The youthful Autobot known as Hot Rod made his first appearance in 2005, shortly before the Autobot City Massacre. He and his young human friend, Daniel Witwicky, son of Spike Witwicky, were fishing at a lake near Autobot City, when Daniel suggested they go to see the incoming shuttle from Cybertron land. Little did they realise that the shuttle had been boarded by Decepticons, and that all within had been killed. When Daniel noticed the hole in the side of the shuttle, Hot Rod used telescoping vison to see that the shuttle was full of Decepticons, and promptly attacked it. If not for Hot Rod's actions, the Deepticons may have been able to penetrate Autobot City with greater ease, causing even more devastation. With help from Kup, Hot Rod escape the wrath of Blitzwing and the Insecticons and made it back into the city safely. When Optimus Prime arrived on Earth, and engaged Megatron in battle, Hot Rod attempted to help Prime. When it seemed as though Megatron was beaten, the Decepticon leader was actually stalling for time, trying to reach a blaster dropped by one of his troops. Hot Rod saw this, and tackled Megatron, trying to stop him. However, Megatron easily overpowered him, and grabbed him in a headlock, using him for a shield. Prime could not risk hurting Hot Rod, and Megatron was able to blast Prime several times through the stomach. Before Prime died, he managed to inflict mortal damage to Megatron also, and then passed the Autobot Matrix of Leadership on to Ultra Magnus. In his weak state, Prime dropped the Matrix, and Hot Rod caught it. At that moment, it glowed brightly - an indicator of the future.

Hot Rod transforms into a futuristic sports car. Whether it is based on a Cybertronian design of vehicle, or whether it is based upon a design used on Earth in 2005 in unknown. In robot mode, Hot Rod's exhaust pipes become wrist cannons, able to fire blasts powerful enough to destabilise a common Autobot shuttle. He can convert his left hand into a circular saw. He often fails to see the seriousness in certain situations, and tends to disobey his elders, particularly Kup, whom he always teases.

With Prime dead, Ultra Magnus was the Autobots' new leader. When the Autobots who had survived the massacre learned of Unicron, the massive sentient mechanical planet that was threatening to consume Cybertron, they departed Earth to try and stop it. Hot Rod wound up piloting a shuttle with Kup and the Dinobots, but when the Decepticon forces attacked them in space, led by Galvatron, who was actually Megatron, reconstructed by Unicron, their shuttle crashed onto the bizarre aquatic world of Quintessa. Separated from the others, Hot Rod had to fight back a clutch of robotic tentacles and a shoal of fierce robotic fish, before he found Kup being torn apart by a mechanical squid. Hot Rod defeated the squid and repaired Kup, but before they could locate the Dinobots, they were accosted by the beings called the Sharkticons, and taken to the court of the rulers of the planet, the Quintessons (although neither Hot Rod nor Kup realised at the time that the Quintessons were the five-faced aliens who actually built Cybertron and the Transformers so many millions of years ago). After being put on trial by the Quintessons, the duo battled the Sharkticons, and were saved by the Dinobots, who had met (apparently) a Quintesson native named Wheelie. the group departed Quintessa on a stoeln ship with Wheelie, and met up with the other Autobots on the planet Junkion.

After making friends with the Junkion natives, led by Wreck-Gar, the Autobots headed for Cybertron. There, Hot Rod promptly crashed the Quintesson ship right through robot-mode Unicron's eye, but was separated from the other Autobots as they fell through Unicron's interior. Recovering, Hot Rod was shocked to find Galvatron inside Unicron - he had attempted to blackmail Unicron with the Matrix which he had stolen from Magnus on Junkion, and Unicron had eaten him to punish him for his treachery. In the ensuing struggle, Hot Rod grabbed the Matrix from where is hung around Galvatron's neck. It began to glow again, as before when Hot Rod caught it, recognising the chosen one Optimus Prime had spoken of - the Autobot who who rise up and use the power of the Matrix to light the Autobot's darkest hour. Optimus Prime's voice could be heard from inside the Matrix, speaking three words: "Arise, Rodmius Prime." The power of the Matrix transformed Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime. Rodimus finished Galvatron by hurling him out into space, then opened the Matrix, alowing it's energies to destroy Unicron from within. Rodimus Prime became the new Autobot leader.

Information on Rodimus Prime is located in his own profile.

When Optimus Prime was restored to life, Rodimus returned the Matrix to him, and reverted back to his old form of Hot Rod. Shortly thereafter, Hot Rod was among the Autobots who arrived on the planet Nebulous. His weapon was transformed into an exo-suit for the young Nebulan, Firebolt, who became Hot Rod's TargetMaster partner. Hot Rod's weapon became ten times more powerful through this process. After defeating the Decepticons and their new Nebulan partners, the Autobots and thier Nebulans travelled back to Cybertron, where Spike Witwicky and Fortress Maximus restored Cybertron's Golden Age, by rerouting the surplus energy chanelled into Earth's sun by Galvatron from the Plasma Energy Chamber back to Cybertron, re-energising it.

Hot Rod is presumed to have lived on for a considerable time after this, although it is exceedingly possible that this event did NOT mark the end of the Great Wars, but it is not possible that Firebolt could have lived for as long, being only Nebulan, of course. Hot Rod's status at the time of the Beast Wars is unknown.