I have never bought a Titanium figure until a few days ago, and I actually regret it. More on that in a bit. Fire Convoy is one of my favorite Convoy designs, and his super mode was great(though vastly overshadowed by the Omega Prime/Convoy-whatever-the-hell-he-was-called).

So after reading reviews by fellow staff members and TFW2005'ers, I decided to pick this up. I must add, I'm also partial to Hot Spot, his design was cool, definitely evoked a quiet, noble warrior. It also helped that he resembled Prime but wasn't Prime.

Articulation was decent, joints were detented, which I absolutely love. I love ratchets and detents as when working correctly, they increase the stability of a figure.

The transformation was simple, a neat, yet efficient way of transforming however the leg flaps could have been better. Even better if the lower legs were not hollow and the feet locked into place.

The pop out canons were cool and the sculpt isn't bad. I don't like the way the paint adhered to the diecast as it didn't dry smoothly, you can see some subtle bumps, kind of a rough texture despite being on a flat surface. This is common on all Titaniums I've seen so some of you might be used to it.

Anyways it all came crashing down yesterday. His shoulders tend to dislodge every now and then, no big deal right? WRONG. While putting his shoulder back the peg BROKE on one side. Krazy glue, my usual deus ex machina for breakages(hell it WORKS on Yamato Macross toys...can you believe that?), DID NOT WORK on my Hot Zone figure! The shoulder peg must be made out of different plastic, the glue more or less dried around the parts as opposed to fusing them together.

So I have no idea how to get this thing back together. Any recommendations? I was thinking of using the most diesel epoxy known to man but who knows if that would even work.

Overall, pre-breakage I'd give it a 7/10, but due to the unpredictable shoulder peg, I give it a 6/10. Buy with caution. I must add, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary when reattaching the arm, it just broke under the pressure of being reinserted the peg into the shoulder.

 

great now im afraid to buy him...

 

Mine has nice and tight joints, maybe you got q bad figure.

Anyway short review, great figure, one of the better Titaniums. I will make a longer review later.

EDIT: Pictorial review:

Hot Zone is one of the three Target exclusive Titanium figures. As I do not have a Titanium RID Prime I cannot cover changes to the mold and will instead review the figure as a whole.

Vehicle mode




Cast primarily in sky blue plastic, Hot Zone has a great vehicle form. He has plenty of molded on detailings with some red, silver, and black paint apps. his fire department symbols on the sides of his cab have the Autobot symbol inside it and the letters M and C next to it.

While the ladder does not extend like on the original toy it does raise and swivel and has two gun barrels on the tip that fold out.


One thing to note is that the black piece the ladder is attached to is not one solid piece. The ladder's base rests on a separate piece that can come off kind of easily although that could be fixed with some glue or nail polish.

Transformation
Very simple. The cab becomes his legs by simply folding outward and connecting. Although this leaves his legs hollow it does not affect his balance and it is only visible from the inside of his legs.

Next, slide his lower body into his waist and slide down the ladder assembly. Move his arms down and rotate his shoulders forward. Rotate his arms down and around and flip out his fists.

Robot mode

First off:



The ladder assembly does not affect his balance or extend all the way down to the floor. The assembly can be positioned however you like but you can not flip it over his shoulder, the ladder can only go vertical from its default position.




His robot mode has a lot of molded detailing and paint apps and looks very similar to his original toy. There is a lot more black and red in this form along with some silver on the arms, legs, and torso and head. He also has gold paint on his eyes and torso. There is only one paint app I personally don't like:



I would have preferred that the head been all black except for the eyes like the original toy. The silver on the faceplate really bugs me but overall it's something I can overlook.

Hot Zone has 16 points of articulation in this mode not counting the ladder assembly. Four in each arm, (He has two shoulder joints, one that goes side to side and another that goes forward and moves up for transformation) head and waist, and three in each leg. The raised pieces on the back of his legs affect his knee joints limiting his poseability somewhat but he is still fairly poseable

Overall he is a fantastic figure but at $20 his price tag is kind of steep. If you have the money to burn and really want him I say pick him up.

The original Hot Spot on TFU.info

 

Somebody might have suggested this already, but I recommend you buy a new one while they're still available at Target stores and use the receipt to return the defective one that broke. There really is nothing shady or dishonest about it and that way you break even and have a good figure without any problems for your collection.

 

Here is a comparison pic with Titanium 6" RID Optimus Prime in package for reference:

It is amazing how the same mold could be painted to look like a different character from an entirely different universe. Note that Hasbro removed the display stand and made the packaging smaller, while at the same time, added $5 to the retail cost.

 

If this guy goes on clearance, or buy one get one free, then yeah, I'll pick him up. Maybe even before then. But with the shoulder QC about, I think I'll wait until someone finds a fix.

Actually, there are three, Hot Zone, Thrust, and Optimus Prime.

 

I hope that they one day release a repaint of the leader size version of RID Optimus Prime in Hot Zone colors with a new head like the exclusive that never got released. That mold, along with the RID Ultra Magnus, deserve good repaints.

 

Yeah, I forgot about the Prime repaint. Will edit that later!

 

Don't have a camera handy, but you can swing the ladder over his shoulder like the leader class RiD Prime. In fact mine's posed like that right now

 

Wow, I didn't realize how well Hasbro managed to repaint RID Prime. It appears to be a good homage to Hot Spot, but RID Prime was one of the Titaniums I didn't like so I'll pass.

 

He looks cool.


(I have the Titanium version of RiD Prime, and I have long thought he'd make a cool Hot Spot... err, Zone.)


Now, what would be good figures to represent his Protectobot team-mates, I wonder?

 

Well, Blades is already handled (and roughly in scale!)

 

How did you do that?

 

There's a swivle on the black part that the ladder is connected to.

Incoming bad pics:
you can kinda see it in this pic right above his shoulders

and here's the swivle from roughly the same view

over the shoulder


and the closest to an action pose I can get

Obviously not as fluid as the leader class version, but it's a nice little addition.

 

I didn't think you could swivel that piece! Makes him a lot cooler now.