Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 11, 2009 20:04:06 GMT
Henkei Hot Shot
Armada, eh? What's it all about. It all about annoying children if the cartoon is anything to go by. After playing the PS2 game religiously the Christmas I got it, I became addicted to the idea of Armada.
Prime, Megatron, Red Alert, Starscream...All characters I knew and loved. The story involved something new, mini-cons, and something old, Unicron. I got really taken in with it. So, I started picking up the toys here and there. Prime(trailer and cab set) for £10 in Woolworths. Tidal Wave in TRU. I managed to snag Megatron and Starscream from, believe it or not, a Police auction. Apparantly, some fella had robbed a TRU delivery truck or something and was trying to sell toys on Ebay.
Madness.
Hot Shot was one toy I could never track down. And after seeing the entire(and long winded) Armada cartoon in full, my obsession for getting him went away quickly.
He's a poor man's Hot Rod. He lacks even a modicum of character and is full of terrible lines. Why would I want him?
The teaser pics of the Henkei version sparked my interest again. That and repeat plays of the PS2 game, where Hot Shot is actually pretty cool.
Then came the colour images.
Then the obsession started again.
Henkei Hot Shot - Vehicle Mode
Like all deluxes, Hot Shot comes packaged in this mode.
The base colour is a lemony yellow, much brighter than that of Sunstreakers. He has black for the tires, grey for the bumper, wheel rims and detailing, grey for his grill and, in true Henkei fashion, chrome on his Hot Rod-a-like engine.
Strangely, two types of blue are used for the windows. On the front, back and rear sides we have the classier translucent blue, and for the windows on the doors, a metallic, almost sparkly blue paint. This strikes me as odd and detracts from the look of the car.
Finishing off the colours, clear plastic is used for the head lights.
The vehicle itself is very similar to the original Armada version, but possibly a little smoother, more akin to an Audi TT.
The spoiler on the back of the car has a red Autobot symbol on the left, and a gap in the middle, allowing for Jolt to attach to the car. This can only be for a purpose similar to Armada, which I believe was additional speed.
On the rear of the car, two chromed exhausts poke out. These will become his weapons later. There is also a liscence plate on the rear which reads "Hot Rod". *sigh*
Pictures dont do the vehicle mode justice, I think. It's a good solid car let down by the inconsistant windows.
Jolt is what you can expect from something of his size. He's smaller than a Legends class toy, even in vehicle mode. His colours are red, black and silver/blue for the windows of his helicopter mode.
Henkei Hot Shot - Robot Modet
Hot Shot has an interesting transformation. Something I've never seen before. I'm not going to go into the steps for getting him from car to robot because it's fairly tricky in it's own right and involves alot of half steps.
What is interesting is that, once the arms and legs are all out, you have to fold the chassis of the car in two, so that it connects and becomes the torso. What then holds this in place is the waist area, which also needs to be pushed together from two seperate halfs.
Once you pick him up, you'll know what I mean. It's pretty interesting if a little complicated.
In robot mode, yellow becomes the secondary colour here, with red taking over as the base one. Nothing else is really added. It's all still black, silver, grey etc.
Hot Shot's traditional helmet returns, albeit with a new and better face sculpt inside, and the visor flips up and down as you'd expect.
On his torso, he also retains the detailing that sort of looks like a parachute harness, which was featured on the original toy also.
Here though, he loses his overhead cannon tyre blaster thing in favour of twin pistols which were the chromed exhausts from his vehicle mode. Both fire smoke coloured projectile missiles(not pictured) and both fit into both hands simultaneously. They look fantastic actually. Much better than Hot Rod's stubby exhaust pistrol weapon.
Poseability from the waist down is top notch. The legs bend at the knees, move forward and back, and in and out. As his body is snapped together and locked in place during transformation, he has no waist articulation.
His arms is where the difficulties arise.
As with the previous Hot Shot, he does have the bulky rear end of the car sat on top of his shoulders and they clash off eachother in a big way. This restricts shoulder movement almost entirely. A saving grace is that his elbows bend and the arms can move in and out and up and down. He can be posed pretty well considering.
Jolt transforms easily into a robot that can't stand by himself. The front of the helicopter is on his back meaning he'll likely fall over unless propped up, no matter what pose you have him in.
I appreciate what they were trying to do here, but they could have left him out altogether.
In helicopter mode, Jolt can be attached to a peg on Hot Shot's left shoulder. I have no idea what this achieves other than having somewhere to put him so that he won't be lost. At least with the original Armada version, Jolt being attached served some function.
This can only be an homage.
Comparison
Weapons
Jolt isn't a weapon. He's like Wheelie. Irritating.
The two chromed exhaust blasters look the part alright, except when the missiles are inserted, which is only my personal preference. I rarely display my figures with the missiles in their weapons.
Overall
While not ground breaking in terms of re-designing the original Hot Shot, this is a slimmer, trimmer and more appealing version of the original toy.
Considering the shoulder issue, you can achieve some decent enough poses and while not an essential purchase, he does look good in with Prowl, Hot Rod and Grimlock.
It should be noted that the Universe version only comes with Jolt and no weapons. I knew what I wanted straight away and got mine through Modelmania(as always).
Score - 3.7/5
Armada, eh? What's it all about. It all about annoying children if the cartoon is anything to go by. After playing the PS2 game religiously the Christmas I got it, I became addicted to the idea of Armada.
Prime, Megatron, Red Alert, Starscream...All characters I knew and loved. The story involved something new, mini-cons, and something old, Unicron. I got really taken in with it. So, I started picking up the toys here and there. Prime(trailer and cab set) for £10 in Woolworths. Tidal Wave in TRU. I managed to snag Megatron and Starscream from, believe it or not, a Police auction. Apparantly, some fella had robbed a TRU delivery truck or something and was trying to sell toys on Ebay.
Madness.
Hot Shot was one toy I could never track down. And after seeing the entire(and long winded) Armada cartoon in full, my obsession for getting him went away quickly.
He's a poor man's Hot Rod. He lacks even a modicum of character and is full of terrible lines. Why would I want him?
The teaser pics of the Henkei version sparked my interest again. That and repeat plays of the PS2 game, where Hot Shot is actually pretty cool.
Then came the colour images.
Then the obsession started again.
Henkei Hot Shot - Vehicle Mode
Like all deluxes, Hot Shot comes packaged in this mode.
The base colour is a lemony yellow, much brighter than that of Sunstreakers. He has black for the tires, grey for the bumper, wheel rims and detailing, grey for his grill and, in true Henkei fashion, chrome on his Hot Rod-a-like engine.
Strangely, two types of blue are used for the windows. On the front, back and rear sides we have the classier translucent blue, and for the windows on the doors, a metallic, almost sparkly blue paint. This strikes me as odd and detracts from the look of the car.
Finishing off the colours, clear plastic is used for the head lights.
The vehicle itself is very similar to the original Armada version, but possibly a little smoother, more akin to an Audi TT.
The spoiler on the back of the car has a red Autobot symbol on the left, and a gap in the middle, allowing for Jolt to attach to the car. This can only be for a purpose similar to Armada, which I believe was additional speed.
On the rear of the car, two chromed exhausts poke out. These will become his weapons later. There is also a liscence plate on the rear which reads "Hot Rod". *sigh*
Pictures dont do the vehicle mode justice, I think. It's a good solid car let down by the inconsistant windows.
Jolt is what you can expect from something of his size. He's smaller than a Legends class toy, even in vehicle mode. His colours are red, black and silver/blue for the windows of his helicopter mode.
Henkei Hot Shot - Robot Modet
Hot Shot has an interesting transformation. Something I've never seen before. I'm not going to go into the steps for getting him from car to robot because it's fairly tricky in it's own right and involves alot of half steps.
What is interesting is that, once the arms and legs are all out, you have to fold the chassis of the car in two, so that it connects and becomes the torso. What then holds this in place is the waist area, which also needs to be pushed together from two seperate halfs.
Once you pick him up, you'll know what I mean. It's pretty interesting if a little complicated.
In robot mode, yellow becomes the secondary colour here, with red taking over as the base one. Nothing else is really added. It's all still black, silver, grey etc.
Hot Shot's traditional helmet returns, albeit with a new and better face sculpt inside, and the visor flips up and down as you'd expect.
On his torso, he also retains the detailing that sort of looks like a parachute harness, which was featured on the original toy also.
Here though, he loses his overhead cannon tyre blaster thing in favour of twin pistols which were the chromed exhausts from his vehicle mode. Both fire smoke coloured projectile missiles(not pictured) and both fit into both hands simultaneously. They look fantastic actually. Much better than Hot Rod's stubby exhaust pistrol weapon.
Poseability from the waist down is top notch. The legs bend at the knees, move forward and back, and in and out. As his body is snapped together and locked in place during transformation, he has no waist articulation.
His arms is where the difficulties arise.
As with the previous Hot Shot, he does have the bulky rear end of the car sat on top of his shoulders and they clash off eachother in a big way. This restricts shoulder movement almost entirely. A saving grace is that his elbows bend and the arms can move in and out and up and down. He can be posed pretty well considering.
Jolt transforms easily into a robot that can't stand by himself. The front of the helicopter is on his back meaning he'll likely fall over unless propped up, no matter what pose you have him in.
I appreciate what they were trying to do here, but they could have left him out altogether.
In helicopter mode, Jolt can be attached to a peg on Hot Shot's left shoulder. I have no idea what this achieves other than having somewhere to put him so that he won't be lost. At least with the original Armada version, Jolt being attached served some function.
This can only be an homage.
Comparison
Weapons
Jolt isn't a weapon. He's like Wheelie. Irritating.
The two chromed exhaust blasters look the part alright, except when the missiles are inserted, which is only my personal preference. I rarely display my figures with the missiles in their weapons.
Overall
While not ground breaking in terms of re-designing the original Hot Shot, this is a slimmer, trimmer and more appealing version of the original toy.
Considering the shoulder issue, you can achieve some decent enough poses and while not an essential purchase, he does look good in with Prowl, Hot Rod and Grimlock.
It should be noted that the Universe version only comes with Jolt and no weapons. I knew what I wanted straight away and got mine through Modelmania(as always).
Score - 3.7/5
