New Video Review of Transformers Studio Series 86 Voyager Class Hot Rod

I have every official mold of G1 Hot Rod (that transforms) and am VERY excited to add this guy to my collection.

My only complaint is the baffling use of yellow plastic in car mode. Hopefully it's something reprolabels can fix. But it's not bad enough for me to take a pass on, that's for sure. But he looks incredible regardless.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I have every official mold of G1 Hot Rod (that transforms) and am VERY excited to add this guy to my collection.

My only complaint is the baffling use of yellow plastic in car mode. Hopefully it's something reprolabels can fix. But it's not bad enough for me to take a pass on, that's for sure. But he looks incredible regardless.

I really don't understand that decision either... Although imo, the yellow in the knees is worse because it's seen in the robot mode.

"Improper" mold planning here, at least the parts gang-molded with the spoiler are small and mostly joints.

I still like my Classics molds, but... can I say that the SS looks too much like the cartoon for me?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I have every official mold of G1 Hot Rod (that transforms) and am VERY excited to add this guy to my collection.

My only complaint is the baffling use of yellow plastic in car mode. Hopefully it's something reprolabels can fix. But it's not bad enough for me to take a pass on, that's for sure. But he looks incredible regardless.

The explanation for the use of yellow plastic for that hinge is the same as it usually is for odd color placements like that: Our old "friend" mold layout. Sometimes the sprue with the color that would blend runs out of room, so a part gets kicked to a different sprue.

I'm still really disappointed about the faux-parts chest. We've seen from Animated and Titans Return/Legends that Hot Rod's design can easily be done without resorting to that... I was super-hyped for him right up until I realized they'd phoned it in like that, and now I just don't know.

ZeroWolf wrote:Too much like the cartoon? Intriguing is it because you think the deco is bland or other reasons?

It's the figure itself, odd as it sounds. It simply looks too perfect.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I have every official mold of G1 Hot Rod (that transforms) and am VERY excited to add this guy to my collection.

My only complaint is the baffling use of yellow plastic in car mode. Hopefully it's something reprolabels can fix. But it's not bad enough for me to take a pass on, that's for sure. But he looks incredible regardless.

The explanation for the use of yellow plastic for that hinge is the same as it usually is for odd color placements like that: Our old "friend" mold layout. Sometimes the sprue with the color that would blend runs out of room, so a part gets kicked to a different sprue.

I'm still really disappointed about the faux-parts chest. We've seen from Animated and Titans Return/Legends that Hot Rod's design can easily be done without resorting to that... I was super-hyped for him right up until I realized they'd phoned it in like that, and now I just don't know.

Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design. TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I have every official mold of G1 Hot Rod (that transforms) and am VERY excited to add this guy to my collection.

My only complaint is the baffling use of yellow plastic in car mode. Hopefully it's something reprolabels can fix. But it's not bad enough for me to take a pass on, that's for sure. But he looks incredible regardless.

The explanation for the use of yellow plastic for that hinge is the same as it usually is for odd color placements like that: Our old "friend" mold layout. Sometimes the sprue with the color that would blend runs out of room, so a part gets kicked to a different sprue.

I'm still really disappointed about the faux-parts chest. We've seen from Animated and Titans Return/Legends that Hot Rod's design can easily be done without resorting to that... I was super-hyped for him right up until I realized they'd phoned it in like that, and now I just don't know.

Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version. As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

Absolutely the most he might possibly get is a clean redeco of the Siege/Earthrise figure. There's no way they're doing a second brand new Leader-class design in 2 years for Astrotrain of all characters.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

Absolutely the most he might possibly get is a clean redeco of the Siege/Earthrise figure. There's no way they're doing a second brand new Leader-class design in 2 years for Astrotrain of all characters.

Impossible for just a redeco in the SS line. It WILL be a new mold. Same thing for Arcee.
And as we all saw since years, the SS line is not and was never about rushing things. It may still be some years before we see a SS Astrotrain, Arcee, or even maybe Optimus and (gasp!) Megatron. But they WILL happen. And all in brand new molds.

Kanrabat, if we ever get another rehash of Astrotrain it'll be in whatever the regular Generations line is at the time. And I mean, looking at Hot Rod... I wouldn't bank on a mold made for Studio Series giving you any improvement but the non-C.O.M.B.A.T. feet.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design.

Mm.. The look, no. But as for the design, his transformation layout owes a lot to G1 Hot Rod: The hood becomes the chest while the sides of the car become his arms, with the park lights ending up in his shoulders. And he has the engine flip away to reveal a chest panel, proving that that's not a valid reason for faux-parts. That's the main reason I brought him up, really.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

The ideal is a hybridization of the two flavors of the chest transformation: The solid sides and tabs - and, if necessary, an altered version of the bumper tuck - of the TR version, combined with the no-cutout front and flip-away engine of the Legends version. Boom, perfectly good Hot Rod chest.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version.

Animated Rodimus may not be styled like the cartoon version, no, but he's still strongly influenced by G1 Hot Rod's cartoon parts layout. Including hiding the engine, which was why I brought him up.

TR/Legends Roddy meanwhile is heavily designed to resemble the cartoon - that's why the canopy is hidden away in robot mode, that's why the rear wheels fold behind the legs to give a clean appearance, that's why he has 3 pipes to a side instead of the Classics version's two, that's why he has the cuffs, why the hood forms his chest just like in the cartoon and original toy, and why on the Legends version the exposed engine block flips around to be replaced by his chest panel. If he's not designed or styled like the cartoon version, then neither is the Classics Seeker mold.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

"The animation model doesn't draw the part consistently between modes" is not generally a good reason for using faux-parts - it falls under what I call "Cartoon accuracy to the point of stupidity". In cases like that, the designers should call the animation on its sheer nonsense and just use the actual part for the job it's obviously supposed to do rather than sacrifice the transformation quality for a questionable visual gain.
The angled bend in robot mode is nothing but a warped version of the hood's curvature in altmode, and can be safely discarded in favor just using the actual, curved hood. The pointed edge in altmode can be likewise thrown out or it can be accommodated by tucking the pointy part in (via the same mechanism as Titans Return, just cut differently). Ta-da! Hot Rod chest that looks plenty like the cartoon, without the transformation unnecessarily jumping through hoops or using faux-parts.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Kanrabat, if we ever get another rehash of Astrotrain it'll be in whatever the regular Generations line is at the time. And I mean, looking at Hot Rod... I wouldn't bank on a mold made for Studio Series giving you any improvement but the non-C.O.M.B.A.T. feet.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design.

Mm.. The look, no. But as for the design, his transformation layout owes a lot to G1 Hot Rod: The hood becomes the chest while the sides of the car become his arms, with the park lights ending up in his shoulders. And he has the engine flip away to reveal a chest panel, proving that that's not a valid reason for faux-parts. That's the main reason I brought him up, really.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

The ideal is a hybridization of the two flavors of the chest transformation: The solid sides and tabs - and, if necessary, an altered version of the bumper tuck - of the TR version, combined with the no-cutout front and flip-away engine of the Legends version. Boom, perfectly good Hot Rod chest.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version.

Animated Rodimus may not be styled like the cartoon version, no, but he's still strongly influenced by G1 Hot Rod's cartoon parts layout. Including hiding the engine, which was why I brought him up.

TR/Legends Roddy meanwhile is heavily designed to resemble the cartoon - that's why the canopy is hidden away in robot mode, that's why the rear wheels fold behind the legs to give a clean appearance, that's why he has 3 pipes to a side instead of the Classics version's two, that's why he has the cuffs, why the hood forms his chest just like in the cartoon and original toy, and why on the Legends version the exposed engine block flips around to be replaced by his chest panel. If he's not designed or styled like the cartoon version, then neither is the Classics Seeker mold.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

"The animation model doesn't draw the part consistently between modes" is not generally a good reason for using faux-parts - it falls under what I call "Cartoon accuracy to the point of stupidity". In cases like that, the designers should call the animation on its sheer nonsense and just use the actual part for the job it's obviously supposed to do rather than sacrifice the transformation quality for a questionable visual gain.
The angled bend in robot mode is nothing but a warped version of the hood's curvature in altmode, and can be safely discarded in favor just using the actual, curved hood. The pointed edge in altmode can be likewise thrown out or it can be accommodated by tucking the pointy part in (via the same mechanism as Titans Return, just cut differently). Ta-da! Hot Rod chest that looks plenty like the cartoon, without the transformation unnecessarily jumping through hoops or using faux-parts.

I'm just gonna say: I prefer how Studio Series 86 Hot Rod looks a lot more than any of the Masterpiece Hot Rods, or even just about any other Hot Rod/Rodimus figure ever, including the TR and Animated molds you mention, and a good part of that is the use of the faux part for the chest to actually get his chest looking the way it does in the cartoon. Hot Rod is one of those few characters where the cartoon-style warping is really, really, really important to the look of the robot mode IMO, and unless they can figure out a hood that can change shape to mimic both forms, I think the faux parts are just the better option; same situation as Optimus' abdominal section. Maybe I would be more mixed or negative on it if the use of the faux part resulted in an obvious hood backpack or something, but he also cleans up so nicely that it's hard to care in this instance.