I just happened to receive Titans Return Hot Rod for one of my gifts, and thought I'd throw together a little pictorial review for you all! So let's dive in and klook at one of the most anticipated figures of wave three!
Let's start with the figure himself: he is just great looking. He totally encapsulates the aesthetic Hot Rod is supposed to have. That sleek, young look is just perfectly represented. While his robot mode might not have the most accurate colors, (namely on his legs), he is undeniably the Roddy we all know and love.
Although yes, I agree, you can't see his wing enough over his shoulders.
Hot Rod comes with two large rifles, so he can go full Rambo mode
These guns can combine to make another seat for a Titan(head)Master, per the norm with most wave 2/3 figures.
This seems like a cool additional feature until until you realise that, because of the placement of the handles and Hot Rod's articulation, there's no way that I've found for Rod to hold the gun in a fashion so the Titan master sits upright, unless you make him go street gang style.
The other gun-related issue (with mine at least) is the gun's pegs are just slightly too big for his hands (or vice versa), so when you put the guns in his hands, it requires a good bit of force, and with nothing directly under his hands to support that force, it all goes to the little pin keeping his hands on. I could easily see these breaking if not done correctly. Then again, it could just be an issue mine alone has, and others will have nothing to worry about.
Next up: size comparisons. Roddy is actually a bit tall for a deluxe, and not just because of his massive shoulders.
With some other Movie mates of all sizes:
Class of '86
Next, let's cover what is easily the best part of this figure: His vehicle mode, and Good Lord. Perfection. It really is. It feels solid, the transformation is great, everything clips together so well it's almost unbelievable. As many others have pointed out, he also has some cues to the TF: Animated incarnation of this character, which is awesome by itself.
Cruising with some more Cybertronian cars. Hasbro again knocking it out of the park with these.
Before we wrap things up, I wanted to touch on his Titan master: he's unpainted. Yes, continuing with the trend wave 2 started, he doesn't have a lick of paint on him, other than Hot Rod's face. But not only this: He's completely one color. Something even the Wave two figures did was mold the arms and legs in a different color than the rest of the body, just to give it some variety. I'll probably end up custom painting him, but it really is a blemish on an otherwise really good figure.
Other than that (and the limited articulation I didn't really touch on) he's a really, really good figure, and easily the best representation of this character we've ever gotten in a mainline release. I highly encourage picking him up!
