I apologize for spamming this thread but I thought it was a better idea to do that instead of creating a new thread. Could folks help me identify these weapons. They might not even be CHUG, they could be MP or 3P.

I’m doing some spring cleaning!

 

The gray one on the right goes with Titans Return Octone. I'm not sure about the others.

 

My updated Wreckers Collection. I really need Pyro and Ironfist.

 

I believe @DrJest is correct about the grey one on the right. Top left looks liked SS86 Blurr’s gun, and bottom left looks like one of Siege/ER astrotrain’s weapons.

 

A couple of quick image searches confirm those.

 

Excellent lighting for that shot, too!

 

Thank you fellas! Your answers make perfect sense. My memory is clearing up on these now.

 

Oh Hot Rod. The ego thing really is fair enough. You ARE a big deal! Sure most people hate you because you got Optimus Prime killed and all that shit, but…enh! You’re a cocky maverick with an aggressively sexy alt mode. But I don’t think any of that really mattered to me.

“We made it!”

With those words Blurr, Kup, and Hot Rod burst into 1986. Even more so than with the ‘Special Teams’, I feel like I’m getting in on the ground floor on something. Something important that will resonate for a long time. These are MY Transformers. And Hot Rod is the best of them.

I didn’t actually see the movie until around the middle of 1987, but I had the Ladybird storybook with all the stills from the film. So I knew all about Hot Rod’s ascendency by Christmas of 1986. He really was a big deal. Looking back we only had him as ‘Hot Rod’ for a very short time, narratively speaking, before he became Rodimus. And in that time he didn’t really do that much. At least not in Target:2006. He watched while Kup failed to talk Ultra Magnus round and painted Skywarp. Still, mission accomplished.

Oh but that toy! How much time did I spend lovingly caressing my friend’s Hot Rod when I was a kid (Don’t. We’re better than that). Admiring his perfect youthful visage, his oh-so-cool wrist cannon exhaust things, his perfect alt mode, his diecast feet, and beautiful transformation sequence. I know everyone said you were an arsehole but I loved you. I thought you were the coolest thing. So perfect that I think I lied to myself about how little articulation you actually had. Along with the Dinobots, Shockwave, and Topspin he’s one of the Transformers (as both characters and toys) I can easily point to, with no hesitation, and say ‘that’s why I love this’.

Naturally, he was one of the first ‘bots I got when I started collecting again. I opted for symmetry with his guns. It’s a small thing. The lack of articulation came as a shock to me. I’d obviously done a great job convincing myself otherwise about his articulation when I was wee. Even the car mode looked a bit dorkier and boxier than I’d remembered. But none of those trifling details mattered. It was Hot Rod, and I still loved him.

Every now there comes a Generations figure that is just so good and right that I’m reminded exactly why I love collecting these toys so much.To the pantheon that includes Siege Shockwave and TR Topspin, I can now add SS86 Hot Rod.

When looking at this figure I was reminded how iconic I found the Hot Rod design. Like Johnny Alpha, Cyclops, or Snake Eyes (the ’85 version), it was just one of those character designs that just sang to me. This figure hits the nostalgia button in the bet and most interesting way; I’m back in the 80’s, remembering things I’d almost totally forgotten and feeling like I’m having a dialogue with my childhood self. It’s genuinely quite therapeutic.

And, for me, that’s the real triumph of SS86. This guy just looks exactly like Hot Rod. It is Hot Rod! No intrusive line gimmicks (sorry TR), no attempts to update the character for the sake of modernisation, and no Cybertronian alt mode. This is an utterly faithful take on the character, done with all the care and attention you could imagine, even down to the really big spoiler on his back (you could barely see the TR spoiler due to those massive arms).

I’m particularly impressed with the headsculpt. It’s a simple design that shows some real restraint and discipline on the design team’s part. There’s something to be said for knowing when to step away from something and not overcomplicate it. And they’ve certainly achieved that here. Also, keeping it as simple as they have works wonders in imbuing the toy with that mixture of innocence and cockiness that Hot Rod had. And with the deco they get about as close to the cartoon magenta as I can imagine them ever getting with a ‘mainstream’ Hot Rod.

When rambling about SS86 Jazz I marveled at the way the figure held his weight like a human being, seemingly shifting his weight from one hip to the other as you move him from one pose to another, and that’s even truer for Hot Rod. Every pose I put him in conveys some very human body langauge. It’s quite a feat. Now, I’ve noticed some pointing out that there are some clearance issues with his shoulders that limit motion, and while I recognise the issue, I’ve not really felt him suffer for it. Perhaps I’m less imaginative in my posing than others, because when it comes to articulation I have no complaint about this guy.

The transformation is definitely ‘Voyager price point’ in its complexity, not least in being a little ‘too clever for its own good’. It’s good and it’s slick, but there’s a certain fussiness that means it doesn’t quite tab together as elegantly as it might. Once transformed to alt mode I found it required a little massage to sit together properly. It’s interesting to see some echoes of past Hot Rod’s in the engineering, from the legs of TR Hot Rod to the fake chest and roof hinge of PotP Hot Rod. On which note, I would like to register some small dissatisfaction with the fake chest appearing once again, but whatever.

Hot Rod’s alt mode has always been a kinda hard one to pull off, I always thought. There’s no ‘real world’ model to base it on. All you’ve got is the toy, the animation model, and hopefully some imagination. If you go for something that more evokes the toy you can wind up with something unappealingly boxy. If you try to hew to the animation model you can wind up with something a little balloon-y (you can go down the third route and try and come up with something original which nods to the originals, but that’s obviously not on the agenda in a line called ‘Studio Series’).

Now, I think they’ve got the SS86 alt mode to as close to the ‘platonic ideal’ as you can. It’s sleeky and curvey without looking as smooshy as the animation model, but not so rigid and chisled as the toy. Hand on heart, I think this may be about as close as you can get with this. I love the detail too, from the blue clear plastic window (a must) to the wider headlights, to the fat exhausts. AND it passes the ‘roll across the desk’ test.

It’s hard not to imagine the design team suffering a little guilt when serving up a figure as petite as this at a price point and trying to distract us with a bevy of accessories and gimmicks (I found it interesting to compare him, to Scourge in this respect). He’s not even a particularly tall or dense deluxe, standing shorter than Ironhide and feeling no heavier (I’m yet to disassemble them for a detailed parts count, bear with me). It is very hard to imagine them pulling something as accomplished as this off on the deluxe budget, but I’m not quite sure he’s as dense or complex as a voyager. Still, articulated hands holding a sparking matrix is undeniably cool.

But quibbling over the price is definitely not what I’m here to do. I have no regrets paying what I paid for a figure as excellent as this. Not least because I don’t think I’m ever going to need to buy another Hot Rod ever again (with apologies in advance to Kingdom Rodimus).

 

I wouldn't put him on any top spot, he'd bring the whole shell down, very heavy.

 

You underestimate my hardwood shelving, sir!   I will balance him atop seven toothpicks and dazzle bystanders.

 

Pretty happy, deseeus drones help fill out those quintesson ranks.

 

Rotorstorm: "Marvelous, Magnus! The Mercenaries' might makes sure we field the firepower to shoot what we see!"
Ultra Magnus: "Undermanned as we are, we can't even chase away the Seeker patrols without them."
Cog: "Swindle and Doubledealer. What happens to us when someone else pays them more?"
Swindle: "Hey, relax! I never change employers in the middle of a job. Makes it tricky to get paid!"



~

HAIL, HEADMASTERS



~

SKATE OR DIE

The boy has figured this hobby out...

 

It's funny seeing these two side by side. I have LOVED the TR Hot Rod mold, and it's been my Hot Rod for many years now. But seeing him next to the SS86 really underlines how far we've come in a relatively short space of time.

 

Even though both Rotorstorm and Spinister have some, uh, "vibrant" color choices going on, man. This mold looks great and they're really posable.

Obviously he could use some gap fillers and I would upgrade his hip skirts a little bit. Also his rotor blades don't really sit still when he's standing like this and you have have to dicker with them a little bit to make him stand correctly. But still, love this guy!

 

I adore his/their ankles. They allow outward movement for natural running and landing poses.

 

Sideswipe: "No way! You can't just wield Starscream like a blaster in 1 hand! Just steal his Null Rays!"
Deep Cover: "Pfff. I need his generator and power chip rectifier, too, or the beams will come out in Autobot colors! Now hold my missile..."



Deep Cover: "Heave-HO!"
*CREAK* *Servos whine*



Deep Cover: "Hurrghhhh!!"
Sideswipe: "DC, you sure this is OK? You don't sound" *CLANK* "so good..."



Deep Cover: "Nonsense! I'm a complete unit! I'm totally f--"



*SNAP*
*SMASHHHH!!*



Starscream: "YES! TOTAL VICTORY IS MINE! For the Seekers! For Cybertron! No, forget it. FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"



Narrator: "And Starscream's newfound confidence led him on a cosmically-empowered crusade of blood and darkness during which nearly every Cybertronian was deactivated..."



Narrator: "And it was all Deep Cover's fault. Again."

 

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Hot Rod."
From TF:UK#133 'Kup's Story'