Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Cavalier
Alternate Mode: Cybertronian Car
Height: 4cm Length: 13cm Width: 6.5cm
There are some nice finer details on this toy. The level of detail on the engine block is pretty good, even if none of the details look like a regular engine block (but then it's not an Earthen engine). There are moulded orange seats inside the cockpit, and the hood sticker sports an Autobot logo. Incidentally, there's a rubsign indent (maybe even a rubsign) on the roof. Hot Rod has black rubber tyres and silver wheels. The rear wheels are hidden behind the rear fenders, in turn behind the exhausts.
There's not really all that much play value here. He'll roll along on his wheels if you push him, and there's a screwhole on the engine block which is intentionally able to mount one of his guns. In Hot Rod's defence, while many newer Transformers offer more, being able to mount a gun in car mode was somewhat unusual at the time.
On the whole, it's a pretty good car mode. It looks great, and being so souped up suits his personality quite well. This car does about all you could expect of an Autobot car of the time and is far less awkward than the vehicle mode of Rodimus Prime, his grown up version.
Height: 15cm Width: 9cm
Something I've always appreciated about Hot Rod's robot mode is that there are lots of car bits visible, which are obviously car bits even though his car mode isn't Earthen. The rear tyres are on his boots, the front wheels stick out behind his shoulders, the chest is the car's hood and the exhausts now form triple lasers on his arms (as seen in the movie). Many Transformers lose some details like these between concept design and end toy, but since the concept design made it's way onto the silver screen, the designers had to make it work as a toy, and have done a good job.
With the exception of the factory-applied chest sticker, most of his stickers are red and yellow over silver, which fits into his colour scheme quite well. I'd strongly recommend leaving the thigh stickers off, since they scrape against the insides of his boots when you transform him, and leaving them off is the only way to avoid this.
Considering how close they managed to stick to the original concept drawings, I'm pretty happy with the play value here. The elbows have hinges, with swivels just above the hinges, allowing him to target his guns in a variety of directions. Depending on which version you have, Hot Rod comes with either one, two or three guns - more on that shortly. While the arms represent pretty much all of his play value, he has no problems standing and his proportions are good, evening things out.
There are some really good robot mode features that are worth mentioning. The facial sculpt is great - he has cheek ridges, a nose, lips and a chin, and there's a collar of sorts around his neck. The Autobot logo on the hood is now central on his chest and there's a nise distinct gap between his legs.
All in all, this is a great robot mode that lives up to the concept design used for the animated Hot Rod. The only real departure is the red boots instead of black, but the overall looks is the same anyway. He really does look like a young thrillseeker, which is a big plus.
Firebolt is a silver and black figure - black on top with silver legs. He has a red face, unfortunately the paint masks a pretty detailed facial sculpt. His legs fold up onto his chest to form Hot Rod's twin-barrelled pistol, which is silver on top with a black hilt and black post. It can sit on the engine or in fit in his fist, and works quite well as a handgun, not quite so well as a hood-mounted weapon.
In 1987 we saw the first Targetmaster, which had large weapon holes, plastic feet and Firebolt as his only accessory.
In 2000 he was reissued in Japan, sporting metal feet, small weapon holes and the silver pistols. Accompanying this reissue were a transparent version and a black version.
2003 saw Hasbro reissue him, and the metal pins holding his shoulders together had been replaced by plastic hinges. The following year the Targetmaster was reissued in Japan, this time with metal feet and the plastic shoulder hinges. This Targetmaster reissue came with the two silver rifles, both of which had thicker posts to fit into the larger weapon holes.
Rodimus Prime is the same character, albeit a very different toy.