Pictorial Review of Transformers: The Last Knight Deluxe Class Hot Rod
Wednesday, October 4th, 2017 11:05AM CDT
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Around this time last week, Walmart.com placed an in-stock listing for their exclusive deluxe class Hot Rod figure from Transformers: The Last Knight. I was one of the lucky people who were able to purchase and ship the figure before it went out of stock over the next few days. I received my figure Monday, and have thoroughly enjoyed the figure, so I figured I would share some thoughts with you guys on why he's a good pick up from the line.
We'll start in robot mode, and truthfully, this may be his weakest point. His robot mode is not that bad, it just doesn't have too much exciting stuff going on. He has some beautiful paint work though, and I feel as though the figure is just right in terms of paint applications. The legs are beautifully done, and the orange and silver pop nicely with that smokey black color. My only real complaint of the overall robot mode look are the legs below the knees, which are the exact same as Age of Extinction Lockdown's legs, and don't match up with his movie model that well.
Looking at the headsculpt down below here, it is a nice headsculpt, and is quite movie accurate. It feels a little on the small side though, as if his head is sort of lost between his large shoulders. It does have some nice paint work though, as the whole figure does, and I am satisfied with it. It's sort of cute even.
While he isn't the most posable of Autobots, he can still throw down a good move or 2, but the arm kibble can hinder his movements some. I also really wish he had come with his time gun, as it was a cool weapon. Even so, I still imagine him shouting "I will stop the time!" in his french accent while pointing in some dudes general direction.
For the first comparison, here he is with the Age of Extinction 2-pack Bumblebee, as I do not yet have the new The Last Knight Bumblebee. Overall, the 2 look pretty good together, though I really look forward to seeing him with the new Bumblebee.
Also for fun, here is Hot Rod with the aforementioned Lockdown, and also with the Dark of the Moon Roadbuster and the Universal Studios Evac figures, all of which share a similar Transformation scheme to Hot Rod. These 4 figures together are an interesting team, and certainly show how some figures can transform similarly while still being drastically different.
His Transformation is alright, nothing overly special. But the arms are a nice new trick, and one that I haven't seen before, so I like that little bit of ingenuity. But it is when we get to the alt mode that this figure really shines. The alt mode is perfect. Simply perfect. The vehicle mode is dead sexy and is so smooth and really doesn't look like it should be a robot. It is up there on my list for best alternate modes of any transformer I own, it is that good. The painted rims and the little bit of orange highlighting really helps the figure pop in this mode, and the translucent smokey windows are really cool, just enough so you know they are windows but not enough to really show anything inside. Amazing.
And here we have him with Bumblebee. The pair do look good together, and they scale pretty perfectly with each other. Again, I cannot wait to get the TLK Bumblebee to go with his brother in arms.
Here he is alone with Lockdown, as they both share a similar vehicle mode, and I have to say they did a much better job with Hot Rod. The coloring, the windows, the slightly larger size, it all looks much better with Hot Rod. They made it work.
And to continue with the early comparisons, here is the comparison of Hot Rod with Lockdown, Evac, and Roadbuster. And the same scheme but very different toys line applies here too, it is an amazing look.
And finally, a picture of Hot Rod with the main Autobot cast. Minus the Cogman I have yet to get and the Sqweeks I only just realized I forgot to include (whoops!). And he makes a great addition to the team:
Overall, this is a pretty good figure. Alt mode is an absolute stunner, Transformation is pretty good with some original tricks, and the robot mode is pretty good too. My one thing about this toy is it doesn't overly follow his on screen appearance, seeing as how his on screen self was closer to Bumblebee with regards to where the alt mode parts went, such as having car door wings, but the figure is still a pretty good representation of the character. There are no regrets picking him up. He is a fun figure, and if you have the chance, you should check him out too.
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Posted by TulioDude on October 4th, 2017 @ 11:35am CDT
Posted by zodconvoy on October 4th, 2017 @ 11:48am CDT
Posted by nycPrime on October 4th, 2017 @ 11:48am CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 4th, 2017 @ 11:49am CDT
nycPrime wrote:Hey D-Max, does the back of your HR (his shoulders) tab in tight in car mode? Mine seems to not tab in very securely. Only flaw imo.
They're slightly loosey goosey, but they hold well. They may move out a 1/16 of an inch either direction, but no issues there.
Posted by NeonPrime on October 4th, 2017 @ 5:21pm CDT
D-Maximus_Prime wrote:nycPrime wrote:Hey D-Max, does the back of your HR (his shoulders) tab in tight in car mode? Mine seems to not tab in very securely. Only flaw imo.
They're slightly loosey goosey, but they hold well. They may move out a 1/16 of an inch either direction, but no issues there.
Ditto. Mine are pretty loose but stay in place. The biggest issue I had was getting the arms to tab into the car hood. After playing around with it for awhile I was able to get the hang of it so the vehicle mode is pretty solid
Posted by Va'al on October 5th, 2017 @ 3:45am CDT
Legion Class Autobot Hot Rod figure
Designed with eye-catching detail
Smaller-scale figure that features classic Transformers conversion
Converts between robot and sports car modes
Converts in 5 steps
Includes Transformers: The Last Knight Legion Class Autobot Hot Rod figure and instructions.
Posted by william-james88 on October 5th, 2017 @ 12:52pm CDT
Posted by william-james88 on October 5th, 2017 @ 12:54pm CDT
As far as legion class toys, this one is very ambitious in what it tries to accomplish. It's a three headed dragon and only one set of limbs is shared between the dragon mode and robot mode since two of the dragon heads make up the robot arms. That means the front dragon legs and one of the three long dragon necks/heads are not used for the robot mode and must be out of the way. I make no exaggeration when i say that this toy ends up being more complex than Transformers Prime's Beast Fire Predaking, another dragon Transformer. This differs from many other legion class toys by also having coming with a weapon (something even legends class Generations toys don't come with these days), and the wings have two hinges each for them to be articulated and positioned in different ways for each mode. Plus, there is a nice amount of red and gold paint which makes the robot mode look more painted than most toys nowadays.
He is not without his flaws though. The main problems with this toy are in dragon mode. The way they made this toy, the dragon always seems to be crouching. It makes him look very unintimidating. Plus, the two dragon necks that become arms cannot go very high and match the height of the central head because of the limited opening for the ball joint, which is placed under the heads.
The robot mode is very well done though. Unlike in the film, the dragon just turns into one robot (as opposed to many knights combining into one dragon), but it is a great looking robot. You can pose the wings in two different ways with them either enveloping his arms like a big cloak or them being smaller and more distant so as to give more focus on the robot. What is really cool about the wings being like a big cloak is that the dragon front legs melt into the wing's design making it look like they are part of it and camouflaging them and giving them a new meaning in robot mode.
The colours look great, the gold and red really pop and accentuate the intricate sculpting. He has no elbows or kneed but what I always find limits posing the most in legion toys is the lack of a neck rotation which this toy doesn't have either, predictably so. Still it is a solid legion class toys and easily one of the most ambitious I have ever handled. I hope you have enjoyed the pictures!
Posted by Evil Eye on October 5th, 2017 @ 1:39pm CDT
Posted by primalxconvoy on October 6th, 2017 @ 2:08am CDT
Oh,well...
Posted by bodrock on October 6th, 2017 @ 3:16am CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 6th, 2017 @ 10:25am CDT
i need that legion Dragonstorm. And the leader. So few figures left to find, yet so far away
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on October 6th, 2017 @ 1:02pm CDT
D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Picked up the TRU Cybertron toy. TRU price matched their store, so I got it for $109.19. Pretty awesome toy really. It's my first experience with a planet-former, and the colors and paintwork are great. I don't regret picking him up.
i need that legion Dragonstorm. And the leader. So few figures left to find, yet so far away
I just picked up G2 Primus myself on lunch today, I bought it online with in store pickup. Can't want to get home, get the parenting out of the way and open this bad boy up. I'm not really into the movie line, and only have Nitro so far for the TM compatibility, so Primus is probably going to end up a central part of my titan and TR Leader base city once I finally find Overlord. I'll post pics in the appropriate threads once I have him all opened up and again once he is integrated into the city.
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 7th, 2017 @ 1:08am CDT
(it almost makes you shout...DAAAM YOU HASBRO...&/or Takara...YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!)
Posted by RAR on October 7th, 2017 @ 9:12am CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on October 8th, 2017 @ 3:57am CDT
Bot mode is perfect as expected. Transformation is ROTF level of craziness. I like it but as usual, the instruction are useless. Can't see sh!t capt'n! I played by ear and completed the jet mode except I couldn't figure out why the front of the wings were so gapy near the nosecone. Even video reviews were unclear. Finally figured out that I rotated the shoulder the wrong way and now, the jet is perfect. Sure, it's robo-junk under the jet, but it's robo-junk that don't look like a bot doing the "Superman". I see junk, yes, but not a robot.
Now all I need is a reasonably priced Thunderwing Titan Master.
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 8th, 2017 @ 4:43am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Sure, it's robo-junk under the jet, but it's robo-junk that don't look like a bot doing the "Superman". I see junk, yes, but not a robot.
Silverbolt(not BW/BM) suffers the same
Posted by -Kanrabat- on October 8th, 2017 @ 5:52am CDT
Stuartmaximus wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Sure, it's robo-junk under the jet, but it's robo-junk that don't look like a bot doing the "Superman". I see junk, yes, but not a robot.
Silverbolt(not BW/BM) suffers the same
Universe Silverbolt is ridiculous and I love it for it. Despite getting rid of so much Transformers to get G1s, I kept him.
Posted by RAR on October 8th, 2017 @ 3:19pm CDT
Posted by nycPrime on October 8th, 2017 @ 7:24pm CDT
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Bum ... B06XWWH73N?tag=seibertron07-20&
I think the current bee is the same as wave 3 TLK bee?
Posted by Emerje on October 8th, 2017 @ 7:51pm CDT
Emerje
Posted by skywarp-2 on October 8th, 2017 @ 9:36pm CDT
RAR wrote:I wonder. Is Hot Rod intentionally supposed to look like a seal ?
well, not if he was done like this custom..He'd be a lot closer to his movie design. I am hoping we see a Movie Masterpiece of Him that looks as good, or Takara Loves the design so much it makes mods to the deluxe and releases one that looks like this custom again, that would be amazing.. a likely scenario is actually Wei Jiang's movie line series of KO upscaled versions, which could yield a pretty good Hot Rod based again, on similar mods to the custom, using the actual Deluxe as a base like their Evasion Prime mod.. and Deluxe Bumblebee version too. Either way, I want both the deluxe, and I want a more movie accurate bot too.. and can't wait to see what is released next for him.
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 9th, 2017 @ 10:26am CDT
skywarp-2 wrote:RAR wrote:I wonder. Is Hot Rod intentionally supposed to look like a seal ?
well, not if he was done like this custom..He'd be a lot closer to his movie design. I am hoping we see a Movie Masterpiece of Him that looks as good, or Takara Loves the design so much it makes mods to the deluxe and releases one that looks like this custom again, that would be amazing.. a likely scenario is actually Wei Jiang's movie line series of KO upscaled versions, which could yield a pretty good Hot Rod based again, on similar mods to the custom, using the actual Deluxe as a base like their Evasion Prime mod.. and Deluxe Bumblebee version too. Either way, I want both the deluxe, and I want a more movie accurate bot too.. and can't wait to see what is released next for him.
since you were mentioning 3rd party there(Wei Jiang)
there is a more accurate Hot Rod coming out
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 9th, 2017 @ 12:47pm CDT
This toy is fantastic. I have never gotten to hold a planetformer before, and this guy is great. I love the mold overall, with the Omega lock/Quintessa's chamber thingy needed 4 times for transformation being a lot of fun. And he is so heavy! The colors are great too, I love the orange, purple, and black, and how all the orange is in the core of the planet mode, nice! This is one of those underrated toys from a line and it is actually really a fun toy!!
Posted by Burn on October 9th, 2017 @ 3:22pm CDT
It's too early to be dealing with reported posts.
Posted by skywarp-2 on October 9th, 2017 @ 9:35pm CDT
Stuartmaximus wrote:skywarp-2 wrote:RAR wrote:I wonder. Is Hot Rod intentionally supposed to look like a seal ?
well, not if he was done like this custom..He'd be a lot closer to his movie design. I am hoping we see a Movie Masterpiece of Him that looks as good, or Takara Loves the design so much it makes mods to the deluxe and releases one that looks like this custom again, that would be amazing.. a likely scenario is actually Wei Jiang's movie line series of KO upscaled versions, which could yield a pretty good Hot Rod based again, on similar mods to the custom, using the actual Deluxe as a base like their Evasion Prime mod.. and Deluxe Bumblebee version too. Either way, I want both the deluxe, and I want a more movie accurate bot too.. and can't wait to see what is released next for him.
since you were mentioning 3rd party there(Wei Jiang)
there is a more accurate Hot Rod coming out
Holy Snikees! Batman! That's fricking Awesome! I wonder tho..
If They do it, the CGI model looks a bit off. I kinda like this tho..
But if I wanted to have the CGI model modified a bit, I wonder if they could beef him up a bit more and give him a bit more of this...
Now, Back to the Deluxe. I found another image of the Deluxe someone did as a custom..
It's a great try.. Sadly if Takara does a mold upgrade on it's side, I wonder if all they will do is something like this?
The sad part is, that if Takara or even Hasbro did their Hot Rod release like this...
They'd probably have an award for coolest Transformers the Last knight figure. As is, I can't find one locally, and online he's going up in price due to the as usual, retailers not understanding his popularity.. I want a more accurate HOT ROD, and so I think I may just save that bit of cash, and add it to my stash for the more accurate model, third party or Masterpiece.. I just love his look!
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 11th, 2017 @ 12:38pm CDT
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Kni ... ragonstorm?tag=seibertron07-20&
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Kni ... ight+nitro?tag=seibertron07-20&
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Kni ... ight+scorn?tag=seibertron07-20&
Posted by Bounti76 on October 13th, 2017 @ 2:48pm CDT
That makes this sighting quite unusual. Seibertronian Scottimus Prime found a Voyager Class Hound at ToysRUs in Lake Grove, NY, which has the previously thought canceled deco on it. The red crosses do have an Autobot logo in them, which was a possible way to skirt the legal issue, but ended up not being used on the finished toy, or in the movie. Is this a factory mistake, similar to Titans Return Chromedome being found with his Takara face, or part of a batch of Hounds that was overlooked? Time may tell, but in the meantime, is you do find more of this figure with the thought-canceled deco, please let us know!
Posted by Cybertronius Primus on October 13th, 2017 @ 3:00pm CDT
Posted by Quantum Surge on October 13th, 2017 @ 3:02pm CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on October 13th, 2017 @ 3:41pm CDT
Posted by nemesis primus on October 13th, 2017 @ 3:47pm CDT
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on October 13th, 2017 @ 5:06pm CDT
I finally got sick of waiting for Bee to turn up on shelves and just ordered him for £29.99 which is still silly money for a Deluxe but he's a real nice one and at least it's over and done with now. Or it will be when he arrives and takes his place next to my jazzed up voyager Optimus Prime.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on October 13th, 2017 @ 5:12pm CDT
As for Skullitron, I'll keep that one sealed as a representative of TLK for my SOC collection. However, hanging him on the was required a big-ass nail. Next week, I'll make up for it by finally buying and opening Steelbane.
(My rules for my MOSC collection is buying on sale whenever possible and only repaints or duplicates of things that I already played with.)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 14th, 2017 @ 3:48pm CDT
Know what they said?
They haven't ordered anything TLK related since the giant flip and change Hot rod. And they are not ordering any more TLK stuff since stuff stocked in April haven't moved.
So TLK is dead in the only store that sells TFs within 45 minutes of me... and it never went past wave 1.
The distribution of this line is and was absolute crap. The fact that the only thing I saw between 10 different stores TLK related past wave 1 was some wave 2 legions, wave 2 1-steps, Nitro and Scorn twice, and half the TRU exclusives and Walmart exclusives.
And, seeing as many of you had the same experience, I am let down, disappointed, angered, and depressed. This line had so many great figures past wave 1, and most of us had to go online or are still struggling to find things. It is ridiculous.
At the very least, the only guys I have yet to get are new Bee, Cogman, and the legion wave with Hound and dragonstorm.
But still, most of my TLK stuff was either from online or Canada. Cybertron, Prime, Barricade, Berserker, Infernocus, and the wave 2 legions were the only ones I found in store
Posted by King Kuuga on October 15th, 2017 @ 3:24am CDT
Posted by Qwan on October 15th, 2017 @ 5:39am CDT
Front-ending the line with a character that had literally 5 seconds of screentime, a repaint of the least-recognisable and arguably worst-looking Dinobot from AoE, yet another Bumblebee who is an objectively-inferior repaint and not even the new mold they made for this movie, and exactly one new mold of a character that had any significant ("significant") presence in the film... yeah, Hasbro really shot themselves in the foot from the get-go this time around. Even the Voyagers are the same trend, albeit to a lesser extent - nobody wanted a boring-colored (if movie-accurate) Grimlock repaint and the Optimus, while an okay decision since Optimus is always a decently safe bet, didn't actually do anything to help since the accompanying Grimlocks still had to move before stores would restock with another (hopefully newer) shipment.
At this point I've all but given up hope of seeing Deluxes past Wave 1 near me - every single store still has a Slash and Berserker or two clogging the pegs - and while I managed to find all Voyager waves by total fluke, it was just the one case of Wave 3 and now we're back to Hounds and Grimlocks everywhere again. I just hope that the lesson Hasbro "learns" from this doesn't end up being "well the Generations-style toys from TLK didn't sell well, so I guess nobody wants them and we should stop making them". Hopefully they get the message as intended - we don't like repaints of stuff we already have, it's not that we don't like good Movie toys. The problem with voting with one's wallet is that wallets are notoriously inarticulate
(On another note, since I picked up the Grimlock repaint on sale a couple weeks ago I now technically have every Voyager released under the TLK line. Maybe I'll do an ultimate-Voyager-comparison post or something when I can be bothered. Spoilers, Grimlock and Prime are at the bottom and everyone else is at the top.)
Posted by william-james88 on October 15th, 2017 @ 8:23am CDT
King Kuuga wrote:I dunno, it seems like toys were distributed fine, the problem was that the first wave was half redecos from AOE which most people recognized and didn't want.
This is untrue, the bee redeco sold very well compared to his wave mates.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on October 15th, 2017 @ 10:02am CDT
william-james88 wrote:King Kuuga wrote:I dunno, it seems like toys were distributed fine, the problem was that the first wave was half redecos from AOE which most people recognized and didn't want.
This is untrue, the bee redeco sold very well compared to his wave mates.
That Bee was ironically a good call. It's the dinobots that shelfwarm the hardest.
Posted by Va'al on October 16th, 2017 @ 12:37pm CDT
Posted by Cybertronius Primus on October 16th, 2017 @ 4:14pm CDT
Posted by Bronzewolf on October 16th, 2017 @ 10:58pm CDT
Second is the strangest story: Hot Rod has been listed on Target.com in the US. This is the second time the (apparently former) Walmart exclusive figure has appeared on a non-Walmart website, further confirming that something behind the scenes has happened to change the exclusitivity of the figure. This might be good news for collectors and fans however, as, while he hasn't been spotted anywhere in the US at physical retail yet, he might crop up in additional big box stores other than Walmart.
Posted by Autobot N on October 17th, 2017 @ 1:16am CDT
Posted by Bronzewolf on October 17th, 2017 @ 1:17am CDT
Autobot N wrote:This is officially weirder than #Braingate.
Holy **** ROD GATE. It's been in front of us the whole time! Give me a moment...
EDIT:
There we go, new addition to the conspiracy list. Stay woke, people!
Posted by Megatron Wolf on October 17th, 2017 @ 2:21am CDT
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on October 17th, 2017 @ 2:46am CDT
Autobot N wrote:This is officially weirder than #Braingate.
Not quite, just odd. Brainstorm had the unfortunate effect of being (originally?) part of the main retail Deluxe assortment with the assortment code on his packaging, instead of being a standalone item with a single product code.
Speaking of which, RiD 2015 Deluxe Starscream has two: one for the TRU Clash of the Transformers, and another for the general Warriors Class for whatever reason (deco glitch?). The same thing may be true for Hot Rod, something that his original Amazon listing hinted at. Currently I have these recorded:
- C2919, from the Asia releases, directly from the toy
- C4058, from the Amazon listing
Posted by physucks on October 18th, 2017 @ 7:58am CDT
Posted by Kurona on October 18th, 2017 @ 8:00am CDT
Posted by william-james88 on October 18th, 2017 @ 11:14am CDT
Kurona wrote:And, it looks like, the same wheels. Are any other parts shared? I think that's everything.
I am pretty sure those grey pieces connecting their heads to their bodies are the same, along with other pieces of the skeleton for transformation but I dont have it in hand yet.
Posted by Stuartmaximus on October 18th, 2017 @ 12:08pm CDT
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/t ... k.1125689/