Rodimus Prime's vehicle mode is some kind of futuristic winnebago sportscar thing. Er, yeah. Anyways, it's very... unique, but it still looks pretty nice. As the replacement for Optimus in the G1 lineup for a year or two, Rodimus keeps part of his old look- namely, the front of the vehicle mode- and soups it up with a trailer, which I find a nice "keeping with tradition". Rodimus Prime keeps almost the exact same color scheme as his previous version, Hot Rod (or Rodimus Major if you want to go by the Reissue names). The flame stickers on the side and his long curving exhaust pipes look really cool and definitely give the vehicle mode more variety. And variety is definitely what it needs, since Rodimus Prime has virtually no paint or mold detailing at all. I don't like this particular side to him at all- it makes him look a lot more "kiddy" than he would have been otherwise. The tires themselves are nice, though- rubber, like on all the earlier G1 figures, and they have axles.
    As with the G1 Optimus Prime toy, Rodimus Prime's robot mode consists of the front half of his vehicle mode splitting off to form a robot while the trailer part forms a sort of mobile base. Like nearly all of the "trailer bases" Primes have had through the years, though, this base looks mostly like an unfolded box with a big gun emplacement. At least it rolls along on its four wheels, though, so I suppose Rodimus can ride the big ol' gun into battle. I'm not sure why they included seperate blast shield pieces that you attach to the gun in this mode, though- they aren't really necessary at all and don't store away in the vehicle mode, so you're stuck putting them in a seperate baggy. As for Rodimus' actual robot mode itself, it's definitely pretty dorky-looking, and a sizeable step downward from Hot Rod's robot mode. For one thing, Rodimus has poor articulation even by G1 standards- he can only move back-and-forth at the shoulders, and if they're in any position but vertical, they look really odd, since the joint where they're attached to his main body is actually more towards the middle of his chest, not his shoulders. Rodimus is also way too tall and stiff-looking for his own good. They definitely overplayed the "grown-up" aspect of him. His face also looks really weird- he has these weird fish-like bulging eyes, with large bags under then, and a face that is all too stern. I suppose it's to show the burden of becoming the Autobot leader, but really, they could have gone about it in a way that was more pleasing to the eye. Rodimus also comes with one gun accessory that resembles a longer version of Hot Rod's gun. And, of course, this weapon isn't storable in vehicle mode. >:p By the way, if you're wondering what Rodimus' metal bits are, they're his toes.
    Rodimus has a very nice vehicle mode, but his robot mode and base mode are poor even by G1 standards. Not to mention he has almost no mold or paint detailing whatsoever. Asking $35 for this simplistic of a toy is just ludicrous. Not recommended.

Review by Beastbot

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