First there was the original Transformers Hot Rod in 1986 (C-78 Hot Rodimus in Japan), then the Targetmaster Hot Rod in 1987. After that there was a long gap until the first of the reissues by Takara, the C-78 Hot Rodimus reissue, followed by the exclusive C-78C Clear Hot Rodimus and C-78B Black Hot Rodimus re-colours. Hot Rod was then reissued in the US by Hasbro but he was renamed Rodimus Major and now Takara have released what is probably the ultimate Hot Rod reissue, the seventh main incarnation, the Collection #13 reissue of Targetmaster Hot Rod. This is the first time this toy has been made available for sale in Japan.

Hot Rod was of course first introduced to fans in the 1986 feature film Transformers: The Movie and was the main character in the film. During the series 3 finale of the Transformers cartoon series in the US "Rebirth", having just recently relinquished the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to Optimus Prime and stepped down as Autobot Leader Rodimus Prime, Hot Rod was involved in a crash on planet Nebulos. There, during a battle with the similarly stranded Decepticons, he becomes binary-bonded with a native Nebulan freedom fighter called "Firebolt" who transformed into Hot Rod's weapon, his Targetmaster.

Seeing as how this is one of the non-exclusive reissues, it comes in the book-style packaging with new Dreamwave-style artwork on the front. A very respectable representation of the character indeed, even if it does advertise a great deal more poseability than is actually available to the toy itself! The back of the box features pictures of all the contents and other book-style Collection reissues available at the time. As you open the book-style box, you are presented with some nice artwork, a poster, beautiful datafiles on Thundercracker, Metroflex (Japanese Metroplex) and Hot Rodimus himself. Here's a closer look at the pages in the package:

You can also see some mini-catalogs. I haven't photographed all the pages, but there is also a catalog section on Computron in there too. I have to say, I find the art used for Metroflex's datafile absolutely stunning! One strange thing I noticed was that where all the various releases have been listed in each character's datafile, quite often the word "Transformers" is incorrectly spellt as "Trasnformers", but only when the book is listing the original US release of the toy. Subsequent usage of the word is correctly spellt. That same typo can be found 2 out of 3 times in the exact same sections in the Collection #11 Reissue White Astrotrain datafile section. Here's hoping that Takara remedy the situation soon. Nonetheless, it does not detract from what is a very cool booklet which can of course be removed and placed in the TF World Card binder that comes with Collection #0 Convoy.

Having opened the main velcro flap and flicked through the datafiles, what comes next is the first view of the toy itself...

The Hot Rod pictured is the original Japanese release, but obviously the toy in the tray is the new Targetmaster Hot Rod, complete with Targetmaster partner "Firebolt" AND the two Photon Laser handguns that only accompany the non-TM regular Hot Rod. Is it a mistake? Nope, but more on that later. By unsealing either the top or bottom flap, you can get to and remove the tray holding the toy and its accessories.

Hot Rod and his accessories are suspended between two clear plastic inserts which in turn reside within the cardboard tray. The accompanying baggie contains the instructions, opinion card, stickersheet and the all-new lovely Targetmaster Hot Rod collectors' card.

If you look at the instructions and the collectors' card, you will see that this TM Hot Rod has been given the Japanese TF designation "C-110". Now this has an interesting story because unlike many of the E-Hobby recolours, this number was not just a previously-unused designation that has been filled by a reissue. Even though it is true that TM Hot Rod never saw release in Japan and so could have been given any available number, I think there is more to it than that. During the original Japanese Takara Transformers run, C-108 was the Japanese exclusive Autobot Targetmaster Artfire (re-tooled Inferno) and C-109 was the Japanese exclusive Autobot Targetmaster Stepper (re-tooled Jazz), so it almost follows that C-110 was intended to be another Targetmaster, Hot Rod. There was originally no C-110, C-113 or C-115. They could well have been intended to be TM Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr respectively. As it happens, none were released in Japan and those designations were left unused. There is a school of thought that suggests C-115 would have been Sky Lynx but that's an altogether different tangent. On to the TM Hot Rod toy itself...

Now most toys in this condition look good anyway, but Hot Rod is more than that, he has a striking and instantly recogniseable vehicle mode. Even though it doesn't look as sleek and sharp as its animated and artistic representations, it still looks mean and the flames and chrome really really do the trick. When a Hot Rod toy is this new, the chrome is ultra shiny and the car kinda sparkles. Couple those points with the fact that he has a lovely translucent blue windshield and you're onto a winner. It's always been a shame that the rear wheels were not more visible in car mode and that the front/hood of the car couldn't have been made lower to the ground in order to give a sleeker aerodynamic appearance...but this is Hot Rod, we all know and love this Hot Rod toy, and these aren't new issues. Back to current affairs, here's the vehicle mode with the Targetmaster partner attached:

I think it's fair to say that having Firebolt attached to Hot Rod in vehicle mode doesn't add in the slightest to the sleekness or aerodynamics of the piece. But it is an official mode and the hole in the engine was deliberately enlarged originally in order to accomodate the TM this way. I guess that means Firebolt doesn't do any driving. I don't think ANY of the Targetmaster toys look particularly good in their alternate mode when the TM is attached and with Hot Rod it only really looks good from directly above. How do the two look when combined in figure mode though?

Again, instantly recogniseable and striking. A very strong figure mode indeed and the Targetmaster looks as good as a folded-over mini-robot ever could in a Transformer's hands. Hot Rod's robot mode has always been very show-accurate and has had personality due to the design of his facial features, the wide shoulders, the chrome guns/exhausts and the yellow wing on his back. He really would be totally bare without that wing. Articulation is limited to the shoulders and forearms (hands too but probably not intended). Hot Rod's transformation is one of the best things about this toy for me. The arms require satisfying twisting and the whole head/chest rotation design is very cool. The leg and feet transformations are simple enough but the whole thing is rounded off nicely with the swivelling of the windshield/yellow wing assembly. There is one more thing that is worth mentioning about the windshield/wing assembly, it no longer appears to be spring-loaded. Now, you have to position it yourself by aligning it with the rest of his body whereas with the original toys, it sort of jumped into place and stayed in the correct position. I miss that feature. All very recent Reissue Hot Rods have lost the spring-loaded feature, but I do believe that the Clear Hot Rodimus Reissue from 1999 did have the spring-loaded mechanism.

Firebolt has one of the nicer colour schemes and appearances of all the Targetmaster partners in my opinion. He looks like he has quite a human face and that he's wearing a helmet, but then it is supposed to be a humanoid in an exo-suit.

In case you were wondering, even though the original TM Hot Rod had black plastic feet, this reissue of TM Hot Rod has the silver metal feet with yellow plastic parts as well. All the reissues of this mould have metal feet like the very first release of the original Hot Rod (all subsequent original 80s releases had black plastic feet) so it's no big surprise that this guy has them too. Just one of the features that makes this the ultimate Hot Rod release. And now for another of those features...

This reissue comes with not only the Targetmaster, but the original hand guns. Thanks to a re-mould of the pegs on the original handguns, as you can see from the above shots, Hot Rod can juggle both simultaneously for the first time! NOT! You're probably wondering what on Earth I'm on about now. Technically, this isn't the first time that a Hot Rod toy could hold all versions of his guns. In the UK in the late 80s, there were a very small number of Hot Rods that had the regular handguns with enormous pegs and hands big enough to accomodate a TM, but it WASN'T a Targetmaster release. It might well have been Mexican or just another very strange UK variant, but I have it on good authority from two trusted sources that these do exist. One of them had it as a childhood toy and another came across one at a convention some years ago and was unsuccesful in making the owner part with it. But this is the first release of Hot Rod that comes with all the above accessories, so it's still special! Here's a closer look at the new re-moulded handguns (left) compared with the regular reissue handguns(right):

The new ones on the left have a fatter upper-peg section that means they sit snugly in the Targetmaster-mould hands and engine. What I don't understand is why they also have a lower-peg section which is thinner. Yes, they do also fit perfectly into the hands of a regular Hot Rod's non-TM-mould hands. Is that what they are there for? Interchange with another Hot Rod? Still doesn't make too much sense to me, they could have just made the whole peg fat. There is no harm in it to be honest, and they can as a result be used for almost any Hot Rod toy. Ultimate Hot Rod, remember?

Now for a closer look at some of this reissue TM Hot Rod's peripherals:

The theme here is definitely one of recycling. The admittedly cool collectors' card has the original Targetmaster Hot Rod character art, which of course was just the original regular Hot Rod character art with a Targetmaster edited slightly unconvincingly onto his right hand. The pictures on the back of the collectors' card are from the original Targetmaster Hot Rod. You can tell from the smaller silver thigh stickers (some original TM Hotrod stickersheets had smaller thigh stickers since the originals were so big they were easily damaged by the legs) and the flame stickers on the side of the car. Speaking of the thigh stickers, if you look at the stickersheet, it's just the regular reissue Hot Rodimus stickersheet, C-78. It isn't even labelled C-110. Sometimes Takara's antics really do confuse and frustrate me. So many things about this new reissue are refined and coloured by experience, but the stickersheet still contains the large silver thigh stickers which were TREMENDOUSLY prone to ripping, scratching and general wear when Hot Rod was transformed and the legs retracted or extended. Heck, all the reissue Hot Rods even use the original Targetmaster Hot Rod mould which has little indents on the thighs made especially for the smaller thigh stickers, so why suddenly cut corners now? That's probably my main complaint right there, after years of making Hot Rods and despite having got it RIGHT once with the original TMs, they didn't use this opportunity to really bring back the TM Hot Rod in all its glory. But hey, you don't have to apply those thigh stickers, right?

What you're looking at above are two of the small flaps attached to the tray the toy comes in. Having very carefully and untidily removed the tape that kept the tray secured together, you can then invert the thing and make it into a stand for the toy. The above pics are instructions to carry out the transformation of the tray. I wish Takara wouldn't tape the flaps down, they didn't used to...

I would be immensely surprised to find out that anyone displays all their book-style reissues in this manner, not because I think it looks bad (I actually like these tray/stands) but because I don't think many fans have the space required or can really be bothered. Nonetheless, I guess you could display your favourite book-style reissue this way. It's not at all hard to construct and depending on the colour of the stand/tray, it can look excellent. Astrotrain's looks great and Hot Rod's looks OK. Overall, it's a very good package.

What follows now is a comparison of the Collection #13 Targetmaster Hot Rod reissue and a regular Hot Rod reissue.

Can you see a slight difference in the colour of the chest stickers? Stickers? What stickers? The Targetmaster reissue's chest flame and Autobot details are now tampographed onto the toy in keeping with much of Takara's recent reissue changes. As a result, the orange section chest flame is not as light, sparkly or shiny as the regular reissue. The yellow flames are also slightly greener on the TM reissue. These differences may well be solely due to the tampographing and nothing to do with the fact that the original TM Hot Rod had a slightly greener flame than the original regular Hot Rod. Then again they may not. Both the above reissues have metal feet of course and a lack of a spring-loaded wing assembly. Another thing you may notice is that Hot Rod does kinda look plain without all his stickers applied.

The above pictures highlight some of the differences a little more clearly (TM left, regular right). The top picture shows the colour difference between the chests, the middle picture shows the bigger hole in the engine on the TM and the bottom picture shows the larger fist hole for the TM Hot Rod reissue as the Targetmaster has bigger pegs than the regular non-TM guns. The grey handgun differences have already been discussed. There is a strange difference between the collectors' cards though...

This is why I love the collectors' cards. They look fantastic together. There are some obvious understandable differences on the front of the cards: the Targetmaster is C-110 and is holding Firebolt, the regular is C-78 and holding one of the regular handguns. The regular character art looks a little brighter, especially the red sections. It's the BACK of the cards that show strange differences. Notice how regular C-78 Hot Rod's specs are so high, mostly 9s, but C-110 TM Hot Rod's specs are really low in comparison. An overall score of 50 compared to the regular's 76. So he's become less effective with the Targetmaster? Coming down from being Rodimus Prime has effected him badly?

The thing I did not know was that this isn't a recent thing, because when I looked up the original tech specs from back in the 80s, the same disparity existed! The original US Hot Rod release of 1986 has exactly the same scores as the C-78 regular reissue (right) and the original US Targetmaster Hot Rod release of 1987 has ALMOST the exact same scores as the C-110 Targetmaster reissue. Originally, TM Hot Rod had a score of "7" for Firepower (second last score on collectors' card), but the reissue above has it at "6". So, the original TM score order was 6-5-6-7-5-9-7-6, and now it's 6-5-6-7-5-9-6-6. There was obviously some confusion when it came to Targetmaster Hot Rod's tech specs because even on the original tech spec there was a typo to do with his vehicle speed that had to be corrected. And that's to say nothing about the text on the FRONT of the box that said "Firebolt transforms into Misfire's weapon" (see here).

The copyrights on the two reissues are slightly different too. Both are made in China, have dates and shared Hasbro/Takara stamps, but the regular reissue says "China" on a raised bit of plastic over where it used to say "Taiwan" on a raised bump for the original TM (remember, all the reissues are based on the TM Hot Rod mould), but the reissue TM Hot Rod just says "China" without a raised plastic bit. Looks like it has always said "China". Confusing? Here's a simpler version. Original regular Hot Rods: "JAPAN" no bump, original Targetmaster Hot Rods: "TAIWAN" on raised bump, reissue regular Hot Rods: "CHINA" on raised bump, reissue Targetmaster Hot Rods: "CHINA" no bump. There are many ways to tell which Hot Rod you have.

Enough on that, what about the reissue TM Hot Rod compared to the ORIGINAL TM Hot Rod? For a start, here's the original Targetmaster packaging from back in 1987:

This one happens to be one of the later corrected-version boxes where it does actually say that Firebolt is "Hot Rod's" weapon. Even though Targetmaster Hot Rods were no longer considered rare even before the reissue hit, and their prices had dropped significantly from the late 90s $150-for-a-loose-TM-Hotrod nonsense, packaged original Targetmaster Hot Rods are STILL very hard to find and command top dollar. I once missed out on a packaged original TM Hot Rod at a great price from my usual dealer by an hour or so, and years later I found out that my now-good friend Rickie had acquired it that day. The above TM Hot Rod is that very piece. I still don't own it! The original packaging is pretty attractive too, so it probably won't ever lose its mystique or appeal, despite Curt's insistence on constantly uncovering and acquiring the absolute rarest variations of the damn thing!

Here is the TM reissue (left) versus the TM original (right). The difference in chest details is pretty apparent between these two. The original has a sticker with more matte colours and brighter yellow, the reissue has tampographed details with more shine and glitter. You might also be able to tell that the reissue's face is a lighter grey. The yellow plastic on the wings is also slightly different, but only very slightly. The original is sporting the superb small thigh stickers which are not susceptible to the kind of wear that can ruin the look of a stickered Hot Rod. Also, the original has black plastic feet compared to the reissue's silver metal variety.

The wheels are also different. The reissue (left) has a flat plain pin in the middle of the wheel but the original (right) has four small circles surrounding a fifth circle on the central pin. The regular reissue has the same wheels as the Targetmaster reissue.

The top picture above highlights the different chest colours, but it's the second picture that has a few more minor revelations. Look where the arms meet the rest of the body, the original has a metal pin that aids the arm rotation, but the reissue doesn't have that metal rod, it appears to have a plastic orange one instead, and it isn't even visible from above like the original's is. There are some other little differences like the reissue having a raised circular lip around the fist-holes compared to a square lip on the original, but now here are some comparison pics between the reissue (left) Firebolt and the original (right) Firebolt:

There is quite a difference in the colour on the lower section of the two Firebolts. The reissue is more silver/dark grey than the original. It's pretty evident from the pictures. Another difference is that the reissue Firebolt's face seems a little less well-defined. The original seems to have deeper-set features and they seem to be more outlined. The silver pin/rod through the middle of the Targetmaster is also different on the two versions and that is clear from the two side profile pictures. Other differences include the holes and lines being different sizes in places. Finally, the reissue is stamped with a "2" between his feet on the front, indicating it's the second version of the mould. The difference in colour is what hits you first though. I doubt anyone is going to be able to pass a reissue Firebolt off as an original. Incidentally, the holes on the reissue TM's hands are ever-so-slightly smaller than the original's. The reissue cannot hold the original Firebolt, but the original CAN hold both Firebolts. The new handguns also cannot be held perfectly by the original due to the pegs being a shade too small for a perfect solid fit.

That's almost it for the comparisons, except for one final thing, the flames on the side of the cars. In descending order: Original TM Hot Rod flame sticker (yellow flames on purple background), Reissue Hot Rod flame sticker (yellow flames on red background) and Reissue TM Hot Rod flame TAMPOGRAPH (much more complex yellow flame pattern on red background):

There is no doubt in my mind which is the nicer of the three. Not only does the background colour of the Reissue TM Hot Rod's tampo-stamped flame detail match the car colour better, but it also covers the WHOLE of that side panel unlike the stickers of the original and reissue regular Hot Rod, so no clashing orange background making the sticker look strange. I love those new flames as well. Have a look at the pictures of the reissue TM Hot Rod from the start of the article to see how well they work with the rest of the toy.

Whew! That's pretty much it for this reissue Targetmaster Hot Rod. I've outlined a small number of negative points in this article but the only one that's of any consequence really is the thigh sticker thing. Not only do you get a brand new already-excellent Hot Rod toy with his Targetmaster at a great price, you also get his original (re-moulded) hand guns which allow you to pose him in any combination of looks; original, TM or a mix. You get a lovely collector's card and plenty of excellent artwork and a whole host of display possibilities. You get IMPROVEMENTS on the original toy in the form of tampographs that suit the look of the toy better and won't peel in addition to metal feet on a TM version. Takara didn't have to issue this with the special handguns and they didn't have to label it C-110. They've given collectors something quite special with this Hot Rod and it really was their attempt at making the perfect Hot Rod, it's just a shame about the recycling of stickers otherwise it really would be a straight 10/10. Having said all that, I know that once I apply the stickers minus the thigh labels, it's going to look fantastic and it has all the features that make the reissues a very relevant and exciting part of the hobby. I hope collectors and fans do appreciate this particular reissue for what it is: a toy that is much more than it needed to be, and could have gotten away with being less.

I'm going to leave you with some collective Hot Rod pics. I used to own nine of these things once, but there are four here in the pictures. From left to right: Reissue TM, original TM, reissue regular and something extra special ;)

All the best
Maz