Rodimus Prime (Animated)

Rodimus Prime is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

I'm thinkin' of tryin' out for a scholarship.

To call the commander of Team Athenia a prodigy is an understatement. Though his drill sergeant Kup took him for a turbo-revving punk at first, Hot Rod, the young bot who would one day be called Rodimus Prime (aka Rodimus Minor), distinguished himself during a live-fire exercise by throwing himself in front of a grenade to save his mentor. From there, the higher-ups took a special interest in him, and he was accepted into the Autobot Academy a full decade before his boot camp peers.

In the Academy, he continued to dazzle command, mastering servo-to-servo combat and a wide arrange of weaponry, as well as designing the energy bow that became his signature weapon. Some even began to refer to him as the "chosen one" after seeing him in action, and when he became the youngest Autobot to be assigned his own command, many felt he was on the fast-track to becoming Magnus.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Judd Nelson (English), Hiroya Ishimaru (Japanese), Sylvain Lemarié (French), Vagner Santos (Brazilian Portuguese), Javier Rodríguez Castellanos (Latin American Spanish)

Three suns aligned / Pour forth their light / And fill the archer's bow with MIGHT!

The Autobot who would later be named Hot Rod was the youngest Autobot ever to receive the Valor's Flame.^[1]

Eight hundred stellar cycles ago, Hot Rod, Skram, Quickslinger, and Blaster were assigned to the drill instructor Kup. Kup named Hot Rod because of his punk attitude and the flames on his chest. At first Kup thought Hot Rod was all smoke and no flame, but during their final training exercise, Skram tripped and dropped a grenade near Kup, causing Hot Rod to jump on top of the grenade to save his instructor. Thankfully, the grenade was a dud, but this event changed Kup's perception of the youngster dramatically.

Well, I'm free the Saturday after that. Beyond that, I'm going to have to check my calendar.

Hot Rod got into the Academy one decade before the rest of his peers and earned himself the nickname "the chosen one." Years of studying taught him every form of hand-to-hand combat and all forms of Autobot weaponry. Soon, he renamed himself Rodimus, and centuries later, he was assigned leadership of Team Athenia. The AllSpark Almanac II

Rodimus Prime led Team Athenia in defending space bridge 687-030 from Team Chaar. Rodimus ordered Brawn, and Ironhide to fall back so they could protect the bridge, but a combo attack from Oil Slick and Cyclonus took down both Autobots. Rodimus managed to evade Spittor's tentacle-attack and incapacitate the monster, but he was quickly knocked aside by Blackout's power-stomp attack.

As the Decepticons moved in, Rodimus defiantly growled that they would have to go through him. In response, Oil Slick threw a vial of Cosmic Rust at Rodimus' feet, which quickly spread across his body and paralyzed him. TransWarped The infection ravaged his body, and he was slow to recover, earning the pity of his old trainer, Kup. The AllSpark Almanac II

Alongside Bumper and Furão, the recovered Rodimus was among the crowd welcoming home Sentinel "Magnus" and cheering on the capture of several Decepticon prisoners. Decepticon Air Later still, he was also seen cheering for Optimus Prime and his crew when they returned to the planet after finally defeating Megatron. Endgame, Part II

Rodimus and the rest of Team Athenia had a private box for the opening night of The Motor Master's Stunt Convoy show. The Stunti-Con Job

The Cool Extra comic

Canonically, this happens about 5 minutes before the picture of him crying like a baby just above.

Defending a space bridge outpost, Rodimus Prime and his crew encountered a Rock Lord and did battle with it. Although unsure of what the creature actually was, and bemoaning that had he had some Energon gum on himself he might have been able to befriend the creature, Rodimus nonetheless was able to quickly discover a weak spot on the beast. He then lead his team to victory in slaying the creature, delivering the finishing blow himself. The Cool Extra #2

Regeneration One

An alternate universe's Hot Rod had journeyed to the Primus chamber at the centre of Cybertron with the Dinobots where he had a vision of many different versions of himself from across the multiverse, including Malgus Rodimus Prime. Destiny, Part Three This Hot Rod would also become a Rodimus Prime and infiltrated Zero Space to confront the Dark Matrix creature, which defended itself by summoning three versions of Optimus Prime. The alternate Rodimus Prime likewise sent ripples throughout the universe, calling forth the various versions of himself to battle the Dark Matrix creature and Malgus Rodimus responded alongside his multiversal counterparts. Having loosened its control over Optimus, they allowed Rodimus Prime to seal the multiversal breach with the Sword of Primus and were returned to their own dimensions. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Toys

Welcome to Transformers 2010

Is that clear, Mr. Bender?

• Sons of Cybertron: Optimus Prime and Rodimus (Two-pack, 2010)

• Release date: July 24, 2010
• Accessories: "Energy Bow", 2 missiles

"Sons of Cybertron" Animated Rodimus is a mostly-translucent redecoes of the Deluxe Class mold (which we'll describe in more detail below), with concessions of course to the necessary nylon parts, and a fully gold-painted spoiler.

He was only available in a two-pack with a similarly-translucent Optimus Prime, as part of TakaraTomy's Welcome to Transformers 2010 campaign. The set was also sold as an exclusive at Shanghai Con.

This version of the mold was the first one available globally, beating out both of the standard Hasbro and TakaraTomy releases.

Animated

Also capable of shooting an energon cube off Ironhide's head at 20 paces. (Hasbro Version Pictured)

(TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

• Rodimus Minor (Deluxe, 2010)

• TakaraTomy ID number: TA-33
• TakaraTomy release date: August 28, 2010
• Accessories: "Energy Bow", 2 missiles
• Known designers: Alex Kubalsky (TakaraTomy)

Animated Rodimus Minor transforms into a futuristic car that is an homage to the vehicle mode of Generation 1 Hot Rod. A panel on the car's hood, which is also the figure's chest, can be flipped to either show an engine block or the figure's Autobot insignia. The figure comes with an Energy Bow, capable of firing two independently-launchable spring-loaded missiles. The bow can be tabbed to the roof of his car mode; the tabs are also 5 mm long, making it useable by other figures as well with a little work.

In the Hasbro line, Rodimus was originally intended for the regular line, but ended up in the second wave of Toys"R"Us exclusive Deluxes, alongside Ironhide, released in the Fall of 2010. Unusually for a Hasbro Animated toy, he actually has a red faction insignia with a white outline, rather than the standard silver borderless version. These two toys also are the first Transformers figures to be secured by twisted paper strips instead of metal/plastic twist-ties.

In Japan, Rodimus was released in the seventh wave of the regular-retail Animated toyline. Virtually all of his red plastic is now covered in metallic magenta paint, sparing only the unpaintable plastic of his bow and shins, which are now in a sort-of-matching magenta.

This mold was redecoed to make Black Rodimus, and retooled to make Animated Breakdown and Sideswipe.

• More information on Rodimus Minor at TFU.info

Notes

Gosh, I love arrows.

• Rodimus shares his Generation 1 counterpart's original voice actor, Judd Nelson. He's also the first new incarnation of Rodimus to share the original Generation 1 cartoon character's burgundy coloration, instead of a red one.
• Originally, Rodimus was going to be the jerk character of Animated. This means his team is roughly 60% scrapped ideas, although 40% of those are because of the live-action movie.
• According to Eric Siebenaler at BotCon 2009, Rodimus' design was influenced by the fact that many Animated characters had large, boot-like feet. In an attempt to move away from this for variety's sake, Rodimus was given skinnier legs by putting most of his mass in his torso.
• Given the bow and helmet design, Rodimus' design also owes a bit to Marvel Comics' Hawkeye.
• Despite being credited by the show's creators^[2] as having the Prime rank and clearly being the leader of a team like another bloke, his toy is listed as "Rodimus Minor" for the fact, revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2009, that "there were already too many Primes in the toy line". Within the series, he is only ever called or credited as "Rodimus".
• Rodimus's "popped collar" was apparently inspired by Hot Rod fan and TFcon staff member, Daniel "Protoman" Arseneault.^[3]
• Additionally, Rodimus is the only character in Animated to share a voice actor with his G1 counterpart in both the English and Japanese dubs. Someone in the studios must love him!
• Rodimus Prime's appearances in "Decepticon Air" and "Endgame, Part II" were excised when the episodes were cropped to standard definition. However, his presence in the episodes was revealed when they were later broadcast in wide-format HD on The Hub.
  • The panning shot he appears in during "Decepticon Air" actually contains two of him, but as there are also multiple Ironhides, Brawns, and Beachcombers in that scene, it can be fairly assumed that at least one of them is "real".
• Initial proposals for BotCon 2011 included a redeco of Animated Rodimus Prime into an Animated version of Tigatron.^[4]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Rodimus (ロディマス Rodimasu)

References