Transformers Titans Return Hot Rod
Hello there, and welcome back to MythicTF’s for another review. Before we begin I would like to mention that I updated all of galleries to have the size class within the banner along side all the other general information. Anyways, I am weirdly excited about this one and I don’t really know why. He was a pretty basic but enjoyable figure from Titans Return and an extremely basic one by today's standards. It is weird to think that it has been 4 1/2 - 5 years since he came out cause it doesn’t feel like that long ago but I guess it is a testament to how far we have come since then, especially in terms of engineering. With all that said he still has a lot of character and charm to him so let’s look at Titans Return Hot Rod.
First thing I am going to mention right out of the gate is that I have customized this guy slightly. I took a Silver Paint Sharpie to his rims to help them stand out a bit more. I was planning to take it off before doing this but I couldn't find anything on hand that took it off easily, and I didn't have a lot of free time to go and buy something that would take it off so I decided to just leave it. I think it looks good and doesn’t really take anything away from him as a whole. Anyways let’s just get on with it.
Starting with the head means that we start this review off looking at Hot Rod Titan Master partner Firedrive. For those who are knowledgeable about TF lore, Hot Rod never had a Titan Master, or Headmaster as they were originally called, he got a Targetmaster named Firebolt. For legal reasons they cant use the name Firebolt so they renamed him to Firedrive and since Hot Rod needed to incorporate the Titan Master gimmick, so they gave his new headmaster the name of his old targetmaster, pretty simple. Like all Titanmasters in Titans Return, Firedrive has a unique power that he gives to any larger robot he is attached to, in this case he gives Hot Rod and I quote “an electrostatic that disables the systems of enemy targets...”. As for looks, there isn't much, he is cast entirely in grey plastic and has no paint, which sucks but since you will probably keep him attached to the main body, i don’t see it as much of a loss. You can make out most of the details on him with the exception being the head as I feel like there isn’t enough definition on them and as a result some of them get lost. For articulation he really only has arms that go forward and the head can do a full 360. the legs are molded together so you can’t really get any poses from them. Finally we can get onto Hot Rod’s face, which is good enough for the most part, although the headcrest fins get lost a lot of the time giving him an off look but it works well enough, especially once connected to the rest of the body.
Speaking of, the torso is pretty simple, your standard hood chest with Hot Rod’s usual flare of engine block and flame decal. It does have a chunk missing at the bottom of it to allow for some ab detail but otherwise there isn’t much happening on the front. The back is what you would expect for a Hot Rod, the windshield/cockpit area and the spoiler section. THe spoiler doesn’t sit quite far enough up so it ends up getting blocked by the shoulders most of the time, which is unfortunate since that is a main part of his silhouette.
The arms seem very rudimentary, i mean the necessary articulation is there; the ball jointed shoulders, the bicep swivel and the 90 degree elbow, but they very much look like two large rectangles attached by a small hinge. They have all the right details too, like the shoulder wheels and his triple barreled forearm exhaust pipes. Oddly his hands are orange instead of the more cartoon accurate grey, but this figure is mope so based on the original toy and not the cartoon as one would expect, so it works.
The legs feel more articulate and less blocky than the arms even if they really aren’t. I think that is mainly because of his ability to have double jointed knees, you just need to move the kibble out of the way. As for other articulation he has a waist rotation, ball jointed hips and a full thigh rotation. The detailing here isn’t bad, I especially like the vent knee caps and silver shins. His feet don’t move at all but they are molded at an angle so he has a more natural stance when he is just standing.
For accessories, we already covered the head Titanmaster but he also comes with a pair of rifles. I can’t really tell what these guns are based on, if they even are, the closest I could come up with is maybe the G1 Rodimus Prime rifle but even that is a stretch. Otherwise they fit in his hands well enough and can also be plugged into the shoulder ports if that is something you want to do. You can combine the rifles together to form a double barreled gun of sorts but he has to hold it by the side so it ends up looking awkward and overly large.
Transformation is simple, nothing too involved or interesting, just make sure you remove the head first. AND HOLY COW this car mode is STUNNING. There are no robot parts at all, everything lines up really well to make this super smooth and clean looking car. The dark translucent blue windshield is great and helps break up all the red and of course he has his classic flame hood and engine block. The orange could stand to be a bit deeper to really help the yellow stand out better, but it is pretty good as is. For weapon storage you can plug the guns into either of the side holes and there is just barely enough clearance to allow him to still roll, you can also combine them together and plug them into the engine block which is a classic feature with almost all Hot Rod toys. When the guns are combined together you can actually fit Firedrive in the middle so he can use it like a manned turret or you can open the windshield and seat him in the car so he can drive it. The last feature I want to mention is the little pegs right in front of the spoiler. They are for titanmasters to stand on so he can give some extra guys a lift or just have Firedrive stand on the car.
So that is Titans Return Hot Rod, while he may be kinda basic and obsolete by today’s standards he is still pretty fun and the car mode stands toe to toe with his newer counterpart’s. For me he is a solid 6.5/10. I don’t really have much else that needs to be said about him, I think I covered everything I wanted too, so feel free to check out the gallery. Next week is going to be a BIG ONE, probably going to have the most amount of pictures in a gallery so don’t be surprised if I end up taking an extra week on it. It isn’t the one I had initially planned to be next but I honestly couldn’t wait and to be honest I almost did her this week instead of Hot Rod but figured I would wait to form a better opinion. Hope to see you all then.
