Hot
Shot (Prime)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Bumblebee. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Bumblebee figure here.)
As one could probably
figure out by the name, Hot Shot is indeed an homage to the "Unicron Trilogy"
character of the same name. However, since most versions of that character
had a primarily yellow color scheme, to make this version substantially
different from Bumblebee, a color scheme closer to his Cybertron
version was employed-- i.e., blue, with a particuarly dark metallic
blue shade being used for most of this Hot Shot's color scheme, particularly
in vehicle mode. It's a really nice, attractive shade of the color, and
looks particularly striking against Hot Shot's yellow-and-orange designs
on his front hood and sides, which are sort of stylized flames that emulate
tribal tattoos, as well. They certainly give the vehicle mode personality
and contrast well with Hot Shot's otherwise dark scheme, and are a unique
touch. Most of the secondary or robot-specific colors on Hot Shot are fairly
dark-- black for the tires, a moderately dark gray on his upper arms and
legs, and transparent dark blue for his windows. The gray has a bit of
a metallic swirl to it that doesn't make it look as boring as most other
shades of the color, and both it and the black serve as decent enough "base"
colors for the other shades to play off of. The light red used for both
the taillights and paint apps on the lower arms and legs, though simple,
looks great, and contrasts extremely nicely against the dark blue, particularly
in robot mode.
Hot Shot does have a
mold change, and it's a new head, which references his Armada
head sculpt. He does indeed have a flip-down "goggle" visor on this
version as well, which is a neat little extra feature, and his "normal"
face is very much a blue-helmeted Armada Hot Shot sculpt with no nose (as
per the Prime aesthetic usual). It looks great, is well-detailed and painted,
and fits well on the mold.
Prime Hot Shot has a
great color scheme and new head that both homages some of his past versions
while adding some nice new touches, like his tribal-flame paint apps in
car mode. All together, this is my favorite version of this often-redecoed
mold-- at least before it gets the Beast Hunters upgrades. If you're sick
of Bumblebees, but still want this (admittedly very medicore) mold, try
this one out.
Review by Beastbot