Since I managed to get the way through the 2012 Botcon set which featured a handful of Shattered Glass characters, I thought I might as well go through my previous box set and start doing some work on the actual Shattered Glass Box set itself. However I have just realised that I have ignored that theory by having a look at Rodimus, who was a site exclusive character (i.e you could only pick him up from the convention) and wasn’t in the initial box set.
A good friend managed to acquire the extra characters from the Botcon and offered me some (he ended up with doubles) and so I took off his hands Rodimus, who also came with Megatron.
Just so we can have a bit of context with Rodimus in the opposite world, let’s take a look at his bio.
So he is the leader of the SG universe’s Wreckers, which are a mercenary group. I assume that SG Rod is Hot Rod (as opposed to Rodimus Prime) since he is unlikely to have the Mattrix until Optimus is dead, so personality wise, Rodimus isn’t all that different than his normal self, except now he seems to have a taste for power. Good to see a decently written bio, but there are still too many commas used…
His colouration is using the typical Black Rodimus colour that has been around for a while in Japan. I think E-Hobby started it with their exclusives a while ago colouring G1 Rodimus in purple and black, ala Nemesis Prime colours. Actually, purple and black is kind of closer to Motormaster than Nemesis Prime. I always considered Motormaster to be the first ‘nemesis prime’ anyway.
They’ve gone with the Classics Rodimus body, which I thought was incredibly awesome when the Classics were out, but it is a bit flawed especially after seeing what can be done with a deluxe such as Jazz. I never really liked the fore arms that much and the shoulders inhibit the arm articulation quite a bit. But it does convey the look of G1 Hot Rod extremely well. The gun can be stored on his back and if you have the flame effect, you can allow him usage of a jet pack. A great addition.
The articulation in general is pretty good, but he can’t crouch very well, but there are certainly a lot of joints to get him in a huge variety of action poses, which is what you need for a Rodimus. I do find the flaps hanging off his hips can interfere occasionally, but not to the point where it is frustrating
The main reason I wanted this toy above all others is for one reason alone.
Which will now go on about. For me, the first ‘mirror universe’ story I encountered was in Star Trek, the original series, with Spock and Kirk. And I thought it was cool. The prospect of a universe where the good guys were the bad guys? Brilliant!
Mr. Spock was my favourite character from that show and I loved that his evil counterpart was pretty much identical except for…
A Goatee!
This SG Rodimus, comes complete with a goatee too! OH YEAH!
And it is beautiful! Simple but lovely. Why does he have facial hair? Well, in the comic he says it’s a new addition and he ha just painted it on. I like it! Juts be aware of the quality issues when looking for this guy. The Club toys often have a wide selection of improperly applied paint applications. The other one my friend got didn’t have such a nice distinct beard so I was fairly lucky this time. Plus you can’t see his face in vehicle mode anywhere.
The rest of the details are a standard black, purple silver combination and are well applied.
He still has the (falsely named on the Classics box) communicator, but we all know it’s a buzz saw. Albeit a very small one. The wrists are limited by their transformation and you can see on mine that he has silver on one forearm above the wrist, but not the other. TFCC’s QC at work again…
One thing I can’t remember whether or not they are in the instructions is a movement part of his waist. In robot mode, you need to slide the chest forwards so it lines up with the waist better.
From this. To this.
This toy has a light piping gimmick and I am pleased to say that the red of Evil Rodimus’ eyes works better than the blue of good Rodimus.
Hmmm, lighty lighty!
Where the plastic isn’t black, it’s grey and its a bit horrible, I wish it was another (better) grey as it looks a tad cheap, especially on the spoiler, which I think is a significant part of Rodimus’ design. Although there isn’t that much, so it’s easy enough to ignore.
To be completely honest, he looks a lot better than this crappy Rodimus I picked up with Cyclonus in a two pack…
Anyway let’s have a look at the mode I like most about Rodimus, vehicle mode!
You can’t deny the fact that it is a good update of his vehicle mode. The underside of the vehicle also covers up the robot part incredibly well. The only problem with the vehicle mode is if you take out the gun from the bottom of the car, he has a big gap in the rear and underneath, but then I suppose the gun is meant to be a booster and therefore part of the car. It does looks cool though.
As you can see there is no additional high lighting of details aside from the silver and the flames, but that’s fine with me, it just ads to the mean look of the car. The flames are looking good, but some of the silver just peters away in places, look at that exhaust pipe below in the full image. You can see a slight sparkle to the plastic as well. I don’t quite see the reason behind placing an Autobot symbol on the back either, it ends up on the back of his leg in robot mode and in an odd placing in vehicle mode. The roof flames do add a nice touch however.
Through the window you can actually see a little steering wheel and seats, a nice throwback to G1 Hot Rod who had this, despite his cockpit not opening up.
Hard to photograph though.
Adding in his weapon’s fire effect works well for the vehicle as well.
Finally, his vehicle mode has an attack mode as well. Um, well, I am not sure if this is mentioned in the instructions (again) or whether I just decided to do it, but it can be done.
You could flip the spoiler over to make it more aerodynamic as well. He looks a bit like Kup from the back, I admit it’s not the coolest of modes and it does leave a HUGE gap behind him.
Might looks a bit less goofy with another type of missile in there.
And of curse, compared to that horrible little Rodimus from before.
So what we have in this toy is a pretty good little figure. Aside from the some what plain and ugly grey plastic, the rest of the toy does a good job of representing Rodimus. Of course this toy was designed as Rodimus anyway so that’s not very surprising. The beard is a good touch and just adds the icing to this robo-cake. What I also like is the fiction behind this guy, in the comic Optimus refers to him, Blurr and possibly Jazz as his ‘Seekers’ which is a nice reference that Rodimus may well be the ‘Starscream’ of the Evil Autobot forces. So he is definitely a good SG character and well worth picking up. Just remember to check the status of his facial hair first!
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