Rodimus Prime

Hot Rod, later known as Rodimus Prime, is the tritagonist of the Transformers franchise.
He is the main protagonist of the 1986 animated film, The Transformers: The Movie and the third season of the 1980s television series The Transformers. Prior to becoming Rodimus, Hot Rod is often portrayed as energetic, yet brash and headstrong, with an overwhelming self-confidence that borders on arrogance.
As Rodimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, he is significantly more mature, physically powerful and instilled with the wisdom of the previous holders of the Matrix Of Leadership. Regardless of this, Rodimus is plagued by lack of confidence and often doubting his own decisions and feeling he is in the shadow of previous leader, Optimus Prime.
He was voiced by Judd Nelson in the movie and later voiced by late Ted Schwartz in the series.
==History==
===Cartoon===
====The Movie====
Hot Rod first appeared in the American animated series during the events of The Transformers The Movie, where he was one of the many Autobots stationed at Autobot City. He fought in the Autobot city battle and saved the autobot city for if he had not attacked Megatron, he would have destroyed the city. Hot Rod was saddened when Optimus Prime died after being shot by Megatron. He fled the city with Kup and the Dinobots when Galvatron, a recreated Megatron, attacked the city after being reformatted by Unicron. After meeting up with the other Autobots after a series of adventures on the planets Quintessa and Junk, Hot Rod returned to the other Autobots and rushed to Cybertron to save it from being eaten by Unicron. After facing Galvatron inside Unicron's body, Hot Rod was able to get his hands on the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, as the voice of Optimus Prime was heard saying, "Arise, Rodimus Prime". The power of the Matrix reformatted Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime, with a larger body, deeper voice, and different vehicle mode. It also destroyed Unicron's body, bringing the events of the film to a close with Rodimus Prime as the new Autobot leader.
====Season 3====
After the film, Rodimus did not have time to rest on his laurels as commander, immediately finding himself and the Autobots targeted by the Quintessons, who lured him to their planet of Quintessa and detonated it in hopes of destroying the Matrix. Rodimus and the Autobots survived, however, and Rodimus proceeded to voluntarily short-circuit himself to allow his life-force to enter the Matrix, feeling that the answer to the mystery of the Quintessons' identity lay within it. His hunch proved correct – the Quintessons, he discovered, were the Transformers' creators, and Rodimus knew that the future would be a difficult time for the Autobots.
Rodimus had a notoriously unheroic moment in the episode fight or Flee, where he destroys Paradron, a planet inhabited by pacifistic Autobots. Although he does it to prevent the Decepticons from controlling the planet, Rodimus never questions the morality of destroying an entire planet; and when Sandstorm mourns the loss of his home, Rodimus mocks him for it. The hypocrisy of such actions is never pointed out even when it is blatantly obvious to the viewers.
At this point in the future, the Autobots had become something of a group of peacekeepers among the many races in the galaxy, and Rodimus would attend many meetings, parties and conferences to this end, most notably chairing the peace conference between the planets of Xetaxxis and Lanarq. Despite the brave public face he wore at these events, his own doubts continued to plague him, and he was particularly fazed by Galvatron’s threat of an "ultimate weapon", though the revelation that this was a bluff stirred him to action. Later still, Rodimus was among the Autobots who had their minds transferred into synthetic human forms by crime lord Victor Drath, who used their Transformer bodies to commit crimes. While Ultra Magnus, Arcee and Springer tackled this problem, Rodimus returned to Drath's compound where he was aided by Drath's mole, Michelle, between whom a spark of romance seemed to bloom, until she betrayed him to Drath. Through a combined effort, however, Drath was brought to justice and the Autobots regained their bodies.
Hot Rod only appeared three more times: once when he gave the Matrix to a Quintesson-controlled Optimus Prime. When he lost the Matrix, Rodimus was forced to face down his fears once and for all when the Decepticons began a series of attacks on Japan. Overwhelmed by the different responsibilities and directions he was being pulled in, Rodimus went joyriding and was attacked by the Stunticons, losing the Matrix in the ensuing crash, which was acquired by the Decepticon Scourge. While Rodimus became Hot Rod again – and was not eager to change back – Scourge was warped and enhanced by the Matrix and led another attack on Japan. Counselled by a martial arts master on giri – the burden hardest to bear – Rodimus realised that the Matrix was his burden, and that he had been chosen to bear it; battling Scourge, he recovered the Matrix and resumed his role as leader, and finally when Optimus Prime was resurrected and Rodimus Prime was able to return to being Hot Rod for good. In all three occasions, his return to Hot Rod took place because he lost or passed the Matrix to someone else.
In the 3-part finale to the American Transformers animated series, "The Rebirth", Hot Rod became a Targetmaster.
===Comics ===
====The Headmasters====
Note: The Headmasters series is told in the US series, and is referenced in the UK comics, indicating that these events occur regardless of timeline.
The young Hot Rod was among the Autobots led by Fortress Maximus on Cybertron, who fought against Scorponok's forces. While Hot Rod was in high spirits after successfully rescuing many Autobot POWs, Maximus, weary of the war, announced he was going to abandon the war to the peaceful planet Nebulos. While initally shocked, Hot Rod and the others agreed to join him. However, on Nebulos, they were left facing the somewhat hostile natives. Hot Rod and ten of his teammates marched toward's Nebulos' capital city, where he surrendered his weapons as a show of good will along with with the rest of the group, and a ceasefire was brokered.
However, the Autobots still had enemies, such as Lord Zarak, who secretly discovered Cybertron's coordinates from a machine Hot Rod was working on, and summoned Scorponok to Nebulos. Technological advancements developed during the conflict saw Nebulans being bio-engineered into partnerships with the Transformers. Hot Rod became a Targetmaster, and was bonded to the Nebulan sharpshooter, Firebolt, who transformed into his gun. When Hot Rod tried to protect the Nursery, he and the others ended up demolishing it. Hot Rod received a signal sent Earth by Goldbug, and the Autobots headed there. 
==== Marvel's The Transformers (UK)====
The events seen in the UK comics are initially seen as the definitive future of the series, until time travel rewrites the timeline to become a potential future.
At some point early in his time with Fortress Maximus, Hot Rod fell foul of a group of Tyroxians, who captured his friend Blurr. He attempted to enlist the aid of the retired Autobot Kup but Kup would only offer him a lift back to Cybertron. Hot Rod set out to rescue Blurr on his own, inspiring Kup to rescue both of them and rejoin the war.
Hot Rod had a number of adventures on Earth, including battling the Air Strike Patrol to protect Scorponok during a Decepticon Civil War, being present for the unveiling of Arcee, attempting to stop the Stunticons learning the secrets of Autobot City and battling Shockwave at the city's unveiling.
When Galvatron journeyed into Earth's past to find a way to destroy both the Autobots and his new master Unicron, Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr went sent after him. Teaming up with that era's Ultra Magnus, they managed to trick Galvatron into believing he had killed Starscream and altered history, meaning nothing he did would affect his native timeline, causing him to return to the future.
After being transformed to Rodimus Prime and destroying Unicron, he feared that Galvatron had survived and began searching for him. This led to Shockwave rallying the Decepticons and gaining control of half of Cybertron. Rodimus Prime instead offered a reward for Galvatron, learning from a deep cover agent, Nautilus, that Galvatron had fled to the past again. Rodimus Prime again went after him with Kup, Blurr and Wreck-Gar, joining up with Ultra Magnus and Goldbug. They tried to thwart Galvatron's attempt to siphon the power of a volcano by forcibly returning him to the future, but the attempt failed and they only managed to retrieve the violent bounty hunter Death's Head.
Pursued not only by Death's Head but also Cyclonus and Scourge, Rodimus Prime considered letting them kill him but ultimately managed to lead Death's Head into an ambush and instead hire him to kill the two Decepticons. He was stunned when the Decepticons subsequently launched an all-out attack on the Autobots of Cybertron, until he learned Cyclonus and Scourge had ordered the attack at the behest of Unicron, whose head had landed on the planet Junk. Rodimus Prime headed to the planet with a small group and joined up with Death's Head, battling Unicron on the mental plane until his physical form was destroyed by explosives planted by Wreck-Gar, with his essence contained in the Matrix.
Rodimus Prime travelled to Earth after the Quintessons attacked Autobot City. Using Arcee as bait, the Quintesson leader Ghyrik managed to ambush Rodimus Prime and steal the Matrix, turning him back into Hot Rod. With Arcee and the Autobot Cassettes, Hot Rod managed to turn the tables on the Quintessons, activating Metroplex and then defeating Ghyrik, recovering the Matrix and sending him hurtling to his doom.
The presence of Galvatron in the past, now joined by Cyclonus and Scourge, created a time rift that threatened to destroy both time periods. Rodimus Prime led a group of Autobots into the past, displacing Optimus Prime and several other Autobots into limbo. This made Fortress Maximus and the other Autobots of that era suspicious of them, but Rodimus Prime was eventually able to put together a combined Autobot and Decepticon force from the two time periods to battle Galvatron and his ally Megatron. Rodimus was one of the few to remain active throughout the battle, as Optimus Prime returned and battled Galvatron until he was swallowed by the time rift, which was then sealed by Shockwave after Cyclonus and Scourge were also sacrificed to it.
Rodimus and his troops returned to the future only to find the timeline had reset itself and Galvatron was still alive and in command of the Decepticons again. He massacred an Autobot outpost in an attempt to goad Rodimus Prime into attacking him and releasing Unicron from the Matrix. Rodimus stopped himself in time, instead taking his troops to Earth. However, en route he was possessed by Unicron, sabotaging the ship and killing several Autobots, until a combination of him besting Unicron in mental battle and Kup removing the Matrix from him caused Unicron to retreat once more. Rodimus continued to hold Unicron in check within the Matrix at the cost of his health.
By 2510, Rodimus Prime was restored to full strength and led the Autobots to final victory over the Decepticons. He tried to turn command over to Springer only for a Decepticon undercover agent, Triton, to turn the Autobots against each other and start an Autobot Civil War.
====Marvel's The Transformers (US)====
Shortly after arriving on Earth, Hot Rod joined the other Targetmasters in an attack on the Earth Decepticons led by Ratbat and Shockwave to try and rescue Buster Witwicky, the brother of Fortress Maximus' new Headmaster partner Spike, but they were beaten back by the base's defences. He was later present when his faction met with the Earth Autobots led by Grimlock.
With the Autobots united under Optimus Prime's command, Hot Rod joined his new leader in investigating the Air Strike Patrol's attack on MacDill Air Base. When Optimus ordered the other Autobots to return to the Ark after Megatron's agents planted a bomb on it, Hot Rod insisted on remaining to protect his leader from Scorponok's reinforcements. All present were attacked by Starscream, rebuilt as a Pretender and brainwashed into serving Megatron, but a shot from Hot Rod caused Starscream's usual cowardly personality to reassert itself.
When Optimus Prime planned to walk out on the Autobots following the death of Ratchet, Hot Rod decided to convince him otherwise by making it look as though the Autobots were being attacked by a Guardian robot. The plan went wrong when the Guardian actually did attack the Autobots, but it convinced Optimus to return and save them anyway. Hot Rod functioned as Optimus Prime's aide during the Matrix Quest, helping lead the assault against Thunderwing.
After Optimus Prime surrendered his troops to Scorponok in an attempt to enlist his aid against Unicron, he had Hot Rod and Kup join him in a demonstration to convince Scorponok they needed to work together. Hot Rod survived the battle with Unicron but was killed in an ambush by Bludgeon's Decepticons on Klo, although he was revived by the Last Autobot shortly after.
====Generation 2====
to be added
====Regeneration One====
to be added
==Quotes==
==Other Media==
===Unicron Trilogy ===
===Transformers IDW ===
See main article: Rodimus (IDW Comics)
===Transformers Animated ===
Rodimus Prime is the leader of Team Athenia, and a minor character in Transformers Animated. In this show Judd Nelson reprised the role. 
According to his backstory in the AllSpark Almanac, he was given the name "Hot Rod" by Kup, who considered him a young punk, but during their final training exercise, his fellow student Skram tripped and dropped a grenade near Kup, and Hot Rod nobly jumped on top of it to save his instructor. While the grenade was a dud, Kup began to see him in a better light. Hot Rod was a prodigy, getting into the Academy a decade before his peers and was nicknamed "the chosen one." He would rename himself Rodimus, ascending to the role of "Prime", and was put in command of Team Athenia. 
In the episode TransWarped, Rodimus led his team in defending a space bridge to Cybertron from their Decepticon opposite number Team Chaar. Rodimus ordered Brawn and Ironhide to fall back so they could protect the bridge, but 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 stood against them. In response, Oil Slick threw a vial of Cosmic Rust at Rodimus' feet, which quickly spread across his body and paralysed him. While he would only be seen from crowd scene cameos in the show, extra material confirmed that he recovered. 
===Transformers Cinematic Universe===
See main article: Hot Rod (Transformers Cinematic Universe)
===Prime Wars Trilogy===
===Transformers Cyberverse===
==Navigation==
Category:Cartoon Heroes
Category:Artificial Intelligence
Category:Transformers Heroes
Category:Comic Book Heroes
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Leaders
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:Honest
Category:Superheroes
Category:Aliens
Category:Fighters
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Toyline Heroes
Category:Loyal
Category:Theatrical Heroes
Category:Giants
Category:Brutes
Category:Knights
Category:The Chosen One
Category:Protectors
Category:Lawful Good
Category:Reluctant Heroes
Category:Strategists
Category:Virtually Resourceful
Category:Insecure
ru:Родимус Прайм