I loved that scene in Dark Awakening when Spike asks what happens when the air runs out, and Rodimus just says " youve got 2 choices - suffocate or smother". Optimus would give some heroic speech about not giving up, but Rodimus just says it as it is!
One my dream ideas for if I were to do a Transformers series would to have a long term plot arc for Hot Rod, and midway through the series becoming Rodimus Prime.
@@_V.Va_ One thing I loved, and of course they immediatly blew up, in the Netflix WFC trilogy was the Ultra Magnus Protocols, and the idea that Bee might end up not Prime's successor, but Ultra Magnus'.
I personally never had anything against Hotrod/Rodimus Prime, do I prefer him over Optimus Prime? No but I was willing to accept change in leadership given the nature of the situation and while I think Ultra Magnus visually looked better as a leader he knew his role. Even then it's not like he was going anywhere, he clearly is major part of the team was willing to help Rodmius Prime and I won't deny what he did as Hotrod was reckless and resulted in tragedy, he did it with good intention and only wanted to help and in my eyes that to me is one of the purest form of heart. Life is trial and error and Hotrod/Rodimus Prime was still in the early stages of being a leader, to build a stable guidance for a society you need structural integrity and in this case I always viewed Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee and Springer as part of this structure since they were the ones who spent the most time with him. Think of it like building a trust circle and as living creatures (In this case cybertronians) to become better we have to risk and sometimes we make mistakes. Hotrod made a Mistake and he tried move on and learn from it, I think if he had more time to properly adjust to being a leader he could've lived up to Optimus Prime. I still look at my SS86 Til All Are One shelf and proudly display Hotrod in the center opening the matrix surrounded be his fellow comrades in front of Optimus Prime as a way of reminding myself not all change is for the worst, time doesn't just stop because we chose to and sometimes we just need to give things a chance whether we like it or not because for all we know what lies ahead could be for the better. Hopefully I explained my view on the matter as best as I could and provided some level of perspective that many can relate to, regardless everyone is allowed to have opinion on the matter and that's fine. Anyway for the sake of convenience I spaced a lot of this to make it easier read knowing for some it's easy to get lost in massive walls of text.
Crap, I just realized that Hot Rod's story mirrors that of Luke Skywalker. "Excitement, adventure; a Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!" --Yoda describing Luke
Just to note, Hot Rod _did_ transform from carrying the Matrix in IDW1. His initial body is really small. Look at the image of him holding the Koska facsimile in Escalation Issue 6, and he's not much taller than a minibot. The Sunstreaker clones from Maximum Dinobots are also a fair bit bigger than him. His second Earth mode, the Pagani-looking one from the first half of the Costa era, is a little bigger, but the car kibble looks really oversized on him... until the Space Opera arc, where the Matrix bonds with him and repairs his body after Megatron put a hole through his torso. Not only do his car parts end up fitting his body much better, but he's now up to about even with Optimus' shoulder in terms of height. Once he sheds his Earth mode for MTMTE, things get a little inconsistent as to whether he's still an average carbot or if he's slightly taller, but he's still bigger than he used to be.
I personally liked the idea of Galvatron travelling back in time from the future. What if they did something similar with Rodimus? He could be Galvatron's arch nemesis in their point in the timeline.
@@conorburke1999 damn, beat me to it. Yeah Simon Furman's UK Marvel run was amazing. It's a shame so many people missed out on it but I remember first reading Target: 2006 and getting blown away by its epicness.
There were many UK exclusive stories in the Marvel comic that followed on from the events of the movie written by Simon Furman, who had no knowledge of the third season of the cartoon (I don't think it aired in the UK). He confidently lived up to Optimus Prime and never lost his mantle as Autobot leader (even if it was every likely an alternate timeline considering the comic eventually ends the same as the US one with peace on Cybertron in the early 90s).
17:45 I was just thinking how Bumblebee has usurped the Hot Rod characterization, which kinda screws over fans of both characters, since it also robs us of the classic, less brash scout character from G1.
Overall, G1 Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is probably the BIGGEST victim of the toy-focused nature of the era, where Hasbro did not yet realize that these characters were now no longer simply toys, but, well, CHARACTERS until it was too late. From the artificial nature of how the "old toys" are killed off, including how Optimus is mortally wounded and the way they involved Hot Rod (not saying he shouldn't have been involved, but there were better ways to achieve the same results with the same three characters), to having to market TWO toys of the same character, thus him reverting when the Matrix isn't with him. Yeah, the nature of the franchise at the time meant things were VERY stacked against him. So maybe, now that none of that baggage is present, we could have a story where Hot Rod could be more like the Dick Grayson to Optimus' Batman (only in role, not outward personality), therefore a main character from the start, so he gets much more time to cook, and Rodimus Prime is either his time as Nightwing or when he takes over as Batman temporarily. Might still have to bring Optimus back, but now, the writing would be, ironically enough, more organic than in G1. Maybe even improve the way RID15 did it its clash of having Optimus as the Ultra Magnus to Bee's Rodimus.
@@mpsorrentino yeah, even if you take it into account that people make the distinction that Orion was "rebuilt" and therefore permanent, Galvatron is pretty much, by the modern definition, reformatted, but not only is Rodimus just a bigger Hot Rod, but it's not even a permanent state, only thing you can chalk it up to is the concepts not yet even being close to ironed out at the time...and that's sometimes not satisfying enough of an explanation.
I've been defending his character for years and you've hit a lot of points as to why he really shouldn't be as hated as he is by some fans. One thing to point out, his actual vehicle mode was based on the GM Bison, a turbine powered truck featured at the World's Fair. This would later evolve into the Shockwave Jet truck, in which Energon Rodimus is based off of. As for the character, I think of his role in Season 3 as one of a peacekeeper leading in the defense of two worlds which allowed Ultra Magnus to shine as second in command and field commander quite a bit. This didn't mean Rodimus was absent from battle, but that he had a LOT on his plate. As you said, no matter WHO they chose to replace Optimus Prime, fans were going to hate the replacement.
in regards to Prime dying. For all, we know the first two hits Megatron got on him were the 'fatal' wounds and he had something like the Cybertronian version of his Renal Artery severed by the metal stab and the lightsaber slice to the same general area. His being shot there later was just to add insult to mortal injury and shortened what little time Prime had left.
I think within the fandom he's really isn't hated very much. If you hold Optimus dying against Rodimus, you're probably a pretty casual fan. Yeah he isn't as universally beloved as Optimus but he's a strong second pick. Definitely comes off as leader better than Bumblebee in RID2015.
with Rodimus Prime we got to see be stress that comes with being a leader, from having to play Diplomat with other alien races to managing being the head of state for Cybertron. there were even episodes where Rodimus Prime doubted his ability to lead. This was the sort of stuff we never really got to see Optimus Prime struggle with in the Generation 1 cartoon, though I do wonder if early on in the Great War he did go there some of those struggles given that the Old-Timers would have remembered Sentinel Prime successfully igniting a golden age of peace.
Exactly he was new, everyone has struggled with a new job, and he was trying to live up to legacy of Optimus, instead of being his own person, Burden hardest to bare was great and he finally accepted his position and then the next episode was the return of Optimus Prime all that development down the drain, Optimus should have returned but let Rodimus remain leader
Honestly, where I see Hot Rod serving a purpose is in fiction that focuses on the mystical or cosmic horror story elements of the verse. Essentially, I think Rodimus could be a very interesting character because we know he's very introspective and philosophical for a G1 character, with a lot of doubt. By putting him in a situation where all hope seems lost- where the darkest hour is upon the autobots- I think he can be a very compelling protagonist. I'm just imagining a sort of Battlestar Galactica type thing where the survivors of cybertron (and perhaps even Earth) are fleeing from Unicron's Heralds to the ends of the universe. I know it's not exactly something that sells toys, but I think it would be neat.
Couldn't agree with you more TJ, Rodimus deserved better and frankly he's one of my favorite characters. Awesome to hear a good defense of the character ^^
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is my favorite Autobot, so to hear all this fan backlash against him just upsets me. He was one of the few characters in the G1 cartoon that got any amount of character development. I'm glad that there are videos like this one and RodimusPrimal's retrospective on the character that present him in a positive light. Thanks TJ Omega. Your videos are amazing!
Blaming Rodimus for the destruction of Cybertron in Headmasters doesn't seem very fair, considering Zarak was actually extremely competent as a villain, but otherwise I agree wholeheartedly with every point in this video.
I love Rodimus/Hotrod as an character lol even if hes not in my collection yet he became the main character of his own comic book series last bot standing
The cartoon definitely did a disservice to his character arc. The biggest issue I have is with "The Burden Hardest To Bear". The episode aired way too late in the season. Rodimus accepted his leadership and Optimus came back 2 episodes later. If I could redo G1, Burden would be a lot earlier in the season and we see Rodimus grow more confident rest of the season.
I've always like Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime. Regardless of the quality of season 3, I always did like that it focused on a much smaller group of characters (the ones from the movie) and that made me prefer most of those characters over the one note season 1 and especially season 2 cast.
I've always thought Rodimus as someone who takes a president role, at least in G1, he shown trying to broker peace between different alien races and bring them together, Optimus wasn't doing that, he was always on the frontlines battling the cons, yet, he was not really attempting to put an end to the war, despite the fact he had plenty of chances to do that, while Rodimus during his early days, is trying to keep Cybertron peaceful and bring peace to the larger galaxy, sure the threat of the Decepticons is always there, but they been to busy battling the Autobots to really do anything with the planet they exiled themselves to, the Headmasters anime actually does something with the cons and their planet of exile, it becomes their base of operations, thou Galvatron somehow gets the insane idea of wanting to fuse with Cybertron and become something a kin to Unicron, then Galvatron is beaten and frozen in ice by the four headmasters and Zarak in his quest for power, decides that rather letting the Autobots obtain the new metal that make it impossible for them to be beaten, get rid of the source of the problem, by blowing up Cybertron! Rodimus leaves Fortress Maximus to deal with Zarak, apointing him commander of the miltray forces, while he off looking for an new world, the Autobots we see in Victory, Star Saber has been apointed head of the miltray forces, God Grini is commander of sector two forces, Earth being sector 1, so Rodimus, is techinally still the leader but he not taking a miltray role, its not like you see the President of the United States go directy to the frontlines and fight against the enemy as the kings of old might of done, he out there, somewhere in the galaxy and likely overseeing the contruction of the new colony for Transformers who are large in size but don't want to fight in pointless battles! The character arc for Rodimus, we had something similar in Transformers Prime, with Smokescreen, he was given a moment where he could become Optimus's sucessor, but he chose not to and did what he saw as right by bringing the Forge of Solce Prime to OP and it enabled OP to restore himself to full health but gain a brand new body as well as a new weapon!
While I agree that Optimus wouldn't shoot Megatron, we have to be open to the possibility. People forget that between the end of season two and the movie is 20 some odd years, Optimus might have seen some things that changed him. The constant back and forth with the Decepticons could have grinded him down. Was he forced to watch Ravage and Laserbeak tear Sparkplug and Chip to pieces and die? Makes you wonder.
Rodimus was a good character on paper, a young kid thrust into a position of power suddenly while dealing with the guilt of feeling responsible for primes death and not being able to handle the stress of the weight of the war. However, his character was mostly annoying in Season 3, most of the time moping with some surface level characterization without really ever diving deeper (besides burden hardest to bear). It would often lead to Magnus having to pick up the pieces and act as leader, which made him more likeable character in contrast.
As a wrestling fan, yes, that Royal Rumble comparison is accurate. I am sure no matter who fills that role, that character will get backlash just for “replacing” the fan favorite.
Hot rod was actually also in the transformers animated series only for a brief moment, and the Michael Bay movies that had him in the last night was quite different than his original. With that foolish French accent and protecting the direct descendant of Merlin. It was like having a French version of bumblebee. One cool thing from that one was the time gun that he had. And we cannot forget the online transformers series that had rise of the Titans, through the power of the primes. In transformers prime I think that Blue streak was much like a hot rod character. He was trained by alpha trion to be the next leader of the Autobots. It seems like they take the character of hot rod and put it to other characters through different transformers series. Cheetor from beast wars is one, who I feel is like a merge of bumblebee and hot rod. Hot rod did had a roll in the transformers series that was like 15 minutes per episode or something. Where everything was a little more kid friendly which I think was on cartoon Network last. Do you think that with the new transformer series hot rod will be introduced in it?
I don't know about the G1 continuity, but I do remember Ratchet mentioning that Cybertronian history goes back 10 BILLION years in Transformers Animated. This is significant because that is the estimated age of the Milky Way galaxy itself, so the implication is that Cybertron was basically the first planet in the galaxy to have life, possibly even the first one to actually form (10 billion years ago heavy elements like iron were significantly rarer than they are today because there hadn't been many generations of stars yet, so an entire planet mostly covered in metal would have been something pretty special.)
while it was brief Cyberverse did show us Hot rod was willing to take up the mantle of leader. He became good friends with clobber and soundwave that probably made both sides be with much more be in peace with each other
Changed my mind. I'd rather see more of Hot rod/Rodimus, an underdeveloped underdog of a character get more time and dedication than 15 more incarnations of bumblebee that all do the same tricks.
I think it's jarring when season 3 had hot rod giving up the matrix multiple times over that season, with the final one being permanent. And each time he pretty much acted like "oh thank primus I got that off my shoulders"
I love rodimus in the lost light, and cyberverse. Rodimus deserves a chance to be the main leader of the autobots in a series. I love using him as either the fun stepdad who’s cool and fun but super reckless. Or as the completely vain but still competent leader.
remember that this guy blew up an entire inhabited planet so it doesn't fall to the hands of the Decepticons with the words "Cybertron is a better place anyway"
Very well thought through argument. Well done. I feel that Rodimus could have been so much more but it was all about selling a range of toys and story telling secondly. I'm just glad we just got an amazing figure of him in the commander class.
Recently I've been thinking about an idea for a Transformers series where Rodimus is leading his own team of Autobots that includes Bumblebee as his right hand man/co-captain. I think giving Rodimus a Captain Kirk like role from the newer Star Trek films could help. Where he can be bold, brash, kind of arrogant, sarcastic, and a bit about himself. But damn he's one of the best leaders, a great fighter, and someone who has an untapped potential that'll be shown as he leads his team on Earth against Decepticons either lead by Megatron or Starscream or maybe Cyclonus.
If HotRod had been a character for a season of the cartoon, or a year in the comic, it would have given some growth to make his hero's journey feel like it had a real payoff. It never dawned on me as a kid to "blame" HotRod for Prime's death, but rather Prime had such a heroic last stand after so much buildup, it always felt like he was only temporarily dead. (I knew how comics are cartoons worked.) Lastly, while HotRod was a great character and toy, the look with the flames and the color scheme was not as timeless as Optimus Prime.
I kinda like how rodimus never wanted to be a leader. And eventually gave it up in one of the animated series. He got leadership and power without really working his way up to it. He went from a brash your autobot to a powerful leader in about 5 seconds via the matrix. Optimus had time to grow and develop, and rodimus was thrust into it. I definitely resonate with his imposter syndrome more and more as I get older. As a kid, I hated it. Lol
This is my 2 cents worth. 1. I agree with most everything you said. 2. I think most people tend forget Hot Rod was basically a teenager and everyone including teenagers make rash, impulsive mistakes from time to time while attempting to do the right thing and he was trying to do the right thing. 3. Ultra Magnus could have assumed the title of Prime at any time and I feel Rodimus would have gladly given it to him but Ultra Magnus didn't want it. 4. Ultra Magnus, Kup, and others stated their confidence in Rodimus as a leader. 5. Optimus had millions of years to grow into his role as leader and Rodimus we saw at the beginning of his time. Who knows what mistakes and obstacles Optimus had to overcome at his start. 6. I think it's easier to lead in a time of war because everyone is united against a common enemy. In peacetime you don't necessarily have that common ground to keep everyone together. As an example take WW2 and the division in America over whether or not to enter the war before Pearl Harbor was attacked. After Pearl Harbor was attacked and Germany declared war on the U.S.A. most of the country was anxious to fight. I think Hot Rod/Rodimus wasn't given a fair chance to shine and grow and I wish he had been
I grow up in Sweden where the cartoons wasn't available for the poor working class after all you needed satellite connection which was rare, so my picture of rodimus prime was based on the marvel comic and our own head canon. He transformed to a hot rod space RV from a hot rod car. and in rural sweden was car customization big in the 80ies and still is but it have become a thing for the middle class today. This lead to Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod be popular toys
Optimus Prime is the ideal we look up to Ultra Magnus is the reality behind the ideal Rodimus Prime is us approaching the ideal day by day, through trials and tribulations
Thank you for doing this video, it means a lot to me. Rodimus prime is my favorite Autobot leader and what struggles he deals with are just as important as those that Optimus dealt with. I know this won't stop all those Rodimus haters or their disgusting abuse of the character, but it's good to speak the abject truth of the situation.
I caught a lot of hell growing up for saying pretty much the same thing: if Hot Rod hadn't jumped in, Megatron would have just shot Prime while he was considering - at least Hot Rod gave him a chance. Honestly, I was disappointed with Rodimus in the cartoon series - but that was because I felt he was set up SOO differently in the movie. In the movie, you saw him learn from his errors as he went, make some pretty split second decisions, get his chosen one moment, and end as if we'd set up Rodimus as an Arthurian figure - and that's what I was expecting. His opening the matrix was like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. The matrix had to have chosen him for a reason, even over Optimus. I was expecting the series to continue with like a round table of Autobots and Decepticons that are now aware there are much darker things in the universe, and Rodimus at the head of a slowly unifying Cybertron with the matrix as a weapon able to face much more cosmic, even Lovecraftian threats. I expected him to be a more agressive leader: still wise but more likely to make a split second decision and figure it out as he went. Under the circumstances I thought he'd simultaneously have a more mystical view of the universe than Optimus did, but also a more complex morality. Heh, this Leader wouldn't have let Megatron finish begging for mercy, he'd just blast his arms off, stand with his foot on his chest and say "You have my mercy, but not my forgiveness". I even expected the voice of prime to function like his Merlin, giving him advice that he doesn't always take - sometimes to his detriment, but also sometimes because Op's way is good, but Rod's way is better. This is what I felt like the 86 movie was setting up. Everytime I told people this, they'd just rant about how he murdered prime with his stupidity and that he was going to suck. They hated him and wanted Optimus back, so I was hoping the show would live up to the set up I had in my mind - Aaaaaand when we got to the third season, we got a perpetually uncertain leader who didn't even seem to be able to pull of the bravado he ended the movie with facing off against the watered down shadows of things he beat with confidence as Hot Rod when he was far less powerful..... I sympathized with his uncertainty to an extent, but again, it seemed like he was facing threats much weaker than the ones he took on as Hot Rod confidently - and the jump from an overconfident character to an underconfident one could only work for so long before it seems to counter his entire chosen one status (you have to think that brashness was part of his potential, and losing it loses out on what the matrix chose him for) and just as he was starting to figure things out, Prime came back. I still want my Arthurian Rodimus Damnit! It feels like NOT having the legendary leader and the expanded universe the 86 movie set up in a weird way diminishes the movie. Heh, and the weirdo in me kinda wanted the human characters in the Winnebago - if he couldn't transport a group of autobots like Prime did, having a group of exo-suited humans with advanced sensors and information doing work in the Winnebago would have made his alt mode at least make a little more sense....
Oh, this Knights of the Round Table idea for Hot Rod/Rodimus sounds interesting - especially if a few of the Decepticons join (be it in a secret alliance manner or like how IDW Thundercracker & Soundwave left at different points)
This is something cyberverse did well during the quintesson invasion arc. He was the only one not plugged into the matrix due to being mia at the time. When he rose out of the sludge, he just assumed the role to get things done. Yes he did relinquish leadership once optimus got back to reality. But he always popped as a commander of sorts. Even though it wasn't stated outright. Show, don't tell.
I became a Hot Rod fan as an 8 year old child the moment he started shooting lasers out of the pipes on his arms at the Decepticons on the hijacked shuttle!
I have this idea that if they killed off Megatron, maybe have it so the injuries he sustained from Prime's haymaker+falling were enough to kill him upon impact, that Rodimus Prime would've gone over slightly better. Let Optimus go out on top against his enemy, give the Decepticons a new leader, probably an enhanced Starscream like your Novascream concept.
I always liked him. He was decisive. He had no reservations about taking optimus on when the quintessons turned prime bad. I can't stand it when people wine about him being at fault for primes death. He is a good character and a fun toy.
I love the movie and I get he was young and he was trying to save optimus and made a mistake. I agree I think optimus still would have lost either way . I think they had hot rod interfere thinking fans would have not been happy had megatron just straight up beat optimus. I don't think they thought people wouldn't accept that it was a mistake and hot rod would get hated the way he did . I love hot rod and the story of the movie and season 3 was my favorite. Alot of people just couldn't accept it and want to place blame it's sad because everyone makes mistakes and that was the point hot rod had to make mistakes to grow and in season 3 he was learning to be a leader we never seen what optimus was like in his 1st years and people just think optimus was always great. Plus by the movie optimus had lost cybertron and the autobots were low on energy so he was really losing the war
I think as Megatron was upgrade into Glavatron and Optimus should have been upgraded into Ultra Magnus. Considering the toys were similar in size that would have made better play value Hot Rod should have stayed the hot head solider. Issue resolved
Another thing that doesn't help: a new Rodimus Prime toy, but ZERO trace of him or Hot Rod in any sort of new media, they're literally the closest thing to a Movie 35th Anniversary line, seeing as SS86 & Kingdom came out throughout 2021. IDW didn't help, Hot Rod's arc was literally no trace of maturity. That Transformers: Earth Wars mobile game did a better job than the IDW comics...and that game ain't have much plot beyond throwaway dialogue lines. We need some fresh media where Hot Rod & Rodimus Prime can truly shine.
I watched the video and I'm now curious about one thing, what about the other side of the equation what was people's opinion on Galvatron and could he be written better in the original cartoon.
I’ve always been a Hot Rod/Rodimus fanboy. His depiction in IDW 1.0 and MTMTE I think was one of the better ones in recent years and hearkened back his earliest portrayals as both a young hotshot daredevil and a character looking to change to live up to his potential as a leader. In fact, one of the more heartbreaking moments in IDW 1.0 was when Rodimus denounces himself as being called “Rodimus ‘Prime’” and claims that he will never hold that title because he knows how badly he screwed up during his tenure as a self-proclaimed Prime. Still, I feel he more than proves himself by the end, even if he doesn’t quite get over his brash personality.
its pretty much the same with smokescreen for the prime show.lot of fans was hating on him because of that one episode.evne thou smokescreen was kinda like hot rod,but even he knew he could shoulder that responsibility so he used the last bit of energy for the hammer and just reformated prime to his bh mode.then the fandom calmed down after that.plsu he looked up to prime as a hero,and he didnt want him to die.
To take nothing away from the Seventh Deadly Matador. You gave me an idea for this. This is also part of the comparison between the Real Optimus Prime and Michael Bay's BayVerse Optimus Prime. Prime was given all of Ultra Magnus' attributes for the movies. And yes, Bumble Bee replaced Hot Rod. As you had stated and more, Prime was a pacifist in a way. (For the cartoon.) He never really wanted to fight. He would always try to talk his way into a solution and would fight only when hw needed to. Magnus was the one that was always ready to fight. Magnus was the one in the cartoon that had the bigger better guns, could fight better, (And fight dirty if had to, which Prime wouldn't.) Magnus could fly, Prime couldn't. And Magnus has the ability to be a Leader, he just doesn't want the job according to the cartoons unless he has to. And for Hot Rod. Have him be the next Ultra Magnus. Have him end up on a deserted planet with slipstream and have them have take a little bit of time to fight, form a friendship and then slowly get back to their factions. And the next point. You are right about Rodimus being after Optimus Prime. Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, "Babe" Ruth, the next guy that replaces them on that team. Would you measure up to or be able to outperform a Legend? Another point. Most of the time when a TV series from another Country gets Americanized, it is always crap. Red Dwarf, a British Sci-Fi Comedy that has Eight seasons under it's original Title and Dave for Four more. (I just found this out.) Whereas for the American version, two pilot episodes where made and were never picked up. Or compare BBC's Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkston, Richard Hammond and James "Captain Slow" May and the American version.
I like Rodimus Prime, he always had a cool design. And with the first Optimus Prime death in the movie, it was definitely a bitter pill to swallow as it's our starting hero we grew up with (I'm a 98 baby but my family did have G1 VHS tapes for me to enjoy). But, isn't there a official comic where it has. What if, Optimus Prime survived? Kup, rather than yelling for Hot Rod to stop. He actively runs and stops him, so he doesn't get anywhere near Megatron and Optimus does pull the trigger on Megatron. With Starscream becoming the herald of Unicron, while he had a very cool design. But he definitely needed a better name when getting reformatted.
As a kid I didn't like Hot Rod when he was introduced, but i think that was because he was new, "cool", and immediately took over as leader. But as i got older i came to appreciate him and the burden of leadership, trying to live up to his predecessor. That was largely due to his western cartoon characterization. I was actually thinking of making a video just like this, but now i guess i don't need to :]
There is two reasons to think that Optimus would actually take the shot... possibly 3... 1. Earlier in the same scene Optimus literally says "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost." 2. Optimus is literally pointing his gun at Megatron saying "Out of the way Hot Rod" which indicates the only reason he didn't take the shot is because Hot Rod was there. That said I still don't think it's fair to blame Hot Rod for getting Optimus killed, that would have happened even if Hot Rod hadn't gotten in the way. Even if Optimus had a clear shot it's not Megatron wouldn't have shot back, I mean Optimus was already much more damaged in that scene than Megatron was and they've both been shot multiple times before and survived so that kind of makes me think even if Optimus had taken the shot that Megatron would have only been wounded and would still survive to take the same kill shot anyway. The possible 3rd reason I mentioned... there's a HUGE time jump from 1984 to 2005 there's also several characters from the first two seasons who are either confirmed dead or just never show up again for the rest of the series. Sparkplug for example is never seen or mentioned ever again and it's possible he could have just died from old age in that time or he could have been killed off screen during the time gap between season 2 and the movie. That fact that Megatron has murdered people could explain why Optimus is suddenly willing to just end him when he wasn't before. Granted the war had already gone on for millions of years but that was on Cybertron, they're robots, they could simply rebuild themselves in new bodies. They're nearly impossible to actually kill but humans are squishy and they can't come back so 21 years of war on Earth seeing their human friends die because of the Decepticons that could push Optimus to the point where he's no longer willing to let the Decepticons go and fight another day, to the point where he actually wants to stop the war no matter what the cost is. It's got nothing to do with the Micheal Bay version because people already thought Optimus was going to shoot even before those movies existed just based on the context in the movie itself. Also... I don't really think that Ultra Magnus would have gotten the same hate. You also have to take into account that part of the reason Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is hated in the first place is because of the way the scene was written. Optimus CHOOSE Ultra Magnus to take the Matrix and lead the Autobots, it was actually suppose to be Magnus not Hot Rod but he dropped the Matrix, Hot Rod caught it and right as he catches the Matrix we get to see a big light show that basically tells us, Hot Rod is the new leader. If Optimus had chose Hot Rod in the first place, if him getting the Matrix hadn't been entirely by accident, he might not have been hated as much. We can even see examples of this in other Transformers fiction. Armada, Hot Shot is literally given command by Optimus Prime before he dies and Hot Shot has all of the other issues that Hot Rod had in G1 but no one hates Hot Shot. Even outside of Transformers people have pointed this out in other fictions that if the characters in the fiction itself can't embrace a change to the status quo that you're essentially setting up any new cast for failure. It's been mentioned in Doctor Who, the 6th Doctor the first thing he does is strangles his companion and he's kind of a dick. The writers were literally trying to get the show canceled at the time so he was quite literally set up to fail and it worked Colin Baker became one of the most hated Doctors at the time. It's also been mentioned that David Tennant saying the line "I don't want to go" set up his replacement to fail because he's literally telling the audience to hate the next Doctor. That wasn't even intentional but it's how a lot of the fans took it at the time. Of course there will be people who will find one reason or another to hate anyone new no matter what but you can soften the blow or make the problem worse by how you handle the passing of the torch. Or in this case the passing of the Matrix. There might be some people who would still hate Ultra Magnus but not nearly as many because Optimus himselve wanted Ultra Magnus to replace him. You'd technically be going against what Optimus himself wanted if you didn't agree he was a decent replacement which is why more people would be OK with it. But when someone like Hot Rod gets the role that was meant for Magnus you're kind of setting him up for failure by literally writing in a reason for fans to hate him. He was never even considered for the lob in the first place, he just got the Matrix by accident, that's not a great way to pass the Matrix is by having your new lead just accidentally fall into the position that was intended for someone else, Ultra Magnus. And I'm saying this as someone who actually LIKES Hot Rod. I don't even really want Ultra Magnus as I find him boring. But I understand the psychology why having Optimus give the Matrix to Magnus would lead most fans to prefer Magnus as he was the one that was actually chosen. If they simply rewrote that scene so that Hot Rod was always intended to get the Matrix, so that Optimus has the same conversation but with Hot Rod and gives the Matrix directly to him rather than dropping it then there would be more support of the character rather than giving fans another reason not to like him. I also like Matt Smith by the way, he is my Doctor so obviously the whole "I don't want to go thing" didn't effect me. I didn't even know he said that since I didn't even get into the series until after Matt Smith took the role. I only found out about it later when I went back and watched older episodes of the series. I kind of feel the same way about Peter Capaldi to be honest. Clara had a hard time accepting him as the Doctor for 2 whole seasons and it made it incredibly difficult for me to accept him as the Doctor when the literal audience surrogate doesn't even like him.
Another factor I think that's worth mentioning: Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is set up to be an audience insert character, and audience insert characters tend to be light on characterisation because that makes it harder for the audience to 'fill in the gaps' and put themselves in the character's perspective. And I think in this case it backfired, in my mind largely because of Hot Rod's role in Optimus' final battle. No kid wants to associate with the guy who 'killed Optimus' after all.
So here’s the point I’m going to argue you on: Hot Rod did NOT get the Matrix by accident. The glow of the Matrix was an indication to the audience that Hot Rod was The Chosen One that Optimus himself spoke of. The fact the Hot Rod caught the Matrix had Zero effect on Ultra Magnus’s ability to use the Matrix. The truth of the matter was that The Darkest Hour was upon them and Optimus had no way of knowing who the Chosen One was or that he would soon be needed. Nothing would have changed if Hot Rod hadn’t caught the Matrix. If Arcee had caught it that wouldn’t mean she was the next leader! It wasn’t first come first serve! It was not an accident, it was fate!
@@rudyproductions4557 He does get the Matrix by accident though. Optimus Prime intended to give the Matrix to Ultra Magnus but dropped it and Hot Rod caught the Matrix, that's literally the definition of an accident. The whole "Chosen One" concept doesn't even mean anything here when he's not even the character who was Chosen. Think about other movies where this is done. Star Wars, they literally tell us it's Anakin Skywalker multiple times. It's no accident that he ends up being the Chosen One in fact there's even literally a line about how it's not an accident that they found him. The Matrix (The movie not the Autobot Matrix), Neo is "The Chosen One" and again we're directly told that. There's no accident that makes him chosen. These movies also typically involve some prophecy that the "Chosen One" fits the description of. Now look at Transformers. No mention of a Prophecy, there's not even really a mention of a Chosen One, that was all retconned in after the fact. The only thing we know in the actual movie itself when taken at face value is that Optimus was passing the Matrix to the next Autobot leader and Hot Rod just happen to be the one to catch it after he dropped it by accident. The only thing the glow indicates to the audience is that the Matrix would have bonded to anyone who happen to touch the thing first after Optimus let go of it. If Ultra Magnus had actually gotten the Matrix first as intended it would have glowed in his hands, he'd have zero difficulty trying to open the Matrix later in the movie though since it was actually needed to defeat Unicron Ultra Magnus would have been trying to open it at the wrong time. Although after Hot Rod touches the Matrix he also seems to gain knowledge about it he shouldn't have so maybe Ultra Magnus would have actually known what it was for and never attempted to opening it on the planet of Junk in the first place. "The truth of the matter was that The Darkest Hour was upon them and Optimus had no way of knowing who the Chosen One was or that he would soon be needed." That sentence right there kind of proves that it wasn't even intended to be a Chosen One story in the first place. As I mentioned earlier usually Chosen One stories involve some vague description of the main character defeating some evil that gives the other characters clues as to who the chosen one might be but here there's nothing, all the chosen one stuff was added in later material and isn't even mentioned within the movie itself. I mean they do mention someone rising from their ranks to light their darkest hour but that's so vague it could literally mean anyone at any moment, that's not a chosen one prophecy, that's just an inspirational speech. The whole concept of a "Chosen One" isn't even something that actually exists outside of fiction but pep talks like that do exist in the real world. You could retroactively call Martian Luther King Jr. a "chosen one" but the truth is if it hadn't of been him someone else could have stood up in his place. We don't know that some one would have if he never existed but it's fair to say that anyone else could have done what he did if he wasn't around in some alternate universe. We could only retroactively call him a "chosen one" because of course prophecy doesn't really exist and hindsight is 20/20 which is kind of the same deal with Hot Rod. Later fiction in the comics introduced the whole Chosen One concept that was never actually in the movie. They made something into a prophecy after it already happened when it clearly wasn't intended to always be that way. It was kind of a way to try to make Hot Rod seem cooler after the fact but in reality it's really just an accident that he got to be leader.
You've genuinely changed my opinion on Hotrod and Rodimus. He's not a bad character because he got prime killed, he's a bad character because he was forced, inconsistent, and insignificant. Honestly I prolly wouldn't hate him as much as I do if he was introduced in season 3 rather than the movie so he had more time to actually earn that mantle. Plus I still think Magnus woulda been a way better Prime. Even after Rodimus is around, Magnus leads more, he fights more, he even teaches Rodimus a lot. Magnus plays the role Optimus did in season 1 and 2 better than Rodimus, and I think that's another part of why Rodimus is so hated. It was just a perfect shit storm to ruin a great idea for a character. I still don't like Hotrod or Rodimus as characters, but you've given me a little more respect for them.
The hotshot→leader arc makes sense, a hot shot implies someone who rarely hesitates. Come experience, that can create great leaders as they are not waiting to do something. For instance, both Optimus and Rodimus got presented with the same predicament: In Prime Target and Five Faces of darkness, respectively, they both got in the situation where many of their comrades were kidnapped. Optimus decided to wait out and was eventually contacted by the kidnapper, while Rodimus was angry wanting to blast the decepticons and was calmed down by Perceptor, so coming back to his senses decides to spy on them instead to see if they were at fault, both valid in that situation.
I once saw in the internet the best comparison to Rodimus situation, he is that guy that was involved in your dad's death in the war and came back home to marry your mom. The writers are to blame for how poorly he was handled they made several mistakes, the first one was introducing him in the same movie were he is set to replace Optimus that right there is the first step to make a character unlikable, no build up, just appear and replace, even worse on a beloved character like Optimus. Then he was involved in Optimus death, was he responsible? Maybe, maybe not, but the other autobots told him not to interfere since it was Prime's fight so it kind makes him responsible, had he heeded the warning he could have later regret not interfering in case Optimus died but no one would hold him responsible. Then they made him unconfident and whiny in Season 3 after becoming the leader to the point where sometimes Ultra Magnus seemed more like the real leader, didn't helped at all that IIRC Galvatron went after Ultra Magnus in the battlefield instead of Rodimus making it look like Galvatron saw Ultra Magnus as the Optimus true successor, this was to pit both of the bigger toys as rivals but when it came to characters it destroyed Rodimus as field leader whereas Optimus and Megatron would seek each other acknowledging each other as their true rival. Then he kinda had everything land on his lap, Optimus rebuild of autobot forces and counterattack, Unicron trashing the Decepticons, Megatron's rebuild plan for Cybertron, the chosen one... he was supposed to be that autobot that starts from bottom but rises to the top but with that kind of push who doesn't? The main issue was that back then they were writing some backstory so they could sell toys and never put much though on it and you can tell. It is why I think it's hilarious when people trash the bayformers for not having much of a story and only wanting to make money while praising G1 like it's Shakespeare when the purpose was exactly the same.
I always felt the biggest obstacle to Hotrod replacing Optimus is the fact that Hotrod was introduced mere minutes before Optimus died. Had he been a previously established character from season 1 or 2 that we had time to get to know before this happened, we'd have probably been a lot more understanding also, just noticed that if you look at that image of the face of Primus just right, you can kinda see the silhouette of the Maximal icon, a neat little coincidence or is it?
I agree with most of your analysis, but I think there’s one huge issue that you’re not taking into account. It’s unlikely that Optimus would have been shot by Megatron simply due to how much experience Optimus has. It’s very unlikely that two things would happen. First, that he would believe Megatron was at all sincere in his begging for mercy. Had the scene played out a little longer, I’m sure he would have called out Megatron for his attempt at deception, forcing the situation to go another way. Secondly, regardless, once Megatron went for the hidden gun, or telegraphed that he was moving/reaching to a specific spot(especially one obscured to Optimus’ vision) Optimus would have known due to his millions of years of combat experience that something was up and either shot at whatever was behind that rubble that Megatron wanted, or otherwise stopped/redirected Megatron. I think Megatron would have been “arrested” and likely imprisoned if Hot Rod hadn’t interfered. Also, if Magnus because leader, I think he would have been more beloved than Hot Rod ever was, and the fandom would likely still love Optimus more, but I think both would be remembered fondly.
Hey tj another great video and I agree rodimus does tend to get a lot of flak from the fandom based on the dumb excuse of 'he's not optimus prime so he sucks!' I'm a huge rodimus prime fan myself and I'm hoping that I'll get my hands on the commander class figure of him for my birthday this year and speaking of headmasters I genuinely got really sad during the scene where rodimus leaves to find a new home for the autobots after cybertron got destroyed my heart started to sink and you have to throw in the fact that they had this really somber music in the background and I was thinking 'goodbye rodimus good luck'
Since Hot Rod had blasters on his forearms, he could had shot at Megatron to distract him. This interference was enough for Optimus to finish Megatron. Maybe certain events needed to happen to counter Unicron for the best results.
I am curios what happened to Sunstreaker, where did he go, it would have been cool to have seen him roll out with Optimus but then he turns down an ally and decks a refractor or something, but nope we only saw Optimus head out, Sunstreaker isn't a coward lol he would definitely go in the bust some diodes
Optimus was only shown as the experienced leder, not in his salad days where he would be different. Rodimus had no perspective on this fact, all things have a beginning. The Optimus he knew wasn't the 'newbie' version.
For me the best Hot Rod, was the one on Cyberverse! Great portrayal of this character! Bumblebee as the new leader? Oh no! Look at Robots I. disguise 2015! Fighting Optimus for leadership? Come on! That cartoon was so bad in a lot of aspects! You don't have to kill Optimus, just have him step down for a new leader to come. They can go for advice to him every now an then, or make an amazing temporary come back, to dazzle everyone, sometimes.
I don't see Optimus showing mercy to Megatron, especially not after he had recently killed many Autobots in the battle up to that point, and showing no signs of stopping. The lyrics to the theme song go - Autobots wage their battle to DESTROY the evil forces of the Decepticons!" There were also plenty of times where Prime and the Autobots definitely intended to kill Megatron, but he simply unexpectedly survived. Like blowing the spaceship he was on with all the Energon, or forcing him into the lava pit with the other Decepticons in Heavy Metal War. As for whether he would've still gotten killed by Megatron if Hot Rod hadn't intervened, it's hard to say. As you said, Prime was already thrown off by Megatron begging for mercy. As for Rodimus, yes, I was upset that Optimus died, but I thought he did a good enough job as leader, and Rodimus showing self-doubt and overcoming it made him a compelling character. But, yeah, Rodimus or Hot Rod, now? I don't know. It seems like Hasbro dialed back due to fan backlash, and yeah, Optimus won't be replaced again any time soon.
I'm just asking but I would love 2 see a video about the most accurate a transformers toy is compare 2 the show/movie but not talking about masterpiece. Ex: the most accurate version of g1 cosmos is his velocitron figure
Hotshot wasn't responsible for Optimis's death, the show made constant reference to Optimis being as great a marksman as Cyclops of the X-Men (riccochets beams of multiple surfaces to hit a target).
this had to happen ty tj . rodimus prime is my favorite transformer & i am sick of all the old men who hate him bc of a movie in 1986 just bc he isnt optimus prime
I've had similar views since about hot rod/rodimus prime in my adulthood years, when in my childhood years I thought he was cool, didn't fully understand I guess. As an adult I get the big shoes to fill the burden he had t carry with him. And yeah I felt sorry in a way for his character more so in season 3, I feel he did well as an autobot leader, I feel Magnus & kup got him to go in a good direction at times. Wich you know he overcame the burden and rose like a phoenix out the ashes and proved he could really lead. It's unfortunate what happened to his character over the years after how he was depicted etc. Cyberverse season 3 he as hot rod basically got to lead the autobots with soundwave and some decpticons help, to free autobots and decpticons from the quinteson mind control thingy , I felt the story did well for his character there. I do hope he does get a role where they write him to be a leader and give it a better story than what unfortunately happened in g1. Pretty sure they almost did that with smokescreen, and hot shot some point too but didn't I think, ( may need to watch again). Yeah awesome video 🤘 till all are one ✌️
I agree with everything you said except the first thing about Prime not finishing Megatron without hotrod being there. they were both horribly wounded, optimus's friends and soldiers are dying around him. Megatron is almost point blank in his sights. he wouldn't have wanted to but once Megatron lifts that gum Primes hand would be forced. he would have hated it, he would have wanted to take Megatron as a prisoner but in one instant it would be too late. he shoots or he dies, and more importantly in the moment all of his friends would die. but absolutely yes, rodimus gets way too much hate. he was just trying to save his leader, he did not intend to get him killed
Even if Optimus wasn't willing to kill Megatron like Baytimus would, he would've just disarm him again, shoot him in the hand or something. Him not trying to kill Megs doesn't mean he wouldn't do some damage. And Transformers are not humans, a limb loss isn't permanent. Also even if Megs could perform a dirty sneak attack, it would have at the very most only one shot in the abs before Prime completely incapacitated him. He already saw Megs pick up that thing when Hot Rod jump in but it was Rod who made him lose focus . And all that are still in the vision of what could happen. The reality is still Rod being held hostage gave Megatron opportunity to fire multiple shots at Optimus instead of a slight wound. It's an unfortunate event but warfare is still warfare. You don't interupt in a fight of 2 absolutely stronger beings than you are. A lion cub appear in a fight of 2 lions will always result in his parent losing faster, not the other way around, and Kup already warned him that. there are real soldiers being punished for even leaving their positions in an operation, let alone his disobey led to some serious consequeces like this.
I loved that scene in Dark Awakening when Spike asks what happens when the air runs out, and Rodimus just says " youve got 2 choices - suffocate or smother". Optimus would give some heroic speech about not giving up, but Rodimus just says it as it is!
Except Rodimus didn't tell it like it was. They didn't suffocate or smother.
@@amitypredator9385 Lucky break
One my dream ideas for if I were to do a Transformers series would to have a long term plot arc for Hot Rod, and midway through the series becoming Rodimus Prime.
Same here.
He needs to follow the Hero Cycle for the audience to learn to like him and watch him grow as a character.
@@TomMSTie1138 Yeah, my plan would be to have him introduced earlier, so there's more time to get to see him develop.
@@_V.Va_ One thing I loved, and of course they immediatly blew up, in the Netflix WFC trilogy was the Ultra Magnus Protocols, and the idea that Bee might end up not Prime's successor, but Ultra Magnus'.
I personally never had anything against Hotrod/Rodimus Prime, do I prefer him over Optimus Prime? No but I was willing to accept change in leadership given the nature of the situation and while I think Ultra Magnus visually looked better as a leader he knew his role. Even then it's not like he was going anywhere, he clearly is major part of the team was willing to help Rodmius Prime and I won't deny what he did as Hotrod was reckless and resulted in tragedy, he did it with good intention and only wanted to help and in my eyes that to me is one of the purest form of heart.
Life is trial and error and Hotrod/Rodimus Prime was still in the early stages of being a leader, to build a stable guidance for a society you need structural integrity and in this case I always viewed Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee and Springer as part of this structure since they were the ones who spent the most time with him. Think of it like building a trust circle and as living creatures (In this case cybertronians) to become better we have to risk and sometimes we make mistakes.
Hotrod made a Mistake and he tried move on and learn from it, I think if he had more time to properly adjust to being a leader he could've lived up to Optimus Prime. I still look at my SS86 Til All Are One shelf and proudly display Hotrod in the center opening the matrix surrounded be his fellow comrades in front of Optimus Prime as a way of reminding myself not all change is for the worst, time doesn't just stop because we chose to and sometimes we just need to give things a chance whether we like it or not because for all we know what lies ahead could be for the better.
Hopefully I explained my view on the matter as best as I could and provided some level of perspective that many can relate to, regardless everyone is allowed to have opinion on the matter and that's fine.
Anyway for the sake of convenience I spaced a lot of this to make it easier read knowing for some it's easy to get lost in massive walls of text.
Well said
Crap, I just realized that Hot Rod's story mirrors that of Luke Skywalker.
"Excitement, adventure; a Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!"
--Yoda describing Luke
Yup it's classic hero's journey narrative.
Except Luke didn't literally allow someone who the audience was already invested in long before the movie, to die
@@metal_fusion yes it is true
Just to note, Hot Rod _did_ transform from carrying the Matrix in IDW1.
His initial body is really small. Look at the image of him holding the Koska facsimile in Escalation Issue 6, and he's not much taller than a minibot. The Sunstreaker clones from Maximum Dinobots are also a fair bit bigger than him.
His second Earth mode, the Pagani-looking one from the first half of the Costa era, is a little bigger, but the car kibble looks really oversized on him... until the Space Opera arc, where the Matrix bonds with him and repairs his body after Megatron put a hole through his torso. Not only do his car parts end up fitting his body much better, but he's now up to about even with Optimus' shoulder in terms of height.
Once he sheds his Earth mode for MTMTE, things get a little inconsistent as to whether he's still an average carbot or if he's slightly taller, but he's still bigger than he used to be.
I personally liked the idea of Galvatron travelling back in time from the future. What if they did something similar with Rodimus? He could be Galvatron's arch nemesis in their point in the timeline.
That happened more than once in the UK Marvel comic.
@@conorburke1999 damn, beat me to it. Yeah Simon Furman's UK Marvel run was amazing. It's a shame so many people missed out on it but I remember first reading Target: 2006 and getting blown away by its epicness.
Wasn't there a comic where Rodimus did follow Galvatron and we had Optimus and Rodimus vs Megatron and Galvatron
@@RodimusMinor1987 Time Wars
@@Spike-Prime Who doesn't love a giant robot riding a truck? 😁
There were many UK exclusive stories in the Marvel comic that followed on from the events of the movie written by Simon Furman, who had no knowledge of the third season of the cartoon (I don't think it aired in the UK). He confidently lived up to Optimus Prime and never lost his mantle as Autobot leader (even if it was every likely an alternate timeline considering the comic eventually ends the same as the US one with peace on Cybertron in the early 90s).
17:45 I was just thinking how Bumblebee has usurped the Hot Rod characterization, which kinda screws over fans of both characters, since it also robs us of the classic, less brash scout character from G1.
Overall, G1 Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is probably the BIGGEST victim of the toy-focused nature of the era, where Hasbro did not yet realize that these characters were now no longer simply toys, but, well, CHARACTERS until it was too late.
From the artificial nature of how the "old toys" are killed off, including how Optimus is mortally wounded and the way they involved Hot Rod (not saying he shouldn't have been involved, but there were better ways to achieve the same results with the same three characters), to having to market TWO toys of the same character, thus him reverting when the Matrix isn't with him.
Yeah, the nature of the franchise at the time meant things were VERY stacked against him.
So maybe, now that none of that baggage is present, we could have a story where Hot Rod could be more like the Dick Grayson to Optimus' Batman (only in role, not outward personality), therefore a main character from the start, so he gets much more time to cook, and Rodimus Prime is either his time as Nightwing or when he takes over as Batman temporarily. Might still have to bring Optimus back, but now, the writing would be, ironically enough, more organic than in G1. Maybe even improve the way RID15 did it its clash of having Optimus as the Ultra Magnus to Bee's Rodimus.
@@mpsorrentino yeah, even if you take it into account that people make the distinction that Orion was "rebuilt" and therefore permanent, Galvatron is pretty much, by the modern definition, reformatted, but not only is Rodimus just a bigger Hot Rod, but it's not even a permanent state, only thing you can chalk it up to is the concepts not yet even being close to ironed out at the time...and that's sometimes not satisfying enough of an explanation.
I've been defending his character for years and you've hit a lot of points as to why he really shouldn't be as hated as he is by some fans. One thing to point out, his actual vehicle mode was based on the GM Bison, a turbine powered truck featured at the World's Fair. This would later evolve into the Shockwave Jet truck, in which Energon Rodimus is based off of. As for the character, I think of his role in Season 3 as one of a peacekeeper leading in the defense of two worlds which allowed Ultra Magnus to shine as second in command and field commander quite a bit. This didn't mean Rodimus was absent from battle, but that he had a LOT on his plate. As you said, no matter WHO they chose to replace Optimus Prime, fans were going to hate the replacement.
@@metal_fusion stressful at the moment. Getting things prepared for my family to move.
Man, that Daniel Bryan comparison is spot freaking on. That explains Hot Rod's situation perfectly.
Hot rod held the matrix high and it said,
You've got the touch, you got the power"
In defense of Rodimus Prime he got the most kickass figure in the entire Kingdom line.
in regards to Prime dying. For all, we know the first two hits Megatron got on him were the 'fatal' wounds and he had something like the Cybertronian version of his Renal Artery severed by the metal stab and the lightsaber slice to the same general area. His being shot there later was just to add insult to mortal injury and shortened what little time Prime had left.
First, he was my favorite when I was a kid, more accurately, hot rod was. He was relatable. And my god, did I relate to him.
I think within the fandom he's really isn't hated very much. If you hold Optimus dying against Rodimus, you're probably a pretty casual fan. Yeah he isn't as universally beloved as Optimus but he's a strong second pick. Definitely comes off as leader better than Bumblebee in RID2015.
Absolutely.
Rodimus is like the lame step-dad trying to replace your awesome birth dad who died.
with Rodimus Prime we got to see be stress that comes with being a leader, from having to play Diplomat with other alien races to managing being the head of state for Cybertron. there were even episodes where Rodimus Prime doubted his ability to lead.
This was the sort of stuff we never really got to see Optimus Prime struggle with in the Generation 1 cartoon, though I do wonder if early on in the Great War he did go there some of those struggles given that the Old-Timers would have remembered Sentinel Prime successfully igniting a golden age of peace.
Exactly he was new, everyone has struggled with a new job, and he was trying to live up to legacy of Optimus, instead of being his own person, Burden hardest to bare was great and he finally accepted his position and then the next episode was the return of Optimus Prime all that development down the drain, Optimus should have returned but let Rodimus remain leader
@@metal_fusion
Even if Hotrod gets Redemption the people who still cry over the 86 movie will never forgive him
Honestly, where I see Hot Rod serving a purpose is in fiction that focuses on the mystical or cosmic horror story elements of the verse.
Essentially, I think Rodimus could be a very interesting character because we know he's very introspective and philosophical for a G1 character, with a lot of doubt. By putting him in a situation where all hope seems lost- where the darkest hour is upon the autobots- I think he can be a very compelling protagonist. I'm just imagining a sort of Battlestar Galactica type thing where the survivors of cybertron (and perhaps even Earth) are fleeing from Unicron's Heralds to the ends of the universe. I know it's not exactly something that sells toys, but I think it would be neat.
Couldn't agree with you more TJ, Rodimus deserved better and frankly he's one of my favorite characters. Awesome to hear a good defense of the character ^^
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is my favorite Autobot, so to hear all this fan backlash against him just upsets me. He was one of the few characters in the G1 cartoon that got any amount of character development. I'm glad that there are videos like this one and RodimusPrimal's retrospective on the character that present him in a positive light. Thanks TJ Omega. Your videos are amazing!
Same
I've felt the same for years. Here's to hoping he's in more shows later on because he is just amazing in the comicbooks
@@anthonygvergara4778 Same here.
And the character development was terrible
Blaming Rodimus for the destruction of Cybertron in Headmasters doesn't seem very fair, considering Zarak was actually extremely competent as a villain, but otherwise I agree wholeheartedly with every point in this video.
Indeed Zarak was actual threat.
I love Rodimus/Hotrod as an character lol even if hes not in my collection yet he became the main character of his own comic book series last bot standing
The cartoon definitely did a disservice to his character arc. The biggest issue I have is with "The Burden Hardest To Bear". The episode aired way too late in the season. Rodimus accepted his leadership and Optimus came back 2 episodes later. If I could redo G1, Burden would be a lot earlier in the season and we see Rodimus grow more confident rest of the season.
I've always like Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime. Regardless of the quality of season 3, I always did like that it focused on a much smaller group of characters (the ones from the movie) and that made me prefer most of those characters over the one note season 1 and especially season 2 cast.
I've always thought Rodimus as someone who takes a president role, at least in G1, he shown trying to broker peace between different alien races and bring them together, Optimus wasn't doing that, he was always on the frontlines battling the cons, yet, he was not really attempting to put an end to the war, despite the fact he had plenty of chances to do that, while Rodimus during his early days, is trying to keep Cybertron peaceful and bring peace to the larger galaxy, sure the threat of the Decepticons is always there, but they been to busy battling the Autobots to really do anything with the planet they exiled themselves to, the Headmasters anime actually does something with the cons and their planet of exile, it becomes their base of operations, thou Galvatron somehow gets the insane idea of wanting to fuse with Cybertron and become something a kin to Unicron, then Galvatron is beaten and frozen in ice by the four headmasters and Zarak in his quest for power, decides that rather letting the Autobots obtain the new metal that make it impossible for them to be beaten, get rid of the source of the problem, by blowing up Cybertron! Rodimus leaves Fortress Maximus to deal with Zarak, apointing him commander of the miltray forces, while he off looking for an new world, the Autobots we see in Victory, Star Saber has been apointed head of the miltray forces, God Grini is commander of sector two forces, Earth being sector 1, so Rodimus, is techinally still the leader but he not taking a miltray role, its not like you see the President of the United States go directy to the frontlines and fight against the enemy as the kings of old might of done, he out there, somewhere in the galaxy and likely overseeing the contruction of the new colony for Transformers who are large in size but don't want to fight in pointless battles!
The character arc for Rodimus, we had something similar in Transformers Prime, with Smokescreen, he was given a moment where he could become Optimus's sucessor, but he chose not to and did what he saw as right by bringing the Forge of Solce Prime to OP and it enabled OP to restore himself to full health but gain a brand new body as well as a new weapon!
While I agree that Optimus wouldn't shoot Megatron, we have to be open to the possibility. People forget that between the end of season two and the movie is 20 some odd years, Optimus might have seen some things that changed him. The constant back and forth with the Decepticons could have grinded him down. Was he forced to watch Ravage and Laserbeak tear Sparkplug and Chip to pieces and die? Makes you wonder.
Rodimus was a good character on paper, a young kid thrust into a position of power suddenly while dealing with the guilt of feeling responsible for primes death and not being able to handle the stress of the weight of the war. However, his character was mostly annoying in Season 3, most of the time moping with some surface level characterization without really ever diving deeper (besides burden hardest to bear). It would often lead to Magnus having to pick up the pieces and act as leader, which made him more likeable character in contrast.
There was a deleted scene where when hotrod was crying over Prime and Kup put his arm around Hotrod and said it wasn't your doing lad it was Megatron,
As a wrestling fan, yes, that Royal Rumble comparison is accurate. I am sure no matter who fills that role, that character will get backlash just for “replacing” the fan favorite.
Hot rod was actually also in the transformers animated series only for a brief moment, and the Michael Bay movies that had him in the last night was quite different than his original. With that foolish French accent and protecting the direct descendant of Merlin. It was like having a French version of bumblebee. One cool thing from that one was the time gun that he had. And we cannot forget the online transformers series that had rise of the Titans, through the power of the primes. In transformers prime I think that Blue streak was much like a hot rod character. He was trained by alpha trion to be the next leader of the Autobots. It seems like they take the character of hot rod and put it to other characters through different transformers series. Cheetor from beast wars is one, who I feel is like a merge of bumblebee and hot rod. Hot rod did had a roll in the transformers series that was like 15 minutes per episode or something. Where everything was a little more kid friendly which I think was on cartoon Network last. Do you think that with the new transformer series hot rod will be introduced in it?
Transformers Prime was Smokescreen, not Bluestreak
At the risk of spoilers, Hot Rod has a major role in the new IDW Last Bot Standing story
Nemesis Prime: "It... It's HIM! The TRUE Nemesis Prime! I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!"
I don't know about the G1 continuity, but I do remember Ratchet mentioning that Cybertronian history goes back 10 BILLION years in Transformers Animated. This is significant because that is the estimated age of the Milky Way galaxy itself, so the implication is that Cybertron was basically the first planet in the galaxy to have life, possibly even the first one to actually form (10 billion years ago heavy elements like iron were significantly rarer than they are today because there hadn't been many generations of stars yet, so an entire planet mostly covered in metal would have been something pretty special.)
while it was brief Cyberverse did show us Hot rod was willing to take up the mantle of leader. He became good friends with clobber and soundwave that probably made both sides be with much more be in peace with each other
Changed my mind. I'd rather see more of Hot rod/Rodimus, an underdeveloped underdog of a character get more time and dedication than 15 more incarnations of bumblebee that all do the same tricks.
I think it's jarring when season 3 had hot rod giving up the matrix multiple times over that season, with the final one being permanent. And each time he pretty much acted like "oh thank primus I got that off my shoulders"
I love rodimus in the lost light, and cyberverse. Rodimus deserves a chance to be the main leader of the autobots in a series. I love using him as either the fun stepdad who’s cool and fun but super reckless. Or as the completely vain but still competent leader.
Here is an idea how about a series where Optimus is defending Cybertron and he sends Rodimus and a team of Autobots to earth
@@metal_fusion
Yes absolutely yes
remember that this guy blew up an entire inhabited planet so it doesn't fall to the hands of the Decepticons with the words "Cybertron is a better place anyway"
Basically the Embodiment of the Fool Arcana and the Hero's Journey
Very well thought through argument. Well done.
I feel that Rodimus could have been so much more but it was all about selling a range of toys and story telling secondly.
I'm just glad we just got an amazing figure of him in the commander class.
Hot Rod/Rodimus is one of my favorite Autobots. I loved his character arc in season 3. And in a way he was the chosen one, just a point.
As Rodimus is my favorite transformer, this video really satisfied me in many ways. Well done!
I can already see this being recommended to Rodimus Primal
Recently I've been thinking about an idea for a Transformers series where Rodimus is leading his own team of Autobots that includes Bumblebee as his right hand man/co-captain. I think giving Rodimus a Captain Kirk like role from the newer Star Trek films could help. Where he can be bold, brash, kind of arrogant, sarcastic, and a bit about himself. But damn he's one of the best leaders, a great fighter, and someone who has an untapped potential that'll be shown as he leads his team on Earth against Decepticons either lead by Megatron or Starscream or maybe Cyclonus.
I feel like I'm the only one who liked Regeneration One and how it completed (kinda) Hot Rod/Rodimus' character arc.
If HotRod had been a character for a season of the cartoon, or a year in the comic, it would have given some growth to make his hero's journey feel like it had a real payoff. It never dawned on me as a kid to "blame" HotRod for Prime's death, but rather Prime had such a heroic last stand after so much buildup, it always felt like he was only temporarily dead. (I knew how comics are cartoons worked.) Lastly, while HotRod was a great character and toy, the look with the flames and the color scheme was not as timeless as Optimus Prime.
I kinda like how rodimus never wanted to be a leader. And eventually gave it up in one of the animated series. He got leadership and power without really working his way up to it. He went from a brash your autobot to a powerful leader in about 5 seconds via the matrix. Optimus had time to grow and develop, and rodimus was thrust into it. I definitely resonate with his imposter syndrome more and more as I get older. As a kid, I hated it. Lol
Thank you for defending my favourite Transformers character. I always thought he got a raw deal, too.
This is my 2 cents worth. 1. I agree with most everything you said. 2. I think most people tend forget Hot Rod was basically a teenager and everyone including teenagers make rash, impulsive mistakes from time to time while attempting to do the right thing and he was trying to do the right thing. 3. Ultra Magnus could have assumed the title of Prime at any time and I feel Rodimus would have gladly given it to him but Ultra Magnus didn't want it. 4. Ultra Magnus, Kup, and others stated their confidence in Rodimus as a leader. 5. Optimus had millions of years to grow into his role as leader and Rodimus we saw at the beginning of his time. Who knows what mistakes and obstacles Optimus had to overcome at his start. 6. I think it's easier to lead in a time of war because everyone is united against a common enemy. In peacetime you don't necessarily have that common ground to keep everyone together. As an example take WW2 and the division in America over whether or not to enter the war before Pearl Harbor was attacked. After Pearl Harbor was attacked and Germany declared war on the U.S.A. most of the country was anxious to fight. I think Hot Rod/Rodimus wasn't given a fair chance to shine and grow and I wish he had been
I swear people considered Hotrod/Rodimus to be a sin against Transformers initially.
I grow up in Sweden where the cartoons wasn't available for the poor working class after all you needed satellite connection which was rare, so my picture of rodimus prime was based on the marvel comic and our own head canon. He transformed to a hot rod space RV from a hot rod car. and in rural sweden was car customization big in the 80ies and still is but it have become a thing for the middle class today. This lead to Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod be popular toys
Optimus Prime is the ideal we look up to
Ultra Magnus is the reality behind the ideal
Rodimus Prime is us approaching the ideal day by day, through trials and tribulations
Well said.
Thank you for doing this video, it means a lot to me. Rodimus prime is my favorite Autobot leader and what struggles he deals with are just as important as those that Optimus dealt with. I know this won't stop all those Rodimus haters or their disgusting abuse of the character, but it's good to speak the abject truth of the situation.
You’re wrong about one thing - Rodimus was the ONLY character in the G1 cartoon to have anything resembling an arc. And he had that arc in season 3,
I caught a lot of hell growing up for saying pretty much the same thing: if Hot Rod hadn't jumped in, Megatron would have just shot Prime while he was considering - at least Hot Rod gave him a chance. Honestly, I was disappointed with Rodimus in the cartoon series - but that was because I felt he was set up SOO differently in the movie. In the movie, you saw him learn from his errors as he went, make some pretty split second decisions, get his chosen one moment, and end as if we'd set up Rodimus as an Arthurian figure - and that's what I was expecting. His opening the matrix was like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. The matrix had to have chosen him for a reason, even over Optimus.
I was expecting the series to continue with like a round table of Autobots and Decepticons that are now aware there are much darker things in the universe, and Rodimus at the head of a slowly unifying Cybertron with the matrix as a weapon able to face much more cosmic, even Lovecraftian threats. I expected him to be a more agressive leader: still wise but more likely to make a split second decision and figure it out as he went. Under the circumstances I thought he'd simultaneously have a more mystical view of the universe than Optimus did, but also a more complex morality. Heh, this Leader wouldn't have let Megatron finish begging for mercy, he'd just blast his arms off, stand with his foot on his chest and say "You have my mercy, but not my forgiveness". I even expected the voice of prime to function like his Merlin, giving him advice that he doesn't always take - sometimes to his detriment, but also sometimes because Op's way is good, but Rod's way is better.
This is what I felt like the 86 movie was setting up.
Everytime I told people this, they'd just rant about how he murdered prime with his stupidity and that he was going to suck. They hated him and wanted Optimus back, so I was hoping the show would live up to the set up I had in my mind - Aaaaaand when we got to the third season, we got a perpetually uncertain leader who didn't even seem to be able to pull of the bravado he ended the movie with facing off against the watered down shadows of things he beat with confidence as Hot Rod when he was far less powerful.....
I sympathized with his uncertainty to an extent, but again, it seemed like he was facing threats much weaker than the ones he took on as Hot Rod confidently - and the jump from an overconfident character to an underconfident one could only work for so long before it seems to counter his entire chosen one status (you have to think that brashness was part of his potential, and losing it loses out on what the matrix chose him for) and just as he was starting to figure things out, Prime came back.
I still want my Arthurian Rodimus Damnit! It feels like NOT having the legendary leader and the expanded universe the 86 movie set up in a weird way diminishes the movie. Heh, and the weirdo in me kinda wanted the human characters in the Winnebago - if he couldn't transport a group of autobots like Prime did, having a group of exo-suited humans with advanced sensors and information doing work in the Winnebago would have made his alt mode at least make a little more sense....
Oh, this Knights of the Round Table idea for Hot Rod/Rodimus sounds interesting - especially if a few of the Decepticons join (be it in a secret alliance manner or like how IDW Thundercracker & Soundwave left at different points)
This is something cyberverse did well during the quintesson invasion arc.
He was the only one not plugged into the matrix due to being mia at the time. When he rose out of the sludge, he just assumed the role to get things done.
Yes he did relinquish leadership once optimus got back to reality. But he always popped as a commander of sorts. Even though it wasn't stated outright.
Show, don't tell.
I became a Hot Rod fan as an 8 year old child the moment he started shooting lasers out of the pipes on his arms at the Decepticons on the hijacked shuttle!
Hot Rod aka Rodimus Prime is actually a great character, he struggles to be great leader but later he rises up to become a great leader.
I have this idea that if they killed off Megatron, maybe have it so the injuries he sustained from Prime's haymaker+falling were enough to kill him upon impact, that Rodimus Prime would've gone over slightly better.
Let Optimus go out on top against his enemy, give the Decepticons a new leader, probably an enhanced Starscream like your Novascream concept.
I always liked him. He was decisive. He had no reservations about taking optimus on when the quintessons turned prime bad. I can't stand it when people wine about him being at fault for primes death. He is a good character and a fun toy.
I love the movie and I get he was young and he was trying to save optimus and made a mistake. I agree I think optimus still would have lost either way . I think they had hot rod interfere thinking fans would have not been happy had megatron just straight up beat optimus. I don't think they thought people wouldn't accept that it was a mistake and hot rod would get hated the way he did . I love hot rod and the story of the movie and season 3 was my favorite. Alot of people just couldn't accept it and want to place blame it's sad because everyone makes mistakes and that was the point hot rod had to make mistakes to grow and in season 3 he was learning to be a leader we never seen what optimus was like in his 1st years and people just think optimus was always great. Plus by the movie optimus had lost cybertron and the autobots were low on energy so he was really losing the war
'hotrod/Rodumus doesn't deserve to know the joy of eating cereal'
Optimus Prime = 5 star general.
Rodimus Prime = President of the Autobots.
There we go. We have a role for both of them.
I think as Megatron was upgrade into Glavatron and Optimus should have been upgraded into Ultra Magnus. Considering the toys were similar in size that would have made better play value Hot Rod should have stayed the hot head solider. Issue resolved
Another thing that doesn't help: a new Rodimus Prime toy, but ZERO trace of him or Hot Rod in any sort of new media, they're literally the closest thing to a Movie 35th Anniversary line, seeing as SS86 & Kingdom came out throughout 2021.
IDW didn't help, Hot Rod's arc was literally no trace of maturity. That Transformers: Earth Wars mobile game did a better job than the IDW comics...and that game ain't have much plot beyond throwaway dialogue lines. We need some fresh media where Hot Rod & Rodimus Prime can truly shine.
I watched the video and I'm now curious about one thing, what about the other side of the equation what was people's opinion on Galvatron and could he be written better in the original cartoon.
Recently watched season 3, and loved it. Honestly love Rodimus Prime way more then Optimus.
I’ve always been a Hot Rod/Rodimus fanboy. His depiction in IDW 1.0 and MTMTE I think was one of the better ones in recent years and hearkened back his earliest portrayals as both a young hotshot daredevil and a character looking to change to live up to his potential as a leader. In fact, one of the more heartbreaking moments in IDW 1.0 was when Rodimus denounces himself as being called “Rodimus ‘Prime’” and claims that he will never hold that title because he knows how badly he screwed up during his tenure as a self-proclaimed Prime. Still, I feel he more than proves himself by the end, even if he doesn’t quite get over his brash personality.
its pretty much the same with smokescreen for the prime show.lot of fans was hating on him because of that one episode.evne thou smokescreen was kinda like hot rod,but even he knew he could shoulder that responsibility so he used the last bit of energy for the hammer and just reformated prime to his bh mode.then the fandom calmed down after that.plsu he looked up to prime as a hero,and he didnt want him to die.
Prime did say one shall stand one shall fall which to me implied Prime wanted to end things once and for all
To take nothing away from the Seventh Deadly Matador.
You gave me an idea for this.
This is also part of the comparison between the Real Optimus Prime and Michael Bay's BayVerse Optimus Prime. Prime was given all of Ultra Magnus' attributes for the movies. And yes, Bumble Bee replaced Hot Rod. As you had stated and more, Prime was a pacifist in a way. (For the cartoon.) He never really wanted to fight. He would always try to talk his way into a solution and would fight only when hw needed to. Magnus was the one that was always ready to fight. Magnus was the one in the cartoon that had the bigger better guns, could fight better, (And fight dirty if had to, which Prime wouldn't.) Magnus could fly, Prime couldn't. And Magnus has the ability to be a Leader, he just doesn't want the job according to the cartoons unless he has to.
And for Hot Rod. Have him be the next Ultra Magnus. Have him end up on a deserted planet with slipstream and have them have take a little bit of time to fight, form a friendship and then slowly get back to their factions.
And the next point. You are right about Rodimus being after Optimus Prime. Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, "Babe" Ruth, the next guy that replaces them on that team. Would you measure up to or be able to outperform a Legend?
Another point. Most of the time when a TV series from another Country gets Americanized, it is always crap. Red Dwarf, a British Sci-Fi Comedy that has Eight seasons under it's original Title and Dave for Four more. (I just found this out.) Whereas for the American version, two pilot episodes where made and were never picked up. Or compare BBC's Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkston, Richard Hammond and James "Captain Slow" May and the American version.
There was a comic made for what if hot rod hadn’t interfered and Optimus did take the shot. I still love Rodimus but he did cause the death of prime
I like Rodimus Prime, he always had a cool design. And with the first Optimus Prime death in the movie, it was definitely a bitter pill to swallow as it's our starting hero we grew up with (I'm a 98 baby but my family did have G1 VHS tapes for me to enjoy).
But, isn't there a official comic where it has. What if, Optimus Prime survived? Kup, rather than yelling for Hot Rod to stop. He actively runs and stops him, so he doesn't get anywhere near Megatron and Optimus does pull the trigger on Megatron. With Starscream becoming the herald of Unicron, while he had a very cool design. But he definitely needed a better name when getting reformatted.
As a kid I didn't like Hot Rod when he was introduced, but i think that was because he was new, "cool", and immediately took over as leader. But as i got older i came to appreciate him and the burden of leadership, trying to live up to his predecessor. That was largely due to his western cartoon characterization. I was actually thinking of making a video just like this, but now i guess i don't need to :]
I'd be curious how you'd write a "reconstruction" of Hot Rod.
There is two reasons to think that Optimus would actually take the shot... possibly 3...
1. Earlier in the same scene Optimus literally says "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost."
2. Optimus is literally pointing his gun at Megatron saying "Out of the way Hot Rod" which indicates the only reason he didn't take the shot is because Hot Rod was there.
That said I still don't think it's fair to blame Hot Rod for getting Optimus killed, that would have happened even if Hot Rod hadn't gotten in the way. Even if Optimus had a clear shot it's not Megatron wouldn't have shot back, I mean Optimus was already much more damaged in that scene than Megatron was and they've both been shot multiple times before and survived so that kind of makes me think even if Optimus had taken the shot that Megatron would have only been wounded and would still survive to take the same kill shot anyway.
The possible 3rd reason I mentioned... there's a HUGE time jump from 1984 to 2005 there's also several characters from the first two seasons who are either confirmed dead or just never show up again for the rest of the series. Sparkplug for example is never seen or mentioned ever again and it's possible he could have just died from old age in that time or he could have been killed off screen during the time gap between season 2 and the movie. That fact that Megatron has murdered people could explain why Optimus is suddenly willing to just end him when he wasn't before. Granted the war had already gone on for millions of years but that was on Cybertron, they're robots, they could simply rebuild themselves in new bodies. They're nearly impossible to actually kill but humans are squishy and they can't come back so 21 years of war on Earth seeing their human friends die because of the Decepticons that could push Optimus to the point where he's no longer willing to let the Decepticons go and fight another day, to the point where he actually wants to stop the war no matter what the cost is.
It's got nothing to do with the Micheal Bay version because people already thought Optimus was going to shoot even before those movies existed just based on the context in the movie itself.
Also... I don't really think that Ultra Magnus would have gotten the same hate. You also have to take into account that part of the reason Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is hated in the first place is because of the way the scene was written. Optimus CHOOSE Ultra Magnus to take the Matrix and lead the Autobots, it was actually suppose to be Magnus not Hot Rod but he dropped the Matrix, Hot Rod caught it and right as he catches the Matrix we get to see a big light show that basically tells us, Hot Rod is the new leader. If Optimus had chose Hot Rod in the first place, if him getting the Matrix hadn't been entirely by accident, he might not have been hated as much. We can even see examples of this in other Transformers fiction. Armada, Hot Shot is literally given command by Optimus Prime before he dies and Hot Shot has all of the other issues that Hot Rod had in G1 but no one hates Hot Shot.
Even outside of Transformers people have pointed this out in other fictions that if the characters in the fiction itself can't embrace a change to the status quo that you're essentially setting up any new cast for failure. It's been mentioned in Doctor Who, the 6th Doctor the first thing he does is strangles his companion and he's kind of a dick. The writers were literally trying to get the show canceled at the time so he was quite literally set up to fail and it worked Colin Baker became one of the most hated Doctors at the time. It's also been mentioned that David Tennant saying the line "I don't want to go" set up his replacement to fail because he's literally telling the audience to hate the next Doctor. That wasn't even intentional but it's how a lot of the fans took it at the time.
Of course there will be people who will find one reason or another to hate anyone new no matter what but you can soften the blow or make the problem worse by how you handle the passing of the torch. Or in this case the passing of the Matrix. There might be some people who would still hate Ultra Magnus but not nearly as many because Optimus himselve wanted Ultra Magnus to replace him. You'd technically be going against what Optimus himself wanted if you didn't agree he was a decent replacement which is why more people would be OK with it. But when someone like Hot Rod gets the role that was meant for Magnus you're kind of setting him up for failure by literally writing in a reason for fans to hate him. He was never even considered for the lob in the first place, he just got the Matrix by accident, that's not a great way to pass the Matrix is by having your new lead just accidentally fall into the position that was intended for someone else, Ultra Magnus.
And I'm saying this as someone who actually LIKES Hot Rod. I don't even really want Ultra Magnus as I find him boring. But I understand the psychology why having Optimus give the Matrix to Magnus would lead most fans to prefer Magnus as he was the one that was actually chosen. If they simply rewrote that scene so that Hot Rod was always intended to get the Matrix, so that Optimus has the same conversation but with Hot Rod and gives the Matrix directly to him rather than dropping it then there would be more support of the character rather than giving fans another reason not to like him.
I also like Matt Smith by the way, he is my Doctor so obviously the whole "I don't want to go thing" didn't effect me. I didn't even know he said that since I didn't even get into the series until after Matt Smith took the role. I only found out about it later when I went back and watched older episodes of the series. I kind of feel the same way about Peter Capaldi to be honest. Clara had a hard time accepting him as the Doctor for 2 whole seasons and it made it incredibly difficult for me to accept him as the Doctor when the literal audience surrogate doesn't even like him.
Another factor I think that's worth mentioning:
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime is set up to be an audience insert character, and audience insert characters tend to be light on characterisation because that makes it harder for the audience to 'fill in the gaps' and put themselves in the character's perspective. And I think in this case it backfired, in my mind largely because of Hot Rod's role in Optimus' final battle. No kid wants to associate with the guy who 'killed Optimus' after all.
So here’s the point I’m going to argue you on: Hot Rod did NOT get the Matrix by accident. The glow of the Matrix was an indication to the audience that Hot Rod was The Chosen One that Optimus himself spoke of. The fact the Hot Rod caught the Matrix had Zero effect on Ultra Magnus’s ability to use the Matrix. The truth of the matter was that The Darkest Hour was upon them and Optimus had no way of knowing who the Chosen One was or that he would soon be needed. Nothing would have changed if Hot Rod hadn’t caught the Matrix. If Arcee had caught it that wouldn’t mean she was the next leader! It wasn’t first come first serve! It was not an accident, it was fate!
@@malusignatius But he didn't kill Optimus, Megatron did.
@@rudyproductions4557 He does get the Matrix by accident though. Optimus Prime intended to give the Matrix to Ultra Magnus but dropped it and Hot Rod caught the Matrix, that's literally the definition of an accident.
The whole "Chosen One" concept doesn't even mean anything here when he's not even the character who was Chosen. Think about other movies where this is done. Star Wars, they literally tell us it's Anakin Skywalker multiple times. It's no accident that he ends up being the Chosen One in fact there's even literally a line about how it's not an accident that they found him. The Matrix (The movie not the Autobot Matrix), Neo is "The Chosen One" and again we're directly told that. There's no accident that makes him chosen. These movies also typically involve some prophecy that the "Chosen One" fits the description of. Now look at Transformers.
No mention of a Prophecy, there's not even really a mention of a Chosen One, that was all retconned in after the fact. The only thing we know in the actual movie itself when taken at face value is that Optimus was passing the Matrix to the next Autobot leader and Hot Rod just happen to be the one to catch it after he dropped it by accident. The only thing the glow indicates to the audience is that the Matrix would have bonded to anyone who happen to touch the thing first after Optimus let go of it.
If Ultra Magnus had actually gotten the Matrix first as intended it would have glowed in his hands, he'd have zero difficulty trying to open the Matrix later in the movie though since it was actually needed to defeat Unicron Ultra Magnus would have been trying to open it at the wrong time. Although after Hot Rod touches the Matrix he also seems to gain knowledge about it he shouldn't have so maybe Ultra Magnus would have actually known what it was for and never attempted to opening it on the planet of Junk in the first place.
"The truth of the matter was that The Darkest Hour was upon them and Optimus had no way of knowing who the Chosen One was or that he would soon be needed."
That sentence right there kind of proves that it wasn't even intended to be a Chosen One story in the first place. As I mentioned earlier usually Chosen One stories involve some vague description of the main character defeating some evil that gives the other characters clues as to who the chosen one might be but here there's nothing, all the chosen one stuff was added in later material and isn't even mentioned within the movie itself.
I mean they do mention someone rising from their ranks to light their darkest hour but that's so vague it could literally mean anyone at any moment, that's not a chosen one prophecy, that's just an inspirational speech. The whole concept of a "Chosen One" isn't even something that actually exists outside of fiction but pep talks like that do exist in the real world. You could retroactively call Martian Luther King Jr. a "chosen one" but the truth is if it hadn't of been him someone else could have stood up in his place. We don't know that some one would have if he never existed but it's fair to say that anyone else could have done what he did if he wasn't around in some alternate universe. We could only retroactively call him a "chosen one" because of course prophecy doesn't really exist and hindsight is 20/20 which is kind of the same deal with Hot Rod. Later fiction in the comics introduced the whole Chosen One concept that was never actually in the movie. They made something into a prophecy after it already happened when it clearly wasn't intended to always be that way. It was kind of a way to try to make Hot Rod seem cooler after the fact but in reality it's really just an accident that he got to be leader.
@@RialVestro Hence why I put it in quotations. I know he didn't but that's the common perception.
You've genuinely changed my opinion on Hotrod and Rodimus. He's not a bad character because he got prime killed, he's a bad character because he was forced, inconsistent, and insignificant. Honestly I prolly wouldn't hate him as much as I do if he was introduced in season 3 rather than the movie so he had more time to actually earn that mantle. Plus I still think Magnus woulda been a way better Prime. Even after Rodimus is around, Magnus leads more, he fights more, he even teaches Rodimus a lot. Magnus plays the role Optimus did in season 1 and 2 better than Rodimus, and I think that's another part of why Rodimus is so hated. It was just a perfect shit storm to ruin a great idea for a character. I still don't like Hotrod or Rodimus as characters, but you've given me a little more respect for them.
The hotshot→leader arc makes sense, a hot shot implies someone who rarely hesitates. Come experience, that can create great leaders as they are not waiting to do something.
For instance, both Optimus and Rodimus got presented with the same predicament: In Prime Target and Five Faces of darkness, respectively, they both got in the situation where many of their comrades were kidnapped. Optimus decided to wait out and was eventually contacted by the kidnapper, while Rodimus was angry wanting to blast the decepticons and was calmed down by Perceptor, so coming back to his senses decides to spy on them instead to see if they were at fault, both valid in that situation.
I once saw in the internet the best comparison to Rodimus situation, he is that guy that was involved in your dad's death in the war and came back home to marry your mom.
The writers are to blame for how poorly he was handled they made several mistakes, the first one was introducing him in the same movie were he is set to replace Optimus that right there is the first step to make a character unlikable, no build up, just appear and replace, even worse on a beloved character like Optimus. Then he was involved in Optimus death, was he responsible? Maybe, maybe not, but the other autobots told him not to interfere since it was Prime's fight so it kind makes him responsible, had he heeded the warning he could have later regret not interfering in case Optimus died but no one would hold him responsible.
Then they made him unconfident and whiny in Season 3 after becoming the leader to the point where sometimes Ultra Magnus seemed more like the real leader, didn't helped at all that IIRC Galvatron went after Ultra Magnus in the battlefield instead of Rodimus making it look like Galvatron saw Ultra Magnus as the Optimus true successor, this was to pit both of the bigger toys as rivals but when it came to characters it destroyed Rodimus as field leader whereas Optimus and Megatron would seek each other acknowledging each other as their true rival. Then he kinda had everything land on his lap, Optimus rebuild of autobot forces and counterattack, Unicron trashing the Decepticons, Megatron's rebuild plan for Cybertron, the chosen one... he was supposed to be that autobot that starts from bottom but rises to the top but with that kind of push who doesn't?
The main issue was that back then they were writing some backstory so they could sell toys and never put much though on it and you can tell. It is why I think it's hilarious when people trash the bayformers for not having much of a story and only wanting to make money while praising G1 like it's Shakespeare when the purpose was exactly the same.
I always felt the biggest obstacle to Hotrod replacing Optimus is the fact that Hotrod was introduced mere minutes before Optimus died. Had he been a previously established character from season 1 or 2 that we had time to get to know before this happened, we'd have probably been a lot more understanding
also, just noticed that if you look at that image of the face of Primus just right, you can kinda see the silhouette of the Maximal icon, a neat little coincidence
or is it?
There’s over 7000 languages, and this guy decided to speak fax
That's super dope. I didn't know that you were a wrestling fan too👍
I agree with most of your analysis, but I think there’s one huge issue that you’re not taking into account.
It’s unlikely that Optimus would have been shot by Megatron simply due to how much experience Optimus has. It’s very unlikely that two things would happen. First, that he would believe Megatron was at all sincere in his begging for mercy. Had the scene played out a little longer, I’m sure he would have called out Megatron for his attempt at deception, forcing the situation to go another way. Secondly, regardless, once Megatron went for the hidden gun, or telegraphed that he was moving/reaching to a specific spot(especially one obscured to Optimus’ vision) Optimus would have known due to his millions of years of combat experience that something was up and either shot at whatever was behind that rubble that Megatron wanted, or otherwise stopped/redirected Megatron. I think Megatron would have been “arrested” and likely imprisoned if Hot Rod hadn’t interfered.
Also, if Magnus because leader, I think he would have been more beloved than Hot Rod ever was, and the fandom would likely still love Optimus more, but I think both would be remembered fondly.
Hey tj another great video and I agree rodimus does tend to get a lot of flak from the fandom based on the dumb excuse of 'he's not optimus prime so he sucks!' I'm a huge rodimus prime fan myself and I'm hoping that I'll get my hands on the commander class figure of him for my birthday this year and speaking of headmasters I genuinely got really sad during the scene where rodimus leaves to find a new home for the autobots after cybertron got destroyed my heart started to sink and you have to throw in the fact that they had this really somber music in the background and I was thinking 'goodbye rodimus good luck'
Liked Rodimus since the 80s, and a big fan of the characters of season 3.
Since Hot Rod had blasters on his forearms, he could had shot at Megatron to distract him. This interference was enough for Optimus to finish Megatron. Maybe certain events needed to happen to counter Unicron for the best results.
Finally, someone else who get's the point. Rodimus deserves more credit than he's getting right now.
I am curios what happened to Sunstreaker, where did he go, it would have been cool to have seen him roll out with Optimus but then he turns down an ally and decks a refractor or something, but nope we only saw Optimus head out, Sunstreaker isn't a coward lol he would definitely go in the bust some diodes
Optimus was only shown as the experienced leder, not in his salad days where he would be different. Rodimus had no perspective on this fact, all things have a beginning. The Optimus he knew wasn't the 'newbie' version.
I think more and more people are starting to realize that endlessly shitting on him is dumb as fuck but there’s still people who disregard him
For me the best Hot Rod, was the one on Cyberverse! Great portrayal of this character! Bumblebee as the new leader? Oh no! Look at Robots I. disguise 2015! Fighting Optimus for leadership? Come on! That cartoon was so bad in a lot of aspects! You don't have to kill Optimus, just have him step down for a new leader to come. They can go for advice to him every now an then, or make an amazing temporary come back, to dazzle everyone, sometimes.
I don't see Optimus showing mercy to Megatron, especially not after he had recently killed many Autobots in the battle up to that point, and showing no signs of stopping.
The lyrics to the theme song go - Autobots wage their battle to DESTROY the evil forces of the Decepticons!"
There were also plenty of times where Prime and the Autobots definitely intended to kill Megatron, but he simply unexpectedly survived. Like blowing the spaceship he was on with all the Energon, or forcing him into the lava pit with the other Decepticons in Heavy Metal War.
As for whether he would've still gotten killed by Megatron if Hot Rod hadn't intervened, it's hard to say. As you said, Prime was already thrown off by Megatron begging for mercy.
As for Rodimus, yes, I was upset that Optimus died, but I thought he did a good enough job as leader, and Rodimus showing self-doubt and overcoming it made him a compelling character.
But, yeah, Rodimus or Hot Rod, now? I don't know. It seems like Hasbro dialed back due to fan backlash, and yeah, Optimus won't be replaced again any time soon.
I'm just asking but I would love 2 see a video about the most accurate a transformers toy is compare 2 the show/movie but not talking about masterpiece. Ex: the most accurate version of g1 cosmos is his velocitron figure
Hotshot wasn't responsible for Optimis's death, the show made constant reference to Optimis being as great a marksman as Cyclops of the X-Men (riccochets beams of multiple surfaces to hit a target).
this had to happen ty tj . rodimus prime is my favorite transformer & i am sick of all the old men who hate him bc of a movie in 1986 just bc he isnt optimus prime
I've had similar views since about hot rod/rodimus prime in my adulthood years, when in my childhood years I thought he was cool, didn't fully understand I guess.
As an adult I get the big shoes to fill the burden he had t carry with him. And yeah I felt sorry in a way for his character more so in season 3, I feel he did well as an autobot leader, I feel Magnus & kup got him to go in a good direction at times. Wich you know he overcame the burden and rose like a phoenix out the ashes and proved he could really lead.
It's unfortunate what happened to his character over the years after how he was depicted etc. Cyberverse season 3 he as hot rod basically got to lead the autobots with soundwave and some decpticons help, to free autobots and decpticons from the quinteson mind control thingy , I felt the story did well for his character there.
I do hope he does get a role where they write him to be a leader and give it a better story than what unfortunately happened in g1.
Pretty sure they almost did that with smokescreen, and hot shot some point too but didn't I think, ( may need to watch again). Yeah awesome video 🤘 till all are one ✌️
I agree with everything you said except the first thing about Prime not finishing Megatron without hotrod being there. they were both horribly wounded, optimus's friends and soldiers are dying around him. Megatron is almost point blank in his sights. he wouldn't have wanted to but once Megatron lifts that gum Primes hand would be forced. he would have hated it, he would have wanted to take Megatron as a prisoner but in one instant it would be too late. he shoots or he dies, and more importantly in the moment all of his friends would die. but absolutely yes, rodimus gets way too much hate. he was just trying to save his leader, he did not intend to get him killed
Even if Optimus wasn't willing to kill Megatron like Baytimus would, he would've just disarm him again, shoot him in the hand or something. Him not trying to kill Megs doesn't mean he wouldn't do some damage. And Transformers are not humans, a limb loss isn't permanent. Also even if Megs could perform a dirty sneak attack, it would have at the very most only one shot in the abs before Prime completely incapacitated him. He already saw Megs pick up that thing when Hot Rod jump in but it was Rod who made him lose focus . And all that are still in the vision of what could happen. The reality is still Rod being held hostage gave Megatron opportunity to fire multiple shots at Optimus instead of a slight wound. It's an unfortunate event but warfare is still warfare. You don't interupt in a fight of 2 absolutely stronger beings than you are. A lion cub appear in a fight of 2 lions will always result in his parent losing faster, not the other way around, and Kup already warned him that. there are real soldiers being punished for even leaving their positions in an operation, let alone his disobey led to some serious consequeces like this.
This is the right take on this character
This is a very interesting topic.😊