Seibertron wrote:Just wanted to vent a gripe about LG45 Hot Rod real quick that's been bothering me about him for the past couple of weeks since I got him in hand.
Is anyone else bothered by the massive gaps on the sides of his chest? I'm all for Takara making mold improvements over the Hasbro products, but in this case I feel like Takara really dropped the ball. They basically sacrificed a decent chest design just to accommodate the "engine" flipping gimmick for the Targetmaster. I might have been alright with this had trade-off been a cartoon accurate upper chest/collar piece, but what we ended up with was a half assed piece that isn't even cartoon accurate. I would have preferred them to just leave the piece as is, but remold it to allow a spot to plug in the Targetmaster, or even better yet, just do a flip up piece that exposes the port. The translucent chest was also another odd choice that I don't understand where it came (nor do I care for it) from in a line that strives to be more cartoon accurate. It might have been alright had there been something of substance to fill in the giant gaping hole behind his chest.
I prefer the color scheme on LG45 Hot Rod over Hasbro's red version, but the mold trade-off left much to be desired. There could have been a much better solution instead of what they came up with.
I actually quite like LG45 Hot Rod quite a bit. Yeah, the chest gap is unfortunate, but it doesn't bother me too much. I'm also not bothered by things like MP-28 Hot Rod's "backpack," just for reference. My main concern is that my Transformers figures look good from the front, which Legends Hot Rod does. Good looking sides are nice too, but can be sacrificed if needed. Backs are rarely of great concern, and I'm happy with anything decidedly "non-accurate/ugly" happening back there. I've just come to accept a little bit of give and take when translating on screen Transformers character models into workable toys. With LG45, though, Takara did retain some of the abdominal detailing from the Hasbro mold, as well as some "chest" looking stuff under the hood in robot mode. You can consider the hood more of Hot Rod's "kibble" from vehicle mode, or even just some additional "armor" for his torso and think of the detailing underneath as what his true robot anatomical torso would be if he had a different alt mode, or none altogether.
I like the ability to hide the exposed engine block in robot mode. It's just a nice little extra to appreciate, and not really intrusive. I'd have to check when I get home, but I think it may be an optional step too, if you so desire. As for the clear plastic hood Takara used, to give Hot Rod's flame deco an actual fiery effect, I can see how that's disappointing, especially since there are few good ways to pipe some light through there to really get the look they were going for. Maybe that's why they left the sides a little "gappy," to let some more light through? I'm going to see if I can find some nice, shiny/glossy yellow paper and cut out a piece to fit snuggly on the underside of the hood to give the transparent yellow plastic a little more saturation and opacity. It should make the flames look a lot better without needing to get more light piped through the torso somehow.
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coz remember Trypticon was supposed to be a darker colour & instead all we got was the exact same dam figure as the Hasbro one(YES!!!...with the hip ratchet issue fixed + a slight mold difference on one of the towers)
