Although I haven't been the biggest fan of recent Transformer product (Energon and Armada have been very disappointing, IMO), I've been encouraged by the upcoming developments. I like the new concentration on classic G1 characters, especially those who have never really seen toy likenesses like Unicron and Arcee.

 

I may get blasted for this next comment, but I always despised the G1 Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime. Although the character(s) looked awesome in the movie, the toys were absolutely horrible. However, I did like this version of the classic character. Here's his stats...

 

Name: Rodimus

Company: Hasbro

Size: 7" (as robot)

Packaging: Blister card (I must mention that the packaging was awesome, with great circuitry details and nice artwork of the character.)

Price: $10 at K-Mart

Pictures: Rodimus Vehicle Mode | Rodimus Robot Mode

 

On with the review!

 

Looks: 3.5 out of 5

Rodimus' head sculpt is nice (which is vital to the coolness of any Transformer) and easily recognizable as a representation of the G1 character. The paint application is sharp, especially the flame details. The modified "hot rod truck" design of his alternate mode goes well with the character and looks cool.

 

My main problem with Rodimus is with his proportions as a robot. His feet and legs are too chunky and his chest is much too slight and flat.

 

However, I will say that this is the first Transformer in either the Armada or Energon lines with whose color scheme I have not had a problem. Even Unicron had some awkward colors. But all of Rodimus' colors work together very nicely.

 

Articulation: 3 out of 5

Rodimus has articulation at his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees. Much of that articulation is very limited, however, and posing him is problematic at best. Better neck and shoulder articulation would have helped the score, as well as swivel joints at the waist and wrists.

 

Accessories: 4 out of 5

A cool, clear-plastic, projectile-firing gun is included with the toy. The gun fires pretty well. Also, as a nice touch, the gun can be incorporated into the truck mode as a jet engine.

 

Transformability: 4 out of 5

I had little problems transforming Rodimus. The process is intuitive and not particularly time-consuming.

 

Value: 4 out of 5

Rodimus cost about $10, which seems standard for a toy of this size.

 

Coolness: 4 out of 5

I love new versions of classic G1 characters, especially those like Rodimus, who never really got a decent toy to begin with. I thought that the truck design actually works better with the character than the G1 sports cars, since I associate leader Autobots with trucks. Also, as a truck, he seems to be more of a rival to Optimus Prime.

 

Overall: 3.75 out of 5

This isn't a great toy, but it's certainly not horrible either. If you're a big TF fan, this somewhat average toy is a must-buy since it's a relatively decent upgrade of a classic character . However, this guy is unlikely to "transform" any passive fans into rabid ones.

 

 

-Nathan

Short and fair, great review Tortle!

 

To help his leg movement, I display him with his "skirt" flipped up. Doesn't look that bad. I've been thinking about triming his skirt down to allow more leg movement, just haven't gotten around to it. And yes, Rodimus's G1 fig did make a pretty stick, no?

My only complaints with the figure are that the pieces of his spoiler are kinda floppy (a problem I've heard from many), and that his arms have popped off a couple times in-between transformations. Then again, I didn't know what I was doing at the time, so I can probably avoid that in the future.

 

Overall, I'm happy to have gotten a new Rodimus toy :)

Short and fair, great review Tortle!

Thanks! :tfgrin <-- I thought that would be appropriate for this thread...

 

To help his leg movement, I display him with his "skirt" flipped up.

 

Actually, that does help. And the skirt doesn't need to be lifted all the way to allow more leg movement. However, as with Aberration, I've experienced arm pop-offs at the shoulder as well. The joint is designed to be ball-in-socket, but since the socket is somewhat oblong, it will pop off if you twist it around the wrong way. It's not really all that bad, but it's somewhat awkward.

 

-Nathan

Hear ye hear ye. Rodimus as pants with Inferno as the shirt looks awesome. That is all.

Hear ye hear ye. Rodimus as pants with Inferno as the shirt looks awesome. That is all.

Your right, it's not fair to reveiw a P'linking figure(as much a i dislike it) without covering that part of the bot.

 

What say ye Mr.Tortle? :)

Your right, it's not fair to reveiw a P'linking figure(as much a i dislike it) without covering that part of the bot.

 

Well, I reviewed Rodimus separately because 1) a toy should be cool in its own right without having to buy any additional products, which I think Rodimus is, and 2) I simply don't own any other Powerlink TFs.

 

I'm sure Admiral is right, though. Given Rodimus' HUGE legs, he would make good "pants", and his colors would work very well with the red Inferno. But considering the other Powerlink figures don't impress me very much, I haven't decided whether or not to get another one.

 

-Nathan

Get Inferno, he's great on his own and he looks really good with Rodimus.

I think he is one of the better ones so far.

Could anyone post a link with a pic showing Inferno as the shirt and Rodimus and the pants? Unfortunatley, the transformers website doesn't have Rodimus up in the powerlinx section (where you can see what two bots combined look like), which is weird, since they have Prowl. Anyway, if someone could provide a link, it'd be much appreciated.