That's not a Rodimus and never will be.

That version of him was just plain bad comedy written by Optimus fanboys and '86 movie suckups.

 

Really? I… can’t say I felt that way. If you want that, I’d read up on Transformers: Deviations on TF Wiki.

 

Oh God no.

MTMTE/LL Rodimus' characterization was awful (though I'd say he was a victim of the internet echo-chamber that overindulged many aspects of the book past the point of restraint than sour gapes over the 86 movie) but I'd read that before bed each night than ever think of Deviations again.  

 

The bad writing of MTMTE/LL Rodimus is a different animal entirely than Deviations. That is an across the board travesty that should never have been allowed to print even if it was just an exclusive run.

 

I don't see why not? Admittedly I'm not 100% sure why Hasbro were so reluctant on the idea since Car Robots God Magnus / Ultra Magnus and Superlink Rodimus Convoy filled somewhat similar roles in their respective shows.

They seemingly had a similar reaction to a more antagonistic portrayal of Cliffjumper as well, though it seems if we got Season 4 we would've gotten something similar to the original plan if the artwork + description is anything to go off of.

 

IIRC it wasn't so much a veto by Hasbro as the staff just didn't want to turn Rodimus into a jerk. Possibly because they just liked the character, or maybe they thought it was too mean-spirited to make the guy everyone blamed for Optimus' death the dude who constantly butts heads with and belittles him.

EDIT: No you're right, it was Hasbro. Still, it could've been a case of they just didn't want the character portrayed negatively. Rodimus still had fans, even back in 2007.  

 

Hmm, I was lukewarm to the idea at first but honestly, the twist of Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus being Optimus Prime's direct superiors/predecessors is kind of a cool idea. It would also have given TFA Hot Rod more screentime which is pretty nice. At the end of the day though, Sentinel was lots of fun and it's hard to imagine any other bot filling his shoes.

 

It's the natural default to have a brash cocky sports car covered in flame decals as an egomaniac Chad/Lightning McQueen.
If we weren't familiar with the ironically insecure way Rod's been written as, it's how most would peg the name and design..

 

To the OP: no, it wouldn't have worked. Sentinel served as an unsympathetic character, and you couldn't do that with a character that is even close to be an evergreen like Hot/Rod|imus.

TFA, in all the media of Transformers, is what really redeems Optimus for me. It gives him an arc of being an underdog and becoming a leader. Which, truthfully, is what Rodimus really needed in the original incarnation.

But since Optimus Prime has become so central to the whole IP, this show is what fixed him from being an over-serious, dour, platitude generator which he often is. He is either written as boring, murderiously serious, or he is used ironically to be the butt of jokes by some of the more contemptible takes in various media. I like this version of him the most since his G1 cartoon take.

I thought they gave Rodimus a decent, heroic cameo in the show. If nothing else, they gave him that. It could have been Rodimus as the academy washout on the repair crew who rose to prove he had what it takes to be in the elite guard, etc. But I would hate it even more if Optimus were given either the Ultra Magnus or Sentinel Prime role in the show. There just wasn't enough space in the show to accommodate a full Rodimus arc.

My unpopular opinion is that I like this take on Ultra Magnus and am not really interested in any others. He has always seemed to be a boring character that was superfluous from when he was introduced. I know he is just kind of a one-dimensional character in TFA that is half of a tongue-in-cheek homage to Robert Stack's voice. But he has a great purpose and it works for what he is. Also the best design for Magnus by far.