I saw him, but being my least favorite Transformer character, choose to ignore his existance  
Besides, take away that spoiler of his, and he's just a non-descript red Cybertronian sports car with a Winnebago fetish   

 

Am I the only one who thinks of Hot Rod as a replacement for Sideswipe? I mean, he looks like a futuristic Lamborghini, and he had kinda the same personality as Sideswipe—brash and ready to jump into action against the Decepticons. Just like Kup was a replacement for Ironhide—an old warrior who has a bunch of war stories to tell, and Wheelie was the replacement for Bumblebee—the cute (or in Wheelie’s case, annoying) smallest Autobot who was the best friend of the human kid character.

 

If sideswipe was an A-lister. Never really got the hate for Hot Rod, the death of Prime was a pretty common movie trope, its part of the young hero in training becoming the hero , undergoing the loss of his mentor/father figure <cough> a ton of fantasy movies( Star Wars,Krull,)

 

Yeah I can see that for sure, they just transferred tropes onto the new characters.

Although it would've been more meaningful if we had seen any earlier interaction at all between Hot Rod and Optimus outside of Hot Rod causing his death, and then grieving at his death-bed-side.

 

My issue with Hot Rod comes from season 3. He was just so whiny and self doubting. He reminds me an emo kid being thrust into command ... Kylo Ren (since we’re using Star Wars haha). I don’t really hate Hot Rod, I just find him more annoying that anything. To this day, I have no idea why the Matrix would’ve have chosen him.

 

Because "2 toys" says "more profit"!

 

Lol fair point. But that would’ve been true for any character they picked. The writers did such a piss poor job with Hot Rod in season 3, I actually kinda felt bad.

 

Yeah I suppose. Although OP never powered up with the matrix (he was like that from the Orion Pax rebuild whilst Alpha Trion was still around), so they could've gone that route had they wanted...

 

I still haven't seen S3, but that sounds like the most interesting part about Rodimus as a character tbh. Filling Optimus Prime's shoes is no easy task, even in the eyes of the fandom let alone the eyes of his fellow Autobots

 

Sam, go watch season 3.

 

Thing is, they surrounded Rodimus with Autobots that made their debut with him in the movie and got rid of most of the old Autobots either by killing them off or barely using them in S3. The S3 Autobots were real tight-knit and liked Rodimus and had his back. Even the Dinobots liked him, as opposed to how they felt about Optimus. But then again, they really changed the Dinobots characters in S3 and mostly used them for comic relief.

Rodimus really didn’t have any challenges as a leader. Hell, under Galvatron’s looney arse, the Decepticons weren’t really a threat. The only thing holding him back was himself.

I’ll admit, I hated the shit outta Hot Rod/Rodimus back then, and was glad he had trouble living up to the legacy of Optimus. But now as an adult, I wish Sumbow would’ve gave Rodimus real challenges, but had him overcome them and show us why the Matrix made the right choice in selecting him as leader. In my head cannon, Optimus didn’t come back, but Rodimus was able to lead his forces against a sane, competent Galvatron (who himself has to deal with Overlord trying to take over the Decepticons).

 

To me, it's like they took Swipe and Bee, mixed them together, and created a cheap and whiny
knockoff they named Hot Rod.
His skills were fishing and getting others killed, especially those named Optimus. He's like an accidental Decepticon  

Safe to say that I will not be buying an MP Hot Rod/Rodimus. Honestly, I'm not too keen on Kup either. I don't dislike him, I just don't like him enough to buy an MP of him.

 

It could’ve been really good. The problem became when it was repeated over and over and there was never any growth for the character. Eventually it became redundant and annoying. S3 does have good stuff, so its worth watching despite the issues with Rodimus/Hot Rod. Like at @Optimus Prime23 said, they never really gave him a solid threat to help him grow so it just kind of fizzled and went nowhere. Every episode for him became a “I’m not good enough, I’ll never be as good as Optimus” and the rest of the cast would try to convince him otherwise.

 

The Burden Hardest To Bear is still one of the best episodes of the original series, and well worth watching if you want a better perspective of the Optimus / Rodimus dynamic.

Fantastic piece about duty and responsibility... plus Scourge gets a chance to shine as well, heh heh...

Then cleanse your palette with a little gem called Webworld.

Also, I defy anyone reading this to tell me that the Honda City Turbo isn't a sexy little compact beast made for cruising the streets! Bring onto me Skids and his many repaints!

 

Yes...yes, him...as well!

 

Hot Rod went from 16 cutting lawns to 35 and president of the world with all the experience crammed in by the matrix and not originally his. I don't think most of us would fare well if that was the case. It definitely could have been done better but it was a pretty progressive idea they had for a cartoon character. In some cases he should have failed spectacularly, as it should have been an internal struggle on him making decisions by himself versus what the matrix crammed in.

 

Certainly after 64 episodes or whatever it was of having to do Optimus Prime always acting decisively and flawlessly, it must have appealed to the writers to be able to write a leader who was conflicted and struggling.

There’s actually a lot of interesting ideas in Series 3 - really, too many for the show’s own good. Starscream’s Ghost is a good example - it’s got an exploration of the Junkion economy; a Decepticon joining the Autobots; an extended comedy sequence with Octane oblivious to an increasingly frustrated alien’s attempts to kill him; comically scared Sweeps; Scourge being taught the meaning of leadership - and a visual gag about Starscream’s memorial statue being just the two feet that were all that were left after Galvatron blasted him. And that’s all before the eponymous ghost even shows up...

 

FT Phoenix is good for what he is, but I think Takara can KILL IT with a Skyfire that's up to date with the current standard. Take what Phoenix did, but give him (a ton of) extra faces and random accessories, and boom.

Not to mention to articulate him to the moon! Let's just make sure first and foremost that he doesn't break apart even if you breathe on him.

 

It's very simple- Hot Rod indirectly had a role in the death of Optimus Prime and then became the leader. And he was not nearly charismatic as Optimus Prime was. It comes down to the one guy in charge who wanted to kill off Optimus Prime- because it seemed like pretty much everyone else involved with the movie thought it was a terrible idea. Essentially they killed off the Transformers in what should have been the crowning moment of the franchise and probably caused the show to be cancelled at least a year or two earlier than it should/could have.

There are ways to write out characters who aren't having their toys sold anymore. No idea why they chose to pretty much slaughter everyone from seasons one and two. I suspect the only reason why Jazz, Cliffjumper, and Bumblebee survived were because of who their voice actors were and for Bumblebee he was the kid appeal character so I guess they figured at least the younger fans would come out unscathed.

If they had used Prime as a rank like a general or something and had Optimus mentor Rodimus and then in the movie had say Optimus save Elita One who could have been captured by Unicron while Rodimus defeats Galvatron and ultimately the two of them together take down Unicron Rodimus would have been A LOT more accepted by the fans. Then in season three they could have had Optimus as the leader of the Autobots on Earth and then Rodimus in charge of the Autobot on Cybertron and focused season three on Rodimus and his gang- Kup, Blurr, Ultra Magnus, Blaster, Perceptor, the Dinobots, and etc. Would have allowed for a lot more cameos that I would have liked to have seen like Ironhide fighting alongside Kup.

Instead because of how they did it every season three cameo had to basically become Tales from the Crypt. And then everyone's death was basically trivialized when we all found out later that really all they had to do is kidnap a Quintesson to revive everyone. Which is why I guess they had to blow up the Autobot mausoleum.

I do agree that S3 had some interesting character development- better than the new guys in S2 honestly and they did introduce a lot of key lore to the franchise. Unfortunately they turned off a lot of fans with the killing of so many key characters that it effects how their MP figures are sold to this very day.

 

A big issue with Rodimus Prime was also he was less essential as leader.

If you take season 1 and 2, Optimus was essential. Without Optimus the Autobots couldn't handle the Decepticons. There was no other Autobot who had the strength and abilities of Optimus. Gimlock and Omega could defeat Megatron physically, but nothing else. And there was nobody to take command in Optimus his absence who could handle everything. And thus Optimus was the hero everytime. If you have an episode with Megatron, there was almost aways Optimus to oppose him.

With Rodimus there was Ultra Magnus, who could also defeat Galvatron or other strong Decepticons, and who is a capable leader who could take over without issue. And it's usually Ultra Magnus who fights Galvatron. IIRC, Rodimus only fights Galvatron twice throughout season 3, and one of those times is off screen (Starscream's Ghost). There are very few stories where Rodimus Prime is really active and on the forefront. It's usually one of the other Autobots like Magnus or Springer. And this result in Rodimus being sidelined. It's almost as if Hasbro said: the Magnus toy is more expensive, Sunbow make him the hero.

And when a writer wrote about Rodimus, they took his doubts as the focus. Because a leader who questions himself is far more interesting than a leader like Optimus. And the sad thing was that without a showrunner every writer did the same. And thus Rodimus again and again learns that he absolutely has what it takes to be the leader...for it to be forgotten the next time he's the focus.

Another big difference is that we only see Optimus command a small group on Earth, while Rodimus commands the entire Autobot population and has to focus on all aspects of this, including many he dislikes. He wants action and the few times he has it, he's great. (Also note that when we get Optimus back his very first story where he is in the same position as Rodimus, he makes an incredible mess of things and if it hadn't been for circumstancial events, Earth and Cybertron would've been destroyed and the Decepticons victorious.)


Although I remain interested in what Masterpiece does, a good Rodimus Prime is probably one of the very few MP's I will still get.