I used to think Titans Return was the pinnacle of Transformers engineering and G1 goodness. Now I'm not so sure.
All the SS86 figures look great but I just can't get over how amazing Hot Rod looks. Those first leaked images of him were honestly the last push that got me back into collecting and he looks better each time I see new pictures of him.
My only gripe with Hot Rod (and it's miniscule) is that there are holes in the pipes. Otherwise, he's incredible looking. Especially when you look at the price point.
I’ve been hoping, and I really do hope this is confirmed positive when it comes out, that the holes in the pipes on either side of his arm are the right size to incorporate the flame effects parts from Cyberverse Deluxe Hot Rod.
That's because the the MP uses the actual front of the car mode at the chest, to its detriment. I know some people have mixed feelings about faux parts, but... when it comes to G1, if you want maximum screen accuracy, faux parts are usually the way to go. Especially at standard retail price points.
Kup's is okay, just a bad expression. A few shots in the movie portray him with a bit more chin than usual, so I'm okay with it. But Blurr's is just bad. Cyclonus also has an overly long and squared off face.
That's what I can't get my head around. Hot Rod's face looks amazing. If they could do this, why were Kup, Blurr, and Cyclonus's faces hard enough to result in the disasters we seem to get in the final products? I hope if Hasbro rereleases those molds as Targetmasters they will have better facesculpts. Heck, I hope a third party company can make better faces for the people who buy these versions.
I find it particularly odd since overall they've been knocking it out of the park with head sculpts the last few years, going back at least to Combiner Wars. I think the problem with Kup and Blurr is they tried to match too closely to particular cels from the animation instead of going for the ideal of what the animation was supposed to represent. 2 D translated to 3D often looks weird. I'm not sure what went wrong with Cyclonus, but it just looks bad and way off model. Skipping those three for a variety of strange designs decisions (not sure who thought we needed a chonky Cyclonus), but the heads are probably the biggest reason. while I agree he looks incredible, I feel like saying he looks incredible for the price point is a bit of a weird thing to call out, since he's a Deluxe at the Voyager price point. With the downsizing of deluxes the last few years, he's probably about the same size and complexity of figures that used to sell for $12.99 MSRP with a couple more accessories for almost 3X the price. once again, I think he's incredible - certainly the best representation of Hot Rod they've ever done: but for an over-priced deluxe that cheats it's transformation, it's seems like they could have gotten the alt mode more accurate (and not having a bright yellow hinge on the roof ruining the continuity of it), a little more paint on him overall and really I can't believe this is the fourth CHUG Hot Rod and they still haven't managed to get the the wrist blasters shaped correctly.
I dunno what it is about Hot Rod's design that I love it so much even though I think the character is a doofus. Anyway, this continues to look promising.
Fair enough. I usually buy all my Transformers on sale or clearance, so I don't usually worry about the price too much. I'm also at the point where I'm very picky about the toys I buy, so price is the last thing I worry about. I'm more worried about display space. That yellow hinge is definitely an eyesore. I'll have to see if there is a close paint match or I'll just paint it black.
I’m going to assume that it was simply a different designer. Since they were all intended for WfC III and were in various stages of production before Kingdom came to be, we have no idea how much was shuffled around, remolded for a different aesthetic, or just received little tweaks. Who knows. Maybe HR had a more terrible head but he was behind in design allowing the time to sculpt a new one. Maybe Kup & Blurr had different heads but were changed as well. The goings on with Grimlock suggest that the line has seemingly been in flux with last minute changes even going down to the wire.
I don't need it but dayum I am really impressed with this little figure. Both this and Optimus Primal will probably be the best mainline Transformers of 2021.
I mean... I’m paying $30-$50 for legends scaled offerings from other companies based on their accuracy to G1 designs and really fun transformations. If Hasbro wants to meet that quality then they’ve got my money.
