Hot Rod continues the trend of Ironhide, both having some official photos taken from the worst possible angles, then turning out pretty amazing in person.
VEHICLE MODE:
Vehicle mode is as perfect as you can ask for a sleek futuristic super car. This is the first time an MP figure had a dedicated vehicle mode designer, and he did an amazing job.
The clearance underneath is very tight. I have yet to get the infamous collar piece to clear enough for the car to roll. And going back to vehicle mode, the shoulder pieces with the wheels attached on need some fiddling to get all four wheels to touch the ground. This is probably the biggest gripe I have with Hot Rod.
Comparisons with a standard MP car and MP-9. The spoiler wings are actually angled up on MP-27.
TRANSFORMATION:
As mentioned above, going back to vehicle mode may not be as smooth as I'd like, the transformation to robot mode is quite intuitive and enjoyable. The who process and parts movement is quite traditional, with a few clear touches. There's multiple tabs to peg the chest piece, shoulder pieces and the backpack together very securely. The "Masterpiece moment", like many people mentioned, must be the upper shoulders rotating around the wheels to create show accurate wheel placement. Simple and elegant. And it's brilliant that the two orange pieces around the collar flip down to form a more cohesive upper torso.
I think the robot mode is fantastic, and it captures the essence of the character so well. Sure certain proportions may not be ideal, but just like Ironhide's hip panels, I don't mind them at all in hand. The hood chest could definitely stand to slope forward at an angle rather than being dead flat, but you can use the ab crunch joint to cheat a little bit. Also the thighs might be too thin, but that's really dictated by the volume you can hide inside the back half of the car mode.
Hot Rod has a handsome head sculpt, although mine had some sloppy paint around the eye which I had to use exacto to clean up a bit. My girlfriend said she'd marry Hot Rod. The only other transformer she ever said that about was Generations Springer..
Hot Rod's signature vents get push out when the backpack is pegged together during transformation. A details that even the larger MP-9 wasn't able to recreate
Hot Rod has the best articulation in the MP line so far imo, partly thanks to the character's more humanoid design, so there's less chance of parts bumping into each other. He can't do a convincing one leg kneeling pose, but I have yet to find a pose that I want to put him in but can't.
His neck design reverted back to Hasui's standard pin joint on a rotating disk set up. It makes for a natural neck, but loses the side to side motion. I wondered Kobayashi ditched his standard ball joint approach, until I found out it was a different designer behind MP27
Some comparisons:
OVERALL:
Hot Rod is not quite up there with Ironhide who had a really enjoyable transformation, but he's still a great MP figure. Both bodes are solid. Transformation can be fiddly, but the overall package is saved by excellent articulation.
On a side note, this is designer Miyake Tomoya's first MP project and with Kobayashi's help, he did a great job. If you're wondering who Miyake is, his design credits include RtS Jazz, RotF Mindwipe, DotM Megatron, and Generations Rattrap/Rhinox, but that's for another thread at another time
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Originally Posted by doublespy
But no, the canopy doesn't open.
