I wish he was a dark red like in your photograph. In hand he really looks more like the Challenge at Cybertron/Battle in Space Rodimus. REEEEAAALLY bright red and the grey is really pale. Flames on his chest though are better distinguishable from the orange than on the other mentioned uses of the Classics mold.

Still looks great. But I'm getting impatient for the Takara release. I wanna see how they improve him  

 

Opened mine yesterday. He's certainly cool, but he's also a bit loose, especially in the legs. Also colors are REALLY bright. Stands out between all the other bots a little. Putting him in to the exact same pose as MP Hot Rod was not so easy with such loose legs. But I really like the size of him.

Now, Takara, if you would please show us your results?  

 

What do you think of his proportions?

 

I like it so far, but yes, when you move his arms up it's obvious they put his shoulder joints angled up and give him the appearance of having gorilla arms.

 

I must really have a dud.
Not only do I have to really work the head in but apparently it doesn't stay in.
I walked in the room the other day and the head looks like it just popped out... and was resting sideways on his shoulders.
Seriously... WTH?

 

I find it interesting trying to figure out what mods were made to shoehorn the headmaster gimick in.

I find the head is slightly too far back making me think maybe it would have folded from the 'cockpit' ontop of the chest, the orange plate may have sat higher to give more of a collar or maybe the engine would have been the back of the head?

My canopy doesn't seem to sit flush even when unoccupied.

Needs better guns these clip together ride on seats are a poor substitute for a target master.

I do like the figure though.

 

What's up with the titanmaster not collapsing cleanly in order to make the head?

The legs of the titanmaster stick straight out the back. Anyone else?

 

Nope. Mine is fine.

 

Mine is good, and to solve the wobbly head use some cardboard to place behind the post and on the sides near the TM post to add some resistance and stability so Hot rod doesnt look like he is imitating the Gabriel Inglesias joke about the Indian Bank Robber

 

Didn't have that problem myself (before modding for an un-Headmastering process, that is)

Best guess is your titanmaster was misassembled, and something's on backwards, thus blocking proper movement.

 

The only problems that I have been able to find on my copy is that the left leg is a little loose and I can kind of see the blue plastic through the yellow paint on the spoiler. Other than that, great figure.

 

I like him. The orange hands have started to bother me but everything else is holding up. I don't have loose joint issues but I can tell the hips aren't the best. The titan master head got jammed in the port sideways in the factory but luckily it still feels secure when attached correctly.

 

Love it! Especially the headmaster play function.

 

And then he became Rodimus Prime.

 

I really love that Daniel there is the right size to ride in these guys.

 

I just got my Hot Rod this weekend and I... quite like him.

I just can't see how the naysayers can see this as an inferior toy to the Classics Rodimus toy... Is being a Titanmaster really bad enough to bring the entire toy down?

jya na!

 

Only thing worse to the old toy is the paintjob, if you're comparing it to Henkei Rodimus for example.

 

Well, that's a given, but a fair-er assessment would be to compare Takara's eventual Hot Rod release to the Henkei / United versions.

But mold-wise, stand TR Hot Rod to the first release Classics Rodimus, and the difference is night and day. The TR version, despite the HM gimmick and long-ish arms, looks way more dynamic, more emotive, more Hot Rod-y than the stumpy robot mode of the Classics mold could ever achieve. I mean, not to disparage the Classics mold, I mean, it WAS relatively good for the time, but that Classics mold definitely didn't age well in the face of this new TR Hot Rod.

jya na.

 

I hope the Takara version will also give him a gold flame deco and gold chromed spoiler. I love the new mold, but I absolutely love the deco on the Henkei release. Or a cartoon inspired paint job in magenta, warm orange background for the flame deco and the yellow flame deco with a black outline. And grey boots.

 

This is just my opinion so taken it FWIW. But, I tend to think there are *some* who try to claim that a clearly inferior toy like Classics Rodimus is superior to TR Hot Rod because they're hesitant to replace an older figure in their collections.

They trash the newer one to justify the hesitancy in their own mind.

I used to own Classics Rodimus. I liked that figure back then. But, it was an inferior toy even when it first came out and that was 10 years ago. It was too short and stubby, had poor articulation, and the paint job was just bad.

The Henkei and later Hasbro paint jobs were nice on the Classics Rodimus mold. But if you slap a nice coat of paint on a piece of shit car, it's still a piece of shit under all of that nice paint.

TR Hot Rod is easily the best mainline version of the character we've ever received. (I know there are some who like the aesthetic of Animated Rodimus but he's too unorthodox looking for me)