I almost didn’t have anything new for Transformers Thursday this week and then I saw this little guy swinging on a peg and decided to pick him up. I’m really feeling the bite of pressure from real life this week, so I figured this was the perfect day to kick back and chillax with a Legends Class quickie. Let’s take a look at Combiner Wars Rodimus…

Package shot. He comes in robot mode. Bubble held on with scotch tape. Keeping it classy, Hasbro! Nothing else to say. Let’s move on to the alt mode…

Of course, Rodimus is a repaint of the Stunticon Blackjack, a figure that I liked a lot as a stand alone piece, but he doesn’t really fit into my Menasor, so I don’t really consider him an official Stunticon. The car is re-cast in a pleasing crimson plastic with blue painted windows and a bitchin’ flame deco on the hood. But, why you no have Autobot symbol on your hood, Rodimus? It seems very conspicuous by its absence. But also, apart from the deco, I’m not really feeling this as Rodimus. It’s missing something…

Oooooh, yeah. Well, plug the axe weapon into the top and it sort of looks like a spoiler and now it kind of looks more like Rodimus to me. But seriously, Hasbro, why isn’t there an Autobot symbol on his hood? That’s really pissing me off. Anyway, transformation is the same as Blackjack…

It’s quick and easy and it results in a nice looking robot mode, but one that is still a bit of a reach for me as Rodimus. Again, the coloring works well enough, and the new head sculpt looks pretty good, but the homage isn’t as tight as it could have been. Hasbro has done some impressive stuff with shared molds for different characters, but to me, this one isn’t one of their better efforts. Maybe if there was a way to put his axe on his back, it would have helped it along a little more.

And yes, the axe still serves as a cool weapon, but again… an axe for Rodimus? Meh, not really.

I know what you’re saying. Quit picking on the little guy. Well, don’t get me wrong, I think this is a cool little figure and I picked it up for under eight bucks so I’m not going to be super demanding of it. It’s an attractive figure and it’s fun to play around with. So while it sounds like I’m being really tough on him, I’m still plenty glad I picked him up, as he’s another little bot to wage war around my Titan Class Metroplex. I just don’t think he’s going to get to keep his name. Maybe I’ll just call him Hot Shot.