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Why did Rodimus Prime Fail? A TRANSFORMERS Deep Dive
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- Опубліковано 15 лют 2024
- TRANSFORMERS slaughtered many of its characters in 1986, and the next leader of the Autobots had a tough hill to climb.
Join Joe as he examines Rodimus Prime, and why he failed to capture audiences.
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A few reasons:
-Hot-Rod first appearance is right there in the movie, there was no build up in the series, the guy is literally made to replace Optimus with no build up. This alone is reason enough for a character to be hated, even more when the other character is loved like Optimus.
-Fan favorite Optimus gets killed after Hot-Rod interferes in a fight he had won (I still think Optimus would be shot by Megatron and died because he was taking his sweet time instead of taking care of things Bay style, but it made it seem like Hot-Rod was to blame)
-Rodimus took a few shots from a Unicron empowered Galvatron's fusion cannon to the chest without any scratch in a movie where taking a glazing shot would be certain death.
-The stars aligned themselves so that Rodimus is suddenly the leader of the autobots when Unicron decimated and kicked the decepticons out of Cybertron, Megatron's restoration plan for Cybertron did most of the work for him and Optimus campaing until then put the autobots in a way better situation for him. All of that fell on his lap like the Matrix and it felt unearned.
-To make matters worse Rodimus is constantly being insecure, trying to ditch leadership or sometimes being a complete asshole like that scene on the video or when some guys planet blows up and he say something on the lines of whatever it's not like that planet is better than Cybertron to live in to those guys.
-In the Japanese version apparently Cybertron is destroyed under Rodimus's counterpart leadership.
-The toy like mentioned in the video
-Ultra magnus was selected by Optimus, fought more times with Galvatron, felt more like a leader that Rodimus turned many times to him, had the better toy and it felt like he was screwed by the Matrix in favor of Rodimus.
So yeah you add all of that and it's no surprise Rodimus failed, if it wasn't for the nostalgia and if 86 movie was made nowadays you can bet Rodimus would be one of the most hated characters ever. No one can convince me that the way they "built" Rodimus to replace Optimus in the movie was even remotely decent.
While I didn't hate Rodimus myself I did hate that Prime was killed and replaced by him and that he wasn't even given the chance to grow into someone with more confidence. I have no issue with him doubting himself as that seems very realistic given Rodimus's lack of command experience and just how much more knowledgeable and capable his predecessor was.
I think what I hate almost as much as the fact Prime died is that the higher ups in Hasbro didn't even know Prime was a well loved character. They just axed him to sell another toy. Absolute frigging morons. Such incompetence should have cost them their jobs.
Agree with all the points the video makes but would like to add that both hot rod and rodimus are ill-conceived characters hot rod is a bad copy of Trax the vain autobot mixed with every young male character ever then he turns into rodimus where he gets worse aside from the crappy alt mode he has the name of a gay stripper surprised he lasted as long as he did
- Rodimus took those blasts frm Galvatron while being fully empowered by the Matrix. If Galvatron had shot him again after he knocked the Matrix out of his hand it would've hurt him.
- While Optimus selected Magnus, The Matrix selected Hot Rod, which is a much higher endorsement.
- While I can't see him ditching leadership, Ultra Magnus was already incredibly insecure about succeeding Optimus, and likely would've had the same arc.
- In some ways the massive backlash to killing Prime that Hasbro got at least had the benefit of teaching those C-suite morons that they had made something more than just a toyline.
@@3Rayfire While you can explain it like that, my point is that people had issues with one, several or all of those points, so it's no surprise his character failed.
What you see as a Matrix powered Rodimus others see as plot armor, what you see as being chosen by the matrix others see a character being screwed by the plot in favor of the other, etc.
With the amount of mistakes done in his creation, Rodimus is basically the prototype for nowadays characters intended to replace another that fail hard.
@@neonnemesis3267 Mm, very true.
As someone who saw the original movie in the theater, the reason people did not like Hot Rod was because he got Optimus Prime killed. Do you know what it is to be 6 years old with adults crying when Optimus died? That sealed Rodimus's fate right there. Fun fact, check the New Adventures of Speed Racer, the design of the Mach 5's carrier is the same as rodimus, might have the same inspirational roots
Exactly. I was five years old and tried to walk out of the theater when they killed Optimus. I was done. They killed all my favorite characters in the first fifteen minutes. Greed. They thought that they could get away with it. Oops.
It broke my heart when I was four or five ..... It literally taught me about death. I cried for days. Decades later I still randomly bring up how hot rod got Optimus killed.
What he said.
I was 12 years old and cried... It was the most traumatic thing I ever saw, lol
I was like 12 and knew the killing off was to bring in new toys, was looking forward to the dead characters to go cheap 😡 yeah, what do i know, i was just a dumb kid.
In my mind, Optimus was the dad we all wanted.
Hot Rod/Rodimus was the cool big brother that took over after Dad passed away.
They're not the same but I love them both.
If anybody even realizes, prime did give the matrix back to him, so does that still make him leader in waiting?
Before I saw your comment, I was going to say that Optimus was 'Hero Dad' while
Rodimus was 'Lame Older Brother'.
I never really felt that either version of Hot Rod was particularly cool, but was more annoying than anything else.
Rodimus Prime = Matthew Fox, got it .
@@theevilascotcompany9255I'm guessing you mean Matthew Fox on "Party of Five" and not "Matthew Fox in real life", which are two VERY different guys.
I liked Rodimus because he was humble. He lacked Optimus's self confidence. He was a leader who was learning on the jib while Optimus had millions of years of experience
Sometimes he was arrogant, though. Like in Only Human when he was basically playing with a bomb because he viewed it as harmless and how dismissive he was about destroying a planet.
True. Optimus had millions of years of experience behind him, and I’m sure over those years, he too had his fare share of mistakes and failures. If he had been perfect, the war might have ended already or at least he had already taken down Megs.
@Jerry74 - same. I liked Rodimus for what he was - his own character with flaws and doubt.
Season 3 needed Rodimus seeing a young, inexperienced Optimus being a new leader, making mistakes, feeling unsure of himself, and overcoming those feelings through experience.
@@hyderyutim394 well firstly the autobots were clearly outnumbered. secondly, the decepticons conquered almost all Cybertronian resources........Optimus did a fine job giving them decepticreeps a hard time. Rodimus just sucked, his looks, his leadership style, his constant self-pity.
I think Rodimus was a mistake. Hot Rod and Magnus should've been that series' Bumblebee and Prime.
Honestly I liked Rodimus, but as for why he didn't catch on yeah its because he got Optimus killed. The authors didn't want to kill Optimus because they knew fans would hate it and they were right. I got the feeling the whole 3rd season with his character development was an attempt to force Hasbro's hand to green light Optimus's return.
There's a lot of marketing tactics tried that didn't work out. This one definitely didn't.
I agree i would rather make him retire and settle down with elita one
It was even dumber when you consider that one of the new toys being released with the movie was the same robot toy used for Optimus but with a different paint job and accessory trailer. They could have cut Ultra Magnus as a character and instead had prime seriously injured and in critical condition then at the climax have a shuttle make a rough landing at the battle and have Prime step out with a new paint job and shiny upgraded trailer/power armor.
@@gandalflotr2898It’s a real shake how she and the other female autobots just kinda went forgotten after their initial appearances.
Maybe but same time would megatron still got prime if he was able to grab the gun in front of em without hotrod interfering
The reason is really simple
Optimus Prime was built up over 2 seasons only to be killed in a manner that almost seems entirely Hot Rod's fault
Hot Rod was a character that had only existed to audiences for like 6 minutes
Rodimus Prime failed because he had no real time before Optimus's death to shine as a character and ensnare people's hearts
Agreed, a mistake repeated over and over. Like in the MCU.
OP, absolutely spot on analysis. A mini arc with all the new cybertronian characters at the end of season 2 would have solved this issue.
While I enjoying g2 I feel so sad that killing many originals transformers for new ones, specially optimus. Wait what happened to bumblebee in g2?
I only reason some rumor said he killed or he got new frame and name becomes gold bug
In the cartoon, he upgrades to Goldbug, one of the Throttlebots. In the 80s Marvel comics, he was blown up in the GI Joe crossover and rebuilt into Goldbug.
@@Getloose360Spot on. I still remember as a 7 year old seeing the movie for the first time, thinking that I must have missed a bunch of Season 2 episodes as I'd never met any of those new characters before, although I knew of them due to conversations at school and seeing the toys in the shops.
“Why do i keep seeing u in my dreams, Optimus?”
Because you’re responsible for his death?
👀
Yup, big fax
Big Facts!! 😒
@@Miles_305 I immediately thought the exact same thing and started typing without seeing yours
False;
A. He just tried to help stop Megatron
B. Megatron was clearly crawling towards something, with Optimus ignorantly monologing
C. Optimus sniped a seatbelt on a moving pod to free Spike from a long distance, so he very easily could’ve shot Megatron while the latter and Rodimus where struggling on the ground
D. Megatron was the guy who actually shot Prime
Honestly I actually think Rodimus Prime in a vacuum was a pretty cool character. My only issue was I was such a big Optimus Prime fan and there was nothing that could replace Optimus in my eyes. So an attempt to replace Optimus for me created more resistance. So my only hatred for Rodimus is more about losing Optimus then quality of the character. My connection of Transformers was more with the TV show then the toys.
That's fair, it seems like there's a lot of mixed reactions which make it interesting that we're still talking about it almost 40 years later.
I agree, if they simply made Hotrod and the gang the team in charge of deep space adventures while Optimus and the OG team were the main force stationed on earth, then he could have worked. In GI Joe, we have both Flint and Duke as leaders for different operations, so not as if fans can like more than one main character, they just didn't kill Duke to give Flint the stage.(They did try this with the GI Joe movie, which would been an issue for the series like it was for transformers if they tried push Lt Falcon like Hotrod/Rodimus Prime. After the backlash they opted to not make the same mistake twice.)
New characters showed up all the time on both shows, often without a ton of explaination why. Like in real life, you have a constant flow of new coworkers that join you, and leave to do other things. I think we could done without all the murder the 1986 Transformers movie had. The series probably could continues in the states for along longer if they had.
These are the words I've been searching for. This right here is 100% the number one answer. Everything else mentioned is still a factor, but this is the primary reason.
Ultra Magnus really should've been chosen as a new & only "true" leader after Optimus Prime has appointed him as the new leader of the Autobot, & The Matrix should've chosen him too, allowing him to unlock it's power and in my mind, because his toy cab transform into the white colored version of Optimus Prime. So, He would've made a cool looking leader of the Autobot instead of Rodimus Prime.
Rodimus's biggest problem is pretty simple, he was not Optimus Prime.
No, its just that the writers of the show did not think highly of his potential. So instead of writing him as a competent leader, they made him into a joke.
@@MatthewTheWolf2029 I stand by my original statement 😁
@@fr1sket363 And I stand by my own statement.
@@MatthewTheWolf2029 At the end of his day, one shall stand and one shall fall. Oh did I mention your boy Rod, got Optimus killed?
@@fr1sket363 Yes, I'm aware. But I blame the script writers more than I blame him.
Answer is so simple you can not replace an icon or the GOAT character of a series, just can’t!
Let's not forget Optimus' VOICE. Rodimus was just an average guy voice, but Optimus had an imposing voice whenever he spoke.
Prime’s voice felt strong and commanding but also gentle and father-like imo.
Bad writing, toxic executives and drug addled staff. Pretty much.
I thought you were talking about us for a minute and thought... HEY, we don't have staff!
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast nah. But that’s funny. Something about flint dille really bothers me; he seems to enjoy traumatizing children. Now I’m actually being serious about that. Really listen to his interviews closely, he’ll contradict himself at times, the body language too, yeesh.
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast🤣🤣🤣🤣
He failed because he followed LITERALLY the greatest cartoon leader of all time. He never stood a chance
The Rodimus Prime we got after Hot Rod opened the Matrix, and the one we got in Season 3 are two different guys. The latter was full of self doubt, whereas the one in The Movie spoke with confidence as he was filled with the power and knowledge of the Matrix. Even as a Prime, Rodimus kept Hot Rod’s color scheme unlike the version we ended up with which made him unappealing visually. Different studios I know, but both differ greatly.
Trying to be the leader after Optimus Prime is like being the next act on the card after Jerry Lee Lewis set his piano and saying "Top that, Killer" to you as he walks off stage.
I love Rodimus' dry sense of humor. He's a character I appreciate more now as an adult than I did as a kid.
That's fair, the then and now thoughts are cool to see.
In hindsight, the Rodimus & Galvatron era of G1 is now a breath of fresh air as its not so heavily focussed on Buimblebee
I don't mind the Bumblebee focus-I just don't like the way the character changed. To me, modern Bumblebee is kind of like a mix of Jazz and Sideswipe. Instead of the "little brother" of the Autobots, he is more of an action hero. I also don't get the voiceless concept that is a part of his character now
@@SJHFotoYeah, thx for that Michael Bay, although I will say Transformers Prime at least gave a better story as to why, as well as an wpic conclusion to him regaining it.
Bumble Bee is a good character, and he's one of the most memorable and iconic. But the series can't be all about him. There are other characters in the franchise who deserve attention. And Rodimus is one of them.
@@SJHFoto Yeah. The whole broken voice box thing with Bumble Bee has gotten old by this point. Not to mention its been so overused, that its become a cliche.
Thanks for that video. I think Rodimus was a great character. I think they wanted someone who would compare himself to Optimus and say "wow, how can I ever fill those shoes?" But after a while the self-doubt did get old...
I think there were 2 main reasons why he wasn't accepted well 1) like you said, people blamed him for Optimus' death, and 2) they didn't do ENOUGH with the character to make people interested in him (at least not after "Five Faces of Darkness." Episodes like "The Burden Hardest to Bear" and "Dark Awakening" took his character a long way, we just needed more and to see him get more confident as time went on.
I do think you were onto something with the toy part --at least Ultra Magnus was the same size and seemed like he could rival Galvatron.
After the movie was released, the UK Transformers comic had a cover that read
"Galvatron! Ultra Magnus! The new leaders are here!"
No Rodimus in sight.
I never thought i'd see my art pop up as someone's thumbnail for a video. lol
good points all around btw. I think additionally, optimus prime was more than just a character. he was such an ideal that represented a lot more than a toy and rodimus never quite achieved that.
That's great! If you can email us at digitaldissectionpodcast@gmail.com we'll add your attribution! Happy to share your info for your hard work!
Totally mishandled that character and transition. The ONLY time that Rodimus was even close to properly portrayed was in the Transformers Energon animated series.
You're not wrong.
It should've been ultra Magnus instead of rodimus prime.
Robert Stack brought the Ultra Magnus energy.
He was just a solider, he wasn't worthy.
Ultra Magnus was on Cybertron when the ark departed and he was not worthy because he is too way pacific and without any desire of battle; Optimus instead wants peace but fearing the Autobot annihilation was forced to fight and had to get on his back that decision all the way down to Earth; Rodimus was called to bring the golden age for the Autobots and Cybertron because he had the fire on his heart to defeat all the Decepticon menace but the writers didn’t understand his character and take back again on Optimus who deserve an epic place inside the matrix of leadership next to the former leaders as Sentinel or Alpha Trion (he was not a prime leader), Rodimus was the right choice but not developed to shine as it should ❤️🔥
We should have had Magnus Prime not Rodimus Prime
I could (have) gotten behind that. :)
I like that idea! 💯
Look up Transformer Animated. He is literally the Primest of the Prime
@@feetfunkerson1312 I think I will create the character Magnus Prime and a storyline for him to be more of an alternate direction for the 86 movie by changing a few things and adding some new stuff off my mind. I’m also working on a season 2-movie-3 story to fill in the gaps between season 2-3 the 20 years of how the Decepticons eventually conquered Cybertron and the events leading up to it with deaths of several characters like why Sparkplug wasn’t seen again in the 86 movie or at all during season 3 and prior to the 86 movie finally explaining why they were not ever seen again and how a few died or left Cybertron during the return of Megatron and the earth decepticons back to Cybertron and how the autobots lost and left Cybertron creating the moon bases in the time after they left earth to try to stop Megatron and the cons from completely taking control of Cybertron
Rodimus was not a bad leader but had a lot of issues with confidence and the fact that he was not Optimus. Hotrod was all about fun and not wanting responsibility for his actions. Some of that followed through when he got the Matrix. While I thought he was a cool character, he was no Optimus Prime who held the world on his shoulders.
He was ahead of his time, if only he were in the early 2000s and liked Hot Topic.
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast He was the most Gen X hero ever. (Followed closely by Johnny Lawrence and Danny Larusso of Karate kid/cobra kid.) The guy who can't match the achievements of previous generation(parents were all WW 2 vets who saved the world) and is constantly compared to how great things were when they were in charge questioing his place in the world or if they're good enough. As the saying goes, never follow a legend.
He failed because he wasn’t Ultra Magnus
Facts. Ultra Magnus hangs dong and we all know it.
This is my thoughts 100%
Wat i dont understand is when Optimus passed the matrix to Ultra Magnus he stayed that way but when Hot Rod got the matrix he became Rodimus Prime any1 care to explain?
Because Ultra Magnus wasn't suppose to get the matrix he wasn't worthy that's why when Optimus Prime drops it and Hot Rod Catches it we get a glimpse that it should be passed to Hot Rod @@Thug-12Na
I heard something about it but never really seen that part but thx for the info👍🏼
I liked him. The concept of the character went over the younger audiences heads. Those that started watching TF at a precise time grew and matured quite a bit by season 3. In essence, the cartoon grew with us. Rhodimus was a representation of US! Young, unsure, immature, ignorant about life, yearning for times with less responsibilities; but thrusted into greater responsibilities by default. Optimus = Father, Ultramagnus and Kupp = still alive Uncles to guide us.
I mean this is actually really accurate haha
Let's be honest, we grew up with Optimus, and when he was killed off in the movie, there was an immediate backlash. So, while Rodimus did accomplish great things, ultimately, he was never going to be as popular as near and dear to us as Optimus. Look at it as the next person never being as impactful as your first love. Also, the next season didn't involve Rodimus as much as Optimus has been during his run, nor was that season anywhere near as good as previous seasons. And after the backlash, it's been stated the plan was to bring Optimus back - hence Rodimus going back to doubting himself so they could build towards Optimus' return by showing Rodimus didn't want the job as leader.
As far as the toy goes, there were a few that were just whacky - remember Ironhides original design? ... very weird. To another point about Rodimus vs Galvatron, Rodimus dispatched of Galvatron in less than 7 seconds in the movie - kinda hard to walk that back and be acceptable.
Hasbro: Optimus Prime was able to build this Show, on the AIRWAVES, WITH A BUNCH OF SCRAPS!!
Rodimus: I'm not Optimus Prime...
Rodimus failed coz everyone loved prime way more
Nemesis prime should have been the decepticon leader opposite Rodiums. A living manifestation of his internal doubts.
I actually liked rodimus but the problem is habro just shoved him in to sell toys and killed off Optimus if they eased him in and did a proper passing of the torch things could have been different.
Yeah the whole movie was one big new toy advertisement
Terrible design. Ultra Magnus was good but they did him dirty. Springer would have been good as well. He and Arcee mirrored Optimus and Altia One.
What if Optimus had lived, but was just in a coma=stasis lock? And Rodimus had to step up until Optimus got back on his feet. At which time, he=Optimus could begin to mentor Rodimus as an Equal fellow Prime. Two Primes are better than one.
I mean I'm on board fully with this idea. It's not a bad concept, and you could create a mind-bridge where Optimus' coma could serve as a way to bring him back via this process. Careful, Hasbro might be listening 😅
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast They can have it. Don't we really just want quality content that lives up to the full potential of the characters and franchise\universe as a whole? Yes, yes we do.
@@Denny-ix9sx Can't argue with that at all.
In Transformers animated and few other series they have multiple primes at once. In animated Prime isn't the leader of all the autobots, it's basically like being the captain of a ship or a team. Ultra Magus is the leader of all the autobots. In the Unicron trilogy, Rodimus Prime is a thing along side Optimus too.
In the Lore of the time, there could only be one Prime, whomever was chosen by the Matrix was Prime.
I'm from Ecuador and we didn't get the movie here. I didn't knew there was a movie. For me, on day you had Optimus and all the G1 characters, and the next everyone had changed or disappeared. No explanations given. So I guess I liked Rodimus as much as the next guy but most of my time was spent wondering what the hell happened... and the episode where Optimus comes back briefly only deepened the confusion
The 2nd series suffers from the same fate as Marvel Phase 4-5. Your heroes are gone, the torch has been passed to some random noob no one wanted, and the plot is now space themed instead of earthbound. The fate of a distant fictional planet with an entirely new cast means nothing compared to someone good, relatable, and respectable protecting US from tyranny.
🥱
Hot rod was a cool character but just to be like "Hey look new character" just to in the same movie be like "He's leader now and evolved" kinda ruined a character with no character yet.
He didn't earn his place. He jumped the line, as Bumble bee being the kid friendly/young chaarcter who stepped up to replace Prime would been a smoother transition. It's no wonder at all why he failed. Just about everything about him was done wrong. Ultra Magnus basically did all heavy lifting and kicked way more butt than Hotrod did, but plot says we gotta root for the guy who doesn't even believe in himself and will dump the matrix of leadership every chance he gets.
"Hey he's in charge now" ..
totally a field promotion.
The Ultra Magnus love is great.
Rodimus failed because 1. Killing off Optimus was a bad idea, and 2. They replaced him with a brand new character rather than promoting a pre-existing one. Rodimus' lack of confidence also did not help.
Rod isn't bright red and blue, not heroic enough. Optimus has fatherly wisdom.
While I do absolutely love the 1986 movie, the only issue I had with the film is the setup. The film wants the audience to ignore questions regarding the set up to the film and to focus on the current situation, moving forward.
As for Season 3+4, from then on, the show wasn’t focusing on Rodimus’s development as a Leader. Instead they chose to have him repeat the same character arc twice and to focus on spotlight episodes to sell more product. It’s clear that the backlash from the 1986 film is what damaged and crushed Hasbro’s interest in the potential of temporary shelving Optimus Prime. Season 3+4 should have been about Rodimus Prime struggling with the responsibilities Optimus Prime secretly had and expanded upon the true meaning of the title Prime. Honestly, the 1986 movie changed the Audience’s perception of what to expect moving forward.
I think handing over the torch to rodimus is difficult when so many kids felt a nostalgic connection with Optimus Prime. I remember all the kids actually felt sad when they saw the transformers movie and saw many of the Autobot characters that they liked died in the movie and suddenly there are new characters that carry forward the story that they have not been able to grow interest with the new characters like the attached likeness to the original characters. I also remember the Rodimus Prime toy was hard to find but just about every kid had an Optimus Prime that was probably one of their favorite toys.🚒
I think some of us can agree that bumblebee should've gotten the matrix of leadership
So far you're the first to suggest that in the comments, lots of Ultra Magnus love I've seen.
Bumblebee was a scout, I wouldn't doubt if he had the same leadership issues as Hot Rod.
No
I think we'd all be ready to see Bumblebus Prime
My biggest issue as a kid was the vehicle form of Rodimus.
It's a lot of concept and not much practicality.
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast I mean I understand if they decided all Primes need to be trucks but that is debunked if Primal is considered a Prime.
Honestly, Rodimus should either (1) stay being a sport car or (2) becomes a bullet train instead. His truck concept in both the show and action figure looks rather akward
He was fine in the movie, but honestly I think the single biggest problem was that killing off Optimus Prime was a monumentally stupid decision in the long term. *Nobody* could fill Optimus' shoes. Certainly not Hot Rod.
In retrospect, Rodimus is the Bumblebee they tried to shove down our throats. They should have pushed Ultra Magnus instead.
Agreed, Ultra Magnus even from a color tone was at least more similar to Optimus.
Yeah you really have a Bumblebee aftertaste with everything post 2000s.
But they did, sort of. Ultra Magnus was in more episodes than Rodimus and actually did a lot more fighting than him, especially against Galvatron.
All the kid did was step up throughout the movie, it's not his fault Optimus chose to monologue instead of capping Megs in his Buckethead. He tried to help him just l I'll ke any one of us would have and it just went bad. Being a good guy it's not like he would have shot Megatron in the back right?
agreed. Optimus got himself killed not Hot Rod@@Fenris30
I don't even call him "Hot Rod", he has always been, "Ole punkass Hot Rod". He got Prime killed!!!
Here's what I remember from the time:
We were hyped for the movie. Optimus Prime dying (for me) wasn't that big of a deal. My favorite TF in both the G1 series and the toy line was Skyfire/Jetfire. I was geeked to see Megatron turn into Galvatron. He looked great in the movie and Leonard Nimoy's voice was perfect. He and Rodimus's fight inside Unicron was perfect. The real problem was the utterly ridiculous character switch that happened when Season 3 released. Rodimus was confident at the end of the Movie. He wasn't some self-loathing depressed shmuck like they portrayed him in Season 3. Also Galvatron became some whacked out psychopath without a singular focus like Megatron. The writing of season 3 is what killed everything. Sure some of the fanbase was mad about Optimus dying, but the show runners did nothing to asuage that and fed into it with making both new mains into caricatures of what we were left with at the end of the movie. And BOTH toys sucked. Take the Jetfire toy from 1985 and then compare it to this junk that was released nearly 2 years later. I'm glad the 3rd party toy market finally gave us some decent G1 style Galvatrons and the newer Rodimus one's do the movie character justice finally. What killed G1 Transformers ultimately though was the brutal writing and character development in season 3 on top of the trash toys for the main characters.
I think that's a great point about the toy. It was disappointing at the time.
Who doesn't love a concept car nobody wanted?
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast I liked the vehicle mode, but the robot mode was just so bleh
@@ChrisSchmidt009 fair.
My dad took my brother's and I to Transformers: The Movie when it came out in the theaters. We LOOOOOVED that movie. Straight classic. We had no issues with Hot Rod as kids! Thought he was awesome. Hated that Optimus died though. You don't do that to a generation of kids but I guess they were trying to start up a new phase of Transformers. Suck he had no confidence but he was young and inexperienced. Guess that's why they brought him back when they had that virus episode where everyone got infected and he was the savior (if memory serves correctly).
What they really should have done was for the last couple episodes of the second season they should have focused on introducing characters that were going to show up in the movie like hot rod may be introduce him as a protege sort of character that Optimus has taken under his wing.
I liked Rodimus... even have his OG figure... Why didn't he catch on? I think it was because they wrote Rodimus like he was just a stand in, a Substitute Teacher. And also, It's really hard to fill the spot of an iconic character and not get any backlash... Just ask Ben Riley, Eric Masterson, John Walker, Jean-Paul Valley, Kyle Rayner, Tim Drake, Wally West... They fill in for a brief time to tell a story, then they eventually step aside when the original returns
Tim Drake was fine, Jason Todd was the hated one. Wally too. Wallace had more hate.
@@handphone77poor Jason got so hated that the author decided to have him temporarily murked and turned into another character
They basically treated him like a joke and ignored his potential.
I'm glad you mentioned the RV. 🤣 and the link between likable toys. Spot on. Spot on! That gen of toy just didn't gell with me. Even Magnus and Metroplex felt oversized, and plasticky. But I was growing "too old" (if that's a thing) by then which is probably why I lost interest. Revisiting them now, the early toys just feel more robust, better made, and more convincing in both robot and vehicle forms.
A concept RV, the toy made for the holiday season.
As a kid and huge fan. I just saw Hotrod as a new fun guy with no leadership and now he’s a leader! Ultra mag should have been the new leader with rod as second.
Plain and simple. You cannot replace one of the greatest pop culture characters ever made. Optimus Prime was arguably the most popular cartoon character in the 80s growing up. That death scene was gut wrenching. Hasbro made the decision to bring Optimus Prime back.
Oh….a little added insult to injury, when I saw Transformers: The Last Knight in theaters, when Hot Rod showed up, he was booed out of the theater!!
Yup, Transformers fans never forget.
I was always a huge fan of Radamus prime. I liked his color scheme with the wing on his back. It was just awesome. I don’t think kids didn’t buy him because of necessarily the way he looked. Granted the only two points of articulation might’ve had something to do with it. But I do believe it was the way he was portrayed in the show. You touched on it in the video. He was full of self doubt. Even with his accomplishments. Unlike his predecessor, he did not possess that self-assurance and strength. No one could say it’s because he was young and new to the leadership role. When we meet Optimus prime for the first time, he’s already battle hardened, and Have has led for sometime. 10 PM we don’t see him going through the growing pains of leadership like we do ramus prime. And no kid wants to look up to a hero that does not come across as a hero. People liked Optimus prime because he was big and strong and courageous. Always ready to jump in and take on Megatron. If you look at him standing next to ultra Magnus, he’s really not that much smaller in the show. the action figures are a whole different story. I was one of the rare few who was not necessarily an Optimus prime fan. Believe it or not I like Megatron and soundwave the best. One because of Megatron was a bad ass and soundwave just sounded awesome. and he had a little sidekick he could carry around this cassettes. Also, I was really into jets as a kids. That’s another reason I leans toward the Deceptikon.
That being said, I was a fan of hot Rod/ramus prime. There was a personality difference between the two believe it or not. When he was still hot rod yes he was reckless, but he seemed to face things with no fear, but when he became ramus prime , that whole personality changed. He second-guess his choices and accomplishments. He drew no courage or it seemed from his accomplishments. As he achieved the things that he did, they should have had the character reflect his. But they did not. The character continued to stay a week and, a weak minded person. And that is really sad. Because especially in robot mode, he was one of the most badass looking transformers fit ever graced our screen. He had the look of a hero. With the flames and the wing on his back. As a kid I wanted so much to get him, but the weakness of character did not make him a hero to me. And I’m sure it was that way for tons of other kids at the time. No one wants to emulate a wishy-washy, weak minded, self hating, self questioning, so-called leader. Based on his actions, of course we would want to be him. But you have to have the personality to go along with the actions. Optimus prime had that. His replacement did not. So yes, I do agree that the cheapness of the toy may have had something to do with his failure. But as a kid, I just could not find myself, really liking him and that’s sad. He could’ve been one hell of a replacement for Optimus prime. And if play correctly, he could’ve outshined Optimus prime you could’ve made him a wise young man who took council from the older war and veteran of ultra Magnus. He didn’t have to be the way he was. I’m sure there was a reason they did that. But it should’ve led to him becoming more confident as the series move forward and he accomplished what he did.
Rodimus Prime failed because no one wanted Optimus to be gone. Rodimus was an unknown. A better choice would have been a known, existing character. Then you could have used doubt and not being prepared because you had the history of a known character to build off of.
I simply did not like the fact that his name was so similar to Optimus'. Anytime I heard or saw "Rodimus Prime" Optimus Prime was all that came to mind
There was a marked difference between the fun-loving Hot Rod and Rodimus, who seemed like Hot Rod had grown up into someone bitter as well as insecure. And Magnus sounded like he was propping him up, “ The new hyper-generator will restore power to the entire 7th grid sector.” , followed by “Rodimus, with the mantle of leadership come responsibilities”. Rodimus: “I don’t suppose I cou😢interest you in a used mantle?” Ugh. If he felt that way, he could have just given the Matrix to Ultra Magnus right after defeating Unicron.
All time favorite Transformer in terms of characterization. Aside from his sort of Spider-Man ish neurosis, I always found him to be the most relatable.
You're one of the few but we're happy you're here ❤️
Rodimus Prime didn't fail per se, but didn't succeed because of the (very) vocal minority that focused only on the negatives of the character in an attempt to bring back and beautify Optimus Prime.
As someone once said "Optimus Prime is the leader most of us aspire to be. Rodimus Prime is the leader most of us end up becoming".
Leading vs managing
I subscribe to the whiny brat theory. Hot Rod may have grown to become Rodimus Prime physically, but his personality did not mature to become a leader that anyone would follow. Even when he wasn't doubting himself there was no charisma in his commands, something Optimus Prime exuded just by walking around all John Wayne.
Hot Rod getting Optimus killed is definitely why I didn't like Rodimus and it didn't help that he was strong and imposing like Optimus was. Galvatron being crazy didn't help the series either
Because Hasbro had no concept of how well fleshed out and beloved the G-1 transformers were. And killing them in general and Optimus Prime in particular was one of the greatest miscalculations in the toy industry.
What I didn't like was, we been fixated on the TRANSFORMERS for years, this movie comes out and they suddenly not just kill Optimus but they kill other fan favorites that we grew with (including Starscream) just to push more toys...thats all it was.
To me Rodimus looked like a suped up mini-van, I mean c'mon Optimus was a tractor trailer...u can't mess with that.
The fact that Ultra Magnus is front and center on the Movie poster says it all. Even the writers and producers weren't behind Rodimus.
Megatron to Galvatron was an easy transition. But from Optimus to Rodimus
My biggest problem with Rodimus Prime was that he wasn't Hot Rod. Hot Rod thinks himself as the hot shot brash cool kid with attitude. And I wished they put that in Rodimus Prime than be this "I'm sorry I killed you, Optimus and the I'm not a good leader as you" character. I feel like he was given this big responsibility that he didn't want. And that's such a shame. Because in the show, Transformers: Animated, he was this cool Robin Hood leader character, which could have been perfect for the Rodimus Prime in the old cartoons. At least that's how I see it.
I agree with the statements about the toy. Even modern takes on him are not stellar, despite being up to par with other current leader toys.
For me, it was his lack of confidence and overwhelming desire to escape the Prime role. It also has a lot to do with the theory that Ultra Magnus should have become leader. Magnus was a compassionate and capable leader without the Matrix. Optimus chose him. By all rights, Magnus would have been an Outstanding Prime. But this chosen coming of age character just never pulled it off.
Had a long conversation about that with a friend recently, really made me think it through- and yeah. Should of been Magnus.
Not to mention the dulcet tones of Robert Stack 😅
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast the movie voice didn't hurt!
@@Magni_Prime it's funny how his Unsolved Mysteries voice is creepy af but it's great here
Rodimus just didn’t really change much after he became a Prime. Just a bigger Hot Rod.
Rodimus Prime failed because he wasn’t Optimus prime. You’re welcome.
This. This is the answer. There’s no other factor, there’s no nuance. If you replaced Optimus Prime with Luke Skywalker-Indiana Jones-Hercules-Chuck Norris, then everyone would hate Luke Skywalker-Indiana Jones-Hercules-Chuck Norris.
Rodimus’ petulance is played up more than it actually happened, and it was established that Optimus went through that same self doubt.
The problem was also giving him an arc, in a show that was purely episodic before the movie.
Also, they showed in the first five parter that Optimus could communicate with him from the Matrix.
If they kept that up and had him guide Rodimus, that could’ve kept him dead without removing him.
He had a great personality regarding negotiation and difficult situations. However, he would also say insensitive things alonside kind things. And he kept changing colors - violet, burgundy, red, and brown.
I feel like after the movie, they purposely wrote Rodimus Prime as a less than leader.
I wish they would make a continuation story where he finally comes into his own as a confident leader.
On that note... they toys were garbage. At least we now finally have proper Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime toys.
Well, they kinda did with the Headmasters series in Japan. Japan made him more brave though many people did questioned how he left with Kup and Blurr to find a new home in ep 10. It was also the Japanese way to get rid of all the old timers and give the reigns to the new guys.
Rodimus was the Starscream of the autobots. I just couldn't take him seriously even as a kid
Rodimus was cool but I will say this though.....he was a complete MENACE when he got infected with the spores. He seemed crazier than Galvatron. 💯💯🔥🔥
I always thought spores were no excuse, he still knew what he was doing.
Nobody wants a leader with so much self-doubt and generic appearance.
"...Got Optimus killed in the move..." But... we know how that ultimately turned out. 😃
I love Rodimus Prime and have always looked for his figures. The kingdom one is awesome, not sure if we will get a Studio 86 one but it would make sense.
Hot Rod looked cool, Rodimus looked like a Gobot
Several people throughout this thread are calling Optimus by the word "Prime". No one is calling Rodimus "Prime" even though that is his name as well. That tells you all that you need to know.
To answer the question posed, Why Did Rhodimus Prime Fail? Aside from how he became leader (which is still hotly debated), Rhodimus did not exude the confidence, the leadership and the stature Optimus Prime has been known for years. Rhodimus, in the cartoon series, kept showing his insecurities and his wanting to become Hot Rod again. If given a chance (and it was shown several times), Rhodimus would abandon leadership, abandon responsibility to be just an Autobot speedster again. For kids, they admire strength not insecurity. Look at all the heroes kids were shown in the 80s and they will pick Optimus, Megatron (we'll talk about that in a moment), Darth Vader, Hulk Hogan, Duke from GI JOE, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, He-Man and a few others. Nobody liked Starscream (though entertaining), Cobra Commander, or Skeletor because yes they were the bad guys but they often showed weakness. Megatron on the other hand, showed conviction to his cause and knew when to retreat. He was strong, bold and was willing to oppose Optimus to further the Decepticon cause. Sometimes Megatron said, I, and sometimes he said, We, when refering to the plans of the Decepticons. But when Prime went, so did Megatron and we got a whiny, spoiled leader called Galvatron (as portrayed in the American markets). So, you take strong opposing leaders and switch them insecure leaders of power factions. Yeah, no wonder why we all went back to G1 and stayed there.
You are correct in basing a majority of his failure on his toy. The Hot Rod figure was released then next thing you know he is being replaced with an Rodimus Prime toy. Not enough time between releases and as you said, a sports car becoming a winnebago 😂.
I hated the character. Prime had Megatron beat then Rodimus got in the way. Beyond that, Optimus was just the leader we all wanted and killing him off was the most ridiculous thing they could have done in the first highly anticipated Transfomer movie.
The ship invasion at the start of the movie remains one of the most SAVAGE cancellations of a toy line in history. First big movie for the series in the US and Prowl was LITERALLY SMOKED! The worst? Did anyone catch the smirk when Ironhide said "Nooo!" and before Megatron blasted him in the fking face, Megatron SMIRKED. It was like a middle finger to kids that loved those characters and toys.
So Hot Rod yeah, kind of caused Optimus to get dusted by a hand gun. And NONE of the characters were in a real previous season. In fact it's what made the next generation a little tougher for me to get behind. They did a BETTER job with the deceptions post movie than the Autobots. AND... they never made Radimus a real confident, competent leader & he actually looked like a Hot Wheels van I had back in the day. I liked Ultra Magnus back then in the movie because he at least looked and had more of a 'leader' vibe than Hot Rod did. Dr. Smoov put it best - and animated it - decades ago TBH.
If I'm totally being honest... looking back... I sometimes think it should've just been Ultra Magnus story, and Hot Rod could have been a great redemption/growth story for later & then Hot Rod would've gotten WAY more popular & better received. But I get it, it was always about selling the toys.
Rodimus was an misunderstood character, not well developed and with a bad script team behind him, Ultra Magnus was not the best choice for the matrix due to his pacific character that would surrender all the Autobots to the decepticon rule; from that point of view the writers must gave Rodimus a more fierce character and decided than Optimus because he’s younger and bold, and with a heart of fire❤️🔥
if you know the story behide the voice of optimus prime then you know the reason why rodimus failed to fill his shoes. yet star sabed did
You are right about the toy size, but I think Rodimus Prime was a great leader. Watching him grow into a confident leader was a good story arc. In a lot of ways I like him better than Optimus.
Hot Rod was awesome. I don't understand why they didn't keep that level of energy and daring when he became Rodimus Prime. He could still be the new and learning leader without all that self doubt. It seemed out of character with his teenage self.
It’s quite simple, they killed off too many big characters, including Optimus. He was the main character that held the whole show together was the reason we tuned in on a Saturday morning. When he went the show went major mistake by the Showrunners. and once you lose the magic, you never get it back kids just find something else, but Optimus prime has proved to stand the test of time.
I think he failed because he was a replacement for someone that NOBODY wanted replaced.
Optimus was voiced by Peter Cullen. That was the bottom line.
I think a major part of why he failed is that Optimus had a very fatherly effect to kids watching him after school. Hot Rod wasn't even a particularly compelling big brother after the movie. Which would've been fine if it was an arc of him growing as the season went on. The resets didn't help.
Definitely underhanded in delivery... but a pretty bold decision
@@DigitalDissectionPodcast Bold and short sighted. The backlash did show that they had something much more substantial than just a toyline and a cartoon commercial show though. Mistakes create wisdom.
He failed because he wasn't Optimus Prime, pure and simple.
Great vid. I've been positing this for years - they elected to have an orange and red stick as the new series protagonist.
RE characterisation, the UK Marvel comics did a better job, although it wasn't until IDW's Regeneration One that we got a more robust version of the guy.
PS You didn't transform RP or Hot Rod's toys properly 😜
Everyone expected ultra magnus to take over, rodimus took over when he had to and saved the damn day. The show itself kinda went down hill after the movie
I always thought Bumblebee was going to the Optimus Primes successor.
I think it was the story for Transformers was running thin they didn't have any big stories after the movie. And Rodiumus just lost out because the story was dieing out.
Why did Rodimus fail? One, Hot Rod's involvement in Optimus Prime's death. His arguably unearned rise to leadership. His bad design and woeful toy. And mostly his characterisation, especially in comparison to Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Springer and most other characters.
Rodimus had a massive inferiority complex. If Ultra Magnus hadn't been there to help him hold it together, the Autobots would've been massively screwed under his leadership.
Nah, Hot Rod/Rodimus was cool af! His defeat of Galvatron & Unicron was brilliant and still gives me goosebumps!