laurels. Among other things, he was instrumental in championing the idea of human/Transformer binary bonding, a technique that later resulted in the Headmasters and Targetmasters. Hot Rod himself became one of the latter, bonding himself to a Nebulan named Firebolt.

Headmasters (Japan-only)
(The Headmasters anime skips the events which occurred in the 3-part "The Rebirth" story arc)

After the events of "The Return of Optimus Prime", Hot Rod maintained a high-level position among the Autobots as well as a new sense of duty and responsibility. After Vector Sigma was under threat of explosion, Hot Rod raced all over Earth trying to find the Matrix, which was still being repaired after its confrontation with the Hate Plague. Hot Rod eventually found the Matrix in a hiding place on Earth and rushed it back to Cybertron. Racing down to Vector Sigma, he met up with Optimus Prime and the ghost of Alpha Trion. Alpha Trion repaired the Matrix fully and Hot Rod transformed back into Rodimus Prime. Together, Optimus and Rodimus fought side-by-side to defeat Galvatron and his goons. However, to save Vector Sigma, Optimus Prime sacrified his life by merging with the super computer.

Rodimus became Autobot Supreme Commander once more and continued to lead the Autobots against the Decepticons. However, once again, Vector Sigma came under threat of destruction. However, he was unable to save it this time but managed to evacuate all of Cybertron before it was destroyed. In search of a new homeworld, Rodimus, Kup and  Blurr left the planet. Arcee asked if she could go, too, but Rodimus made her stay behind because she's a girl, and girls can't do anything but stand around and worry and make coffee for the men.

Japanese manga


In the concluding chapter of the Headmasters manga, issue number 8, Rodimus Prime returned from his journey in space. During his quest, he faced many dangers and hardships and learned a new admiration for the human race and the planet Earth. His trials also increased the power of the Matrix, which he had taken with him on his journey.

Battlestars: Return of Convoy (Japan-only)
Rodimus would not appear again until Battlestars, where he was shown to have reverted back to Hot Rod and now been converted into a Micromaster. As a Micromaster, Hot Rod took up residence in Star Convoy's chest, boosting his Supreme Commander's power.

(Note: Hot Rod's Micromaster body leaves fans to believe that the new homeworld he went searching for ended up being Planet Micro, which was featured prominantly in Transformers Victory.)

Dreamwave comics continuity
Hot Rod joined an underground Autobot cell led by Kup after Shockwave's takeover of Cybertron. Among the members of the cell was Arcee, who Hot Rod became attached to.

From the Wastelands, Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer observed an incoming Decepticon shuttle carrying the Dinobots. Shortly afterwards, the cell rescued Optimus Prime from Runamuck and Runabout, and took him to their base. After awakening, Prime attacked Gnaw, Blurr, and Wheelie, forcing Hot Rod (who didn't recognize him) to hold him at gunpoint. After being admonished by Kup, Hot Rod apologized.

After Shockwave unleashed the Guardian Robots on Iacon, Prime organized the resistance cell and other Autobot forces on the planet in an assault on Shockwave's citadel. Fighting alongside the Autobot leader, Hot Rod was amazed that the stories Kup had told him about Prime's courage and heroism had all been true. As an injured Prime breached the citadel, Hot Rod, Ironhide and Springer provided cover fire, taking down a number of Guardians in the process. Along with the rest of Iacon, they witnessed the divine light of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership when Shockwave activated it.

As Prime and Ultra Magnus battled Shockwave within the citadel, Hot Rod and Grimlock took down Astrotrain and Blitzwing. Immediately afterwards, they were confronted with the looming threat of a remaining Guardian Robot - a threat that was soon neutralized by the arrival of the Wreckers, the Autobot High Council, and Defensor. The unified Autobot group soon breached the citadel.

Some time later, Hot Rod ran a simulation combat scenario against Kup, and won using tactics that, in Kup's opinion, would have killed them both had it been real. Only after his victory did Hot Rod remember that he'd promised to take Arcee to see an Earth-bound shuttle launch - a duty Springer was happy to relieve him of. Soon afterwards, he was assigned to perimeter guard duty at Autobase with Gnaw and Wheelie, separating him from Arcee.

Universe: The Wreckers


A few months after the destruction of Unicron in 2005, Rodimus Prime spearheaded an effort to establish multiple recon posts to watch for advancing threats... even though some of his scientists said he shouldn't. When only two of the five launched ships were ever heard from again, Rodimus felt like a schmuck. Guy can't catch a break.

After the Great Wars ended and the Pax Cybertronia was signed, he changed his name to simply "Rodimus" and decided to check out the new "Maximal upgrade". His realtionship with Arcee effectively ended shortly after, as the latter went through dark gripping emo depression over the death of Daniel Witwicky and vanished.

Rodimus joined the Wreckers at some undetermined point afterwards. After Megatron took over Cybertron with his Vehicon drones, Wrecker leader Apelinq got stranded on prehistoric Earth, leaving Rodimus in charge. True to form, he ditched leadership duties to Primal Prime as soon as possible.

After Primal Prime got his marching orders from the Oracle, he met Rodimus deep inside Cybertron's caverns, where an even more gothy-emo Arcee --in a new Maximal body-- lurked and stewed in her depression. Realizing he couldn't convince her to give a damn about anything, he left, rejoining the main Wrecker force in battle. Making it onto an ancient Autobot shuttle, the Wreckers blasted off.... with late-arrival Arcee.

Rodimus recognized the homing beacon emitting from Archa Nine as one of those missing exploration parties mentioned before. When the shuttle landed, Rodimus stayed behind to help repair the damage the ship had suffered. The entire Wrecker team later gathered in an Akalouthan village, where Rodimus was reuinted with Glyph, who took them to see the artifact known as the Divine Light. The Wreckers' analysis of the item was cut short, as it was stolen by the traitor Cyclonus. Rodimus saw the back-in-his-old-body Devcon off, who was sent to chase after Cyclonus, while the Wreckers made for their next destination... even though several of them were now leery of the visions Primal Prime had been getting. Because they've really done so well by the Wreckers so far.

Upon landing on the frozen planet, Rodimus was part of the search party immediately dispatched to look for... something. Primal Prime wasn't too sepcific. They came across Al-Badur, an exiled Quintesson, who gave them a little history lesson. They were then promptly attacked by a school of Sharkticons, but the Wreckers made short work of them. they made their way back to the ship, with Al-Badur in tow, and made for their next destination...

(Note: As the comic series ended prematurely here, it is unknown how things went. The Wreckers series was intended to end shortly afterwards and tie directly into the Universe comic, but it never happened.)

Teletraan Go! Go! mini-comics


Hot Rod (in his Micromaster form) rescued Teletraan 15 from a strange mechanical monster, a Novaroid. Teletraan 15 noted that Hot Rod was considerably smaller than she remembered him.

Irked, Hot Rod laid the blame for the transwarp holes in space-time on 15. It was through these holes that this future/alternate version of Hot Rod and the Novaroid had arrived in Teletraan 15's time.

Things probably turned out allright from that point.

Kiss Players
Voice actors: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japan)

Following the death of Optimus Prime and the defeat of Unicron, Hot Rod became Rodimus Prime, the new leader of the Autobots. However, when his defeat of Galvatron led to a calamitous disaster on Earth, he gave up the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, reverted to Hot Rod once more and returned to the human homeworld.

Damaged by the E.D.C.'s anti-electron field, Hot Rod fused with a Legion and was reformatted into a Ford GT body by a kiss from the former Earth Defense Command Kiss player Lǐ Shāo-Shāo. Now, partnered with the kung-fu mistress, he travels around Japan battling the E.D.C., Legion, and the resurrected Optimus Prime.

Hot Rod is cocky and confident in his speed and sharpshooting skills, and weathers his human partner's complaints that he's slacking off on his hand-to-hand combat training. He would much prefer to practice kissing, and the resulting fusion grants him Shāo's considerable martial arts skills as well as the ability to wield his firearms as tonfas. In return, he steals underwear for her.

He enjoys fishing and carries a customized rod that can be converted into a forearm-mounted weapon called the "Exhaust Eliminator". Shāo-Shāo doesn't like working with him after a fishing trip due to the smell, but she secretly wishes that he would take her with him anyway. Hot Rod is also suspicious of Optimus Prime, and claims that he is not the real Optimus, presumably because he still believes his former commander to be dead following the battle of Autobot City.

Hot Rod has the distinction of being the only known robot with a Kiss Player partner to have lips. This may contribute to Shāo's feelings of excitement when she kisses him, though the rest of the time she's a bit outraged that a robot would have the audacity to talk to her like a person.

Generation 1



 * Hot Rod (Autobot Car, 1986/2000/2002)
 * Japanese ID number: C-78


 * Hot Rod was one of the first toys designed specifically for the Transformers toyline, versus being an imported pre-existing toy. Designer Floro Dery created Hot Rod for the animated film and then the toy was created from his model sheet.  (The model sheet would be altered further after the toy was completed.)  Hot Rod transforms from a robot into a "futuristic" hot rod sportscar.  The toy comes with two rifles. There are two versions of this toy; initial releases have die-cast (unpainted) metal feet, while later shipments use black plastic.


 * In 2000, Takara re-released the Hot Rod toy, having had to retro-retool it from the Targetmaster release. In 2002, Hasbro released it as part of the Toys 'R' Us exclusive Commemorative Series line as Rodimus Major. Both versions use die-cast metal for his feet.


 * The same mold is used by Black Rodimus.


 * Rodimus Prime (Autobot Hero, 1986/2004)
 * Japanese ID number: C-77


 * Rodimus Prime was designed in much the same way as Hot Rod. Rodimus transforms from a robot and battle platform into a futuristicky Winnebago camper.  The toy comes with a "Photon eliminator" rifle and two blast shields to attach to either side of his battle platform's cannon.  (The yellow spoiler was also to be removed and replaced during transformation.) Like Hot Rod, there are materials variations; initial releases have metal toes with rubber tires, while latter shipments replaced both with black plastic.


 * The metal-toes/rubber-ties version of the toy saw re-release in both Japan and the US in 2004.


 * This mold is also used by Primus.


 * Hot Rod w/ Firebolt (Targetmaster, 1987/2004)
 * Japanese ID number: C-110, TFC-13


 * Hot Rod was re-released with his new Nebulan Targetmaster partner Firebolt a year after the original release. The toy was retooled to have larger pegholes in his fists and his engine block so the Targetmaster gun would fit. Latter versions of this toy retooled his lower legs to minimize the scraping of his thigh decals.


 * Takara reissued Targetmaster Hot Rod in 2004 as sort of an "ultimate" version, with metal toes (the original versions all used plastic) and the twin rifles from the non-Targetmaster version.


 * Crystal Rodimus (Autobot Car, 2001)
 * Japanese ID number: C-78C


 * One of the earliest e-Hobby exclusives, "Crystal" Rodimus uses the reissue Hot Rod mold, but cast almost entirely in transparent plastics. He was availbale only in a set with the evil clone Black Rodimus.



Battlestars

 * Star Convoy w/ Hot Rodimus (Autobot, 1991/2005)
 * Japanese ID number: C-372


 * Available only with Star Convoy, Hot Rod's Micromaster form is a simplified version of his original toy, transforming into the same futuristic race car. In 2005, Star Convoy was re-released with several deco changes; among them, the decals used on Hot Rod were changed to paint applications.

Classics

 * Rodimus (Deluxe, 2006)


 * Classics Rodimus is a sleeker, more streamlined version of the original, now transforming into a heavily-altered Dome Zero, a futuristic race car from 1978. His rear-mounted thruster engine becomes a hand-held weapon in robot mode, launching a spring-loaded missile.  His left arm also hides a flip-out "comm unit" that is clearly supposed to be the buzzsaw he used for a brief period in the Movie.


 * In a twist of delicious buttery fandom irony, Classics Rodimus has elements that were introduced in his Energon namesake, making him a somewhat backwards-homage. His face also appears to take visual cues from how he was drawn by Derek Yaniger in the Generation 2 comic book.

Titanium Series

 * Rodimus (3-inch Robot Masters, 2006)


 * Rodimus Prime (6-inch Cybertron Heroes, 2007)

Kiss Players

 * HotRodimus X SyaoSyao (Kiss Players, 2006)


 * Kiss Players Hot Rodimus is a retool and redeco of the Alternators Mirage toy, transforming into a red Ford GT. His engine becomes a pair of pistols that double as tonfa weapons, and his fishing rod can be taken apart and reassembled to create a triple-barreled arm-mounted blaster reminiscent of the original Hot Rod's exhaust pipe weapons. His new head sculpt includes a retractable visor patterned after the one used in the movie. The toy also included a PVC figurine of the character's "Kiss Player" partner Shaoshao Li and a bamboo dumpling steamer.

Trivia

 * Some testshots of the original toy have recently surfaced, and were cast in a pinker plastic similar to the color of the animation model - this version of the figure can also be seen in the original 1986 toy catalog.


 * A new Rodimus Prime was devised for the 1991-1992 lineup, however this one did not leave the drawing board. He was to be a fire truck, apparently with a design in the spirit of Star Convoy and with transformation scheme similar to Inferno.


 * Hot Rod might be the Transformers character with the most names in the US. From "Hot Rod" to "Rodimus Prime", to "Rodimus Major" to just plain "Rodimus".  Varieties of "Rodimus" appear to be how he will be for a while, as Hasbro appears to be unable to secure the trademark on "Hot Rod".


 * Aside from the Energon namesake character, Hot Rod has also been homage'd twice (or possibly thrice depending on how you look at it) in the Unicron Trilogy. For Armada, the "Powerlinx" upgrade of Hot Shot was given a very Hot-Rod-inspired deco.  In Cybertron, Takara made a redeco of Hot Shot (well, "Exillion") with Hot Rod deco as a DVD-pack-in exclusive.  Hasbro then took this deco, altered it, and released it in the US line at mass retail as the new character Excellion.


 * At Botcon 2002, Dick Gautier "confirmed", jokingly, that Rodimus Prime is gay.