What's it been now, two weeks? Whoops. Sorry about that, but life kept me busy, and I didn't have the chance to write up reviews. But, I'm back now, and tonight I'm talking about the leader of the Protectobots, Hot Spot. This figure has been called the best voyager figure of the line by many, so let's see if he lives up to that hype
Hot Spot was released roughly four months ago, as part of the third wave of Combiner Wars voyagers, alongside Cyclonus, a remold of Silverbolt. Of course, being an adaptation of the Generation One character, Combiner Wars Hot Spot maintains his blue fire truck vehicle mode. And personally, I feel as though it's one of the best vehicle modes in the line
It's got a nice length to it. The blue is a lovely baby blue, and there's some touches of red, white, and black throughout, which help to break things up quite nicely. The way the front is designed, it reminds me somewhat of DOTM Sentinel Prime's fire truck mode, so perhaps Hot Spot's is also utilised in airports?
It's got a nice length to it. The blue is a lovely baby blue, and there's some touches of red, white, and black throughout, which help to break things up quite nicely. The way the front is designed, it reminds me somewhat of DOTM Sentinel Prime's fire truck mode, so perhaps Hot Spot's is also utilised in airports?
As a firetruck, Hot Spot also has a lot of playability, especially compared to most other Transformers' vehicle modes. His ladder can rotate upwards, at almost any angle up to and including 180 degrees. The bucket at the top also folds down to your choosing to match the angle of the ladder
His weapons, which I'll talk about a bit more further on in the review, can also be stored in vehicle mode. And the best part? They integrate with his vehicle mode! Rather than just being slapped on somewhere and looking out of his place
He has two cannons, which can be plugged into either side of the base of his crane, or at the top of the crane on the bucket, to act as water hoses for putting out fires and what not
He has two cannons, which can be plugged into either side of the base of his crane, or at the top of the crane on the bucket, to act as water hoses for putting out fires and what not
Moving swiftly onto his robot mode, this is where Hot Spot really shines. His robot mode looks absolutely excellent. It of course carries over the light blue from his vehicle mode, and there is now a bit more red and black to break things up, though all the white is restricted to the ladder on his back
His head sculpt is painted blue like it was in the cartoon, rather than black like on the original Generation One figure. At first, I thought I would have prefered the black head, but having him in hand, I'm quite content with the blue. His red eyes are nice and striking, and I like the shade of blue they used on his mask
Hot Spot does look a little flat from some angles, and also has quite a large chunk of back kibble, as you can see from the photos at the beginning of this review. But honestly, the pros of this figure vastly out-weigh the negatives for me, so it doesn't bother me too much
His head sculpt is painted blue like it was in the cartoon, rather than black like on the original Generation One figure. At first, I thought I would have prefered the black head, but having him in hand, I'm quite content with the blue. His red eyes are nice and striking, and I like the shade of blue they used on his mask
Hot Spot does look a little flat from some angles, and also has quite a large chunk of back kibble, as you can see from the photos at the beginning of this review. But honestly, the pros of this figure vastly out-weigh the negatives for me, so it doesn't bother me too much
In terms of pose-ability, Hot Spot is chock-full of it. He's easily one of, if not the most pose-able figure in this line so far. He's got a ball jointed head, swivels in his biceps, and thighs, hinges in his shoulders, knees, and toes, dual hinged elbows/biceps, and ratchets in his shoulders and hips. This gives you plenty of range for posing him
His weapons, which I touched on briefly earlier, are a pair of cannons, which are designed with hoses coming out of them, presumably to give off a foam-cannon type vibe. He can hold them in his hands, and they can also be pegged onto his back when they're not being utilised
As a voyager figure in the Combiner Wars line, Hot Spot is capable of becoming a torso to combine with any four Combiner Wars deluxes. More often than not, he forms Defensor's torso. Whereas his robot mode is quite tall and lanky, his torso mode is quite squat and wide. It's definitely the smallest of the torso modes in the line, and probably my second favourite over all, following behind Silverbolt's torso/Superion mode
I will be covering Defensor more in-depth in a later review, once I've reviewed all of the other Protectobots
I will be covering Defensor more in-depth in a later review, once I've reviewed all of the other Protectobots
In short, Hot Spot definitely lives up to the hype of being the best voyager figure in the Combiner Wars line. He's got plenty of pose-ability, making him very expressive, and a lovely paint job. Though his torso mode leaves a little bit to be desired, it's not the weakest of the line. This guy is well worth picking up. And if you can't find Hot Spot, there's always the upcoming Onslaught retool, which is due out in coming weeks
9/10
Thanks for reading guys! Be sure to check out some comparison photos in the gallery below!
Thanks for reading guys! Be sure to check out some comparison photos in the gallery below!