TOY REVIEW

Name: Black Rodimus
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Dark Knight
Vehicular Mode: Sports car
Price: 4980 JPY (limited series)

PACKAGING

The packaging for Black Rodimus is the same box design as the regular Hot Rodimus, but instead of full color, it is washed over in blue and white. Also, the "15th Anniversary" sticker which was stuck on to all the other Generation One packages is printed in black, white and grey instead right onto the packaging.

VEHICLE MODE


Length: 13 cm
In car mode, Black Rodimus' primary color is metallic black. The spoiler is silver. The windows to the cockpit are clear plastic. The seats, dashboard and headlights are silver as well. The engine and exhaust pipes are all vacuum metallized silver. The rub symbol is there (and yes, it is a Cybertron/Autobot symbol). Interestingly enough, the flame pattern sticker for the hood and the smaller flame pattern stickers for the sides are both on sticker sheets as opposed to being automatically applied as they are in both the original Hot Rodimus and Crystal Rodimus releases. Presumably this is to help emphasize the dark color scheme. I chose not to apply these stickers as the toy looks fine without them.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

Unlike most toys of the era of Beast Wars and beyond, Black Rodimus cannot stash his weapons somewhere in his vehicle mode (yes he can, in the hole on top of the engine! Although it can only hold one gun at a time - Goktimus), so be sure you have both the guns available to you. Begin the transformation by pulling back the rear of the vehicle and flipping out the robot feet. Swing out the forward sides of the car. Swing forward the hood of the car and turn around the waist section of the robot mode. Now flip down the engine on the hood to reveal the robot head. Lock it into place with the hood and then swing that entire piece down. Using the tab at the center of the hood, connect it to the waist area. Turn the lower arms of the robot forward. Rotate the section with the silver spoiler around so the yellow spoiler appears right behind Black Rodimus' shoulders. Place the guns into his hands and Black Rodimus is in robot mode.

ROBOT MODE

Height: 14.5 cm
The metallic black color from the vehicle mode is the primary color in robot mode. The robot face is silver and the helmet area of the robot head is metallic black. The robot eyes are red. This is appropriate since in the original Transformers series Autobots/Cybertrons had blue eyes and the Decepticons/Destrons had red eyes. This silver and red combination stands out very well against the metallic black. The upper legs and fists are the same silver as the spoiler. The robot feet are die cast metal, just like the original Hot Rodimus release. The weapons included with the toy are both silver.

OVERALL

Although the black and silver color scheme succeeds in making this version of Hot Rodimus look "evil", it is rather dull. Applying the stickers would actually make the toy look rather odd since the toys have a lot of orange and red colors on them. This toy was released as a limited edition (only 200 were made - Goktimus) for a convention in Japan in 2001 ("ToyFes 2001" was held in Tokyo on February, 2001 - Goktimus). B+

The back of the packaging has definitely changed. The illustration featuring Metroplex and a battle scene is overlayed by the front and back of Black Rodimus' tech specs. Also, Hot Rodimus' "C" designation is changed from C-78 to C-78B (presumably for Black). Also, the lower section of the back does not have the regular Japanese writing but rather the 15th anniversary logo appears once again with (presumably) details about the toy.


This toy review was written by Benson Yee.
Editted by Goktimus Prime.
Images and text used with permission

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